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So Sony just released their new WH-CH710N ANC headphones… and these are Sony’s new entry level ANC Headphones cause they’re replacing the 700N’s. But naturally a lot of people want to know how these new headphones stack up against Sony’s Mid Tier ANC headphones the WH-XB900N and Sony’s premium ANC headphones the WH-1000XM3’s.
But just as a heads up, I’m probably going to have to make an updated version of this video in the near future cause we know the Sony 1000XM4’s are right around the corner thanks to FCC fillings and leaks. So if you want to see that updated video you can click or tap up here… but nonetheless I think the 710N’s are giving us a small preview of what to expect from the 1000XM4’s.
Now first off lets address price… the 710N’s have a retail price of $200 where as the XB900N have a retail price of $250 and the 1000XM3 have a retrial price of $350. But Sony’s headphones routinely like to go on sale… specially the XB900N’s can sometimes be found for $178 and the 1000XM3 can routinely be found on sale for $278… And since the outgoing WH-CH700N routinely went on sale for $130 if not sometimes a little less on major shopping holidays, I expect the new 710N’s to get the same treatment. So if you want to pick any of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below, and if you want to learn more about any of these headphones please watch their full reviews.
Next up I want to address the included carrying cases on these headphones… unfortunately the 710N’s don’t come included with a carrying case at all which I think is a same cute the 710N’s are one of the few $200 ANC headphones out there that don’t come included with a case or a even a pouch. Where as the XB900N’s do come included with a pouch… but I highly advise that you invest in a hardshell case if you plan on commuting a lot with these headphones. But then there’s the 1000XM3’s which come included with a decently small carrying case that also has a compartment so that you can keep your included accessories nicely organized.
But more importantly, lets get into the fit and build quality on these headphones. Now obviously as you move up the latter these headphones are going to feel more premium. Even though the 710N’s have decent build quality, they might feel a little flimsy cause their plastic body panels aren’t as dense. Where as the body panels on these other two headphones feel denser but the 1000XM3 do feel a little more premium then the XB900N specifically cause their ear cups have a soft touch feel to them, instead of the textured plastic feel found on the XB900N. Over all all of these headphones have decent build quality… but one area where the XB900N’s really shines is when it comes to their leatherette. Like I mentioned in their full review, the leatherette on the 710N’s feels very course and it actually feel’s way worse than the leatherette found on the out going 700N’s. And as a result this course feeling leatherette can get itchy at times. And when it comes to the leatherette found on the 1000XM3’s… like ive mentioned time and time before the leatherette on these headphones feels very synthetic and really falls short when compered to other premium ANC headphones like the Bose NC 700 or the Sennheiser Momentum 3. But for mid tier and headphones… the leatherette on the XB900N’s feels great and it feels better than the leatherette found on the 1000XM3’s and the 710N’s don’t even come close.
And over all, if you are looking for the headphones here with maximum comfort than you are better off with the XB900N’s. The ear pads on the XB900N are wider then the ear pads found on the 1000XM3’s and they’re almost just as wide as the ear pads found on the 710N’s… But since the earcups on the XB900N’s are the deepest here these ear cups feel the most spacious and they should be able to accommodate larger ears or ears that stick a lot, much better than both the 1000XM3’s and the 710N’s. For me the 1000XM3’s fit me just fine, but a little extra more room wouldn’t hurt. Where as since the 710N’s have very shallow ear cups, they do like to press down on my ears so my ears might feel a little tender after long use sessions. Now over all, all of these headphones are big head approved cause none of them have an exaggerated amount of clamping force… but the XB900N’s are the most comfortable headphones here cause they have the best feeling leatherette and they also have the most spacious ear cups here.
Now when it comes to tech specs all of these headphone charge via a USB C port which is great if you’re an android user. And all of these headphones have above average battery lives even with ANC turned on. Both the 1000XM3 and XB900N have an advertised battery life of 30 hours where as the 710N’s have an advertised battery life of 35 hours. But when it comes to fast charging numbers both the 710N and XB900N will get one hour of playback time from a 10 mixture charge from a dead battery… where as the 1000XM3’s will get you 5 hours of playback time from that same 10 minute charge.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity… all of these headphones can only be connected to one device at time. Sony still refuses to add simultaneous multi device connectivity so that you can easily hot swap from one device to another like you can with a lot of other headphones out there.
