you've heard that Sony makes the best
noise canceling headphones and you've
also heard that there's a new model out
there that's much cheaper let's have a
real conversation to see if the WH-CH710N are worth a buy
let's start with the price the WH-CH710N are half the price the WH-1000XM3
so that means you're
gonna accept a lot more compromises but
for the latest prices check out the
links in the description below and feel
free to use them because they won't cost
you anything extra and helps out our
channel a little bit alright let's get
real these headphones may be good but
their names awful so let's just call
these new headphones the CH headphones
and the flagship the XM3s now we've
reviewed every generation of Sony noise
cancelling headphones the premium ones
at least right from the MDR-1000X the XM2s
and the XM3s and that's what
we'll be pitting the CH up against we've
never thought of any of the Sony
headphones as really good looking they
look a bit bulky like Kevin's beard and
there's no real signature style element
except the shape and the accents on the
noise cancelling microphones and logo
the CH have a more rounded shape like
Kevin's head a similar headband design
and stand out from the flagship while
not looking too cheap like Kevin's don't
do it Rohan but man do they feel flimsy
designed with much lighter plastic
they're noticeably lighter and I was
genuinely afraid that doing this on
camera would snap them into pieces even
the cables feel thinner and smaller and
they don't fold up like the XM3 although
the ear cups do fold flat similar to the
Bose 700s and there's no case included
hard or soft and the buttons they feel
pudgy there isn't a solid click when
you press them and speaking of buttons
that's one of the major differences that
you're gonna see with the XM3 no touch
sensitive surface which also means no
quick attention and regular viewers know
our view on this we don't consider this
a big deal. buttons are reliable while not
having that wow factor
but in 2020 a touch sensitive surface is
more form than function. but do touch
that subscribe button for form and
function and you can do everything
without taking your phone out of your
pocket with these headphones as well
when you do take your phone out of your
pocket you might find that you struggle
to connect with the Sony headphones app
and you wouldn't be alone I couldn't
find any reference to the app in the
literature that came with the headphones
on the box or even on the PDF at the
cryptic URL that Sony sent me to which
means I was dumb to expect it and it is
a little bit confusing because the older
model of these headphones could connect
to the app so maybe that's coming soon
but either way you're not gonna have
that crazy customizability in the app
like you do with the XM3s the
most important feature of the app is the
ability to change the noise canceling
levels whereas on the CH you're stuck
with what Sony gives you which means you
can toggle between noise canceling on
ambient sound or noise canceling off
that's it and on the XM3 you can change
how strong or weak the ambient mode is
but with the CH you're stuck with what
Sony gives you again just like the
inability to work with multiple devices
same as the XM3 the CH you'll have to
disconnect on one device and reconnect
on the other in terms of comfort these
are a little more comfortable than the
XM3s less pressure around the jaw and
I think the overall light weight helps
you will enjoy the difference especially
if your listening sessions are long the
highs can be a little much but I did
find that they gave me ear fatigue so
even on the sound signature side they
are quite comfortable the battery life
on these are rated at 35 hours which is
way above the XM3s 24 hours but
let's be real this difference is only
gonna matter in very specific use cases
if you're commuting a couple of hours a
day you'll be charging the XM3's
every other week and the CH maybe a
little less frequent than that now the
two most important reasons to buy these
headphones are sound quality and noise
cancelling actually it's just one reason
to avoid human beings now let's be clear
there's plenty of people in this world
and some are just satisfied with
of all sound quality like me not
everyone spending thousands of dollars
on audio cables to get extra clarity in
that 14 kilohertz range and that is
where I could tell the price difference
immediately
the sound quality like the rest of the
headphones feels okay but not premium
they are brighter overall which I don't
mind and Sony skipped the L dark and
aptX codecs but it's not just that even
listening to it on Apple devices which
basically used only AAC the instrument
separation was quite poor and everything
felt a bit squished together I tested
everything on Spotify with the MacBook
Pro and an iPhone because let's be
serious that's how these headphones are
going to be used the XM3s also use
AAC to connect with Apple devices but
sound much better for that matter so do
the Bose 700 so it's not a problem with
the codec there's definitely a sense
of a veil being lifted when you put on
the XM3s after trying the CH
headphones the bass is much clearer on
the XM3 as well even though they
aren't bassy headphones per se a song
like caribbean blue from Enya doesn't
feel as immersive with the CH and the
2011 remaster of the queen classic
another one bites the dust sounded less
punchy and you could feel like there was
some compression artifacts in the snare hits but here is something that might
influence your buying decision when I
plug these headphones in there was a
marked improvement they went from being
average to average plus still not at the
XM3 level but that does tell you
something that the hardware the drivers
can produce decent quality sound here's
hoping that a firmware update fixes that
and then there's noise canceling you
know what we're not going to talk about
it just have a listen for yourself
yes the difference is that stark there's
that audible hiss on the CH when it's on
full noise canceling mode but if you're
coming from no noise cancelling it's
still an improvement and you know you
may just be looking for headphones that
are not crap at music passable at ANC and are decent to make phone calls
with when you're working from home these
days well we've got you covered
here's a phone call quality test that
we've made
 
 
 
 
 
our conclusion it works
decently in a quiet environment so it
might be good for that application ideal
for a home office kind of situation
unless you've got screaming children in
the background but if the XM3 is any
indication forget about using them in
any kind of transit situation do
yourself a favor
take off the headphones and switch your
phone call to your phone so are these
headphones worth half the money of the
WH1000XM3 we can see some
situations where this may be the case if
you need that extra battery in between
charges if you're satisfied with the
audio quality of these cans maybe you
just listen to podcasts
or you listen a lot wired or like Kevin
you don't care either way
noise canceling is a more specific
application so if you don't have noise
cancelling headphones now these might
not seem all that bad it is better than
having nothing just don't expect a sea
of silence to wash all over you or get
premium noise canceling because you're
not going to and let's face it none of
us is boarding a plane any time soon
so quick disclaimer Sony sent us these
cans but the views and opinions are our
own they didn't get a chance to review
this video before we published so you
see the reviews when they do if they're
subscribed to us if you make calls in
mainly quiet places then the microphone
is not gonna be a problem for you and if
you don't need that Sony app installed
on your phone to tweak EQ and noise
cancelling levels then you may want to
make compromises for those reasons and
still pay a premium over a whole range
of cheap ANC headphones for the Sony
brand and you're still saving a bunch of
money compared to ANC flagships which we
can all use in these times in many ways
this is the iPhone SE of the headphones
half the price has most of the same
features and produced by the same
high-end brand it does the basics and
for many of us well that's good enough
you've been comparing apples with Sony's
and we been DHRME
I don't even know what 14 kilohertz
range means I just said it cuz it was in
the script
