Sony WF-1000XM4 ANC True Wireless Earbuds (Grade A Refurbished)

Edit: Connection drops very briefly every time I use them. Down to one star from, 2. ------------------------------------------------ I've been using these earbuds since I got them. Tested them immediately out of the box. For context, I'm coming from the sony wh-1000xm4 and had a good run with it until the right cup started to have a high pitched sound, with noise canceling turned on. I needed a solid replacement. I've had that since 2020 and was sad to see it break down after 2 years. I had very high hopes that this pair which comes from the same series will deliver. For the almost 200 dollars we have to pay for this device, and the alternatives present, unless this is a faulty product I was delivered, this has been quite a disappointing buy. Connectivity: My biggest gripe with this product. Within a day of wearing this product and using it, I noticed that the right bud would lose music and the ANC, or turn itself off. I would have to touch it to try to turn it on until it pairs again with the device. This has a been a very regular thing with this pair that I have and takes you away from the immersion you'd like to have with a product like this. However this was not the worst instance, as I lost connectivity even if both buds were on full battery power and accidentally blasted my office with my work music. (That was embarrassing, but I played it off and made it funny). This has NEVER happened before with my sony wh-1000xm4's and if those did unpair for any reason, the music would auto pause. This case was just inexplicable and had made me lose trust in wearing this pair in an office or an outdoor setting, which is the reason I bought it for. This unpairing/losing audio on the right earpiece is constant, and while the random shut off was isolated, I have no doubt that it might happen again. With this being the primary function of these buds, I now have low confidence in wearing these around as a daily driver. Fit: I first noticed how big the size of these buds were, compared to some other buds that I've used. That was fine as I know that this means it must have great performance underneath. I was right about the performance (which I will talk about later). The big issue with this is even though I switch out the foam tips to the smallest size, it doesn't take long for the buds to hurt my ears while wearing them. At first I was wondering if it was the bud size, but realized that the size of the whole piece itself was a tad too big for my ear shape. With that being said, these buds won't easily fall off if you make sure you press them in snuggly. ANC: Noise canceling is still very good when the buds are working. The memory foam tips do actually work. But this all is a matter of fit, as any looseness of fit on your ears, will drastically allow ambient noise to creep back in. For context, I am able to walk around outside and not hear the cars unless one whips past you with throttling their engine. You will still hear higher pitched sounds that don't give the microphones time to cancel them out. Audio: Audio quality is generally great and what is expected from a Sony product. Recently though, I did notice some dip in audio quality which I tested with my headphones, and it was noticeably different. Know that I'm not an audiophile or a sound engineer, but have very heavy use of my sonyheadphones for music on a day-to-day basis so I notice dips in quality very easily. For the most part when the audio is good, I still love listening to it and having the companion app to switch audio profiles to my liking. Touch gestures: The gestures are quite finnicky on this. The right bud is never consistent with the paus and play on tap. The left however is more consistent with switching from ambient sound and noise canceling modes. You just have to keep your finger on it until it registers the touch. Turning on pairing mode can be often hit and miss, so I just have to keep trying until it turns pairing mode on, which can sometimes take a good 30 seconds or, putting them back into the case to reset them. Case: Case is solid and it works. A bit hefty and bulky, but this is also due to the size of the buds.