For years, Sony has been trying to create the perfect real wireless headphones. He started his efforts with the Sony WF-1000X which divided and continued with the sport-oriented Sony WF-SP700N. Neither were at the top of their class, and neither held a candle for Apple’s AirPods.
But things have improved. Last year we got the almost perfect Sony WF-1000XM3 with active noise cancellation and, arriving on the shelves now, the more affordable Sony WF-XB700 which seems to offer a comfortable fit, punchy and heavy sound and IPX4 rating with a 18-hour handset between headphones and the case.
We haven’t spent a lot of time with this yet, but so far the latest true wireless headphones from Sony feel like a marked improvement over the original WF-1000X and WF-SP700N, and could very well be our second favorite Sony wireless headphones.
Release date and price
The Sony WF-XB700 is the latest addition to Sony’s Extra Bass series of headsets and headphones and was launched in April 2020. The headphones were announced alongside the Sony WH-CH710N noise canceling headphonesand hit the shelves at about the same time.
In terms of price, the Sony WF-XB700 is one of Sony’s true less expensive wireless headphones and costs $ 129 (£ 130, around AU $ 200). That’s a huge savings over the $ 199 Sony WF-1000XM3 (£ 169, AU $ 298), but don’t forget that the latter has active noise cancellation while the former does not.
Compared to other real wireless headphones, the Sony WF-XB700 sits in the middle of the pack and is actually a little cheaper than the Apple AirPods at $ 139 (£ 159, AU $ 239) which dominate the form factor in terms of sales. Without spending more time with Sony headphones, it’s hard to compare them, but saving $ 10 is a good advantage at the start of the competition.
Design
The way Sony designed these headphones gives them a little more space than other real wireless headphones made in the past that have tried to be stylish and sporty instead. This is because Sony has generally opted for rounded, oblong heads, and while the WF-XB700 has an oblong inner piece that sits in your ear, the outside is an almost satellite circular disc that houses two buttons.
What exactly these buttons do is not so intuitive at first, but on the left earpiece you have the volume up / down and on the right you have play / pause and skip. You can also use them to activate your assistant and accept calls, but it’s not very clear from the start how to do it all.
If you reduce them to their nuts and bolts, these headphones have three important parts: the tip that fits into the ear canal, the central section that houses the pilots and is inside the ear and the outer shell which houses the battery. This three-tiered design isn’t exactly space efficient – and is likely to be incredibly polarizing for people who just want slim, sleek heads – but it does have some advantages.
First and foremost, these benefits, because of their size, should actually completely fill the ear canal and the outer ear where they rest. This feeling of security and their low weight make them surprisingly comfortable and easy to wear for long periods and the airtight closure helps them to ring perfectly. Sony also includes a number of tips in the box if the default tips don’t match properly – which is a good idea.
The other advantage of their design is that they can hold a slightly larger than average battery inside the buds themselves. According to Sony, the battery life is approximately nine hours on a single charge, plus an additional nine hours, with the charging case bringing the total to 18 hours. It’s almost the best on the market. To compare, Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus offer 11 hours of playback out of the box while similarly priced Apple AirPods offer only five hours of music playback before needing to be returned to the case.
Speaking of cases, the plastic case that came with the Sony WF-XB700 is quite thin and uses a translucent cover that lets you see the charge status of the headphones in the case. Launching the charging process is as simple as snapping the heads into their mini-pins and waiting for the red LED to light up. To charge both the case and the headphones, simply plug them into an open USB port on your computer with the supplied USB to USB C cable.
Performance
So how does it sound? Well, as part of the Extra Bass series, we were concerned that they would sound swollen, muddy and confined. Fortunately, they are anything but.
The first thing you will notice when listening to them is the bass – it is definitely there – but it is done in a way that feels tight and punchy rather than muddy and swollen. The result is music that is really fun to listen to… even if it is not exactly the sound the artist wanted.
The downside is that the midrange takes a hit here: listening to YouTube videos is significantly quieter overall than listening to music, and the less powerful midrange is certainly to blame there.
That doesn’t mean YouTube or Netflix are impossible to listen to, they aren’t, but it would be nice if there was a way to change the equalizer depending on the type of content being played – for example, via the Sony Headphones app.
For the moment, no luck.
Of course, Sony seems to want these to be music-focused and also be a good gym buddy – which is why they are IPX4 sweat and water resistant. They also seem to have a relatively stable connection due to our short time with them – walking around our house with our phone in one room, we had no signs of dropping out – but they don’t cancel out the noise , so be prepared to hear most of the conversations going on nearby.
The good news is that their built-in microphones are pretty good. Over the course of a few hours, we took a few phone calls with the buds, and for the most part, the people we spoke with said they sounded good. This is a relief as some people have had problems in the past with the built-in microphones of other Sony headphones, but we will continue to use them and report any anomalies.
Finally, the battery life has so far lasted up to nine hours per charge, thanks in large part to the ability of the headphones to go into low power mode when removed from the ear. Auto shutdown is a huge energy saver, so it’s great to see it used here.
Early verdict
While it’s easy to focus on some of the negatives such as the polarizing design, the dull mids and the lack of noise cancellation, these headphones have a lot to offer. Honestly, they are decent competitors of Apple AirPods: they are at the right price, have good sound and even better battery life.
We want to continue listening to them for the next few days, but so far the Sony WF-XB700 is on the way to being our second favorite Sony wireless real headset.
