It's not a style that everyone will love, but it does at least bounce cleanly past just looking like yet another AirPods clone.ДЇor such a large set of buds, it's surprising how light and comfortable they actually are to wear. Each bud comprises an inner section with your choice of sized tips leading out to an ovoid disc that sticks out of your ear. And thatвЂ™s certainly enough for them to make it onto our rather limited shortlist of budget sport true wireless earbuds.Sony has quite a reputation for eye-catching design вЂ“ just look at the PS5 вЂ“ but the Sony WF-XB700 headphones are remarkably plain. Those who donвЂ™t need these earbudsвЂ™ sportier features will be better served by one of its rivals, such as the aforementioned Cambridge Audios.Д«ut they still prove up to the task of entertaining fitness fiends, courtesy of their clear, punchy sonics and lightweight, comfortable build. The WF-XB700 arenвЂ™t among the best propositions in SonyвЂ™s extensive headphones range. Even so, we find the Sonys have the directness to keep us entertained (and moving). During a sparser recording, such as Eilish and KhalidвЂ™s lovely, these shortcomings are more evident. While pg.lostвЂ™s Suffering sounds weighty and energised, the SonyвЂ™s rivals inject more space into the dense instrumentation and fill it with levels of subtlety that are overlooked by the XB700. There is more insight from the similarly sporty JBL Reflect Flow and the non-sporty Cambridge Audio Melomania 1. Their tonal balance plays into the hands of the thickset bassline in Billie EilishвЂ™s bad guy, but doesnвЂ™t neglect the rest of the mix: EilishвЂ™s layered, sometimes Tremolo-affected vocal and the percussive snaps are all prominent above it in the SonyвЂ™s soundstage. The electronica, piano melody and vocal riding above the bassline come through with presence, clarity and detail вЂ“ even if the synths in the mix are a little rounded off. While bass-heavy performances can often overshadow mid and high frequencies, that isnвЂ™t the case here. ThereвЂ™s meat behind their low-end, and that southern frequency substance is complemented by decent punch and pleasing tautness and agility. Sure enough, they embrace the beat underpinning Ben PearceвЂ™s re-edit of Maribou StateвЂ™s Midas. With the XB700 being part of SonyвЂ™s Extra Bass family, we have an idea as to what to expect from their sonic balance. In our test, we donвЂ™t encounter any issues with operation during exercise. The left earbudвЂ™s button can be pressed to increase volume and held to decrease it, while the right button is pressed once to play/pause tracks and answer/end calls, twice to skip forward and three times to skip backwards a track. Speaking of buttons, the XB700 have an easy-to-locate one on the underside of each earbuds to control music playback, rather than a more runner-friendly touch sensor. It takes a few twists to get them securely into place, but once they're in you can almost forget about them, safe in the knowledge that it would take some knocking, or a rather rigorous button press, to dislodge them. It helps that the buds are lightweight, at 8g each, too. At just under 3cm deep from eartip to housing edge, they are rather on the large side, but they look more burdensome than they feel. To help ensure the buds stay in your ears, the XB700 have oval-shaped contours that sit between the silicone ear tips (of which there are four sizes to choose from) and outer housings.

Sony wf xb700 review