Upsetting... 🤦🏻 Sony WF-C700N Review vs WF-1000XM4 vs LinkBuds S

The Sony WF-C700N replaces the C500 as Sony’s budget alternative to the likes of the LinkBuds S and the WF-1000XM4. It even has active noise canceling now, which is encouraging given that most other brands out there already have ANC earbuds at similar price points or lower. But how does it compare to the flagship Sonys in terms of noise cancelling, sound and call quality? Will I be satisfied?

Less is… more?

First, when compared to the premium Sonys, these will not blow you away in terms of specs, features, or even the design. Though they’ve made it a bit smaller than the C500’s case, its case is also quite a bit bigger than the LinkBuds S and the Mark 4’s.

In terms of specs and features, it does have full Headphones Connect app support, which is great because the EQ settings are there, and Adaptive Sound control for those of you who use this feature. But the C700Ns don’t do Hi-Res streaming so no Hi-Res certification, and no LDAC codec support either. It has the basic DSEE upscaler too, not DSEE Extreme, which upscales lossy music files to a much greater degree using an advanced AI algorithm.

And they have a total battery life of up to 15 hours with case, with 7.5 hours in the earbuds alone. That’s pretty good for the earbuds, to be honest, but it’s weird that such a large case couldn’t accommodate another battery cell for more juice. 15 hours in total is really a bit too short.

And finally it doesn’t have wireless charging, no in-ear wear detection so no auto-pause/play when you take the earbuds out, and it doesn’t have speak-to-chat. So, while the features and specs are price-appropriate, for those of us who daily drive the Mark 4s and the LinkBuds S, it’s really barebones.

Sound Quality

In terms of sound quality, it does sound quite bassy, and its mids are full bodied. So if you like listening to vocals music, vocals are going to sound rich and full. But compared to the LinkBuds S or WF-1000XM4, they do sound more mellow, some might even say more dull, in the upper vocals and treble range. As you can see in the frequency response chart below, there’s more emphasis on bass, but treble is also more restrained than the others. Listen to the sound quality compared to the others here.

This restrained treble means that when listening to string and wind instruments, there’s going to be a lot less excitement in your music and airiness in the soundstage. So if you feel that the LinkBuds S and Mark 4s sound too crisp and sizzly for your liking, you might actually prefer the 700N’s tuning, but I personally prefer the extra crispness, bite and attack of the LinkBuds S and Mark 4s.

Call Quality

In terms of call quality in quiet places, the C700N’s mic pickup was quite clean, but in more challenging, noisy conditions it was not good at all. Just like the Mark 4s, it wasn’t able to cut the noise as well as the LinkBuds S, which I feel has, right now, one of the best call qualities in the market.

Active Noise Canceling

In terms of active noise cancelling, I have to say that these are quite disappointing. Coming from the LinkBuds S and XM4s, I thought it will at least be close enough in terms of canceling low frequency noises. But its noise canceling was barely noticeable, as you can hear in the following sound samples.

It seems that this is because the 700Ns only have the barebones tech required for noise canceling. What they’re calling “Noise Sensor Technology” compared to the Integrated V1 processor of the LinkBuds S. And it’s also got a single mic on each earbud, while the others have two, one on the inside of the earbuds and one outside.

Transparency

This could also explain why its transparency also doesn’t sound as clear as the others. There’s still something like a muffling effect on passthrough, although it is quite usable for having quick conversations with people around you.

Conclusion

To conclude, as someone who daily drives the LinkBuds S, which isn’t that far off from the C700Ns in terms of price, I’m not impressed by the 700Ns at all. Be it the sound, performance, or features. The only benefit this has over the other Sonys is the button controls. In winter it can be easier to control these with gloves.

But apart from that, at this price it really isn’t as attractive as the LinkBuds S, let alone the Mark 4s which, at any given time in the year, could be going for a discount on Amazon. In my opinion it needs to be much cheaper.

Also, Sony says the 700Ns have Multipoint pairing like the LinkBuds S and Mark 4s, which lets you connect the earbuds to up to 2 devices at once. But it will only arrive on the 700Ns in Summer 2023.

It's still quite early in the C700N’s product cycle, so we may very well see software updates along the way that could improve its performance, add new features. But as of this writing, I would rather save up just a tiny bit more, and go for the LinkBuds S.

You might have a different opinion about it, and if so, let me know in the comments. You can also check the latest Amazon prices of the earbuds mentioned in this article by clicking on the links below.

Sony WF-C700N - TBA

Sony LinkBuds S - https://amzn.to/3xNMab7

Sony WF-1000XM4 - https://amzn.to/3zbNN12

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