Sony’s new noise-canceling earbuds are for the fitness crowd

May 7, 2020

Sony is introducing its latest set of truly wireless earbuds today. The WF-SP800N earbuds cost $199.99 and are now available to order. They slot into the lineup as the middle option between the $230 WF-1000XM3 earbuds at the high end and Sony’s relatively new WF-XB700 earbuds ($130), which lack noise cancellation.

The SP800Ns are designed for your workouts and runs: they offer IP55 water and sweat resistance and up to nine hours of continuous battery life with noise cancellation enabled (18 total with the case) or 13 hours (26 with case) if you turn off the NC. The case doesn’t include wireless charging, unfortunately, but 10 minutes of quick charging will get you an hour of playback in a pinch. Soft stabilizer arcs are part of each earbud’s design to keep them seated in your ears during fitness activity, but they’re removable.

Sony says the SP800Ns borrow the same Bluetooth chip from the 1000XM3 earbuds for a stable connection. Like the cheaper XB700 earbuds, these feature Sony’s “Extra Bass” sound profile. So while they’re in no way neutral and not quite as detailed as the 1000XM3s, these should add plenty of kick to your workout playlist.

Aside from noise cancellation, the other main difference between these and Sony’s entry-level earbuds is that with these, you’re able to use the companion smartphone app to adjust EQ and set up profiles for different scenarios (home, work, outside, etc.) with custom noise cancellation and ambient sound settings for each one. Sony is updating that app today to allow for location-based profiles, so once we’re all able to regularly venture out into the world again, you can automatically set NC to kick on when you arrive at the gym, for instance.

The SP800Ns use touch controls and have Sony’s “quick attention” feature, which lets you hold a finger on one of them to temporarily turn down your music and pump in outside audio. For audio codecs, they support the standard AAC and SBC combo, and your color choices are black or blue.

Sony’s got plenty of competition for this same target market from the likes of Jaybird and Jabra, but the SP800Ns do seem like a solid package for the money and I’m looking forward to testing them out.

source: theverge

Loknath Das

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