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So these are the Sony WH-CH720N, now personally I am very excited to make this video for multiple reasons. First off, I used to love the Sony WH-CH700N’s… but when the WH-CH710N’s came around, they were an all around disappointment. They got the job done… but there were so many downgrades to them. But now, there are the WH-CH720N’s which I feel have redeemed Sony… and I will admit, when I first unboxed these headphones, I was a little disappointed and unimpressed. But now, the WH-CH720N’s have managed to win me over.
Now first lets talk about price. Now both the WH-CH700N and the WH-CH710N’s used to have a retail price of $200… but they would routinely go on sale for $150 and if not a little less on major shopping holidays. But now the WH-CH720N’s have a retail price of $150… so I guess it is safe to assume that they will go on sale for around $130 on a regular basis and maybe a little less on shopping holidays. Nonetheless, I do like and recommend the WH-CH720N at $150… but if you find them on sale, I would jump on the opportunity.
Case
Now first lets talk about the case… unfortunately, the WH-CH720N’s still don’t come included with any type of carrying case. And I do feel that this is unfortunate, cause there are many entry level ANC headphones that either come included with carrying pouches… or they come included with hard shell cases. So if you do plan on traveling with these headphones, or if you plan on using them while at the gym… then I do recommend that you invest in a hardshell case.
Design
But now lets talk about the headphones themselves. Build quality wise, these headphones really surprised me. Initially I thought that they would be fragile just cause of how light weight they are… but I have found that they are fairly durable… but more importantly, they have noticeably better build quality then their predecessors. With the 710N’s… these body panels would constantly wiggle and there would just be a lot of squeaking anytime that you handled these headphones. Where as this wasn’t an issue with the 700N’s and this isn’t an issue with the 720N’s. Now the 720N’s still have a mostly plastic body… but the 720N’s have gone back to using a smooth plastic unlike the textured plastic that you’ll find on the 710N’s. But more importantly, the leatherette on the 720N’s feels much better than the leatherette found on the 710N’s. I felt that the leatherette on the WH-CH710N’s felt rough and corse, and it got everywhere… and after awhile, this leatherette could get a little itchy. Where as the leatherette on the 720N’s is back to feeling smooth and a little supple, and I feel that its leatherette feels a little better than the leatherette found on the 700N. But overall, I am going to have to say that the build quality on the 720N’s is much better than on the 710N’s… and looks wise, the 720N’s look much sleeker than the 700N.
Fit
And when it comes to fit… these headphones fit great. When it comes to clamping force, these headphones have a neutral fit to them. As in they aren’t too tight but they also don’t have a loose fit to them… but regardless they are big head approved cause I can wear them for hours on end without any problems… and since their headband extends a lot, they fit well with hats as well. But another reason as to why these headphones are so comfortable is cause of their light weight. The 720N’s weigh in at 192 grams… which is super light weight. Where as the 710N’s weigh in at 223 grams and the 700N weigh in at 240 grams. Now for context all of these headphones are light weight cause the XM5’s weigh in at 250 grams and the XM4’s weigh in at 254 grams… and I would also consider those to be light weight as well. But with the 720N’s with these things weighing as little as 192 grams… it is just much eiser to forget that you’re even wearing these headphones when you’re sitting at your desk or walking around with them on. But another reason why these headphones are so comfortable is simply cause of their earpads. The earpads on the 720N’s are just as spacious and as deep as the earpads found on the 700N… meaning that they should fit most ear types, and even if you have really large ears or ears that stick out a lot, then the 720N’s should still have you covered. And this is a big deal, cause with the 710’s… yes these earpads have a big diameter to them… but they are very shallow. And even if you have average sized ears like I do… these earpads are going to press down on your ear cartilage which is going to get uncomfortable after while. So overall when it comes to fit… I really don’t have any critiques. They are big ahead approved cause they have a neutral amount of clamping force, they’re super light weight making them super easy to get that you have them on, their ear pads are much more spacious, their leatherette feels better, they rest very naturally on your head, and hot spots are never an issue cause their headband is very well padded.
