From my experiences, the AINC featured in the WH-CH710N works … to an extent. At normal listening volumes, it filters out some lower frequencies well. But some jarring noises still found their way into my listening experience. Like, say, the neighbor’s power tools during a weekend project. The noise cancellation dampened these sounds to a degree, but it was nothing like what I’ve grown accustomed to with more premium headphones. Our Take This, honestly, isn’t a huge deal. They weren’t meant to be on par with top-quality products in terms of sound, and they weren’t priced to be either. What the Sony WH-CH710N needed to do was sound good, because they’d be a waste of stellar features if they didn’t.

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Just as disappointing was the fact that their actual noise cancellation isn’t the best we’ve ever heard… or, er, not heard. It’s actually more like noise reduction than outright cancellation, and is nowhere near class-leaders like the Sony WH-1000XM3 or Bose 700. That's sort of expected at this price range - but if you need total silence, the WH-CH710N aren't going to give you that.Yes. They are not their higher-priced, popular older sibling. But at the end of the day, the WH-CH710N deliver excellent battery life and adequate sound for a manageable price. They aren’t the best, but they’re great at being good. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. See how we test. On the right earcup you’ll find your basic control buttons for volume and play/pause, plus a button that controls noise cancellation and ambient sound, two features we’ll talk about more in a minute. You can hold the middle button to bring up your assistant, but you won’t be able to activate it just by saying ‘Hey Siri’ or ‘OK, Google’ as neither come built into the headphones. On the left earcup are a 3.5mm aux port, a power/paring button and USB Type-C port that’s used for charging.

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The mic offers decent intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we could understand every word we recorded, but there was some Bluetooth distortion fuzzing up the edges. The mic signal was strong, however, so despite the distortion, the words came through loud and (somewhat) clear. Conclusions If you’re after high-fidelity sound for a fraction of the price, you’ll be disappointed with the WH-CH710N, especially with limited codec support that includes SBC and AAC. But, with realistic expectations, I think most people would enjoy how they sound. Noise cancellation Likewise, there’s no carrying case included with the WH-CH710N. A USB-C charging cable and a headphone cable are included, as is a picture book cosplaying as an operating manual — I found Sony’s online help guide to be significantly more useful. Of course, you can find even better headphones for a bit less - like the JBL Tune 750BTNC, which we highly recommend - or drop a bit more to get a more premium experience. My aforementioned beef with the physical operating guide revolves around activating voice assistants with the headphones. From the physical guide on its own, it’s difficult to get your preferred voice assistant set up. The online guide, though, is thorough in its instructions and briskly walked me through choosing my preferred assistant from the settings on my phone.

That said, they're about half the price of Sony's flagship headphones and while we didn't love the sound during our critical listening tests, they aren't any worse than many other non-HD headphones out there. Their long battery life was a huge boon that allowed us to go several days without needing to recharge them, which is definitely a selling point for people that can never remember to charge their cans. While the soundstage does begin to feel somewhat claustrophobic as we move through the song, the headphones allow for a complex layer of high notes to build upon one another. Again, the mids can become somewhat lost in the mix, but there’s a good enough balance of bass and treble that it takes a closer listen to notice this detail. Should you buy the Sony WH-CH710N? The Sony WH-CH710N headband may be rigid, but it feels durable, as does the rest of the product. As long as they’re not abused, these should be able to be your daily cans for the foreseeable future. Should you buy it? The Sony WH-CH710N headphones feature three listening modes: Ambient Sound, Ambient Sound Off, and Noise Cancelling.

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So for lows, the ANC is quite good, while for mids and highs it's merely decent. And keep in mind it does affect the audio slightly—with ANC on, expect increased bass depth and slightly higher overall volume levels. However, these differences are incredibly subtle. Ambient listening mode works well for conversing or hearing your surroundings without removing the headphones. Sony has also included voice-assistant support for hands-free calls. Sony WH-CH710N sound – A dynamic listening experience The last thing we have to talk about is battery life, which is actually a pretty big highlight for the headphones: they should last about 35 hours on a single charge with noise cancelling turned on and up to 200 hours in standby mode. In fact, listening to them for three days straight at eight hours a day, we didn't even hear the low battery warning. That battery life will likely degrade as time goes on - like all electronics - but out of the box expect these to last you a few days, maybe even a week, between charges. So what, then, do they actually sound like? Well, our first impression of the Sony WH-CH710N’s sound quality was that it sounded energetic and easy-to-listen to. They didn’t overwhelm us with bass (they're not part of Sony’s Extra Bass series) and we thought we heard a clear midrange and rolled off highs. That's probably because these aren't Hi-Res Audio headphones, and they don't support many HD codecs - the exception, of course, being AAC. If you don't need exceptional clarity you probably won't mind their sound, but if you're a big audiophile you'll definitely hear the shortcomings.The Ambient Sound mode, on the other hand, was disappointing. While I could tell that my housemates were talking, I struggled to make out specific words and phrases. This is especially difficult when the volume is boosted above mid-way. I also had difficulty discerning the difference between Ambient Sound and Ambient Sound Off. That said, there was no noticeable change in sound quality when cycling through the three modes, which was pleasant since ANC can sometimes throw the tonal balance off-kilter.