Sony WF-XB700 w/ Extra Bass: Big Earbuds, Big Sound

When it comes to audio & headphones, Sony has been killing it as of the past few years. From the game-changing WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones to the amazing WF-1000XM3 noise-canceling earbuds, they have been dropping some top tier products. Those come w/ a top-tier pricing as well. With their XB-line of products, gives you more affordable pricing w/o sacrificing the audio quality. Enter the latest XB700 earbuds w/ Extra Bass. Giving you Sony’s s signature sound for only $130. Time to break down our overall experience w/ these and tell you everything you need to know about them.

The XB700s are a bit on the larger side of earbuds. The exterior shows off the Sony logo on each of the buds w/ a textured matte finish. On the top are the LED indicators when charging and a multipurpose on each of the buds. On the interior, there’s a plastic build w/ silicone tips. All of this w/ an IPX4 rating of water-resistance.

These are pretty comfortable to rock for several hours or until they die. No fatigue of sorts while wearing them either. However, there were a few times where they wouldn’t stay in my ears after a while. Not sure to chalk this up to their larger size or not. Keep in mind that you do have 3 other ear tips to swap out if the default ones don’t work as well.

This is my 1st taste of Sony’s XB line touting Extra Bass. So I was definitely intrigued to see what they had to offer in sound. Unfortunately, Sony provided zero info on the drivers or Bluetooth codecs so we have no clue what’s driving the sound. You can use them independently- kind of. You can only use the left earbud though.

Sony's amazing signature sound w/a boost in bass.

The XB700s does give you a full overall soundstage and like the name says extra bass, but not overbearing. Just the right amount of extra kick while retaining good clarity. Put them against the Powerbeats Pro, you’ll get a fuller sound output and close to the same amount of bass. As far as taking phone calls on them, it’s OK. You get a decent quality just as long as you don’t have too much noise in the background.

In one of the other areas where the XB700s do shine is the battery life. These buds give you 9-hours of battery life on a single charge. While the charging case can top it off only twice before needing to recharge. It has magnets to help keep the buds in place while inside the case as well. So it’s not bad as w/ my new work hours, I have to charge them like once every 2 days and the case about once a week. It does have USB-C fast charging as well. A 10-minute quick charge gives you up to 60 minutes of juice.

These Sony earbuds give you great sound at a good price.

Of course, the WF-1000XM3 offers a lot more over the XB700s but for a lot more $. Still w/o the noise-canceling & the cooler charging case, the XB700s bring a lot to the table like top-notch sound quality, IPX4 rating, & above-average battery life. All of this for $130 but I do think at $100 the XB700s would be a much better & attractive price point. The only reason I say this is that the earbuds competition is thick. Many offer decent-to-amazing sound for that price point or lower. But that’s not to knock these from Sony either. But if you’re familiar w/ Sony’s signature sound, these will be a great buy for you.