Sony debuts the WF-C700N, its most affordable noise-canceling earbuds

Sony has announced its latest wireless earbuds, and they bring the cost of the company’s excellent active noise cancellation (ANC) technology to a new low price. At $120, the WF-C700N are a step up from the entry-level $100 WF-C500, which lack ANC, yet they’re considerably more affordable than the $200 Sony LinkBuds S or the $279 WF-1000XM4, the company’s only other ANC models.

The WF-C700N can be preordered immediately in one of four colors (black, white, lavender, and sage green), with an expected delivery date of April 17 to April 18.

The move follows Jabra’s recent release of its $100 Elite 4, which also set a new low price for that company’s noise-canceling technology.

Design-wise, the C700N look like a hybrid of their siblings, the C500, and the LinkBuds S, sporting the same mesh-covered mics as the LinkBuds, but the physical control buttons of the C500. On the other hand, the charging case is pure C500, with the same lozenge-like shape.

Unfortunately, that means no wireless charging. You also won’t get the LinkBuds S’ support for hi-res audio via the LDAC Bluetooth codec, but Sony has thrown in Bluetooth Multipoint, a handy feature that the C500 lacks.

Along with ANC, there’s also a transparency mode, and Sony’s free Headphones app can be used to configure the C700N with up to 20 different levels of transparency sensitivity.

Battery life for the earbuds looks decent, at a claimed 7.5 hours with ANC on and up to 10 hours when it’s off. On the other hand, the charging case only holds one extra charge, so your maximum time away from a cable is 20 hours.

Curiously, Sony is using one of its smallest drivers on the C700N — a 5mm unit — so we’re very curious how they’ll sound compared to other Sony models. Sony’s classic DSEE is onboard to help upscale any lossy, compressed music you might be streaming.

With an IPX4 rating for water resistance, you probably don’t want to make a point of getting them wet, but they should be able to stand up to workouts, runs, or any other gentle liquid exposure as long as you wipe them clean when you’re done.

Finally, you get Google Fast Pair support for quick and easy pairing with Android devices.