But when it comes to watching movies or videos on your phone, all of these headphones have zero latency on both iPhone and android devices when using apps like Netflix, Disney Plus, or HBO Now… but I don’t want to point out that the 710N’s do have a slight latency when watching YouTube videos on either devices. But that will probably go away with a soft update in the future case these other two headphones used to have that same issue. But not any more.
But when it comes to audio codecs, both the XB900N and 1000XM3 have LDAC, APTX, APTX HD and AAC support… where as the 710N’s top out at AAC. But nonetheless due to some leaks thats we’ve seen it looks like the 1000XM4 will actually be losing APTX support. Ultimate if you’re an iPhone user this doesn’t matter cause you’re going to be using AAC anyways… but if you’re an android user it looks like Sony is done with APTX.
But I do want to quickly point out that all of these headphones still have an audio jack, and I know this sounds basic but some companies are starting to get rid of the audio jack on their headphones. Some companies are doing it to save money and other companies are doing cause they’re trying to push a wireless future like Apple did with their Beats Solo Pro’s… which personally I think that was a mistake.
But I also gotta point out that the USB C ports an all of these headphones is strictly used for charging. You can’t use the USB C port on these headphones as a wired connection like you can with some other headphones out there like the Sennheiser Momentum 3 or the Bowers and Wilkins PX7.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones cause all of these headphones perform very differently from one another. First off I gotta point out that the 710N’s don’t connect to Sony’s headphones app like these other two headphones. So you can’t customize how the 710N’s sound to your liking. And personally I think its ridiculous that Sony cut app support from these headphones and I’m just not a fan of the stock EQ you’re stuck with on the 710N’s. The 710N’s have a very bass heavy EQ, but these headphones put such an emphasis on the lows that if you want to actually hear the mids and vocals on these headphones you gotta crank them all the way up. And even though these headphones have a bass heavy EQ, the bass on these headphones doesn’t really physically rattle your head all that much. The Bass on these headphones is mostly audible. Ultimately I don’t really like listening to music with these headphones cause they sound too shallow for my taste. And if you’re someone that like a neutral or brighter sound signature then you definitely want to stay away from these headphones. Now when it comes to listening to music with the 1000XM3 or XB900N that a different story. Since both of these headphones connect to Sony’s app you can customize their EQ’s and make them sound how ever you want. If you like a bass heavy EQ you can do that or if you like a neutral EQ you can also do that. Now when it comes to audio performance like soundstage, instrument separation and clarity these two headphones perform the same. But what really separates these headphones audio performance wise is their bass. The XB900N’s are a part of Sony’s Extra Bass Headphones line up… So you can crank the bass up on these headphones through their app to the point that they are going to physically rattle your head a crazy amount. And the Extra Bass feature on the XB900N is a lot of fun to listen to and it also adds a level of emersion when you use these headphones to watch movies with. But the important thing about the XB900N’s is that even if you crank their bass up you can also make sure that you can still hear the mids. Now the 1000XM3’s also have a decent amount of physical bass to them and they should be able to satiate most people. But having the bass on the 1000XM3’s set to 10 is like have the bass on the XB900N set to 4. So if you like a lot of bass in your music you’re clearly better off with the XB900N. But even still, if you like a more neutral EQ then the XB900N’s can also do that cause you can just lower their bass through their app… So overall I don’t like how the new 710N’s sound cause to me the sound very shallow. Where as with these other two headphones you have the freedom to adjust them to your liking. But personally I do prefer the XB900N cause you’ve got that extra bass feature for whenever you want to use it.
But I also want to quickly address controlling your music playback with these headphones. The 710N’s are still using physical buttons and thats perfectly fine and some people still prefer to use physical buttons. But both the XB900N and 1000XM3 have touch pads. And Sony’s touch pads are one of the best one out there. They’re easy to use and they’re very accurate. So shouldn’t worry about using touch controls on these headphones.
