| Pros | Cons |
| Extremely lightweight design
Active noise cancellation Superb bass Comfortable to wear |
Poor battery life
Not very balanced sound experience
|
The year 2018 has been flooded with good wireless earphones since the inception of Apple’s AirPods. Brands like Sony, Sennheiser, Bose, and Jabra have jumped into the sudden surge in demand for true wireless headphones. The first generation of cordless earphones were applauded for their ability to function just being sitting in our ears without any connection to our phones. But expectations have risen since then and true wireless headphones with punchy bass and superb noise cancellation have become more relevant and worthy of talks.
Sony’s first pair of wireless headphone Sony WF-1000X had to face lot of attacks for what it did. It either had way too much bass for some or nothing at all for many, had issues with pairing with mobile devices, some said they cut off to easily and was not at all compatible when you are on the go and had disappointing noise cancellation. Somehow this headphone fell flat on to its face. With Sony WF SP700N, the company is taking another shot in offering a polished version of wireless headphones. This headphone has a lot going on under the hood, for example it has active noise cancellation and has “IPX4” splash proof rating for its sweat resistance capacity. It is amazingly lightweight and ergonomic design fits snugly in your ears. There are no dropouts when you are in an active mode, like running or in the gym. The headphones are available on Amazon and right now selling at Rs 12,199.
Design and Built
The WF SP700N are housed inside a sleek plastic round shaped box of the size of few inches. The lid opens with a flick and out comes the bulbous shaped ear pods which almost has the look of lima beans, only a little voluptuous. Underneath the earphones lies the colour-coded silicone ear-tips, a micro USB charging cable and a pair of sport fins. The headphones have an attractive finish, but they will remind you of erstwhile Bluetooth headsets because of their size. You can spot these in someone’s ear even from a distance. But Sony has made them ultralight and when you put them in your ears they don’t feel a thing. The soft silicone tips and ergonomically designed sport fins lend these earphones a feathery feel and perhaps it is one of the most comfortably designed earless headphones out there. Once put in your ears they sit securely and even if you run a mile or engaged in serious activity they don’t get displaced or any attention to adjust.
The left ear piece has a plastic button on the outside which functions as an active noise cancellation adjustment. Also, it doubles as Sony’s ambient sound mode, which lets you introduce a little outside noise into your headphone. Several headphones out there have introduced this feature which lets you control when you are out for a run or riding a bike. The right piece has a similar button, but this is for playing or pausing music.
As mentioned above, this headphone come with IPX4 rating, so it means a splash of water in the rain or when you are sweating hard while running is not going to harm your earphones.
Setting up Sony WF SP700N is fairly easy, thanks to the Bluetooth 4.2 connection. The headphones also have voice instructions which guides you through the setting up process after you pair them with your mobile phone. The NFC support in the headphone also facilitates pairing just by touching the two devices.
Rating: 4.2/5
Performance
If Bass was the problem in Sony WF-1000X then for this headphone Sony heard it clear and loud. The bass effect in WF SP700N is undoubtedly paunchy and for hip hop songs or rock these pair will surely do a justice. But the bass heavy sound effect might mar the clarity and mid tones in songs which have an acoustic effect. The predominance of bass sometimes takes the clarity away for songs which does not require much bass. You have the option to tune through Sony’s Headphone app and may be at time achieve little success in dumbing down the overwhelming bass effect but not much satisfaction is guaranteed here.
The noise cancelling of this headphone is not a very pretty picture. It does a mediocre job of noise cancellation and leaves a hiss-like undertone which rather disappoints you as it encroaches upon the sound experience.
The headphone has very average battery life and with only 3 hours of runtime it is a dismal situation, especially when you have similar and lesser prices ones like Jabra Elite Active 65T offering way more, up to 6 hours.
Rating: 3.9/5
Conclusion
The headphone has some strong points but has tough contender like Jabra Elite Active 65T, which offers a lot more battery life, more balanced sound experience, better design and at lower costs. Apple’s AirPod costs less too but they are not as effective as WF SP700N.
This headphone stands out effectively for their comfort to wear and heavy bass effect, which, if is your sweet spots then you should buy this headphone. Otherwise, there is Jabra Elite headphones which offer way more value in lesser price.
Rating: 4/5
