Alongside their premium products, Sony have an incredible habit of producing top notch audio products at an affordable price too. Let’s see if the Sony WF-C710N True Wireless Earbuds do the same.
Clear sound, clear calls, clear design
Retailing at £99.99, the WF-C710N are available today from Sony’s official website.
Design
The Sony WF-C710N are available in 4 different colours. If you’re after a traditional looking earbud that looks like every other one on the market, go for the White, Black or Pink options. However, if you want to hark back to those transparent PlayStation controllers of the past, the Glass Blue option is for you and it’s certainly striking. It reminds me a little of the PS4 Pro 500 Million Edition I was fortunate to own a few years back and I’m all for it. some may find they look a little like a toy, but for me personally they look awesome. Earbuds so often all have the similar designs so it’s a nice touch to have a slightly out there option.
Upon unboxing we have the WF-C710N earbuds in their case, a very short USB-C cable, instruction manuals and the option of 3 different sized ear tips. I was very kindly sent the Glass Blue transparent version so my photos and thoughts will be on this colour. Which let’s be honest is the only one people are choosing…right?!
The transparent case housing the earbuds has an incredibly smooth glossy texture. It slides in and out of your pocket easily, yet isn’t slippery to hold at all. Thankfully this doesn’t seem to be a fingerprint magnet either which is nice. On the top of the case is a subtle Sony logo, with a charging / battery led indicator on the front. Whilst on the back there is the USB-C port and a Bluetooth pairing button.
Opening the case and picking up the earbuds themselves they have that same smooth glossy feel. The fit and seal provided is really good. I never found them moving, falling out or breaking the seal. Even when out and about walking and running. The overall build quality feels really good as you’d expect from Sony. Time will tell how well the clear plastic holds up to scratches but the short period I’ve had them for testing has been really promising.
Weighing approximately 5.2g for each earbud, comfort is excellent on the WF-C710N. I could happily wear them all day without any discomfort at all.
With an IPX4 rating, this offers protection from splashes of water / rain as well as light sweat if using in the gym.
Control
Download the excellent Sony Sound Connect app to get the most out of your WF-C710N earbuds.
This is where you’ll find all the usual features we have become accustomed to nowadays from Sony. These include:
- Active noise cancellation
- Ambient sound mode
- Adaptive sound control
- Multipoint connection
- 360 reality audio
- DSEE (Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine)
- Graphic Equaliser
- Wear detection
- Quick attention mode
The app is also where you can adjust how you control the earbuds. Touch controls are excellent, with an ever so slightly concave nature to the touch surface making them easy to find and operate. My only real complaint here is the way you control volume adjustments. Normally you touch and hold to raise and lower the volume. On the WF-C710N however, you have to repeatedly tap the earbud and after 4 taps the volume then starts to adjust. This is not the most comfortable experience and often feels like you’re hitting the earbud into your ear canal. Not really sure why the touch and hold method was overlooked here. The expression “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” comes to mind a little!
Quick attention mode is a really useful feature I find myself using on a lot of earbuds and ANC headphones. It enables the transparent ambient sound mode by touching and holding one earbud. Allowing quick on the fly conversations. This works well once activated, however there is a noticeable delay before it does activate. So much so I find it easier and quicker to take an earbud out, thus enabling the auto pause/play function instead.
Outside of these 2 niggles, controlling the WF-C710N is a breeze and the features available at this price point when paired with the Sony Sound Connect app are excellent.
Equaliser
Along with some preset EQs, there is a 5 band EQ on the app, enabling you to tweak the sound to your personal taste. I love tinkering and dialling in that sound using equalisers and I would love to see the 10 band EQ, which is available on the new premium WH-1000XM6, made available across the range. This would really set Sony apart from their competitors.
Connection
Sony says the WF-C710N can manage 8.5 hours battery life with ANC on and an impressive 12 hours with ANC off from a single charge. With the case they can reach a pretty solid 30 hours with ANC on and 40 hours with ANC off. In testing I managed to get a little more than the stated numbers. For example, I easily passed 9 hours with ANC on. There isn’t a wireless charging option, however there is fast-charging. A quick 5-minute charge will give you 1 hour of runtime. With a full charge of the earbuds taking about 1.5 hours and a full charge of the case taking 3.5 hours. Charging is done via the supplied USB-C cable.
