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So right now as of the second half of 2020 Sony has a mostly refreshed lineup of ANC headphones. The newest headphones to be released here are the Sony 1000XM4’s, but the Sony WH-CH710N’s and the Sony WH-H910N’s aka the H.ear On 3’s were released a few months ago. But then we also have the Sony XB900N’s which are a little over a year old now but these are still one of my favorite mid tier ANC headphones to recommend. But nonetheless today we’re going to break down Sony’s current headphone lineup and see which one is right for you.
Now first off lets talk about price… the WH-CH710N’s have a retail price of $200 but they constantly go on sale for less than $150. Where as the XB900N’s have a retail price of $250 but they constantly like to go on sale for $178 dollars. Then there are the H.ear On 3’s which are a little harder to get. Right now the easiest way to get them is from Costco and you can find them on sale for $200. But sometimes they can be found on sale for $150 which is insane. But the caveat here is that you do have to be a Costco member. And finally there are the Sony 1000XM4’s which retail for $350. 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 review’s cause we’re only going over their main differences.
Now lets talk about the included carrying cases here. Unfortunately the 710N’s don’t come included with any kind of a case. Even though these are a pair of entry level headphones its really unfortunate cause there are plenty of other entry level headphones out there that do come included with some kind of a case. Then there are the XB900N and H.ear on 3’s which both come included with carrying pouches. So if you do plan on commuting or traveling a lot with your headphones I do advise that you invest in a hardshell case. However I do want to point out that only the XB900N can both be fully collapsed or laid down flat… where as the H.ear on 3’s can’t be laid down flat. Limiting the amount of after market cases you could use with these headphones. But finally there are the 1000XM4’s which come included with a great hardshell carrying case that really stiff so they’re going to keep you’re headphones perfectly safe when they’re in your back pack or carryon… and they also have a little storage compartment for your cables.
But now lets talk about the headphones themselves… all of these headphones are mostly made out of plastic but they do feel very different in your hands. Now the WH-CH710N’s do feel very cheap when compared to all of these other headphones. They’re sturdy and they get the job done but they feel more like a toy. Where as even though the XB900N’s have a very similar plastic textured body to the WH-CH710N’s… they feel more premium and better put together. But if we were to switch over to the H.ear On 3’s these headphones feel more premium specifically cause the majority of their body has a soft touch feel to them. Where as the body of the 1000XM4’s has a mostly slate finish to it and the soft touch feel is reserved to the caps on their ear cups. But one very crucial detail that I have omitted so far is the leatherette on these headphones. Now first off I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not like the leatherette on the WH-CH710N’s cause it feels very course. Where as the leatherette on the 1000XM4’s feels good enough to get the job done… but it does feel very plastic and it does pale in comparison to the leatherette on other premium ANC headphones out there. Now personally I do feel the leatherette on the XB900N’s feels a little better than the 1000XM4’s cause its a little more supple… But the leatherette on the H.ear On 3’s is the best feeling one here cause its even more supple. So over all build quality wise the 710N’s do feel a little lack luster for entry level headphones, the XB900N’s feel good for mid tier ANC headphones, the 1000XM4’s get the job done for premium ANC headphones… but I do think the H.ear On 3’s take the cake here.
Now when it comes to fit… all of these headphones are big head approved cause none of them have a lot of clamping force. And all of these headphones are very light weight so they’re easy to forget that you have them on and they aren’t super noticeable when you’re walking around with them on. But when it comes to their ear pads things revery different… even though the ear pads on the 710N’s are very wide… since they’re very shallow they still end up pressing down on my cartilage. Where as all of these other headphones have much roomier ear pads and they fit me just fine. But there are still some differences to point out. When it comes to roominess both the 1000XM4’s and XB900N’s are pretty much the same and they both should be able to fit most people just fine. But if you have larger ears or ears that stick out a lot then you are better off going with the H.ear On 3’s cause their ear pads are significantly more spacious. But also since the padding on the H.ear On 3’s and WH-CH710N’s do have very little surface area coming in contact with your skin… they do heat up much slower. Where as the XB900N’s do heat up a little faster cause they have more surface area. Now none of these headphones have an over heating problem but the H.ear On 3’s and WH-CH710N’s do stay cooler for longer.
But now lets talk about tech specs… all of these headphones charge via a USB C port as they should. And when it comes to battery life this is actually an area Sony has always done very well. Both the XB900N and 1000XM4’s had an advertised battery life of 30 hours with their ANC turned on where as the WH-CH710N and H.ear on 3’s both have an advertised battery life of 25 hours with their ANC turned on. And you can always stretch out the battery life on all of these headphones you use them with their ANC turned off.
