Click To Buy From Sony.com
Click To Buy From Sony.com
Click To Buy From Sony.com
Click To Buy From Sony.com
So these are the Sony WF-C700N, and these are Sony’s newest entry level ANC earbuds. Now personally I think these are the most comfortable earbuds sony has mad so far cause the WF-C700N have a very sleek sculpt to them. But today we’re going to see how the Sony WF-C700N stacks up to Sony’s other earbuds like the WF-C500, Linkbuds S, and WF-1000XM4’s.
Now when it comes to pricing, the WF-C500’s have a retail price of $100, the WF-C700N have a retail price of $120. The Linkbuds S have a retail price of $200 and the WF-1000XM4’s have a retail price of $280. Now Sony’s earbuds like to go on sale on a regular basis, but I do have to point out that the WF-1000XM4’s are the oldest earbuds here and I feel that their successors will be out in the summer of 2023. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about these cases, cause the WF-C500 and WF-C700N have one style and the Linkbuds S and WF-1000XM4 have another style. Now both the WF-C500’s and WF-C700N have cylindrical clam shell cases… but the WF-C700N’s case is a little smaller. Its a little shorter and its a little thinner. But then there are the linkbuds S and WF-1000XM4’s which have a more traditional case. Now the WF-C700N’s case is small and it isn’t super noticeable when its in your pocket… but these other cases are just less noticeable when they’re in your pocket. But you do have to keep in mind that the XM4’s are the only earbuds here that actually have wireless charging. Unfortunately, sony is keeping wireless charging for their most premium earbuds… cause there are plenty of mid tier earbuds out there that have wireless charging.
Now when it comes to battery life, the WF-C500’s have an advertised combined battery life of 20 hours. The earbuds can go for 10 hours and the case can supply 1 additional charge. But then there are the WF-C700N’s which also have an advertised combined battery life of 20 hours… but that’s with their active noise cancelation turned off. With their active noise cancelation turned on, they have a combined battery life of 15 hours.
But then there are the Linkbuds S which have an advertised combined battery life of 20 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on and with their active noise cancelation turned off, they can go for as long as 27 hours. And finally there are the XM4’s which have an advertised combined battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on, and with their active noise cancellation turned off, they can go for as long as 36 hours, which is way above average.
So obviously, as you go up Sony’s product lineup, you’re going to have better battery life, and your case size to battery life ratio is going to improve as well. But nonetheless, I do think that Sony’s earbuds in general are good for retail workers or for drivers, cause their earbuds have really good stamina on a single charge. Especially if you use them with their active noise cancelation turned off.
But now lets talk about fit. Now all of these earbuds are standard fitting in ear earbuds, as in they all go into your ear canals a decent amount. These aren’t shallow fitting in ear earbuds like with the Beats Studio buds, AirPods Pro 2 or Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. So the good thing about these sony earbuds is that they offer better lock down than shallow fitting in ear earbuds. And personally, I think the WF-C700N’s have the fit here, cause their sleeker sculpt to them just rests more comfortably in the bowl of your ear. But the most important thing that I have to point out here is that the WF-C500’s, WF-C700N, and Linkbuds S all come included with silicon ear tips, as they should. But the WF-1000XM4’s only come included with foam ear tips. Now these foam ear tips are meant to provide more lock down and they are meant to passively block out more noise… but personally these foam ear tips get super itchy very quickly. I can only wear these earbuds for 15 minutes before I have to rip them out of my ears. So I really hope that the successors to these will have silicon ear tips included in the box, like their predecessors did.
Now when it comes to connectivity, with all of these earbuds, each earbud establishes a connection with your phone. So if you just want to use one earbud at a time, you can use either one, it doesn’t matter, and this is the connection set up that we expect to see on all of our earbuds nowadays.
But something that is really cool, that is now available on both the WF-1000XM4’s and Linkbuds S, and its coming soon to the WF-C700N’s through a firmware update which is due out in the summer of 2023, is that these earbuds can be simultaneously connected to any two bluetooth devices… which is great if you’re a power user that has devices from different eco systems. But also, for right now it looks like the WF-C500’s can only be connected to one device at a time.
But when it comes to overall performance all of these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device, but when it comes to audio codecs, both the WF-C500 and WF-C700N only have support for SBC and AAC, which is very standard for entry level earbuds… but both the Linkbuds S and WF-1000XM4’s have support for SBC, AAC and LDAC which is Sony’s own high res audio codec.
Just keep in mind that if you want to take advantage of LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC… and if you do decide to use LDAC, that is going to take an additional toll on the battery life.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these earbuds. Now the C500, C700N’s, Linkbuds S and WF-1000XM4 are all better suited for someone who likes a bass heavy sound signature cause these earbuds do like to lean towards a warmer sound signature. But definitely, both the linkbuds s and WF-1000XM4’s sound better than the C500’s and C700N’s. The bass on the C500’s C700N’s can roll off a little bit and it can over power the rest of your music… and the highs on these earbuds can get tinny at times. Where as the bass on both the Linkbuds and WF-1000XM4’s is much cleaner and when it starts to resonate… it doesn’t roll off. And more importantly, the highs on these earbuds don’t get distorted. Now yes, both the linkbuds S and WF-1000XM4’s do have better instrument separation than these other two earbuds… but these earbuds still sound a little narrow cause they mainly prioritize the vocals and bass. Instrumentals don’t really have all that much room to shine here. Now all of these earbuds do connect to Sony’s app and you can customize their EQ… and if you’re someone that like a more neutral or vocals focused EQ… then both the Linkbuds S and WF-1000XM4’s can get the job done if you lower their bass and raise the mids and treble… but since the instrument separation on these earbuds isn’t the best… they can still leave you wanting more. Overall like I said, the C500’s and C700N’s sound good enough to get job done if you like a more bass heavy sound signature… and both the Linkbuds S and WF-1000XM4’s are also better suited for someone who likes a more bass heavy sound signature… but these two more premium earbuds do perform better than the entry level earbuds here cause their bass doesn’t roll off and their highs don’t get distorted.