Battery Life
But now lets talk about tech specs, the WH-CH720N’s have an advertised battery life of 35 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on, and with their active noise cancelation turned off, they have an advertised battery life of 50 hours. Now this advertised battery life of 35 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on is the same for both the 710N and 700N… however, the 720N’s being able to go for 50 hours with their ANC turned off is an improvement over its two predecessors cause they max out at 40 hours.
Now in general, the 720N’s having an advertised battery life of 35 hours with their ANC turned on is really good.. but it would have been cool if they were upgraded to the 40 hour mark. But regardless, battery life on the WH-CH720N is really good. Now when it comes to charging these headphones, they charge via a USB C port… as they should. But this is something worth pointing out cause if you have the 700N’s which still charge via a micro usb port… I think this is another reason worth upgrading.
However, something that did get upgraded on the 720N’s is their fast charging. If you were to plug these headphone in for 3 minutes from a dead battery, they are going to get you one hour of playback time. Where as with its predecessors, 10 minutes would only get you 1 hour. Now there are plenty of other headphones out there with better fast charging numbers… but the fast charging on the 720N’s has been improved.
bluetooth
But a major new feature that has finally made its way to the WH-CH720N is multipoint connectivity. Meaning that these headphones can finally be connected to two devices at the same time, which is really good if you’re a power user that wants to use your phones with your phone and your computer… and they don’t necessarily have to be in the same eco system.
Now this is a big deal cause neither of these headphone’s predecessors do this… and this has been a feature that has been missing on Sony’s headphones for awhile now. They are litterly one of the last big companies to finally get this right.
Now in order to turn this feature on, you have to go into their app and activate it. But the weird this is, you’re going to get a prompt saying that if you want to use this feature, you’re going to have to sacrifice LDAC. Now LDAC is Sony’s higher quality audio codec that found on their more premium headphones. But the thing is… these headphones don’t have LDAC, I already checked. They top at AAC. So this could just be a glitch. So if you want to use multipoint connectivity, you have to go into the app and turn it on and you can ignore that prompt about LDAC.
But when it comes to overall performance, these headphones have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… and when it comes to audio codecs, these headphones have support for SBC, and AAC. And whether you’re an iPhone user or an android user, AAC is going to work perfectly fine.
Sound
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these headphones. For starters I am going to have to say that these headphones sound like your typical Sony headphones. As in they sound good enough to get the job done and they have a decent amount of physicality in their bass so they are going to rattle your head a little bit. However, instrument separation on these headphones isn’t the best cause instrumentals can be a a little hard to pick out and the highs don’t have the best clarity. With these its mostly vocals and bass. But don’t get me wrong, they sound good and they get the job done.
However, the most important thing about these headphones is that they no longer have a super bass heavy EQ and they connect to Sony’s app again, meaning that you can adjust their EQ to your liking. Cause with the 710N’s, personally I never really liked these headphones cause they had a super bass heavy stock EQ. So they sounded super shallow. And if you were going to use these headphones to watch movies with, you would have to use them at max volume cause if not, you couldn’t hear what people were saying. But what I really didn’t like about these headphones is that sony removed their app compatibility. So you couldn’t go in and fix their EQ. And I still don’t know why sony removed the app support on the 710N’s cause the 700N’s did have app support. But more importantly, Sony brought that app support back to the 720N’s… so now you can go in and adjust their EQ to your liking and you can have different EQ setting for different listening situations. But like I said, these headphones do sound a little narrow and the highs don’t have the best clarity and detail to them… however these headphones do sound good enough to get the job done, and if you’re someone that likes to feel the bass in your music… then these will be able to deliver.
Now when it comes to your media controls, these headphones have physical buttons. You can easily adjust the volume, you can skip through your music and these buttons are easy to find and they have a satisfying click to them. But I will admit that I still miss the toggle switch that was found on the 700N.
