Meet Sony's new wireless noise-canceling sports earbuds
These are Sony's new true wireless noise cancelling sports ear buds, the wF sp 800 and they're $200 I know some of you've been wondering whether Sony would put out a sports version a water resistant version of the wf 1000 x Mark three, this isn't quite it But there's a lot to like about it.
So let's get right to the review.
[MUSIC]
I've got the black version here but it also comes in a kind of marine blue color and the design is a nice upgrade over its predecessor, the wF sp 700 and I love those model names from Sony.
That model had an IP X for water resistance rating.
While this one has an IP 55 rating that means it is dust resistant and can withstand a sustained spray of water.
The case is kind of similar to the 1000XM3, but doesn't feel quite as premium It looks a little bit sleeker however, and it is slightly smaller.
You can't stand it up on a flat surface and the top isn't flat either.
So it kind of means you have to lay it down on its side did fit in my pocket fine, but obviously there are other earbuds out there with smaller cases There is no wireless charging, just USBC.
But you do get 9 hours of battery life with the noise cancelling on, on single charge.
There is a whopping 13 hours of [UNKNOWN] voice cancelling off.
That's excellent for true wireless.
The boss himself is about the same weight as the 1000X Mac3s and they're similarly shaped They do stick out from your ears a fair amount but they are comfortable to wear.
The biggest design difference is that these come with a couple of different size stabilizing arcs that help you keep the ear buds firmly in your ears.
The larger arch worked well for me but I couldn't find an ear tip among the three that are included that allowed me to get a tight seal, So I had to put on a set of my own extra large ear tips.
I told Sony several times to include an extra large ear tip for weird ears like mine.
They haven't listened to me so I'm going to include it in this video and maybe they'll include it.
With the 1000 x mark for whenever that comes out, I'm griping about it because if you don't get a tight seal, the noise cancelling doesn't work as well as it should.
And you also lose a lot of sound quality, particularly the bass.
So it's really crucial to get a tight seal.
It's really night and day with a tight seal.
These don't sound quite as good or have quite as effective noise cancelling as the wf 1000 x Mark three, they're still really solid on both fronts.
Technically they have the same drivers as the 1000 x Mark three, they don't have Sony's Q and one e processor, which plays a role in both noise cancelling and sound quality with all the digital processing that it does.
[MUSIC]
The 1000Xmark3 has both top-notch sound and top-notch noise cancelling, for true wireless anyway Noise Canceling here is pretty good, but it's just a little bit lighter, which some people may appreciate if you're sensitive to noise canceling.
As for the sound, this is technically an extra base model, but it doesn't push the bass too much.
These don't sound quite as refined or smooth as the 1000 x Mark three But they're still excellent sounding true us earbuds with dynamic bass, good detail and a pretty wide soundstage.
They're really not much of a step down from the 1000 x Mark three.
These have a sensor on them that knows when the earbuds are in your ears or not and pauses your music when you take them out of your ears.
I did think the touch controls worked well grab the bud on each side.
Then tap the right button to control track playback.
Tapping the left plug controls noise canceling settings, including a transparency mode that lets some sound in If you tap and hold the left ear bud, you go into a quick awareness mode, your music pauses, you can hear the outside rolled and have a conversation.
Tap and hold the right earbud and you get your voice assistant of choice.
Ease support your phone's voice assistant along with Amazon Alexa And Google Assistant.
They also work with Sony's new surround sound audio format, 360 Reality Audio.
What else?
Well, wireless connection was pretty much rock solid.
And Sony seems to have made some progress on the call quality front because these did a decent job reducing background noise.
When I was making calls, it did seem a little bit better than the 1000 x Mark three four calls, but Sony has been doing some firmware upgrades to improve the call quality of the 1000 x Mark three.
These link to the same Sony Connect app for iOS and Android.
There are some small upgrades to the app for instance, you can now select your favourite settings based on your activity or location.
So why is the pair these with multiple devices?
Would you have to manually switch between them?
So there's no true multipoint pairing Unfortunately, that's the wf sp 800 and ear buds in a nutshell.
I did like them.
They are a very good set of true wireless sports buds.
I think the only issue is that with all the competition out there, they're a little expensive at $200, which is what the wf 1000 Xbox three seems to cost these days.
I'd like to see these guys more in the 160 to $175 range, but that's just me.
I think everything should be a little cheaper.
I'm David Connor for cnet.com Thanks for watching.
And let me know what you think in the comment section.
[MUSIC]
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