The WF-C710N have Bluetooth version 5.3. Supporting the SBC and AAC codecs. Unfortunately, there is no aptX support or higher res Sony LDAC support. This is a bit of shame. I know these aren’t high end but the drivers are more than capable and LDAC support is available on similarly priced earbuds from other manufacturers like the Nothing Ear for example.
Sound and Performance
The WF-C710N feature compact 5mm dynamic drivers. Out of the box sound is a little on the dark side. No, not in the Star Wars sense! By dark I mean there is more emphasis on the lower end, meaning less on the mid-range and even less on the slightly rolled off higher end. This is easily fixed using the 5 band EQ though. Once tinkering a little to get a sound that is more to my taste these little earbuds are mightily impressive for their price.
I set about putting the WF-C710N earbuds through their paces. I always start by testing using songs I listen to regularly. This familiarity means I can easily hear any nuances or missing frequencies as I have a mental reference of the way the song should sound.
Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar soundtrack is a particular favourite of mine and the Sony’s delivered much more than I was expecting. Listening to the building nature of Mountains, then No Time for Caution followed by the incredible Coward, the WF-C710N portray all the intensity and drama you could want. Piano notes are beautifully haunting while organ notes are dramatic yet delicate when needed. The sense of theatre offered takes you right back to that thrilling docking scene without even watching it.
In good timing these Sony earbuds were sent out to me just as Wolf Alice released their highly anticipated new album The Clearing. The WF-C710N again didn’t disappoint. Bloom Baby Bloom has a chaotic energy that is portrayed superbly. Ellie’s raspy voice at the bridge comes through as raw as ever. Head straight into the chorus and her voice is beautifully angelic. Vocally the Sony’s offer excellent warmth and timbre. Moving onto Safe in the World the snare drum hits wonderfully throughout. With high end cymbals coming across lively yet never overdone. While I couldn’t help thinking the ending of Bread Butter Tea Sugar is something ELO would be proud of, the WF-C710N yet again display a great sense of musicality we’ve come to expect from Sony. The strings and harmonies are natural and expressive.
In summary, lows have incredible punch and weight, whilst maintaining impressive detail throughout the frequency. Something often only found in higher end earbuds. Mids offer excellent warmth and clarity. Whilst highs are clear and crisp yet never strident.
If I was to be nitpicky, I would like a little more in both the middle and high frequencies. Just so the tuning isn’t as dark. But honestly, at this price it is quite incredible what is on offer here.
Active Noise Cancellation
Sony have become synonymous for their ANC in all their earbuds and headphones. For under £100 I wasn’t expecting class leading performance and these don’t have that. But they seriously punch above their price in this category. They may not quite reach the noise cancelling levels of their premium sibling the WF-1000XM5, but those are more than double the price. What I can safely say is that I haven’t heard better ANC at this price point. Low end rumbles are excellently cancelled out, while midrange and high frequencies are dealt with really well. The new dual noise sensor is a welcome addition to help with this. Honestly, anyone looking to spend around this amount on a set of earbuds won’t be disappointed with the ANC performance.
Microphone
Call and microphone quality on the WF-C710N is also improved. Thanks to wind noise reduction structure around the mics and Sony’s excellent precise voice pickup technology. Calls are clear, with voice pickup being really good, even in noisy windy environments. Earbuds are never going to blow you away with their microphone performance and they certainly aren’t as good as higher end models. But remember the price point and these are more than accomplished.
Final Thoughts
In summary, the Sony WF-C710N are an excellent addition to the earbud market. In fact, they’re more than that. They’re quite simply superb for the price!
In my opinion if you have around £100 to splash on some new earbuds, I wouldn’t be looking anywhere else. With excellent all-round performance sonically. Great ANC and a funky new transparent design. The Sony WF-C710N rightfully earn the Thumb Culture Platinum Award!
Disclaimer: A sample was received in order to write this review.
If you love all things tech and audio, feel free to check out some of our previous hardware reviews here.
