Battle of the £179 headphones! Should you buy the hugely discounted Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless or the Sony WH-1000XM4? My pick may surprise you

It’s like buses: you spend ages waiting for a set of hands-down five-star headphones to drop to their lowest-seen prices on record in a glorious Black Friday deal, only for two to come along at once!

But here we are. It has happened to the modern-classic Sony WH-1000XM4, which have dropped to only £179.99 at Amazon (original RRP £349) – a return to their lowest ever price) and it has also happened to the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless. Yes, right now at Amazon their regular £300 asking price has also dropped to just £179.99. This is not only a huge £121 saving on a model I called “unbeatable at the level” thanks to perks such as their 60-hour battery, but also £19 cheaper than they’ve ever been spotted at before.

I’ll tell you this: both are going to be some of the most popular Black Friday deals around, and definitely two of the sell-out Black Friday headphones deals.

I’ve been piling the praise on both pairs of wireless over-ears ever since their respective releases, when I crowned them among the best noise cancelling headphones I’d ever worn, so you’re probably thinking: “Great, but which is best now Becky?” That’s what I’m here to help with – just scroll on down if you need my advice. Don’t need my assistance and know which you’re buying? The deals are below these words, friend.

Like the savings but looking for earbuds? That’s okay, I’ve got a best Black Friday earbuds deals roundup for you, and even a Black Friday AirPods deals roundup if it has to be Apple.

So which should you spend your hard-earned £179.99 on? I’ve got this.

Firstly, the delicate topic of age: Sony headphones are always among the very best headphones on the market (and naturally, they feature heavily in our best Sony headphones and earbuds roundup) but the Sony WH-1000XM4 are hardly spring chickens, having launched in August 2020.

The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless are a fair bit younger, having hit shelves in August 2022. Consider that the hugely popular Sony WH-1000XM5, the XM4’s younger flagship siblings, launched back in May 2022 and you’ll see that if it’s the newest cans on the block you want, Sennheiser is where the smart money goes – and you can read our Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless vs Sony WH-1000XM5 feature if you want more head-to-head info there. Oh, and while I’m here, the Sony WH-1000XM5 are also on offer, but you’ll need to pay £247 rather than their RRP of £379. Even though it’s a 35% discount, that’s not quite as cheap as they’ve ever been – and not as cheap as £179.99…

The thing is, the XM4s are still around for a reason, and that reason is that they’re very very good headphones for sound, feature set and noise cancellation – read up on that in our Sony WH-1000XM4 review. There’s also an iconic appeal to them that you don’t get from the Sennheiser cans, so if you’re buying for someone who loves a slightly retro aesthetic (or has a Sony Xperia phone) I’d say the WH-1000XM4 are the best bet. This is because the XM4 support Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format, which enables immersive spatial audio from certain streaming services (such as Amazon Music Unlimited), plus Sony’s LDAC codec that can send a bitrate of up to 990 kbps. They don’t support aptX or aptX HD, mind you, so your hi-res audio support mileage may vary elsewhere.

However, Sennheiser’s elite over-ears tick all the right boxes, for me. Along with their stellar sound and solid battery life, they offer great noise-cancellation and call-handling – which you can read about in my glowing Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless review. There’s also support for the more accessible aptX and aptX Adaptive wireless Bluetooth codecs, to stream higher-quality audio if your source device can unpack it – and your music streaming service is (ahem) a step up from Spotify.

But the deal sealer for me is Sennheiser’s excellent ‘Sound Zones’ feature, which allows you to create custom sound profiles for different locations, to automatically activate or deactivate whenever you enter or leave a specified zone (the office, the gym, as you approach your front door and so on). Frankly, it’s a game-changer. If you’re on the fence about which to buy, perhaps this will sway you toward the Sennheisers.

Lastly, the deal: this is the best price I’ve seen in the UK for the newer Sennheiser over-ears, by £19, whereas the Sony WH-1000XM4 is a return to their lowest ever price, but it’s not any cheaper than I’ve ever seen.

Don’t get me wrong, if you’ve been looking to upgrade your cans, either is a superb Black Friday deal. My advice? You cannot go wrong here with either set, but if forced to choose, I’d go for the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless. After all, Lufthansa’s letting people borrow a pair on first-class flights, so they’re literally a first class pair of headphones now!