(WF-1000XM4) ANC & Ambient Sound Cutting Out / WHOOSH

[HomemadeToast57]

WF-1000XM4 ANC/Ambient Sound Cutting Out

Description of issue:

While connected using LDAC, ambient sounds are cutting out all the time. This is creating a WHOOSH effect that feels like I am putting my head underwater every time it happens.

I was told by Sony that the 1.1.5 update fixed this but this does not seem to be the case, unfortunately.

How to reproduce:

1. Connect WF-1000XM4 to Android device (must support LDAC)
2. Enable LDAC in either advanced Bluetooth settings or developer options
3. Ensure earbuds are set on "Priority on sound quality"
4. At this point, every time you start a new audio channel to the earbuds (while you are on Ambient Sound mode), you will get this cutout or WHOOSH
   1. You also get this EXACTLY 3 seconds after stopping the audio
      1. This does also happen on ANC mode but it is much less noticeable because the difference between passive NC and ANC is way less than the difference between passive NC and Ambient sound

Device info:

• Galaxy Note 10+-Android 11
• WF-1000XM4 Version 1.15
• Sony Headphones Connect app version 8.0.0

Troubleshooting performed:

• Clear data for Headphones app, forget WF-1000XM4 in Bluetooth settings, factory reset/initialize WF-1000XM4 and re-pair then do set-up again in Headphones app.
• Tried on different galaxy device
• Got replacement earbuds

To Sony:

I just spoke today with one of your "escalated support representatives" and it was a joke. They said they will not be looking into this and it is simply a "limitation of the product." He explained that this issue must be due to "Bluetooth connection interference." This does not make sense because even when not connected to Bluetooth, there is still ambient sound (it is on-device, not over Bluetooth). This also does not make sense because it is not the Bluetooth audio that is cutting out, rather it is just the ambient sound and ANC.

They also told me that there was nothing they were gonna do because only I had reported it (You would see this is not true if you read through these forums. I also told them many others on Reddit were having the same issues but they told me they will not listen to any Reddit posts because it is not a Sony forum. He ended it by telling me, "If you're not happy with the product, feel free to return it." This is really pathetic and upsetting.

I really hope you can set me up with a support representative who is willing to take the time to really look at this issue. A pair of $280 premium earbuds deserves better support than this. Please help a fellow customer out.

To everybody else:

Since this representative (who spoke for Sony) thinks this isn't an issue, if you have ANYTHING to add, please do so. Maybe even share your experiences below. Let's really push to get this fixed. I hope that we as a community along with Sony can work together to make these fantastic earbuds sail towards perfection.

[Joe_Dohn]

I haven't seen much about this to be honest, so to summarize as I understand; this only happens when you have nothing playing, ambient/ANC would give you cut out and that's after you were playing something with both the codec set to LDAC and the sound mode to priority on quality, does that about sum it up? @HomemadeToast57

[Dralnos123]

I can confirm, I have the exact same issue. Three seconds after pausing audio in ambient mode, SWOOSH. It's extremely annoying and a great reason to send them back. Not excuses for this price. 

For me, it's also happening without LDAC in ambient mode. No way to fully get rid of the issue. 

[Jomck5]

I have the same issue.

Irregardless of the codec or the connection (Android phone, Android tablet, IPhone, windows 10...).

[SpicyFlame]

Just purchased mine and I have the exact same issue.

Does not happen in home screen or any app that does not play media.

Every time when you play music, there will be a quick whoosh before music play and exactly 3 seconds after you stop/pause the music. 

When scrolling in any app which support video playback/preview such as Youtube/Playstore, when you have no music playing at the time, it will randomly has the whoosh sound as well.

Does not happen during audio playback.

The "whoosh" sounded like the ANC got turned off for a split second where you hear the surrounding noise and back on again quickly.

Device: Sony Xperia 1 II Android 11

Sony Headphone app version: 8.0.0

Sony WF1000XM4 firmware: 1.1.5

LDAC on, DSEE On/Off(It doesn't matter, happens on both)

[HomemadeToast57]

@Joe_Dohn Kinda. I'm not really understanding what you just said. Basically, whenever you start ANY audio, whether it's the click of a keyboard or a song in Spotify, and you have LDAC enabled, you will get an ambient sound/ANC cutout. This also happens 3 seconds after stopping any audio (eg: 3s after pausing the song on Spotify). (NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN AUDIO DROPOUT, IT IS JUST THE AMBIENT SOUND/ANC).

Does that make sense?

[Alan2win]

Hi there, I just received my own pair of XM4s today and I am facing a similar/identical issue. When it occurs, it sounds like ambient sound mode was activated for a split second before going back to ANC mode, though I have been on ANC mode the whole time. The issue occurs when there is no music being played, in particular when I open my music apps (e.g. Spotify, Poweramp, BlackPlayer, and even YouTube) and/or just when I start to play a song. I am using a Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra running on Android 11. I have tried switching between prioritising sound quality (LDAC) and stable connection (AAC), but the issue still remains.

I am hoping this is not a hardware issue and that it can be fixed with a future software/firmware update.

Thank you

[Joe_Dohn]

I think I understand what's going on now, and I'm highly inclined to think that it's related to software since it seems to be mainly related to the ambient sound mode/ANC getting turned On/Off when it's not supposed to.

I'd normally recommend you reach out to the Sony support reps and having them investigate this, but curiosity got the better of me and I sent an email myself 😅 I'd still recommend you guys add your voice to this as getting multiple reports of the same issue will definitely make things go along faster.

PS: Thanks a lot @SpicyFlame, that was a lot of info and really helped me wrap my head around what's happening, much appreciated!

- JD

[Joe_Dohn]

Apparently, I was somewhat right in my assumption.

This is the reply I got from Sony earlier today:

"This effect is caused by a one-second switch between the NC and Ambient mode when playback is started or paused, this symptom has been confirmed and acknowledged by Sony engineering and is under investigation and will be fixed with a software update. We apologise for the inconvenience and hope you can wait until we resolve this issue."

Here's to hoping it gets fixed quickly!

- JD

[Alan2win]

Thanks for the update and your help Joe! Looking forward to the fix :)))