If you're looking for a great deal on the best true wireless earbuds, you'll find it in the Boxing Day sales. Sony's superb WF-1000XM4, which currently top our best-buds guide, are down to just £159 on retailers such as Amazon and Very. That's more than a third off the £250 RRP.
In our Sony WF-1000XM4 review, we gave these earbuds the full five stars and said they may well be "the ultimate true wireless earbuds package". They were a five-star buy at the full RRP; at £159 they probably deserve a sixth star. Sony's buds are the absolute state of the noise-cancelling art.
Should you buy a set of Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds?
Yes. While rivals sometimes offer better battery life – these buds are good for about eight hours with ANC switched off, with a total of around 24 hours via the charging case – Sony's double whammy of superb audio performance and equally superb noise cancelling makes these a brilliant buy. As we said in our review, these are "stunningly good true wireless earbuds".
As far as the competition is concerned, at this price you're getting the Sonys for less than Apple's 3rd gen AirPods, which I reckon are inferior, and they're much cheaper than the closest Apple rival, the AirPods Pro 2. They're not quite as iPhone-friendly as Apple's own headphones but they're perfect iPhone partners with great sound.
As far as other rivals go, my personal favourites, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2, may have slightly better noise cancelling performance – but right now even the cheapest deal brings them in at £80 more than these Sonys. I'm not sure I'd want to pay that much more when the Sonys sound so good.
Sign up to the T3 newsletter for smarter living straight to your inbox
Get all the latest news, reviews, deals and buying guides on gorgeous tech, home and active products from the T3 experts
Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).
-
If you ever needed proof that cassette players are back, this is it
We Are Rewind has made a portable tape deck so retro it should appear from nowhere in a DeLorean
By Carrie Marshall Published
-
PS5 could finally be getting Gears of War and Halo after game-changing decision
The age of exclusives is coming to an end
By Rik Henderson Published
-
Apple's affordable iPad set for major speed boost and Apple Intelligence
It's exciting times ahead for the entry-level tablet
By Britta O'Boyle Published
-
Apple already sells a device thinner than the rumoured iPhone 17 Air
The slimming world of Apple
By Britta O'Boyle Published
-
Apple MacBook Pro set for its biggest upgrade in many years
It's great news for Apple fans
By Sam Cross Published
-
PS Portal gets a stealthy upgrade, now I'm finally going to have to buy one
The handheld now comes in a stunning black
By Max Freeman-Mills Published
-
Sony XYN Headset could be an Apple Vision Pro killer, but only for a select few
A new mixed reality headset is coming from Sony
By John McCann Published
-
Apple iPhone could get a major camera boost... thanks to Samsung
You’ll just have to wait a while for it to arrive
By Britta O'Boyle Published
-
Sony ULT Field 1 review: a new contender on durability
Sony's rugged little speaker makes a good impression
By Max Freeman-Mills Published
-
If the iPhone 17 Pro looks like this, I'll eat my hat!
Surely this is highly unlikely?
By Britta O'Boyle Published