So I think its pretty clear that im not a fan of how the 710N’s sound, but something that I can’t deny is that the ANC on the 710N’s is very impressive for a pair of $200 entry level ANC headphones. The ANC on the 710N’s is so good that it actually manages to slightly out perform the ANC on XB900N. Which is surprising cause you’d think that sony would make sure that the ANC on their $250 headphones out performs the ANC on their $200. But they don’t. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
So like you may have just seen, the 710N’s block out a little more noise than the XB900N in both constant low frequency sounds like road noise and random higher frequency sounds like chatter. But as you can clearly see the 1000XM3 block out way more noise which is their claim to fame. The 1000XM3 still have the best performing active noise cancelation as of mid 2020. Which is impressive cause there have been a lot of competitors that have came out ever since the 1000XM3’s were first released in 2018. But the ANC performance on the 710N’s has me really excited for the ANC performance improvements we’ll might see on the 1000XM4’s. If sony is confident enough to put this potent of Active Noise Cancellation on their entry level ANC headphones… we’ll might be in for a treat with the 1000XM4. But performance wise, all of Sony’s ANC headphone have zero to no cabin pressure and there’s no hissing in the back ground. So you don’t gotta worry about feeling like you’re under water with these headphones on, like you might feel with some older or cheaper ANC headphones out there. Specifically, the ANC on the first Bose QC35’s always used to give me headaches.
Now all of Sony’s headphones also have an ambient where instead of blocking out noise, they’ll let noise in so that you can still be aware of your surroundings when you’re walking around the city, or if you’re watching tiger king at home you can still hear when someone calls your name. And again the ambient mode on all of Sony’s headphones have zero hissing in the back they all sound natural and they all do a good job of rejecting wind noise when walking out doors. The only thing to keep in mind is that you can’t adjust how much noise 710N’s let in like you can with these other two headphones. And also, only the 1000XM3’s have an active ambient mode meaning that they will actively block out sudden spikes in loud noises preventing jump scares. Where as these other two headphones let in every thing.
And finally, only the XB900N and 1000XM3 have quick attention where if you cover their touch pad they’ll lower the volume of your music and let in all of the ambient sound so that you can quickly talk to someone with out having to take your headphones off like this.
And when you let go the headphones will go back to normal. But rumor has it that the Sony 1000XM4’s will have this new feature to them called Speak to Chat… where if you jut start talking to someone the headphones will do what quick attention does, but with the 1000XM4’s you won’t have to keep the touch pad covered. Nonetheless this is simply a rumor but I do think quick attention has some room for improvement cause other headphones out there that have a similar feature like the Bose NC 700 don’t require you to keep your ear cup covered.
And finally here’s the microphone test… and this is an area where sony has always struggled. Specifically the 1000XM3’s sound fairly muffled.
Where as the WH-CH710N have a lot more amplification to them but I think they still sound muffled cause they aren’t actually focusing on just your voice.
But I do think the XB900N have the best sounding microphone here cause they aren’t over amplified like the 710N’s and they also do much better job of just bringing out my voice.
But with all that being said, it easy very easy for me to recommend the Sony XB900N. The XB900N’s have great build quality, they’re the most comfortable headphones here, they have a solid ambient mode, they sound good and they have that extra bass feature if you want it. The only area where these headphones are straggling here is when it comes to their active noise cancelation. But if you are interested in the best active noise cancellation then obviously youre better off with the 1000XM3’s. But just keep in mind the 1000XM4 are right around the corner as of recoding this video. But if you’re watching this even after the 1000XM4’s have released and you’re still interested in the 1000XM3’s cause you might want to save a bit of cash, then these headphones are still very solid. And finally there’s the WH-CH710N. Even though they are decent for entry level ANC headphones and they have above average ANC performance… for me they’re not as easy to confidently recommend like the XB900N’s cause the 710N’s don’t fit as well or sound as good. Their ear pads can get a little itchy and their shallow ear cups can press down on your ears and im not a fan of their bass heavy sound signature. If the 710N’s are on steep discount than sure go ahead and get them, but I feel it would be smarter if you invest the extra bit of cash and get yourself the XB900N.