Now when it comes to your media controls, both the C500’s and C700N’s are using physical buttons… where as both the linkbuds s and WF-1000XM4’s are using touch pads. Now in general, the touchpads on these earbuds are easy enough to use and they’re very accurate. But I know some people are just going to want physical buttons with their earbuds.
However, the linkbuds s and wf-1000XM4’s have proximity sensors on them, so they will automatically play and pause your music when you take them out of your ears and put them back in. Where as these other two earbuds don’t. And personally, I do feel that not have proximity sensors on your earbuds is rather inconvenient.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds. Now obviously, as you move up Sony’s product lineup, you’re going to have better active noise cancellation. Now right now when it comes to ranking, Cause right now when it comes to overall ranking, the AirPods Pro 2 are currently my number one ANC earbuds, closely followed by the Bose QC Earbuds 2, right below them are the Momentum 3’s, below them are the WF-1000XM4’s, below them are the Linkbuds S, below them are the Jabra Elite 85T’s, Below them are the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s, below them are the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, and below them are the Pixel Buds Pro.
Now below the Pixel Buds Pro are the Sony WF-C700N, below them are the jabra elite 4’s, below them are the beats studio buds, below them are the Galaxy Buds 2, and below them are the Sennheiser CX plus. But like I said, as you move up Sony’s product line up, you’re going to have better active noise cancelation.
Now even though the WF-1000XM4’s block out a little more noise than the linkbuds S… and that’s partly cause the foam ear tips on these earbuds cause they passively block out more noise than silicon ear tips… for me they get super itchy very quickly. So personally, I prefer to the linkbuds S over the WF-1000XM4’s when it comes to active noise cancelation on.
But like I have mentioned in the past, I only use the active noise cancellation on my earbuds when I have to, and what’s really important to me is the quality of their ambient mode. Now all of these earbuds have an ambient mode… except for the WF-C500’s. Nonetheless, all of these earbuds have good sounding ambient modes and you can adjust them to your liking… but I do feel the WF-1000XM4’s have the best ambient mode here cause it sounds the most natural and their microphone array does the best job here of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors.
Mic XM4 Quite Room
But finally here’s the microphone test. And in general, sony has always struggled with their microphones on their products… but they have been getting better.
Mic C500 quite
Now in general, these microphones sound decent enough to take phone calls with while in a quite room.
Mic Linkbuds S quite
But I can still sound a little robotic, and they aren’t super focused on my voice.
Mic C700N Quite
But I do feel that Sony’s newest earbuds here have the best sounding microphone.
Mic C700N Road Noise
Now when it comes to blocking out noise pollution, the C700N are trying to reduce this road noise… but there is some interference with my voice.
Mic Linkbuds S Road Noise
Now I think the Linkbuds S are doing a slightly better job of dealing with this noise pollution and they are interfiring a little less with my voice.
Mic C500 Road Noise
Where as with the C500’s these are trying to reduce this road noise, but they are really pushing my voice down.
Mic XM4’s Road Noise
And finally there are the XM4’s which are also pushing my voice down, and there’s some static in the background when I talk.
Mic XM4 Chatter
Now when it comes to blocking out chatter, these are doing a better job, but my voice is still getting pushed down.
Mix C500 Chatter
Where as with the C500’s my voice is a lot more prominent, but you can still here a decent amount of chatter in the background.
Mic Linkbuds S Chatter
And then there are the Linkbuds S which are blocking out a lot of chatter… but there is some interface going on with my voice.
Mic C700N Chatter
And finally there are the WF-C700N which are letting in some more chatter than the Linkbuds S… but there’s less interference going on with my voice. Overall, I think these microphones are decent enough to take phone calls with while in a quite room, but sony still has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to their microphones.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between any of these earbuds, here is my break down. The Sony WF-C500’s are a decent pair of earbuds that get the job done. But if you can, I highly recommend that you spring for the WF-C700’s cause this way you’re going to get active noise cancelation, an ambient mode, multi pairing support, a better fit and a slightly smaller case. Now when it comes to choosing between the Linkbuds S and WF-1000XM4’s… obviously I am going to say to go with the Linkbuds S cause personally, I can’t handle the foam ear tips that come with the XM4’s… but also, I recommend that you get the Linkbuds S over the XM4’s as of mid 2023, cause the successors for the XM5’s are coming soon. But the one thing the XM4’s have over the Linkbuds S is the battery life, the XM4’s are a monster when it comes to battery life.