Sony WF-XB700 truly wi-fi earphones evaluation

The WF-XB700 are the most up-to-date in Sony’s Added Bass lineup. Not to be confused with the WH-XB700, which are total-sized circumaural headphones, the WF-XB700 that we are looking at today are a pair of really wireless earbuds.

The WF-XB700 are a additional cost-effective alternate to Sony’s common but pricey WF-1000XM3 earphones. These do not consist of the energetic sound-canceling and some of the more superior attributes of the WF-1000XM3 but have a far more regular attribute established with the addition of More Bass seem. At $130, the WF-XB700 are a whole $100 less expensive than the WF-1000XM3 and much more in line with the Samsung Galaxy Buds and the standard Apple AirPods.

Whilst not the least expensive really wireless earphones on the marketplace, the Sony WF-XB700 could likely be a great selection for someone seeking for a good quality item from a far more highly regarded manufacturer somewhat than buying something up from Amazon’s cut price bin. Let us see how nicely they fare, particularly towards established rivals.

Design and style

The WF-XB700 appear in a now-typical tablet-formed circumstance. The circumstance is a little bit greater than what most truly wi-fi earphones have but the explanation for that does grow to be apparent later on when you choose the earphones out.

The circumstance is concluded in matte plastic and feels rather good. The lid is translucent, which lets you to see the status LEDs for the case, and the particular person earphones inside without opening it. Getting stated that, the LEDs for the circumstance and earphones issue in a unique path so you can not always see them all at a look from the exact same angle.

The back again of the scenario has a USB-C connector for charging.

Opening up the lid, you see that the case style and design is tilted forward, producing the earphones angled in the direction of you. The impact is equivalent to opening a situation for a piece of jewellery but is very likely accomplished so you can see all the LEDs much more plainly from outside the house when the lid is closed. But as we talked about before, that does not quite do the job.

Before I get to the earphones by themselves, I want to point out that the lid has very a satisfying opening and closing system. It is really clear Sony engineers compensated some awareness to the case design, and it is certainly quite a little bit nicer than all those you get with inexpensive truly wi-fi earphones.

Now, on to the earphones. When you pull 1 of these out you notice why the case is so substantially taller than most other actually wireless earphone situations. The earphones seem to be large at initially and bigger than what I experienced expected dependent on photos. It is really an pretty much alien-hunting enclosure, with a completely ordinary exterior and then all types of styles and appendages bulging out of it. There are 3 levels to the design and style, the outer case, then a 2nd layer that sits inside your outer ear, and then finally the section that goes in your ear.

All of this presents the WF-XB700 earphones rather a unique look and at initially, I was not confident how this even goes in my ears. My initial assessment that the Sony brand on the outside would be horizontal once I wear them was incorrect and the logo sits almost vertical after they are in your ears. The moment you figure that out, placing them on is as easy as any other earphones.

The handbook for these earphones looks to advise that you twist them though inserting in your ears but I wouldn’t fairly advise that. The earphones go in high-quality even with no twisting and it can be incredibly straightforward to put abnormal tension on your ears though twisting them in so it appears to be a bit unsafe as effectively.

The two the earphones have a person button each for controlling all the capabilities. The list of capabilities would seem too much at first but as you use them you get utilised to it. The button on the left controls quantity you press to increase and press and hold to reduce. The button on the proper controls the playback push when to play/pause, 2 times to skip forward, thrice to skip again. If you push and maintain it activates the voice assistant on your mobile phone. The two the still left and appropriate buttons can be pressed to select up/stop phone calls.

I’ll say this about the buttons Sony experienced the typical feeling to put into practice the buttons on the side of the earphones instead on top of them. This signifies you can press them without the need of urgent the entire earphone further into your ears. The number of producers who fall short to grasp this simple design and style notion is baffling.

The dimensions of the earphones is a little bit large and they also stick out a truthful little bit out of your ears. This usually means you are unable to comfortably dress in them in mattress. It is also not specially comfortable to dress in them with a deal with mask, in particular if you have smaller ears like mine that get pulled in by the elastic straps.

Yet another concern with the design and style of the WF-XB700 is that it looks to be held in location just by the ear suggestions within your ears. While it under no circumstances felt like they would slide out, owing to the extra mass hanging out, the earphones are likely to bounce in your ears when you stroll or operate. This is because of to the shock that goes up by your heels when they hit the floor, which will cause the human body of the earphones to bounce as it can be only held in position at one particular level. This creates a compact but recognizable vibration in your ears just about every time you walk on a challenging surface area that may possibly or may not bother you.

