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Sony’s new true wireless ‘buds turn up the bass and turn down the price

Sony introduces earbuds for athletic bass-heads.
By
April 1, 2020
Sony WF XB700 true wireless earbuds lifestyle image
Sony The Sony WF-XB700 case provides an additional nine hours of battery life, yielding 18 hours of total listening.

The Sony WF-XB700 true wireless earbuds favor a bass-heavy sound and long battery life in lieu of active noise-cancelling (ANC). Textured plastic housings appear more pedestrian than its ANC counterpart, but it merits an IPX4 rating which is a huge perk for athletes.

These durable earphones mimic the same tri-hold structure used in the premium Sony WF-1000XM3, and it works wonders to secure the ‘buds in place. Listeners may use buttons on each housing to control playback, take calls, adjust volume, and access Google Assistant or Siri. Sony makes note of a single microphone for hands-free calls, which may prove less effective than the noise-cancelling version’s dual-microphone system.

Sony WF-1000XM3 microphone demo:

The company promises nine hours of listening on a single charge, and the case provides an extra nine hours of playtime, totally 18 hours before charging back up. Fast charging is also supported: 10 minutes in the case provides one hour of listening. The totally wireless earbuds use a Bluetooth chip that enables a reliable connection. Each earbud independently connects to the source device, thus mitigating streaming hiccups and connection drops while reducing latency.

Unfortunately, there’s no mention of Bluetooth codec support on Sony’s website. If we’re to take the WF-1000XM3 as an indication, the Sony WF-XB700 will likely support just AAC for high-quality streaming. We’ll be sure to update you once more information is released.

We don’t yet know when the Sony WF-XB700 will ship, but the headset will be available for pre-order this April for $130. There are two color variants, black and blue, but perhaps Sony will follow the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus and provide an additional color option later on.