Sony WF-XB700 – A Quick Review
Sony has launched its first True Wireless Stereo earphones in India. At an online event today, they announced WF-XB700 and WF-SP900N. The WF-XB700 is priced at Rs 9990 and I have been using these earphones as my daily drivers for little over a week now. Here is a quick summary of my thoughts and experience with the Sony WF-XB700.
XB700 Charging Case
XB stands for Extra bass and this is a product is made exclusively for the music lovers who are specifically into genres like EDM, Hiphop, etc… THe earphone like any other TWS comes with a charging case. The case is made of good quality plastic. The lid is a translucent material and it supports USB-C port. It does not have wireless charging. There is one LED indicator in the case to show the charge status. It is available in Blue and Black color variants. The lids feels premium, but a little big in size compared to other TWS cases in the market right now. But the size is big to accommodate the large TWS buds.
XB700 TWS Buds
The XB700 TWS buds are larger than any average TWS you would find in the market. The only earbuds that can be potentially larger than the XB700 could probably be the Microsoft Surface buds. But the size is for a purpose. The TWS has large BT antennas for a secure connection. Also, it has a 12 mm omnidirectional dynamic driver and on top of it, it has a battery that can last for over 9 hours. Now you would definitely need a large housing to fit all these techs. The earphones support SBC and AAC. If not LDAC, AptX or AptX HD support would have been a good touch in this budget.
Fitting
The TWS buds fit in the ear perfectly with its unique ergonomic tri-hold design. Once I had these locked in my ears, I was comfortably able to complete 1000 rope jumps, 50 jumping jacks and 20 min on treadmill, without having to adjust the grip. That was how well the earphones fit me. As these earphones are IPX4 certified, sweat or water would not damage it. But wearing it for long might cause mild discomfort in the ears.
Sound Quality
The bass is punchy and deep. The rich and tight bass is not overpowering and the earphones take the natural route of the music and enhance the experience, without altering the lower frequencies artificially. The spacial sound is also felt, thanks to the large 12mm driver. The vocals were clear and the high notes were crisp. The mic is a bit over sensitive and it picks up every single noise in the background. If you are taking the call from indoors these earphones are good, but if you are on the road, the absence of CVC or dual mic for noise-canceling will be felt by the person on the other end. But you can hear them crisp and clear. Sony is known for their unique sound signature with rich bass loved by mass consumers and the XB700 lives up to that reputation.
Battery
The TWS promises 9 hour of battery life and in my usage, I got over 11 hours on a single charge as I used it at 40-50% volume. The charging case was able to charge the case once completely and that makes it about 20 hours in total.
Price and availability
The XB700 is priced at Rs 9990 and will be available to buy from Sony center and Amazon online from today.
Verdict
The Sony WF-XB700 is a premium product built for the masses. It delivers excellent sound quality in an unique design package. There are others brands in the market which offer features like in-ear detection, pairing with case, app-integration and much more, for a fraction of this price. But none of them come close to the audio quality and music clarity delivered by Sony XB700.
