Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
If you’re after high-fidelity sound for a fraction of the price, you’ll be disappointed with the WH-CH710N, especially with limited codec support that includes SBC and AAC. But, with realistic expectations, I think most people would enjoy how they sound. Noise cancellation The Ambient Sound mode, on the other hand, was disappointing. While I could tell that my housemates were talking, I struggled to make out specific words and phrases. This is especially difficult when the volume is boosted above mid-way. I also had difficulty discerning the difference between Ambient Sound and Ambient Sound Off. That said, there was no noticeable change in sound quality when cycling through the three modes, which was pleasant since ANC can sometimes throw the tonal balance off-kilter. The WH-CH710N headphones feature both NFC and Bluetooth, so you have the option to either connect manually with Bluetooth or to simply touch your NFC-enabled device to the “N” mark. I chose to use Bluetooth to stream music and connection was swift and stable every time. The left earcup houses the power/pairing button, as well as connections for the included USB-C charging cable and the 3.5mm headphone cable. Plugging the audio cable in immediately breaks the Bluetooth connection, but you can still use the headphones in active ANC and ambient listening modes. If you’re trying to conserve battery life or the headphones are out of juice, you can also listen in wired, passive mode, though some of the bass response and high-frequency clarity suffers.
Case for Sony WHCH710N/WHCH700N Wireless Bluetooth XANAD Hard Case for Sony WHCH710N/WHCH700N Wireless Bluetooth
That said, they're about half the price of Sony's flagship headphones and while we didn't love the sound during our critical listening tests, they aren't any worse than many other non-HD headphones out there. Their long battery life was a huge boon that allowed us to go several days without needing to recharge them, which is definitely a selling point for people that can never remember to charge their cans. The Sony WH-CH710N sounds really good, and I enjoy using it, but it’s not perfect. This headset only gives a mild sort of emphasis to notes in the low end. Bass heads are probably better off with something like the Sony WH-XB910N since it has a much stronger low end. Lows, mids, and highs
The Sony WH-CH710N headphones feature three listening modes: Ambient Sound, Ambient Sound Off, and Noise Cancelling.
XANAD Case for Sony WH-CH710N / Sony WH-CH700N Noise
This, honestly, isn’t a huge deal. They weren’t meant to be on par with top-quality products in terms of sound, and they weren’t priced to be either. What the Sony WH-CH710N needed to do was sound good, because they’d be a waste of stellar features if they didn’t.On the right earcup you’ll find your basic control buttons for volume and play/pause, plus a button that controls noise cancellation and ambient sound, two features we’ll talk about more in a minute. You can hold the middle button to bring up your assistant, but you won’t be able to activate it just by saying ‘Hey Siri’ or ‘OK, Google’ as neither come built into the headphones. On the left earcup are a 3.5mm aux port, a power/paring button and USB Type-C port that’s used for charging. The oval-shaped earpads were soft, just not the kind of soft that you would expect from higher-quality products. The headband also felt a bit more rigid than I would have liked. These are mainly minor annoyances that didn’t take away from my overall experience. So for lows, the ANC is quite good, while for mids and highs it's merely decent. And keep in mind it does affect the audio slightly—with ANC on, expect increased bass depth and slightly higher overall volume levels. However, these differences are incredibly subtle. Ambient listening mode works well for conversing or hearing your surroundings without removing the headphones. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. See how we test. From my experiences, the AINC featured in the WH-CH710N works … to an extent. At normal listening volumes, it filters out some lower frequencies well. But some jarring noises still found their way into my listening experience. Like, say, the neighbor’s power tools during a weekend project. The noise cancellation dampened these sounds to a degree, but it was nothing like what I’ve grown accustomed to with more premium headphones. Our Take
Hard Case for Sony WH-CH720N Wireless Headset Bluetooth Noise
The mic offers decent intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we could understand every word we recorded, but there was some Bluetooth distortion fuzzing up the edges. The mic signal was strong, however, so despite the distortion, the words came through loud and (somewhat) clear. Conclusions The WH-CH710N are touted as noise-canceling headphones, but they don’t have active noise cancellation technology (ANC) like the WH-1000XM3. Instead, Sony implemented what’s essentially its second-tier, cheaper technology called Artificial Intelligence Noise Cancellation (AINC), which it said is designed to constantly adapt to the environment around it to create the most effective mode for noise cancellation.
While the soundstage does begin to feel somewhat claustrophobic as we move through the song, the headphones allow for a complex layer of high notes to build upon one another. Again, the mids can become somewhat lost in the mix, but there’s a good enough balance of bass and treble that it takes a closer listen to notice this detail. Should you buy the Sony WH-CH710N? Just as disappointing was the fact that their actual noise cancellation isn’t the best we’ve ever heard… or, er, not heard. It’s actually more like noise reduction than outright cancellation, and is nowhere near class-leaders like the Sony WH-1000XM3 or Bose 700. That's sort of expected at this price range - but if you need total silence, the WH-CH710N aren't going to give you that. So what, then, do they actually sound like? Well, our first impression of the Sony WH-CH710N’s sound quality was that it sounded energetic and easy-to-listen to. They didn’t overwhelm us with bass (they're not part of Sony’s Extra Bass series) and we thought we heard a clear midrange and rolled off highs. Bluetooth setup was routine and easy. The WH-CH710N also supports near-field communication ( NFC), where compatible devices can pair with the headphones by touching them to the left earcup. That was a breeze, too. After a week of extensive listening with these headphones paired to a Google Pixel 2, I didn’t have any notable connection issues. More than that, I found the range of these Bluetooth 5-supported headphones to be exceptional. Design There are five buttons in total built into the WH-CH710N. There’s a power button of the left earcup, three buttons representing volume and action commands aligned in a row on the right earcup, and a button for toggling between noise cancellation and ambient sound modes lower on that same right earcup. It involved a small learning curve to get used to the various buttons, but I was able to functionally use each one in no time. Features
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