Design and features:This Bluetooth wireless noise canceling home/studio-style over-ear model provides good sound and excellent active noise reduction. Its closed design and electronic noise canceling feature reduce both outside noise and sound leaking out into your environment. The headphones work with or without the noise canceling feature being turned on. You can use the noise-canceling feature without listening to music, and the audio cable can be detached to get it out of the way when the headphones are being used for noise reduction only. The headphones have medium/high sensitivity regardless of whether they unpowered or whatever mode (noise canceling on or off or ambient sound monitoring) they are in when powered; they can provide satisfying volume levels when used with home audio equipment and even lower powered portable audio devices. The WHCH720N has a volume control plus an integrated microphone and player function controls. Ear cups swivel for ease of carrying and storage. ANC and Ambient sound button control on right ear cup toggles between noise cancellation on/off and ambient sound on/off. Free Sony Headphones Connect app download for Apple and Android mobile devices has adaptive sound control function to automatically switch between noise canceling and ambient sound monitoring based on the user's location and activity. Also has function to adjust the level of ambient sound that is heard when the monitor function is used and that can allow the monitor function to focus only on the voice tonal region. Has button controls for play/pause/skip forward and call connect/disconnect, volume control, digital voice assistant activation. Has adaptive volume level function that increases and decreases the earphone volume as the ambient sound increases or decreases. Has power on/off alert tone and voice announcements, Bluetooth connect/disconnect/battery level voice announcements. Supports Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, and Google Assistant digital voice assistants when used with mobile devices that have those features. Has quick charge feature: 3 min of Headphone charging will provide 1hr. of playtime, 10 min of charging will provide 4.5 hrs. of playtime. Headphones are compatible with Sony's 360 Reality Audio virtual surround sound on several streaming services (Deezer, Tidal, Nugs.net). Bluetooth connected Apple mobile devices using iOS Version 5 and above will show the battery level. Free Sony Headphones Connect app download for Apple and Android mobile devices can act as a audio program player and can provide tonal balance presets and equalization, provide earphone control customization, optimize the Sony 360 Reality Audio feature, disable the voice announcements, enable/disable the auto-pause function, enable/disable the adaptive volume level function, and update the earphone's firmware. Supports Google Fast Pair for Android devices and Swift Pair for Windows 10 and 11 computers. The WHCH720N comes with a detachable 50-inch long standard audio cable, USB-A to USB-C connector charging cable, Quick Start.
Sound quality:We found the WHCH720N delivers sound quality that falls in the good range - it reproduces music and voice reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound and excellent active noise reduction. With the noise canceling mode engaged and the Sony Headphones Connect app set with the Equalizer off and clear bass set to 0 (as received state of the headphone) the bass (as in bass drums, bass guitars, stand-up bass, etc.) has good impact and goes deep, but is boomy and somewhat prominent. The midrange (voices, guitars, horns, etc.) is even, but is somewhat hazy, and congested (think sonic traffic jam) a bit grainy and plasticky (something like what you would hear if you talked into a semi-rigid plastic cup), and somewhat overwhelmed by the bass. The treble (cymbals, the upper range of violins, etc.) is extended, but a bit smeared and sizzly (sounds that should have a delicate shimmer have a sound reminiscent of bacon frying), and the lower- and mid-treble is a bit subdued. While the sound has a decent sense of liveliness, it is somewhat closed (sound-wise it's fairly obvious you have something plugging your ears) and does a decent job of recovering room ambience. Warmish character. The overall sound can best be summarized as bassy, somewhat hazy, and a bit grainy and plasticky. The Sony Headphones Connect app EQ controls had a noticeable effect on the sound. Noise Canceling: Excellent noise reduction across the entire frequency range with the low frequencies reduced the most. Orientation changes the noise reduction characteristic - when the noise is coming from the front a bit more high-frequency noise can be heard relative to when it's coming from the side or rear. A faint rushing sound can be heard in quiet environments when there is no audio program to drown it out.
Comfort and Fit:We found that these headphones produce a sense of moderate pressure around the ears.
As typical of over-ear models the ear pads might feel hot and/or sticky after prolonged use.
Large
Users with larger heads might find that the headband does not have enough adjustment range to allow the ear cups to rest properly over the ears and/or that the headband presses uncomfortably on the top of the head.
Users with larger ears might find that the over-the-ear fit of the ear pads feel cramped, or that the ear pads sit on, rather than around their ears; in that case the less-than-ideal fit around the ears might interfere with the ear pad seal and reduce the bass response and/or noise reduction capabilities of the headphone.
Stability
Some users may find that when they lean far forward the headphones feel unstable and shift forward.
Other noise
When wearing this model while walking the muffled vibrations from each foot step can be heard slightly through the headphones regardless of whether or not the headphones are in noise cancelling mode.
When the audio cord is used the sound of it rubbing on clothing may be faintly heard through the headphones.
