Sony WH-1000XM4 feedback noise in right ear

[Mathew.B]

These headphones have been working fine until about a week ago when upon powering up, the right ear cup blasted a high pitched whine when placed on my ear which lasted about 10 seconds.  Once it had finished, the headphones worked normally.
Now every time they are powered off and then powered on again the feedback whine returns for 10 seconds or so before fading out (and again allowing normal usage).
I have had to resort to putting them on and quickly moving the right cup to the side so that I'm not deafened by the high pitched sound and then once it has finished whatever it is doing putting it back and using the headphones.
Only other info I have is that prior to the whining noise there is a brief second or two of a light popping sound.

My best guess is that it is something to do with the noise cancelling function, but I'm by no means any expert!

Has anyone else had the same problem?

[jesmith7574]

Sorry, but this is not the solution. If you got it to work, it was a coincidence and will only be temporary. Sony still need to establish the cause of the problem and suggest a cure.

[andrew_maybin]

Exactly the same problem for me.

Purchased Feb 21, worked flawlessly until yesterday. Noticed a weird but quiet occasional popping sound in the right ear followed by a horrendous metallic sound. Left ear fine throughout. 

Needed a factory reset (not a 'soft' reset) and that got rid of the screeching. I'm not convinced it is fixed though - there is an occasional popping sound still there, and an almost imperceptible hiss, which suggests to me it is a problem with the noise cancelling function. 

I'll 'run it in' for a few more days and if still no improvement I'll contact Sony directly. 

Any other help / suggestions appreciated! 

[andrew_maybin]

Update - fixed for 10 minutes and the screeching is back.

[HannahEd01]

Hey andrew_maybin, did you try both these steps? 

-Reset: https://helpguide.sony.net/mdr/wf1000xm4/v1/en/contents/TP1000428696.html

-Initialize: https://helpguide.sony.net/mdr/wf1000xm4/v1/en/contents/TP1000428697.html

Also, are they up to date on version 1.4.2

[Timjones]

I've had exactly the same problem. I discovered that it only occurs when the Ambient Sound Control is switched on. When I use the headphones I open the app and switch off the ASC feature when it starts to scream and the screaming stops immediately. The fault is still there, but at least I've got a workaround..

[vernonfj]

Use a q-tip and maybe a small amount of alcohol to clean the microphones at the top of the ears. Feedback can come from the interaction between the microphone and the speaker to cancel noise. I believe if the microphones are dirty the headphones misread the amount of outside noise and overcompensate to cancel it.

[SatoruGojo]

@vernonfj, you're not supposed to use alcohol near the headset check the cleaning precautions, for the noise you can follow this link