Now when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity this is where we start to see some major differences. Only the 1000XM4’s can be connected to 2 devices at the same time so you can easily hot swap from your phone to your computer. Where as all of these other headphones can only be connected to one device at a time. Now ultimately its not a huge deal that your headphones can do this… but it is very nice to be able to.
But more importantly when it comes to watching movies or videos on your phone all of these headphones have zero latency across the board whether you’re using an iPhone of android device. And this is very important to point out cause the WH-CH710N’s did used to have a slight latency to them when watching YouTube videos… but not any more.
But now lets talk about audio codecs cause sony is currently phasing out APTX on their newer headphones. Both the 1000XM4’s and H.ear On 3’s have support for SBC, AAC, and LDAC which is Sony’s own high res audio codec where as the WH-CH710N’s only have SBC and AAC support. But since the XB900N’s are the oldest headphones here they have support for SBC, AAC, LDAC, and as well as APTX and APTX HD.
Now if you’re an iPhone user APTX or LDAC doesn’t matter cause iPhones top out at AAC. But one last thing I do want to point out is that thankfully all of these headphones have an easy to reach 3.5 millimeter audio jack so if you want you can use a wired connecting with any of these headphones. Now I know this might sound obvious but some companies are starting to remove the audio jack on their head either as a cost saving measure or cause they really want to push forward this all wireless future even though we’re not entirely ready like apple did with their Beats Solo Pro.
But I also want to point out that you can’t use the USB C port on any of these headphones as a wired connection. So if you want to use a wired connection with any of these headphones you have to use their audio jacks.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones cause all off these headphones sound very different from one another. First off lets start with the WH-CH710N’s… personally I don’t really like listening to music with these headphones cause these headphones have a bass heavy EQ to them and they do sound very shallow. If you want to actually hear the mids and highs on these headphones then you’ve gotta turn them up all the way up. And since these headphones do sound very shallow… the do make it very hard to hear what people are saying when you’re watching movies with these headphones. And unfortunately unlike all of these other headphones the WH-CH710N’s don’t have an adjustable EQ so you can’t change how they sound directly. Heck they don’t even connect to Sony’s headphone app period which is something their predecessors did do.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these other headphones. Now all of these headphones connect to Sony’s app so you can make them sound however you want. If you like a neutral EQ you can do that or if you like a bass heavy EQ you can also do that. Now these 3 headphones sound the same when it comes to clarity, instrument serration and soundstage… But these headphones really differ when it comes to their bass and how much they will physically rattle your head. The H.ear On 3’s are using 25 millimeter drivers and these headphones will rattle your head the least here. Having the extra bass slider on these headphones set to 10 is like having the extra bass slider on the 1000XM4’s set to 4. So for some people the bass on the H.ear On 3’s might feel a little lacking. Where as these other two headphones are using 40 millimeter drivers and the bass on the 1000XM4’s should be able to satiate most people.
But if you’re someone that really likes bass then you are going to want to go with the XB900N. The XB900N are going to physically rattle your head way more than your average pair of headphones. And having the bass on the 1000XM4’s set to 10 is like having the bass on the XB900N set to 5. So with the XB900N its like having a subwoofer strapped to your head. Now having all of this bass is a lot of fun when listening to music and it also adds an extra level of immersivness when watching movies with these headphones… but it can get old after awhile. So if you don’t want to use the Extra bass feature you don’t have to. But its there if you want it. So when it comes to sound I feel you can’t go wrong with either the 1000XM4’s or the XB900N’s but personally I really like having that extra bass feature if you want it.
Now when it comes to controlling your music the 710N’s are rocking physical buttons and as far as buttons go these are pretty good. They’re easy to find, they’re easy to tell apart and they have a good click to them. Where as all of these other headphones are using touch pads. Now in general Sony’s touchpads are also very easy to use and they also have a highly level of accuracy. But on occasion you will get some missed inputs. But in general these touchpads are not problematic.
But something the 1000XM4’s do have that none of these other headphones do are wear sensors. So when you take these headphones off they’ll automatically pause you’re music, and then when you put them back on they’ll go back to normal again. Now personally I don’t care for wear sensors so I just turn them off but I thought id still address them.
Now when it comes to the active noise cancelation on these headphones for the most part as you go up in price the ANC on these headphones gets better. But nonetheless the ANC on all of these headphones have very little to no cabin pressure and they don’t change how your music sounds. 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 entry level WH-CH710N’s actually manage to block out a little more noise than the XB900N’s. But also keep in mind the WH-CH710N’s are newer than the XB900N’s. But just as you’d expect the ANC on the H.ear On 3’s is a little better and the 1000XM4’s block out the most amount of noise here. So if active noise cancellation is your main priority then you are better off going with the 1000XM4’s.
