Sony WF-C710N review

Sony’s design language here is refreshingly unfussy. The WF-C710N don’t try to be invisible, but they’re not peacocks either. The finish is smooth, the fit is snug, and there’s a slight bubble-like silhouette that helps them sit comfortably without pressing into the ear canal — like little marshmallows with a mission.They’re lightweight, IPX4-rated for splash resistance, and after a few hours of wear — including an evening walk and a couple of marathon Zoom calls — I was impressed by how little I noticed them. They stay put without needing constant adjustment, which is more than can be said for most of us after 5pm.

This is where Sony’s decades of ANC wizardry pay off. The C710N come with a dual-mic feedforward and feedback system — the same fundamental principle you’ll find in its flagship buds, just dialled down to avoid cooking your wallet. The result? Excellent background noise reduction, particularly for city clatter and low-end droning like fans, AC units, or the polite chaos of Indian traffic. It’s not quite sensory deprivation, but it’s enough to turn your daily commute into a scene from a sci-fi movie — silent, focused, oddly cinematic.Ambient mode also makes a return, letting in just enough outside world to avoid collisions with lampposts and fellow pedestrians. It’s not quite clairvoyant, but it’s clever enough.

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From the moment I queued up Coltrane’s My Favorite Things, it was clear that Sony hasn’t phoned in the audio tuning on the WF-C710N. These earbuds may be positioned in the “affordable ANC” bracket, but their sonic performance betrays a more mature and deliberate engineering effort than the price would suggest. Let’s break it down.

Bass is the first thing that hits you — not with boomy overkill, but with definition and intent. Sony has long had a reputation for pushing the low end on its consumer products, but here, they’ve shown restraint. The sub-bass extension is audible and present without overpowering the rest of the spectrum. It’s rounded, controlled, and only thumps when the mix demands it. In Massive Attack’s Angel, for example, the low-frequency pulse maintains its ominous tone without muddying the midrange textures.Speaking of midrange, this is where the WF-C710N genuinely impresses. 

Vocals are front and centre, cleanly separated, with enough warmth to sound natural but enough edge to cut through dense arrangements. Female vocals, in particular — think Adele or Norah Jones — carry a velvety richness that’s rare at this price point. Instruments like acoustic guitars and piano sit confidently in the centre image, without smearing or congestion.

The treble is smooth — perhaps too smooth, depending on your personal taste. There’s a slight roll-off above 10kHz that limits airiness and sparkle, which means cymbals and string overtones don’t shimmer quite as much as they could. But on the flip side, this tuning avoids harshness and sibilance, even on poorly mastered tracks — a sensible move given the earbuds' broad target audience. For most listeners, it’s a safe and fatigue-free top end.

Imaging and stereo separation are surprisingly spacious for an in-ear design. Panning effects in Radiohead’s Weird Fishes travel convincingly from left to right, and the soundstage feels wider than average for true wireless buds — not cavernous, but certainly room-like. These aren’t analytical reference monitors, but they don’t sound boxed in either. From a technical standpoint, the dynamic range is decent, though limited by codec support — you’re getting SBC and AAC, but no LDAC or aptX. That said, on a modern smartphone with clean output and high-bitrate files or streaming, these earbuds respond beautifully. Quiet passages retain detail without collapsing into mush, and louder transients never clip or distort. 

One area where they could improve is instrument separation during complex mixes. Throw something dense at them - like a full orchestral score or a modern pop mix packed with layers — and the WF-C710N can occasionally blur elements together, particularly in the upper mids. But that’s a limitation of the driver class and DAC architecture, not the tuning. Still, for casual listening, even critical listening on the go, the sonic profile here is deeply satisfying. It’s musical, composed, and reassuringly un-fatiguing — exactly the kind of sound you'd want in a pair of everyday earbuds with ANC.

The WF-C710N pair seamlessly with Sony’s Headphones Connect app, which gives you access to EQ presets, ANC controls, touch customisation, and firmware updates. The UI is clean, responsive, and if you’ve used any Sony audio kit in the last five years — comfortingly predictable. Touch controls on the buds are responsive, but the default mapping isn’t perfect. Thankfully, the app lets you rejig everything to your liking.

The Sony WF-C710N hit a real sweet spot. They bring together dependable ANC, full-bodied sound, excellent battery life, and enough intelligent features to feel genuinely modern — all while undercutting most of the competition on price. They’re not without compromise. The charging case feels a bit plasticky, there’s no hi-res codec support like LDAC, and you’ll need to fiddle with the app to get the touch controls feeling truly intuitive. But these are forgivable sins in the church of budget brilliance. If you’re shopping in the sub-₹10K range and want a dependable pair of noise-cancelling buds that don’t sound like a budget compromise, this is the pair to beat. They don’t just punch above their weight — they skip the weigh-in altogether and head straight to the main event.