The neat factor about the design of the WF-XB700 is that it is IPX4 rated for water resistance. This usually means you can dress in them throughout exercise routines or in the rain without the need of worrying about water or sweat problems. They are not, nonetheless, rated for use underwater. Also, the score is just for the earphones and not the case.

Convenience

The WF-XB700 are a reasonably snug pair of earphones. The silicone ear recommendations are comfortable and the default size suits my ears perfectly. If which is not the scenario for you, there are two added dimensions in the box.

However, for the explanations mentioned in the previous segment, I was not often content with these earphones. The vibrations when strolling ended up pretty recognizable and not one thing I could disregard. It also would seem that a section of the plastic molding sits towards my ear in a individual way that for quick durations isn’t obvious at all but if I wear them for upwards of 30 minutes I do feel a pressure around the entrance of the ear canal. This may well be due to the earphones in essence working with this area to anchor their full bodyweight as a substitute of employing points like fins that some other earphones use.

So for brief, sedentary periods, I was correctly happy with the comfort and ease of these earphones but I wouldn’t use these for extended classes or managing. Nonetheless, convenience for in-ears can be rather subjective dependent on ear measurements so your mileage will differ.

Program and functions

The WF-XB700 are not compatible with Sony’s Headphone Link application. This usually means you can not customise the sound, update the firmware or access any added features. You are pretty substantially minimal to what you get out of the box and what ever your related cellular phone has to supply.

The WF-XB700 support Bluetooth 5., however, there is no multi-machine pairing help. In terms of codecs, you are restricted to SBC and AAC but as I often say in these testimonials, what codecs you have has less of an effect on audio top quality than how the codec is applied and how the audio is coded, decoded and then processed.

The WF-XB700 lack NFC so any pairing has to be completed manually. Out of the box, they are presently in pairing mode so you are very good to go. If you require to repair them, just push and keep buttons on both the earphones for seven seconds to set them into pairing method.

The odd matter with the WF-XB700 is that announcements concerning connectivity and pairing frequently happen in just the still left earphone even when both are in use. The two earphones will announce their person battery position but for everything else that problems them both of those, the announcement only takes place in just one ear. Not sure what the logic powering that is.

Functionality

The Sony WF-XB700 are very good-sounding pair of earphones. The seem has of course been designed to intensify the bass but the relaxation of the audio spectrum is amazingly well-well balanced. This is a departure from what we normally see on Sony More Bass Headphones that attribute a lop-sided seem signature that can make it tough to observe anything else in the audio other than the bass.

Setting up with the small-finish, the WF-XB700 have maybe one particular of the most restrained bass boosts I’ve read in Sony’s record. Not shy of heading all-out, Sony’s Excess Bass items normally function a bombastic base-stop that overwhelms your eardrums. The WF-XB700 normally takes a a lot more tasteful solution in this article, with a calculated twist of the volume dial across the total bass selection. We are chatting not much more than about 5dB boost throughout the range.

What this does is give a wonderful little kick to the very low-conclude with out blowing it out of proportions. Drums and other percussion devices have a further thump to them without the need of shedding their essence. Electronic bass drops are just that little bit additional satisfying without having blowing your ears. There is a bit of rumble and boominess as a outcome of boosting frequencies that were not intended to be boosted but it just isn’t too distracting here and relying on the material (movies, online games) could even be pleasurable.

Potentially the ideal issue about this measured bass response is that it would not spill into the mid-assortment, which is remarkably clear and natural. There is no annoying very low-mid improve that just will make male voices audio synthetic and annoying. On tracks that never have a ton of bass, you can nevertheless hear all the instruments and vocals plainly sufficient and it is really not the case in which if the bass would not present up, the bash is canceled.

The significant-conclusion is not perfect but it really is also not awful. There does feel to be a little bit of a dip in the reduce-treble selection but it seems to choose up later. This results in a compact drop in depth and presence in string devices and female vocals but the greater-conclusion depth arrives through with points like cymbal crashes. So there is a bit of an imbalance there and some S and T appears could appear through stronger than supposed but general the superior-conclude is not way too shabby as you get genuine presence and extension in a area that I’m just not made use of to in modern-day Sony audio.

When noticed as a entire, the audio signature can best be explained as enjoyable. Although bass strengthen audio merchandise are designed to be pleasurable, they usually sacrifice so much at the altar of bass that you can find commonly nothing at all else left to hear in the sound. The WF-XB700 allows you have your cake and eat it too you can delight in a tastefully utilized bass raise whilst also being in a position to make out the vocals and devices in the sound.

Now granted it is really not the most thorough or soulful seem and even the reasonably restrained bass boost might not be for everybody. Samsung’s Galaxy Buds and the new Buds+ have audio precision down pat, with a correctly clean up, neutral, and thorough sound the likes of which you almost never get from Bluetooth earphones. But the WF-XB700 are obviously not heading for precision so that is not a fair comparison. And in any scenario, they sound leagues better than the typical Apple AirPods.