Active Noise Cancelation
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones. Now the active noise cancelation on the 720N’s has been improved from its predecessors… but its not a huge leap. But the important thing is their active noise cancelation has zero cabin pressure, there’s zero static in the background and it doesn’t affect how your music sounds and their microphone array does a really good job of blocking out wind noise. But lets just jump into the ANC Test.
ANC test
So like you may have just seen the 720N’s block out a decent amount of noise for a pair of entry level ANC headphones… but if you were to invest in Sony’s more premium headphones… then they will block out more noise. However, the 720N’s are doing a much better job of blocking out more low frequency sounds like road noise than both of its predecessors… and they are also doing a better job of blocking out the amount of noise from the high end when blocking out chatter. So overall, yes I will say that the 720N’s block out more noise than both the 710N’s and 700N’s. And the ANC on these headphones can be useful on your bus ride commute, at the gym, or if you’re in the cafeteria. However, if you want to block out more noise, you should invest in a more premium pair of headphones and personally I wouldn’t fly with these cause they will let in a lot of Airplane noise.
Ambient Mode
But then there’s the ambient mode on these headphones. Now for starters the 700N’s don’t have an ambient mode… all you can do is use them with their ANC turned off. Now the 710N’s do have an ambient mode… but you can’t adjust it. But then there’s the ambient mode on the 720N. Now with these you can adjust he ambient mode on your headphones to your liking. And in general, the ambient mode on these headphones sound much more natural than the ambient mode found on the 710N’s. And like I mentioned earlier, the microphone array on these headphones does a really good job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors. Just keep in mind, this ambient mode lets in everything. The Ambient Mode on the WH-CH720N doesn’t actively block out sudden loud sounds like with the ambient mode found on the XM4’s or AirPods Pro 2.
MIC TEST
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now sony has always struggled with their microphones on their headphones for phone calls.
However, with the 1000XM5’s… sony finally saw some major improvements with their microphones for phone calls.
And I have to say, the microphone on the Sony WH-CH720N is better than the microphones on its predecessors… specifically, this microphone is doing a better job of focusing on my voice.
However, when it comes to blocking out noise pollution… this microphone is still struggling. Cause here you can hear a lot of road noise in the back ground.
And with the 710N’s you can also hear a lot of road noise in the background… if not more than the 720N’s
And with the 700N, you can hear a lot of road noise in a background and you can bearly even hear my voice.
And its the same thing when it comes to blocking out chatter, you can bearly even hear me.
Now with the 710N’s you can hear me a little better… but I still definitely wouldn’t take phone calls with the microphone.
And then there’s the 720N’s which don’t sound amazing… but this is an improvement from the 710N’s. So overall, I would say that the microphone on the WH-CH720N’s is good enough to take phones calls with while in a quite room… but I wouldn’t take phone calls with them if there’s a lot of noise pollution around.
Verdict
But with all of that being said…personally I really like the Sony WH-CH720N’s, I feel that sony has redeemed themselves after what they did with the 710N’s… but I also feel that sony really needed to make things right cause the entry level ANC headphone market is very competitive.
Overall, the Sony WH-CH720N are very easy for me to recommend cause they have much better build quality and their predecessors, they fit great cause they are super light weight, and they have very spacious ear pads again, they have great battery life with improved fast charging, and they now have multipoint connectivity. And Sound Quality wise, these headphones sound good enough to get the job done, but the important thing is that they now have an adjust EQ again… so you’re not stuck with a super bass heavy EQ like you were with the 710N’s. Now even though the 720N’s have improved active noise cancelation from its predecessors… don’t expect them to block out a ton of noise. And their microphone for phone calls is so so. Overall, I think the WH-CH720N’s are a decent pair of daily driver headphones… or they can be a great option for the gym. The only thing that I still wish that these headphones came with was a case of some sort.