Review on Sony WF-SP700N/W True Wireless Splash-Proof Noise-Cancelling Earbuds With Built-In Microphone (White) by Michaela Hughes

Bought these headphones to listen to music at the gym. I think they do it pretty well. Here are some of my first impressions. The active noise cancellation is not that good. With noise-cancelling on, I can say it's there and it helps block out ambient noise a bit, but it's nowhere near the level of good noise-cancelling found on the Bose QC20. The QC20 can almost eliminate noise, while the SP700N's noise reduction can only slightly reduce noise. On the other hand, the QC20 is more expensive, larger, not wireless and not waterproof. It's really unreasonable to expect the SP700N to be able to match the QC20. I wouldn't buy the SP700N just for its noise canceling feature. While the SP700N's noise cancellation is poor, the noise isolation is pretty good. It offers the same level of noise isolation as the Shure SE215. That's a big reason why I prefer them to other truly wireless headphones like AirPods or SoundSport Free, which have almost no noise blocking. - Truly wireless. Waterproof. This is perfect for the gym. Cables are no longer in the way. No more scrubbing candy off cords. Don't worry about candy damaging your headphones anymore. There is a lag issue. When I watch YouTube from Chrome on my Android phone, the delay can exceed a second and the video becomes almost unreadable. However, I believe the Youtube app has some tweaks to reduce the lag to a fraction of a second. There's still a slight lag, but much less noticeable. I've also tried MX Player and the Android TED app and both have similar optimizations to the Youtube app. Overall I find the video experience with the SP700N tolerable. I can deal with that because most of the time I only listen to music at the gym. By the way, it also takes about a second to switch to the next song or change the volume. The sound quality exceeds my expectations. These aren't hi-fi headphones, but the sound signature is pleasant. The soundstage is pretty good too. I feel like the music is all around me, not just in my head. The build quality of the headphones themselves is quite good. The charging case looks a bit cheap, especially the cover. I briefly tried the ambient sound mode. It appears to be doing what it's supposed to: letting in ambient noise to counteract the noise isolation. I don't really use this feature. I think that might be what the noise reduction hardware device was actually designed for. Overall I am satisfied with this purchase. It's not perfect and has some downsides, but none of them bother me in my particular use case. I won't recommend the SP700N as a general purpose pair of headphones, but for gym use I think they're a good option.