FCC confirms Sony WH-1000XM4 design and lack of Qualcomm aptX or aptX HD support ahead of imminent release

More information about the WH-1000XM4 has been published ahead of its anticipated announcement tomorrow. Added to the FCC's database following the expiration of the agency's confidentiality agreement with Sony, the images complement what multiple retailers have already leaked.

The FCC has published the test set-up photos, internal board and user manual of the WH-1000XM4. While the former look identical to the ones that have already been published by Anatel, they are higher-resolution and do match the design leaked by various retailers. Sony is expected to sell the WH-1000XM4 in silver as well as black.

The user manual, screenshots of which we have provided below, confirm that the WH-1000XM4 will only support the AAC, SBC and LDAC codecs. By contrast, the WH-1000XM2 and WH-1000XM3 also support Qualcomm aptX and aptX HD codecs. Based on previous leaks, Sony has dropped support for Qualcomm codecs because it has switched to MediaTek chipsets. The user manual also confirms that the WH-1000XM4 will support LDAC at up to 96 kHz and a bit-rate of 990 kbps.

The FCC has also revealed the internal board of the WH-1000XM4, which Sony has assigned the model number HDX-2943. We cannot find any other references to the name, but The Walkman Blog has identified that the chip shares plenty of similarities with the one that Sony included in the WH-1000XM3, despite looking slightly different. The website posits that the board contains Sony's QN1 noise-cancelling processor, which had been mentioned in a previous leak.

Sony is expected to launch the WH-1000XM4 for US$349.99. The headphones will be launched in other markets, too.