A Year Later with Sony WF-C700N Review: Still a Worthy Earbuds with Noise Cancellation

These days, earbuds priced anywhere from RM 200-500 which claim to do everything great, don’t live up to such promises. This is where, as a reviewer, we step in, to find a product that does offer things that matter and performs equally well. In this Sony WF-C700N Review, we are going to address that this is one worth picking up in a heartbeat.

Sony WF-C700N Review

The Pill Shape Design is Cute

The Sony WF-C700N is a pretty cute-looking earbud in this pill shape dimension which I am a fan of. Despite being a mid-tier earbuds, Sony made sure that it doesn’t feel like one. It feels better. Constructed out of polycarbonate and comes in 4 different colours – we received the Minty Green colour, which I do like better than the Blue colour.

That said, the case, is pretty solid and closes well so that you won’t lose the earbuds out of nowhere while moving around. On the back, it has a USB-C port for charging and a button for pairing/resetting and such. Overall, this entire design would entice consumers who want cute shaped earbuds with them and a design that’s functional enough to hold comfortably in your hand.

Linkbud S-like Design and Comfort

Ever since Sony released the Linkbud S, they have been redesigning their earbuds to not just look better but to sit well when you wear them and have a comfortable listening experience. The Sony WF-C700N has a design that’s pretty familiar and close to the Linkbud S. Flat inside, so those who have a different ear shape, need not worry about the discomfort or the pressure it applies at certain areas of the ear. Sony calls this the Ergonomic Surface Design.

If you plan to use these earbuds for workouts and such, by all means, the IPX4 certification is proof that this can withstand such situations.

Sounds like a Sony Earbuds

Since it’s supposed to be a mid-tier earbuds, you won’t find a lot of those premium features here – which is fine. That said, here’s what the Sony WF-C700N comes with. It plays audio on SBC and AAC codec and with the support of DSEE which provides the richness to the compressed audio you listen to. It may not have support for LDAC but the earbuds make up for a better driver: a 5mm driver with a high-compliance Diaphragm.

How does this sound? Well, if you are looking for an all-rounder type of sound experience, these are it. With the default EQ, the earbuds have a nice bass response which is tastefully done and not disruptive to other elements of the songs. The mids are well pronounced and the highs are at a comfortable level with no sharp treble. We listened to Rascal (Superstar) by Tinashe, where the bass has a nice presence throughout, with a very clear vocal from Tinashe. The additional instruments and tones that appear at certain parts of the songs have good stereo separation and positioning. Very nice song to listen to with the C700N.

Following that, we gave Night Air by Jamie Woon a listen because I felt like it would be a good song. The beginning of the song upto 0:30 mark takes a front position and throughout the song, the instrument remains there. Jamie Woon’s vocal which is supposed to sound a tad dreamy has that effect whilst staying as clear as it can get. You can easily hear the clarity so well. The 3:12 mark is the best part of the song to examine the stereo presence with the instruments all slowly coming back one by one – you surely can enjoy and appreciate every detail as good as it can represent. The 4:21 mark in default EQ feels slightly heavier, which is okay. And as everything slowly fades, it ends beautifully.

Another song we enjoyed with these earbuds, Therapy from Tick Tick Boom… The guitar strumming with both Andrew Garfield’s and Vanessa Hudgens’s vocals gives you a good idea of where each part of the audio is positioned. Before the instruments kick in, you can hear the vocals being clear, and once the instruments kick in, you do lose a bit of the clarity in the vocals. The instruments, you surely can enjoy them very well.

After listening to it for a long, I must say that the Sony WF-C700N is a good bud for those who want to enjoy music that falls more in the mainstream realm. It’s that everyday earbuds where every music is going to sound good and nothing much to nitpick.

But the best part about this earbud, Sony gives you full control over the EQ. So, tune it however you want. I brought the bass down a little for a less thumping experience – which makes a huge difference with certain genres. Sony’s other EQ options are pretty good too – if you don’t want to tweak too much. Their Neutral is pretty good, though the treble is a bit sharp, which again, can be tweaked. One more thing, with the Find Your Equalizer feature, you can easily tweak these to your liking easily.

The NC is the Main Highlight

The biggest highlight about the Sony WF-C700N is the NC for sure. Boy, it works too well. Usually, many Noise-cancelling earbuds don’t offer Active features as they require powerful hardware to keep up with the environment and would drive up the price. But Sony’s one Noise Cancelling mode is tuned ideally to not give you a dizzy, nauseating experience as it is mild.

Once the music starts, the cancellation is fantastic – as all the external sounds are drowned. Despite being mild, it does a lot better than the Nothing ear (a) and other earbuds we have checked out at this price point.

With the Ambient mode, you have 20 levels of Ambient Sound you can set and an additional option for Voice Passthrough so that you can still listen to your music, and hear what the other person is saying without the need to remove it from your ears. It’s not up to Linkbud S or the XM Series but hey, it’s far better than any other earbuds here.

Other than That…

There are extra features to blend in well with your lifestyle – such as the ability to do Multilink with up to two devices, customizing the buttons to function up to your preferences and the toggle to choose between Stable Connection and Prioritizing Audio Quality – which is good to have especially when you are on the move and surrounded by a lot of interferences i.e., Public Transport for instance – you can adjust it to your preference.

The battery life on these earbuds is good enough to last 4-5 days on a single charge with an average use of 2-3 hours a day. With ANC the earbuds last about 7 hours-ish. But without ANC, you should get more than 2 hours extra. All this relies on the Bluetooth 5.2 connection.

Conclusion

The Sony WF-C700N focuses on giving good experiences in two aspects: Sound Quality and Noise Cancellation and it gets both the features so right. When a brand designs a product to be affordable, it’s impossible to make something that’s good in all aspects – so, you have to pick and choose your battle, where you want to keep the standards high and where it’s okay to compromise. Sony didn’t include LDAC, Active Noise Cancellation and their Bio-based drivers, but they did makeup with functional features that won’t let you down.

At the time when it was released, it was priced at RM 549 but since then, we have seen so many discounted offer that goes as low as RM 300 – which is an amazing pickup. If you do want a good Noise Cancellation and Sound experience, you cannot go wrong with this. But if audio quality is the only thing you care about and don’t bother how good the ANC is, then the Nothing ear (a) is worth checking out.

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