Sony WF-C710N review: Brilliant for the budget

Back when I was growing up, Sony used to be the beginning, middle and end when it came to high-quality audio. The Walkman changed not just my life, but the lives of my entire generation.

These days, there’s a lot more competition, but Sony’s audio excellence remains. Case in point: For the past few weeks I’ve been using the WF-C710N wireless noise-cancelling earphones, and while they are still a far cry from the audio quality found in flagship premium headphones, the quality is impressive for their size.

These earbuds launched at $190 RRP, but Sony is selling them for $130 right now. That is exceptional value for the quality you get from these earbuds.

Not to mention, the transparent blue colour I was sent to review is easy the most interesting looking pair of headphones I’ve ever tested.

What is the WF-C710N offering?

The WF-C710N is Sony’s entry-level noise-cancelling earphones. They use dual microphones and Sony’s dual noise sensor technology to cancel external sound.

There’s also an ambient sound mode that offers a combination of sound playback while piping through the world around you. Sony’s Sound Connect app lets you customise just how much of the outside world you want to let in as well.

In fact, the Sound Connect app really showcases just how versatile these affordable earbuds are. You can customise the EQ to your liking, control multipoint connections and create your own unique audio profile.

You can also customise the control scheme, so each button press does exactly what you want it to do.

The WF-C710N has a 5 mm driver powering its audio plus Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) processing, giving it a surprisingly robust sound for such a small earbud.

The earbuds are rated IPX4 for water resistance, and promise up to 309 hours of battery life from the earbuds and the compact charging case. Sony has also packed in fast charging, which gives you an extra hour of playback from five minutes in the case.

What does the WF-C710N do well?

When I first pulled the C710N out of the box, paired them to my phone and put on my music, I was underwhelmed. The audio sounded flat, the bass lacked pop and the detail just didn’t seem to be there.

But then I set up the Sound Control app, and worked the earbuds through the personalised EQ quiz. It thoroughly changed the performance of these earbuds, giving a big boost to the bass and a more balanced approach to the mid-range and high end.

Listening to Powderfinger’s Vulture Street, for example, sounded completely different. There was a depth to the music that the default settings just couldn’t capture.

It was the same with Counting Crows’ latest album, Butter Miracle, the Complete Sweets! What originally sounded shallow and washed out suddenly had vibrancy.

The noise cancellation is solid, though nowhere near as impactful as a more premium set of headphones. Listening without noise-cancelling active next to the robot vacuum during its daily clean, the vacuum was loud and distracting. Switching to noise-cancelling, didn’t remove the sound entirely, but it did muffle the majority of the sound.

The battery life is robust. It’s not mind-blowing, but it gives you plenty of juice to get through a good solid listen, and is quick to recharge when you pop it back in the case.

What could the WF-C710N improve?

I didn’t love the fit of the WF-C710N. Having just reviewed the Skullcandy Method 360, which features small wings to secure the earbuds, I found the lack of anything similar on the Sony earbuds meant they were constantly falling out of my ears. I tried every sized silicon tip, but none offered a truly secure sit.

Don’t get me wrong — they stayed in place long enough while I was sitting still working at the computer. But when I walked around, started talking or chewing food, or moved my head too much, the C710N just popped right out of my ears.

I was also underwhelmed by the ambient sound mode. While there is a whopping 20 different levels of ambient sound to pass through, if there is anything actually playing through the earbud, it’s difficult to hear your surroundings.

In the Sony’s defence, this is a problem I find with most earbuds, even more premium priced models, so it’s not really a surprise.

Verdict

The WF-C710N is a pair of headphones trading on its value. The sound you get after you customise the EQ to your liking is truly impressive for a pair of earbuds under $130.

The noise cancellation is good, and a nice improvement for the price as well, but I wouldn’t suggest these if you really want to block out external sounds.

If you can afford a more premium pair of earbuds, from the AirPods 4 to Sony’s own WF-1000XM5, I’d recommend going for the more premium experience.

But if your budget is limited, these earbuds do an impressive job.

Behind the scenes

Specs comparison

To give an idea of just how good these earbuds are for the price, let’s compare them with the flagship ANC earbuds from Sony, as well as the AirPods 4 with ANC.

Tips and tricks

• As soon as you pick these earbuds up, install the Sony Sound Control app and work through the EQ customisation process. Trust me, it completely changes how these earbuds perform.
• The WF-C710N has a cool feature that lets you automate transitions between noise-cancelling and ambient sound mode based on your location or activity. It requires a bit of setup, but if you head to the Sound tab in the Sound Control app and make sure Adaptive Sound Control is active, you can customise it so that it switches to noise-cancelling mode when you’re commuting, but ambient sound mode when you get to the office.
• You can reprogram the touch controls of the earbuds. Each earbud has a touch sensor that offers a single, double or triple tap, as well as a long press. You can customise the action of each of those for each ear, so the left ear controls volume and the right ear controls track skipping if you like.

One more thing

It’s a subtle inclusion you probably won’t consciously notice, but there is a single, tiny protrusion on the top of the left earbud. This is to help people who are vision impaired – or anyone trying to put these on in the dark, really.

The small bump indicated that it was the top of the left earbud. If you’re trying to work out which earbud goes in which ear hole in the dark, feel for a small bump and let it guide your way.

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