Sony is quite a sought after brand in the world of headphones. Their XM5s are the kind of headphones that everyone wants, but only a few can afford.
Enter the CH720N headphones. With a price of ₹9,990, these are the most affordable pair of over-ear noise cancelling headphones from Sony.
Do these have something special, or do they exist merely to be Sony’s affordable offering?
Design
The CH720Ns look unmistakably Sony as they borrow a lot of elements from the company’s more expensive models.
The plastic quality of these headphones is pretty good for the price. The faux leather on the ear cups as well as around the upper half of the headband is high-quality.
The WH-CH720N headphones are also quite light at under 200g. The light weight and balanced clamping force of these headphones makes them incredibly comfortable to wear. I had no problem wearing these for over an hour in one go.
These are not the most portable pair of headphones, however, since they can only lay flat, and not properly fold up. Also, the lack of any water or dust resistance is a bit disappointing.
Connectivity
The CH720Ns use Bluetooth 5.2 for connectivity. The headphones only support two codecs, AAC and SBC.
The lack of LDAC codec is quite surprising since this codec is actually developed by Sony. Safe to assume that Sony is saving it for its more expensive offerings.
If you still happen to have a phone with a headphone jack, you can connect these headphones the old school way as well.
The headphones connect to your Android or iOS device via the Sony headphones app. The app is quite straightforward to use, and lets you tweak the sound and noise cancellation settings.
Audio Quality
The CH720Ns come with 30mm drivers. Out of the box, these headphones have a U-shaped sound signature, which means that both the treble and bass are slightly boosted.
This is one of the few audio products for which I chose not to adjust the equaliser to better suit the music I was listening to.
I did listen to a lot of music genres, from 70s rock to modern EDM to bollywood, and the sound stage adapted well to most of the songs.
If you’re a Gen-Z bass junkie, you can always tweak the equaliser to pump out more mass, and you will not be disappointed with the results.
At peak volumes, these headphones can also get really loud without any distortion.
These headphones also support Sony’s DSEE tech which is claimed to restore high frequency sounds lost in compression. However, it did not make a noticeable difference to the audio quality for me.
You also have support for 360 audio on these headphones, but very few popular apps support it.
Anyway, call quality though the in-built mic was really good in my experience.
ANC
Active noise cancellation on these headphones is pretty good. While it is better than what any similarly-priced TWS earbuds can offer, it is not quite on the level of Sony’s more premium offerings.
Still, most low-frequency sounds are well filtered out, and you can also wear them in the office while you’d like to focus.
Transparency mode is also present and works really well. This mode also has levels, and I found it really natural at around level 15.
These headphones also support Sony’s adaptive sound control which automatically switches between ANC and transparency mode based on your environment.
Controls
These headphones have no gestures based controls, and instead, you have traditional buttons for almost everything.
On the left earcup, you have the power button, while on the right earcup, you have everything else. This includes volume controls, ANC controls and a button to skip tracks. Everything is non customisable. So, it might take a while for your muscle memory to locate buttons and remember which one does what.
Lack of wear detection is perhaps my biggest grudge with these headphones. This is something that’s increasingly becoming popular in the world of headphones and earphones, and Sony has still decided not to give it here.
Battery Life
The WH-CH720N headphones are claimed to last for up to 50 hours with ANC off and up to 35 hours with ANC on.
I used the headphones for around a week during my review period with ANC on all the time, and I could not kill the battery. Also, a 3-minute charge will give you up to 1 hour of extra play time.
To save the battery, the headphone will automatically switch off if not used for at least 15 minutes.
Verdict
In the era of portable TWS earbuds, why would you still buy headphones? The answer is superior audio quality, and the CH720Ns excel at it big time.
They are also very comfortable to wear and come with good ANC and great battery life. While the lack of wear detection and IP rating is disappointing, at under ₹10,000, the CH720Ns still make for a solid deal.
