Sony has finally entered the true wireless
buds segment in India. The company, which is known for its high-end audio
products, recently launched the WH-CH710N wireless headphone at an affordable
price tag. Now, with the new Sony WF-SP800N and WF-XB700 TWS earbuds, the
company is hoping to capture both mid-range and premium segments in the
country.
Sony’s new TWS earbuds start at Rs.9,990
and they seem to pack quite a punch for the price. The new launch includes two
earbuds – The affordable WF-XB700 and a slightly more premium SP800N. If we
recall, Sony started teasing the product by retweeting a tipster’s tweet a
while back. Following this, they were listed on the company’s website which
revealed key specifications of the earbuds.
Cheaper of the bunch, the XB700 comes in
Black and Blue colours. Sony says the ‘Extra Bass’ feature will aid the earbuds
in rendering audio better at lows and mid segments. The XB700 has a 12mm driver
unit on each earbud with Neodymium magnet and support frequencies in the
20-20KHz range. It also has support for SBC and AAC audio codecs while using
Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity.
In addition to the IPX4 rating for water
and dust, Sony says the earbuds along with charging case. This gives a total
battery life of up to 18 hours with 9 hours music playback. Other features of
the earbuds include hands-free calling, voice assistant support and the
charging case has USB-C port for charging. The new SP800N is aimed at sports
enthusiasts with slightly more premium features. Like the Chinese launch that
happened a while ago, the Indian variant of the earbud comes in a White, Blue
and Black Color.
Sony says the Extra Bass EQ tuning is
aimed for bass lovers at low ends. The earbud will support SBC and AAC code in
addition to Sony’s 360 Reality Audio for spatial audio. Additional features
include digital noise cancellation with ambient sound mode, touch controls for
music playback, accessing voice assistants like Alexa, Siri and Google, and
hands-free calling. Sony also says the earbuds along with the case will give a
total playback of up to 18hrs with Noise-cancellation turned on. Turning it off
otherwise will extend the juice up to 26hrs.
Off-late, Sony seems to aggressively price
its products and that continues with the WF-SP800N and XB700. Both the earbuds
are priced at Rs.18,990 (US$ 250) and Rs.9,990 (US$ 130) respectively and will go on
sale starting June 26th on Sony’s website and available across Amazon, Flipkart
and Sony’s retail partners in the country.