Coming back again to the WF-XB700, the earphones have wonderful imaging functionality that is now predicted of any 50 percent-respectable pair of earphones or headphones. The soundstage is not phenomenal you usually are not finding a speaker-like encounter right here, but at the identical time it is moderately roomy devoid of sounding way too boxed-in.

There are a couple of niggles with the seem. Just one, the audio on these earphones can never be legitimate %. Even at the most affordable quantity degree you can hear the seem nevertheless faintly playing in the background. This is not an concern as these but just one thing worth noting.

The other just one is a little bit additional bothersome. There is a reasonable bit of track record sounds that can be audible below the correct situation. If you are listening to these in a tranquil space then you can make out the sound in the background when very little else is taking part in. It truly is particularly straightforward to recognize when the DAC/amp inside the earphones kick in and out. When the earphones usually are not playing just about anything, the audio program shuts down till it gets a sign. From time to time apps on telephones can mail a sign even when there is no sound, for things like GIFs, for example. This will trigger the hardware to kick into motion and if you occur to be donning them in a fairly silent area it truly is very effortless to hear the hiss taking part in on the speakers and then go tranquil all over again when the signal drops.

Background hiss is a common concern on Bluetooth solutions, specially less costly ones as the parts usually are not large plenty of top quality to trouble ironing out these troubles. It can be not that bothersome and not noticeable at all when enjoying audio but if you are an audiophile or coming about from wired headphones then you probably would not be as well satisfied about this.

Audio latency on the WF-XB700 is satisfactory. It wasn’t as well distracting while observing movies and did not hinder my gameplay practical experience, both.

The microphone overall performance is decent. Voices do audio a little bit robotic and you can hear the noise-canceling algorithm working involving pauses but in general the seem is satisfactory for phone calls.

Battery

The WF-XB700 have a claimed steady battery existence of 9 hours. The scenario provides one particular extra charge for one more 9 several hours of use, so a blended 18 hrs of battery everyday living.

For the duration of my standard battery drain take a look at, the WF-XB700 went on for about 9 and a 50 percent hours of steady playback. That’s considerably more time than most really wi-fi earphones in its class, like the Galaxy Buds and Apple AirPods, and close to the a lot more pricey Galaxy Buds+. The combined 18 hrs could not seem to be that extraordinary in comparison to other styles but the WF-XB700 features additional of it continuously rather than splitting it up over multiple rates.

Talking of charging, this is a little something that takes a although on the WF-XB700. Charging the earphones takes 2.5 hrs and charging the situation itself can take 3 hrs. The earphones also get relatively heat when they are charging in just the scenario and putting them on like that isn’t really specially nice.

Sony has a speedy charge alternative of kinds, which delivers an hour of battery daily life soon after just 10 minutes in the circumstance. This does perform as advertised and the earphones lasted a honest bit more time than an hour in my exam. This should be good for most cases but be organized for a extended wait around for a complete demand.

Verdict

As talked about in the starting, the Sony WF-XB700 are priced at about $130, which is a completely reasonable amount of funds for a non-entry-degree product from a reputed company. And for the selling price, I believe the WF-XB700 is truly great benefit.

The crucial takeaway for me below is the audio quality, which is pretty superior and not a little something you can get for granted with certainly wi-fi earphones. Following using a reasonable variety of these I have appear to the unhappy realization that only a handful of of them have some semblance of very good audio excellent whilst most are just abysmal. Most of the value just goes into building absolutely sure they get the job done at all as it is not uncomplicated to execute this form issue, so you can find normally very little focus becoming paid to how they audio. That’s a single of the factors why I will not personally every day generate a really wi-fi earphone set.

But the WF-XB700 does buck the trend fairly and is between the superior sounding sets on the current market. The emphasis is extremely much on possessing added bass as it states on the tin but the rest of the audio signature is also shockingly perfectly-balanced. A established like this would ordinarily be reserved for use all through workouts, specially with matters like its IPX4 h2o-resistance rating but I located they are pretty usable for critical listening as effectively and I will not automatically prolonged to swap them out for a thing better if I just want to sit down and hear to some songs. It also will help that the battery existence is quite superior, as has generally been the situation with a ton of Sony Bluetooth merchandise.

So overall, for $130, the WF-XB700 are an attractive option. I would nevertheless propose the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ if you want a additional neutral sound but for individuals who like a little bit of bass raise without having compromising much too significantly on the relaxation of the seem, the WF-XB700 are a sound acquire and get my recommendation.