Last September, Sony released the WF-1000X wireless earbuds, and they turned out to be a complete quality control disaster, although my initial impression of them was positive. Not only were there huge connection issues, but there were also problems with updating them, poor sound (in some situations), and voice calls that sounded atrocious.
Sony's wireless earbud efforts completely bombed in 2017.
Now, Sony is hoping to right the wrongs of their previous flop with the updated Sony WF-SP700N sports earbuds that have noise cancellation. Here are my first impressions after using the buds for more than four hours.
- Don’t try to charge these things with the earbud tips on. They are easy to take off, and you don’t want to deal with the frustration.
- The WF-SP700N buds only get three hours of use per charge. That’s doable since the case charges them very fast. Still, they come up short of the five hours Apple’s AirPods offer.
- The sound is shockingly good for earbuds that are this small. They are almost as good as Sony’s more expensive headphones.
- There are still some connection issues and dropouts, but it’s not as serious as it was with the WF-1000X buds.
- The phone call quality, which was atrocious on the WF-1000X, has improved and is slightly above average. Still, there is only mono sound in the left ear.
The charging case for the WF-SP700N buds resembles a squarish egg.
- The charging case is a little too bulky.
- Even without the eartips, the buds barely fell out of my ears. The WF-SP700N come with three different size buds, and it’s important to pick the right ones so you get the best sound.
- Noise cancelling is good but not great. This is acceptable since the buds are so small and lightweight. The passive noise isolation is very good.
- The Ambient Sound mode works but not as well as it does on Sony’s other headphones.
- These make good sleepbuds that block out a good amount of noise, aren’t uncomfortable, and don’t come out of your ears easily.
I will have a full review of these after using them more. Of course, once the “honeymoon period” wears off (see some of my other reviews), I may feel completely different. For now, I feel that Sony’s new WF-SP700N earbuds are certainly worth the $179 price tag. Still, Sony’s new product isn’t perfect.