But now lets talk about the ambient modes on these headphones. Now I do want to point out that yes, the WH-CH710N’s do have an ambient mode which is currently rare for entry level headphones. But unlike these other headphones you can’t actually adjust how much noises these headphones let in. Where as with these other headphones you can adjust how much noise they let in. But in general all of these headphones have great ambient modes cause they all sound very natural and none of them have any hissing in the background which is super important for when you’re watching movies with these headphones. But over all the 1000XM4’s do have the best ambient modes for 2 keys reasons. They do the best job here of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors and they’re also the only headphones here that have an active ambient mode meaning that they’ll actively block out sudden spikes in loud noises like this. And slight headphones warning
So like you may have just seen, when the 1000XM4’s detected that loud noise they turned off their ambient mode when it stoped they turned their ambient mode back on. Now personally I love when headphones have an active ambient mode cause it really does help prevent jump scares. And this active ambient mode also really comes in handy when you’re working at home with your headphones on and you dog starts barking when the UPS man comes around. Where as with these other headphones they’ll all just let in everything.
Now one new feature on the 1000XM4’s that sony is really trying to push on these headphones and you can’t find it on any of Sony’s other headphones is speak to chat which works a little like this.
But ultimately for me speak to chat is just a gimmick that im just not going to use. Now speak to chat doesn’t get activated when other people are talking around you, it does a great job of rejecting that. But if you do decide to use speak to chat than you have to be completely silent. Speak to chat on these headphones will get activated if you’re singing along to your music, if you’re thinking out loud even very quietly, and its also going to get activated if you start laughing.
So the days that I did try to use speak to chat on these headphones they just paused my music everytime I would mutter a single word becoming more of a nuances rather than helpful. So if you are going to have a quick conversation with someone personally I do prefer to use quick attention which is a feature that found on the 1000XM4’s H.ear On 3’s and XB900N where if you fully cover their touch pad they’ll lower the volume of your music and let in all of the ambient sound around you like this
And then when you let go they’ll go back to normal again. But the problem with quick attention is that you gotta constantly keep their touch pad covered. And if you’re going to try to talk to someone like this… this both looks and feel very awkward. Sony just has to change it so that when you cover their touch pad for a full second the headphones will get locked into quick attention mode, you can have your conversation with your hands free like a normal human, and then when you’re done you can just double tap on their touch pad and the headphones will go back to normal again.
Cause plenty of other headphones out there have a similar feature but you can actually have your hands free once the feature is activated. So I just feel speak to chat is an over engineered solution to a very simple problem which sony can easily fix by adding a simple change to quick attention which they can add to all of their headphones through a software update.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now in general this isn’t Sony’s strong suit.
My voice will might sound a little muffled.
Or I my voice doesn’t sound super clear.
However, even though my voice doesn’t sound super clear on the 1000XM4’s these headphones are going an impressive job of blocking out that AC unit. Cause if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clealerly hear that AC unit. But if we switchback over to the Sony 1000XM4’s you don’t hear it as much.
But over all, Sony’s headphones don’t have the best microphone for phone calls.
But with all that being said, here’s my break down of Sony’s current ANC headphone line up. Personally I would not pay full price for the WH-CH710N’s cause of their lack luster build quality and im not a fan of their bass heavy EQ. And I really hate that these headphones don’t connect to Sony’s headphones app even though their predecessors did. But if you can get them on sale than I would pick them up cause of their impressive ANC performance for entry level headphones and they also have an ambient mode which is also rare for entry level headphones. Now when it comes to the XB900N’s… these are still my favorite mid teir ANC headphones to recommend. They have decent build quality and they should fit most people just fine, they sound great and they also have that extra bass feature if you want it. And the Extra Bass feature on the XB900N is the main reason why I prefer them to the H.ear On 3’s. But if you can get the H.ear on 3’s on sale at Costco or if you need those extra roomy ear cups than the H.ear On 3’s are a solid pick up as well. The only thing is that if you do plan on commuting a lot with either of these headphones you are going to have to invest in your own hardshell case. But finally there are the 1000XM4’s which do have the improved active noise cancelation and the improved ambient mode here. But they also have a few extra features like wear sensors and speak to chat which are two features I just don’t use. So personally I think most people are going to be just fine with the XB900N’s but if you are a constant commuter or traveler then the 1000XM4’s are the way to go.