SIM tools :)

Thanks mate, your work is deeply appreciated the world over.

Good quality noise cancelling headphones will work perfectly for cancelling out traffic, however they may not be ideal for practicing music due to the way the ANC colours the sound. Plus, you’ll be paying for wireless features you don’t need for this use-case, as most wired ANC headphones (of quality) have been discontinued. The majority of wireless models can also work wired, but need to be charged and powered on.

As others have mentioned, you may well find that a closed back set with a good enough seal will do the trick. Something like Sennheiser HD 200 Pro or HD 569 is a good place to start.

You’re absolutely right that a PlayStation - like a Kindle, or even Apple devices - is a big subscription box.

I’ll echo what others have said: Build a PC to connect to your TV and switch to that for a few years. You can even keep using the PS5 controller. Keep the PS5 around for exclusives and you won’t have FOMO + you can enjoy many years of PC exclusives as well as new, upcoming, early access indie darlings.

I agree wholeheartedly and would add ‘borderline unusable for voice calls’ to the XM4’s sins, which is admittedly an improvement over ‘entirely unusable for voice calls’ ala XM3/XM2/1000X. Spent quite a while trying to get the XM4 to sound ‘good’, and they just won’t.

The 1000X series has reached a level of critical mass otherwise only touched by AirPods in consumer headphoneland - people have heard of them, and want them, and read reviews which say ‘best for most people’, and their friends recommend them, and they want them more. And they buy them, and 5 stars A+++ these are the best headphones they’ve ever heard. Which is their truth. Meets the expectations of most, and exceeds for those who haven’t experienced top-tier ANC before.

Credit where it is due, Sony managed to make a product with a traditional Japanese letter-letter-number-number model, and made it famous enough to ask for by name. It is the consistency in product and marketing plus the halo effect that’s seen 1000X series reach critical mass. Reviews saying ‘actually I don’t like how these sound and struggle to get them sounding much better with the rubbish in-app EQ that doesn’t have a slider corresponding to the ~200Hz spike’ aren’t common.

We live in a world where AirPods and Spotify are good enough for most people. I’m just glad there’s room in the market for well-tuned over-ear ANC cans too.

Nice one!

I am distinctly underwhelmed in general by the XM4.

Have a look at Technics A800/AZ60/AZ60MK2/AZ80, all support simultaneous use of LDAC and multipoint. I recall something else working with both simultaneously too, possibly Huawei TWS.

They do step down a quality tier to do so, and low bitrste LDAC is generally considered poor, but it’s otherwise all there and possible.

LDAC and Multipoint do in fact mix, just not on Sony products.

It is in fact a real thing.