The Sony WH-XB700 wi-fi is the latest entrant inside the corporation’s range of Extra Bass headphones. The XB700 takes their area near the decrease mid-variety within the fee variety and comes in at $ hundred thirty. The XB700 is a fairly simple pair of hi-fi headphones; you may tell that from their layout. They have a minimal, monochromatic layout without flashy elements or layout aptitude. The headphones are made almost entirely out of plastic with a matte, sandblasted finish at the ear cups and headscarf. While now not always reasonably priced-looking, it would not conceal the fact that this is a cheaper pair of headphones. They are also very lightweight due to their plastic construction.
The tiny ear cups have a swiveling design that turns ninety stages so they can lie flat to your chest while putting from your neck. The side headbands have a big Sony brand printed on both sides and are truly marked with L and R speakers. However, there are no bodily indicators apart from the buttons to help you figure out the left speaker from the proper in the dark. The scarf extends generously, and internally; you see the best-seen piece of metal protecting the inner band body. The headscarf on the top has been covered in gentle leatherette fabric, much like the flagship 1000XM3, even though not as dense.
Coming to reverse the ear cups, the XB700 has a supra-aural design, which means the ear cups relax in your ears rather than around them. The cushion seems fairly thick but isn’t always as dense as more pricey headphones. It’s blanketed in the identical leatherette cloth as the headband. Inside, a fine material covers the speaker grille. The controls are pretty simple and nicely laid out. On the right speaker are the volume buttons that also double up as playback controls. The play/pause button lets you pick up and cancel calls between them.
The different ear cups are a bit busier. There is a 3.5mm jack for plugging into the supplied audio cable to listen in stressed-out mode if your battery runs out. Then, there is a USB-C port for connecting the charger. Next to this is the power button and, finally, a button to invoke the voice assistant (you could select among your cellphone’s default assistants, Google Assistant or Alexa).
The XB700 is available in black and blue colorations. Both have a matte finish, except for the speaker grille located on the pinnacle of the ear cups, wherein it is sleek. The blue version uses a brighter color of blue for the sleek bits and the Sony logos, which offers a greater two-tone appearance than the monotonous black variant. The pairing process with the headphones is reasonably easy. You can press and preserve down the energy button to go into pairing mode or use NFC to pair your Android smartphone. The XB700 works with the identical Sony Headphones Connect app with Sony’s different wi-fi headphones. Here, you may see your final battery, what audio codec it’s miles using, update the firmware, and alter a gaggle of audio functions.
The sound features include various surrounding outcomes, including an arena, club, doors degree, and live performance corridor. You can can also alter the bass level and the sound’s position around your head. The actual cause of the latter has continually eluded me, but it is a fab effect nonetheless. There’s additionally DSEE, which is Sony’s upsampling characteristic for improving the sound of compressed audio documents; however, I do not have sufficiently compressed files, or the feature would not do a lot as it’s impossible to tell the difference between it being on or off.
As I have enumerated in my previous Sony wi-fi headphone evaluation, the main hassle with those outcomes is that they only work if you pick SBC as your codec. If you pick out any of the higher great formats, which in the case of the XB700 is aptX, all the capabilities get turned off (besides DSEE, which would not do plenty, anyway). This makes them fairly needless, and I’m not, positive hy Sony about cannot or might not make them work outside of SBC.
