The WF-C700N might just be Sony’s genius move! Let’s delve into that. We’re going to compare these buds with the best alternatives at its price as well as the other Sony earbuds. But before that, let’s start with…

Battery Life

…battery life – because – this is a bit weird. We found that Sony claims that these have a battery life of 5 hours on their site, but that’s almost DEFINITELY a mistake. Because in our DHRME battery rundown test, the WF-C700N gave us a SOLID 8 hours on SBC and 7 hours on AAC with audio playing continuously at a comfortable volume – around 40% on the respective phones. So there’s good news on the buds, but with the case – not so much. We found that it could only hold just 2 charges before it completely drained. That might leave you reaching for the charger more often than you’d like. And there’s no wireless charging on board – because hey, corners had to be cut.

Build

Talking about cut corners, the case is portable and pocketable, but with its rounded design, it may not be the most comfortable thing in your skinny jeans pocket. We much prefer flat and thin over rounded and long.

You also get a pretty basic IPX4 water resistance rating, which is fine when you’re out in the rain and wind. Just don’t go out in tornadoes. Or in a desert. Or in a desert tornado.

Calls 

And when you’re outside, you might also want to make some calls to your loved ones. Or customer service. I’m not sure who you call.

When it comes to calls, the WF-C700N is definitely usable. Sony has stepped up its game in recent times with improved microphones, so you’ll sound clear and present on those important calls. Here are some microphone samples for you and longer ones will be added for our Icicle and Tested Patrons and YouTube members.

For mic samples, check out our video.

Controls

The WF-C700N comes with solid buttons. We love how big and easy-to-hit these buttons are. And buttons are always better than touch controls if you have gloves on or if you have wet hands. But there are a couple of observations we wanna share with you guys, which most other reviewers who are just reading specs won’t probably share.

1. We got a surprising number of false taps from these buds, sometimes while placing buds on a table or picking them up etc. And it’s surprising because with buttons we expect ZERO false taps. But you know this is fine – it’s not the end of the world.
2. Now we have the WF C500 which has the EXACT same kind of buttons. And you know what – the right button seems a bit harder to press than the left one. This was DEFINITELY not the case when we started with these buds. So – we’re not entirely sure how these physical buttons will hold up over time. 

But other than that, this is the standard Sony fare. Sony forces you to choose between two out of three sets of controls: Noise Cancelling Controls, Playback Controls and Volume Controls. Disappointing – since SO many other companies have figured out getting all three at once.

Sound

Now let’s talk about sound. If I were to summarise these in one word it would be – inoffensive. The stock tuning leans more towards an emphasis on the mid-bass. Out of the box, the tuning is ok but there’s way too much emphasis in the mid-bass region. I mean of the LinkBuds S, the WF C500 and the WF-1000XM4 – these have the most mid-bass. Which is saying something! However, sub-bass leaves something to be desired – and this is probably a limitation of the hardware here – there’s a 5mm driver on these. Thanks to the Sony Headphones connect app, you can work on EQing these with the 5-band EQ and ClearBass slider. We also found that these sounded a bit “boring” at lower volumes. Crank them up, though, and you’ll get a more enjoyable listening experience with the sound really opening up.

While pop and bass-heavy tracks might not be the WF-C700N‘s forte, they handle jazz surprisingly well, albeit with a less spacious soundstage. The treble isn’t the airiest or crispest, but it’s serviceable. And there’s some resolution loss because codec-wise, you’re limited to SBC and AAC. Overall these are fine for sound, but didn’t blow us away. We actually prefer every other Sony wireless earbuds to these. Well except the LinkBuds, because… there’s a transparent hole in the middle of those buds. Ok… let’s talk about transparency.

ANC and Transparency

These buds rank pretty high for transparency. We put it at Tier A – the same category as the LinkBuds S, but with a different frequency emphasis. For this price – this is as good as it gets. However, they do suffer from a significant amount of white noise, making it feel like there’s an AC running in a quiet room. Still, they outshine the XM4 on transparency – which just shows how fast transparency and ANC tech has been moving lately. 

As for the ANC though, it’s a whole different story. The WF-C700N‘s ANC is far worse than the LinkBuds S and it sits at a modest Tier D. Even the lower frequencies are not fully eliminated – and it’s clear that Sony’s using a not-so-great ANC chip on these.

Extras, Multipoint

In terms of extras, you get Google Fast Pair, which is great if you have multiple Android phones. But a cut corner is that there’s no in-ear sensor to automatically play or pause your audio automatically as you place or remove the buds. There’s no wireless charging as we mentioned earlier. There’s no multipoint at release, but Sony’s website promises that this is coming in the summer of 2023.

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Comparing with the competition

So which other buds would we consider at the price of about $120 at launch? Well there are many, but just let’s do 3 for now. The newly released Jabra Elite 4, the SoundCore Space A40 and the JBL Live Pro 2 are all competitors here – with better ANC chops. Controls are better on Jabra and JBL settles for AAC – no high quality codecs. SoundCore is a well-rounded device too.

Again though – we’ve said this before – and we’ll say it again – the Earfun Air Pro 3 is the strongest contender. They’re actually cheaper, sound good, do better at ANC AND transparency. They have wireless charging, are comfortable, better battery life, a better codec… just so much more. 

Sony’s lineup

And what about Sony’s other buds? Remember we said this at the start of the video? 

“The WF C700s might just be Sony’s genius move!”

Well the genius move is that Sony LinkBuds S look MUCH better when you compare them with the WF C700N. The ANC is WAY better, they sound better, come with bells and whistles like a wear sensor. BUT – there IS a significant price difference between the two. Almost twice the price – so these compromises might actually be worth it for some of you. 

We’re not going to do a full comparison of all of Sony’s older earbuds, however. Because we’ve already done that – Click here for that.

To buy or not to buy

So, in conclusion, the Sony WF C700N offers decent sound, good transparency, a comfortable fit, respectable call quality and a new password option. However, corners have been cut literally and physically, including the ANC experience which isn’t quite up to par with the competition. If you’re set on a Sony product at this price point, sure… consider the WF C700N. Otherwise, there’s a world of alternatives out there for you to explore.