Sony WH-XB700: Xtra Bass Xtra Battery Xtra Features - Review
Sony recently launched the smaller sibling to the mighty WH-1000XM3. These were launched a while back and quickly became the industry leading headphones surpassing the segment king Bose QC35s. Now let us see if the smaller sibling will be able to dominate the category of budget premium headphones.
Sound Quality and Performance
Undoubtedly these headphones offer quite a lot of bass with a lot of thumping and vibration of ear-cups. It does offer a very thumping bass but it does not overpower the vocals especially the Mids. The highs are still a hit or a miss but the lows and mids make up well for it.
The Sony Connect app can be downloaded for iOS and Android via the app store or the play store and it can be used to tweak up the bass or tone it down to make the vocals be heard more clearly. It has a full-blown equalizer that can come in handy for listening to music in your own way with settings as you like. It comes with a dedicated button for a voice assistant that can be modified for either Alexa or Google Assistant but the iPhone users are in for a disappointment because the button cannot be recalibrated for Siri.
The ideal volume for listening is between 70-80 percent when the headphones are connected to your device wirelessly via Bluetooth.
The headphones get louder when connected with a 3.5mm jack wire either with a mobile or a laptop. The Bluetooth audio experience is similar but a little less loud.
The headphones will take about 3.5 hrs to charge from zero to a full hundred percent but provide a super battery life with 30 hours claimed by the company and close to 25 hours plus in real time. That is great even by audiophiles standard. If you listen to music on a stretch of at least an hour or two you will still have enough battery for the next two days. If you run out of juice, Charging the headset for 10 minutes should provide around 90 minutes of music playback
Design and Looks
The headphones boast a slick minimalistic design with a 40mm driver that has a swivel mechanism that helps to turn the drivers at up to 90 degrees for easy traveling and storage.
It has a matte black slick finish with brushed aluminum adjusting mechanism along with good quality, premium feeling leather ear-cups and headband that feel light on the head.
The ear cups come with minimal buttons and a USB-C port which is a blessing even though it may not feel like one in 2019 considering everything is USB-C. It can give you a playing time of an hour and a half on a charge of just 30 minutes.
On the right ear-cup, we have the usual volume increase/decrease button and the pause/play button which also doubles as a call receiver, these are arranged in a rectangular piece joined together.
The left ear-cup is where the major buttons are housed with the On/Off button and the custom button which can be changed to either Alexa or Google Assistant via the app and ports like the 3.5mm headphone jack and the USB-C port accompanied by a tiny microphone for ambient sound.
The face of the left ear cup also has the NFC logo which denotes its presence, with a single tap you can connect your Android Smartphones and it also has a hands free mic calling which makes it even harder to resist.
Should You Buy One?
Sony has led the market with the All-Star WH-1000XM3 and now for audiophiles looking for a good option under INR 10000, are in for a good deal with the WH-XB700. They retail at INR 7990 and for that price, they offer above average bass and good vocals that pair up to be a good overall package you can buy. Bass heads are in for a treat and if you are unsure about the bass, check these out for yourself at stores rather than buying online. If not completely satisfied with WH-XB700 you can look for alternatives like Skullcandy Crusher Wireless and the Sennheiser HD 4.4 BT.
