Going wireless has been the innovation perhaps headphones had been waiting for. There's a good case for going wireless as it certainly has its benefits -- it gives the users a hassle free experience of listening to music and comfort of storing them. However, there are still a large chunk of users who haven't taken to it as the idea of charging yet another gadget does sound tedious.
While many audio companies have launched their products with Bluetooth connectivity and no 3.5mm connector, they haven't been truly wireless till Apple launched the Airpods. As we have seen with a few other features, once Apple takes lead, the others inevitably follow suit. Then Apple, of course, is in a different league - in the sense of its cult-like following - as it completley sold out its AirPods before Christmas, highlighting how popular they are among the masses.
Hoping to ride on the tide, Sony has also brought in their first truly wireless headphones in India, called the WF-1000X, WF standing for wire free. They have priced at Rs 14,990 are arguably the closest competitor to the Apple AirPods in the country. We used headphones for a few days and here is our review.
Design
The Sony WF-1000X are a dainty pair of earphones. When viewed from outside, they have an oval shaped body and almost three-fourth of it is shiny metallic, while the one-fourth bit is made of translucent plastic. This plastic bit houses the internal antenna for maintaining the connection. They also house LEDs that turn red when they're charging through the case (we'll come to that in a bit) or blue when the buttons on either earbud are pressed.On the inside, there is a rubber-finish surface which has the earbud and magnetic holds for charging.
For buttons, the left ear piece has one button which is the power button and the pairing button. Once you've got the earbuds paired, you probably won't end up using this button much since the earbuds pair automatically when you take them out of their charging case.
Talking about the case, there is a dedicated slot for left and right ear piece and they click in the spot nicely. The earphones turn on the red LED lights while charging, turn off when fully charged and turn blue while being connected to the smartphone.
The earphones get full marks for their looks, but we were a bit unhappy with the fit. We found ourselves adjusting them more often than we could ignore. And this is despite the different sizes of the earbuds that Sony gave us. They occasionally dropped off our ears. Needless to say, if they do not stick in the ear, we were always scared to lose them as they are completely wire-free and once they fall down, you can easily lose them especially if you are in a busy area, say metro or a supermarket. This, however, remains subjective to the size and shape of the ear so you may experience a better fit.
Performance
First of all, we should tell you that in order to use the WF-1000X, you will need the Sony Headphones Connect app. The app is a necessity as you need it to control not only the EQ settings but also the volume levels. The app on its part has a pretty clean interface and easy to understand functions. It has predefined EQ settings which was frankly convenient for us but may disappoint some audiophiles as there is no option to customize it further.
Besides this, the app offers information like the remaining battery level, sound quality mode and ambient sound control which is basically, the noise cancelling feature of the device.
Sony has three sound modes levels of ANC (active noise cancellations), thanks to the Adaptive Sound Control functionality. According to Sony, "Smart Listening by Adaptive Sound Control automatically detects your activity such as travelling, walking and waiting, then adjusts ambient sound settings to you."
In our experience, while we travelling via the Metro, we selected the 'Focus on Voice' mode that is supposed to suppress unwanted noise and let the ears hear only important announcements, and it surprisingly delivered. The background noise actually transformed into blur murmurs but we could clearly hear the announcements.
However, we were not highly impressed by the level of ANC offered by the WF-1000X. It is not as great as it gets with Sony's or Bose's over-the-head earphones, as we experienced a complete zoning out with those devices. With the WF-1000X, the situation is that the low-frequency sound gets completely blocked, the high-frequency sound gets muffled, meaning you're always aware of the fact that someone is talking around you.
We can safely that Sony's attempt to bring the noise cancellation to the small wire-free device is certainly not a failure but is closer to a success.
Coming to the sound quality, the WF-1000X did justice to the genres of music we put it through, We tested it out mainly Indian genres such as Indian pop, Bollywood or Punjabi Pop. We did throw in some EDM and country music also. We found that the earphones deliver a punchy bass, crisp mids and highs and strong vocals. Sony has been offering exceptional clarity and detail with its audio products and the WF-1000X are no different. It's even more commendable with the miniscule 6mm dynamic driver featured in the headphone. The audio sync has a slight but an obvious lag while using it with apps such as YouTube or Netflix.
Each earpiece sports a single button and they perform multiple functions. The button on the left earpiece does turn on/off power and controls the level of active-noise cancellation. During our time with the device, we faced no issue with Bluetooth connectivity as the earpieces were connected throughout the time we plugged them.
One of the most important factors of the Bluetooth earphones is their battery life. The Sony WF-1000X are claimed to offer 3 hours of juice and was just a little short of that during the time we were using it. Over that, the charger case gives you an additional two charges. This should be enough for a casual music listener but again may disappoint the audiophiles who can't survive without music being plugged in. The headphones take 1.5 hours for a complete charge and that did seem a bit long to us.
Verdict
The Sony WF-1000X are a great first attempt from the company to offer a completely wireless experience. The sound output is more than satisfactory, added to that is a noise cancellation feature. Also, it gets an edge over the competition with the smart feature of ambient sound control. Another plus for the headphones is that they are compatible with both iOS and Android phones unlike the Apple AirPods that work only with iPhones.
