As someone who travels quite a bit, I find myself working on planes, trains, in airports and in coffee shops quite a bit. Since I’ve been working from home for over a decade now, I’ve grown accustomed to not having a lot of distracting noise around me while I’m working. I also like having my own music playing softly in the background, not easy to do when you are surrounded by lots of people in a public place!
Sony has come out with several new solutions for people just like me! Best Buy sent me a pair of noise-canceling headphones and a pair of noise-canceling earbuds to try out and review. Keep reading for all the details, but the short version is that I am IMPRESSED!!!
Let’s start with the Sony – WH-XB900N Wireless Noise Canceling Over-the-Ear Headphones. When I first took them out of the box, I was taken aback by how light they were. I have an older pair of noise-canceling headphones and they were much heavier, which made them a bit uncomfortable after a while.
They were quick and easy to pair with my iPhone and I quickly discovered that a lightweight headphone can still produce awesome sound! The EXTRA BASS™ feature really lives up to its name!! I began playing around with some of the other features and found the built-in Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant really helpful when my hands were busy working away on my laptop. One of my favorite features is the ability to quickly mute the music and enable ambient sound just by holding my hand up to the right earpiece. I can also skip to the next song just by swiping across the surface of the right earpiece, very smooth!!
While these headphones impress right out of the box, downloading the accompanying app gives you even more customized control. You can adjust the level of noise-canceling, enable extra bass and make other adjustments. I received a phone call while I was playing around with the headphones and instinctively tapped the right earpiece which turned out to be exactly how you answer a call. You can increase or lower volume by sliding a finger up or down on the same earpiece.
The headphones last a looooong time when fully charged. You’ll want to allow 7+ hours to fully charge an empty battery but the payoff is worth it: 30 hours of playtime! In case you can’t tell, I’m a huge fan of these headphones.
Next, I played around with the Sony – WF-1000XM3 True Wireless Noise Canceling In-Ear Headphones. I’ll be honest here – I’ve never been a big fan of in-ear headphones or earbuds. I had not found a pair that was comfortable enough for me to wear them for any decent length of time. I was thrilled to see multiple (seven to be exact!) sets of ear tips: four pairs of silicone tips and three pairs of foam tips. Even I was able to find a pair that felt like a really good fit.
But I’m sure you want to know about the sound. I was a bit skeptical about how good noise-canceling could be in such a small, in-ear device. Let’s just say I won’t be turning on that feature while walking the dog because I’m pretty sure a car could blare it’s horn at me and I would still walk in front of it. It was eerie how quiet it made my street while I was walking and the lack of wind noise was truly impressive. Perfect for a plane or noisy office though – as long as you don’t mind missing when people knock on your door! (I kid – you can always turn the noise-canceling down or off with the app.)
Like the over-ear headphones, these have an easy touchpad control system. The right side allows you to skip songs, turn on and off and activate Google Assistant. You can also mute the sound by covering the device with a cupped hand, just this time you’ll need to use the left ear. The only feature I really missed was volume control.
The battery life is quite a bit less than with the over-ear headphones – 6 hours with noise-canceling and 8 hours without per charge. The large but very sleek looking case can charge them up to three times so you’d have about 24 hours with a fully charged case. A quick 10 minute charge yields a 90 minute playback, which is pretty impressive as well.
No matter which you prefer, over-ear or in-ear, Sony has a noise-canceling option perfect for you. Whichever route you go, you will get a quality product with great noise-canceling options. If you wind up grabbing one of these from Best Buy, pop back over and let me know what you think of it!!
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