All that being said, the device does feel a bit raw. We weren't very satisfied with the fit and the noise cancellation isn't perfect either. Also, the battery also takes longer to charge than what we like. These, however, aren't issues that can't be fixed. Sony definitely has the scope to overcome these in the second attempt.
While many audio companies have launched their products with Bluetooth connectivity and no 3.5mm connector, they haven't been truly wireless till Apple launched the Airpods. As we have seen with a few other features, once Apple takes lead, the others inevitably follow suit. Then Apple, of course, is in a different league - in the sense of its cult-like following - as it completley sold out its AirPods before Christmas, highlighting how popular they are among the masses.
Hoping to ride on the tide, Sony has also brought in their first truly wireless headphones in India, called the WF-1000X, WF standing for wire free. They have priced at Rs 14,990 are arguably the closest competitor to the Apple AirPods in the country. We used headphones for a few days and here is our review.
Design
The Sony WF-1000X are a dainty pair of earphones. When viewed from outside, they have an oval shaped body and almost three-fourth of it is shiny metallic, while the one-fourth bit is made of translucent plastic. This plastic bit houses the internal antenna for maintaining the connection. They also house LEDs that turn red when they're charging through the case (we'll come to that in a bit) or blue when the buttons on either earbud are pressed.On the inside, there is a rubber-finish surface which has the earbud and magnetic holds for charging.
For buttons, the left ear piece has one button which is the power button and the pairing button. Once you've got the earbuds paired, you probably won't end up using this button much since the earbuds pair automatically when you take them out of their charging case.
Talking about the case, there is a dedicated slot for left and right ear piece and they click in the spot nicely. The earphones turn on the red LED lights while charging, turn off when fully charged and turn blue while being connected to the smartphone.
The earphones get full marks for their looks, but we were a bit unhappy with the fit. We found ourselves adjusting them more often than we could ignore. And this is despite the different sizes of the earbuds that Sony gave us. They occasionally dropped off our ears. Needless to say, if they do not stick in the ear, we were always scared to lose them as they are completely wire-free and once they fall down, you can easily lose them especially if you are in a busy area, say metro or a supermarket. This, however, remains subjective to the size and shape of the ear so you may experience a better fit.
Performance
First of all, we should tell you that in order to use the WF-1000X, you will need the Sony Headphones Connect app. The app is a necessity as you need it to control not only the EQ settings but also the volume levels. The app on its part has a pretty clean interface and easy to understand functions. It has predefined EQ settings which was frankly convenient for us but may disappoint some audiophiles as there is no option to customize it further.
Besides this, the app offers information like the remaining battery level, sound quality mode and ambient sound control which is basically, the noise cancelling feature of the device.
Sony has three sound modes levels of ANC (active noise cancellations), thanks to the Adaptive Sound Control functionality. According to Sony, "Smart Listening by Adaptive Sound Control automatically detects your activity such as travelling, walking and waiting, then adjusts ambient sound settings to you."
In our experience, while we travelling via the Metro, we selected the 'Focus on Voice' mode that is supposed to suppress unwanted noise and let the ears hear only important announcements, and it surprisingly delivered. The background noise actually transformed into blur murmurs but we could clearly hear the announcements.
However, we were not highly impressed by the level of ANC offered by the WF-1000X. It is not as great as it gets with Sony's or Bose's over-the-head earphones, as we experienced a complete zoning out with those devices. With the WF-1000X, the situation is that the low-frequency sound gets completely blocked, the high-frequency sound gets muffled, meaning you're always aware of the fact that someone is talking around you.
We can safely that Sony's attempt to bring the noise cancellation to the small wire-free device is certainly not a failure but is closer to a success.
Coming to the sound quality, the WF-1000X did justice to the genres of music we put it through, We tested it out mainly Indian genres such as Indian pop, Bollywood or Punjabi Pop. We did throw in some EDM and country music also. We found that the earphones deliver a punchy bass, crisp mids and highs and strong vocals. Sony has been offering exceptional clarity and detail with its audio products and the WF-1000X are no different. It's even more commendable with the miniscule 6mm dynamic driver featured in the headphone. The audio sync has a slight but an obvious lag while using it with apps such as YouTube or Netflix.
Each earpiece sports a single button and they perform multiple functions. The button on the left earpiece does turn on/off power and controls the level of active-noise cancellation. During our time with the device, we faced no issue with Bluetooth connectivity as the earpieces were connected throughout the time we plugged them.
One of the most important factors of the Bluetooth earphones is their battery life. The Sony WF-1000X are claimed to offer 3 hours of juice and was just a little short of that during the time we were using it. Over that, the charger case gives you an additional two charges. This should be enough for a casual music listener but again may disappoint the audiophiles who can't survive without music being plugged in. The headphones take 1.5 hours for a complete charge and that did seem a bit long to us.
Verdict
The Sony WF-1000X are a great first attempt from the company to offer a completely wireless experience. The sound output is more than satisfactory, added to that is a noise cancellation feature. Also, it gets an edge over the competition with the smart feature of ambient sound control. Another plus for the headphones is that they are compatible with both iOS and Android phones unlike the Apple AirPods that work only with iPhones.
All that being said, the device does feel a bit raw. We weren't very satisfied with the fit and the noise cancellation isn't perfect either. Also, the battery also takes longer to charge than what we like. These, however, aren't issues that can't be fixed. Sony definitely has the scope to overcome these in the second attempt.
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