On February 28, Sony continued the launch of the NW-ZX700 series and NW-A300 series before opening the first headset launch of the year, launching three headphones in one go.
These are the non-in-ear open-ended sports headphones Float Run, the entry-level wireless noise-cancelling headphones WH-C720N, and the entry-level headphones WH-CH520.
Float Run: "I'm not bone conduction headphones either."
Like LinkBuds, Float Run is a wireless headset that is not advertised to use Sony's regular naming.
Why is LinkBuds mentioned here?
In addition to the fact that Sony places them together in the "open headphone series", they are also wireless headphones that are easily "out of phase".
Yes, just as the little green hat hero in "The Legend of Salda" is not called Salda but Link, Float Run is not bone conduction headphones. (Laughs.)
Float Run has an earhook structure, and the flat, round-edged large earhook structure carries the main electronic modules of the fuselage, which is reminiscent of the classic Sony Xperia Ear Duo.
If you think of the Xperia Ear Duo and the LinkBuds ring, they both have one more thing in common, which is the new headphones that pay homage to the Xperia Ear Duo in design.
In addition, the rear hook of Float Run is also reminiscent of Sony's NW-WS series WALKMAN players.
Float Run uses a similar elastic rear hanging. In addition, the daily response is only the movement on the ground, there is no need to run in addition to the ground and water upstream like the NW-WS series, and the Float Run rear hanger is also much lighter, as long as the headphones are fixed on the head.
Not only the rear hanging, but the Float Run is light overall. Although a large earhook is used, the weight of the whole machine is 33g, whether it is light for the headphones with the neck or the head, plus the back hanger is relaxed, the pressure of wearing the headphones should not be too large.
The most important thing and Sony has always emphasized is that Float Run is a non-in-ear open sports headphones, which means that it really does not need to be put in the ear.
Yes, Float Run is worn in the air between the ears and the headphones.
In the past, even flat-head headphones had to be stuffed into the ears, and now the most common design of the original AirPods on true wireless is also called "semi-in-ear". In the face of these designs, Sony can really achieve the goal of "non-earing" to the extreme.
As for why to do it, the explanation given by Sony is that this can alleviate the problems caused by in-ear headphones, the headphone suspension will not produce ear canal pressure, and it can be breathable when wearing, which can greatly reduce the refresh of wearing fatigue. The design of the unclosed ear canal can contact ambient sound, which is safer to wear when exercising outdoors, and there is no stethoscope effect when wearing... These are the inherent advantages of in-ear design.
The headset body comes with IPX4 waterproof, which is not much problem in daily use and sports scenarios. Coupled with the 33g body, it is indeed suitable for long-term wear.
It's just that the playback time of Float Run is only 10 hours, and it seems that the battery life is relatively average. Perhaps Sony takes into account that the user spends most of the time hanging on the body, and the duration of sports is not too long, so Float Run gives 200 hours of standby time, but the continuous playback time is only 10 hours.
However, its fast charging efficiency is not bad, and you can have 60 minutes of playback time after 10 minutes of charging. If you rush out to exercise and find that you forgot to charge, then Float Run doesn't need to wait too long.
In terms of sound, it is equipped with a 16mm dynamic unit, which is indeed relatively large in terms of headphones. But considering that its structure is relatively special, the effect brought by the large unit should be different from our daily headphones.
What's more amazing is that Float Run is not equipped with a variety of its own technologies like other Sony headphones, such as the most basic DSEE term, you will not see it on Float Run.
In terms of price, Float Run is priced at 999 yuan, which has been launched on Sony's official website.
When civilian-grade headphones appeared our familiar name
In addition to Float Run, Sony also introduced the WH-C720N with noise cancellation and the WH-C520 headphones with a close-in design.
Both headphones are at the entry level, and both are available in black, white and blue colors, and the WH-C520 has a light brown version, and the promotional image also shows colorful features. Even if the C in the middle of the model does not represent colorful Color or Colorful, the WH-C720N and WH-C520 remind me of the h.ear series, which has long been away from the masses.
In addition, the WH-C720 uses an over-ear design, and the WH-C520 uses a close-in design, which is more nostalgic for the WH-H900N series and WH-H800 series.
However, compared with the two main models on the h.ear series in the year, the positioning of WH-C720N and WH-C520 is much more introductory. Although we can see a lot of familiar configurations and technologies on it, the distance between the two new products and those years is still a bit far.
In terms of configuration, the WH-C720N that supports noise reduction is equipped with the integrated processor V1 chip that was previously released on the WH-1000X series, and both have a wind noise reduction structure. The configuration of the WH-C520 is not explicitly stated, but both models support Bluetooth 5.2, and the coding is only the most basic SBC and AAC.
In terms of technical support, both the WH-C720N and WH-C520 support Sony's own DSEE digital audio enhancement engine and 360RA presence sound.
The fast charging mode of both headphones supports 3 minutes of charging, 1 hour of playback and 10 minutes of charging, 4.5 hours of playback (WH-C520 will reach 5.5 hours), WH-C720N on noise reduction battery life of 35 hours, off noise reduction is 50 hours, has caught up with the flagship WH-1000XM5 level. The WH-C720N also features 20 levels of ambient sound tuning and AI adaptive sound control.
However, the WH-C720N and WH-C520 do not have touch operation and need to be controlled by physical buttons. The WH-C720N has a call microphone with beamforming technology, while the WH-C520 is a regular call microphone.
In terms of price, the WH-C720N is priced at 799 yuan, and the WH-C520N is priced at 499 yuan.
And what about the WF-1000XM5?
At this point, in fact, the press conference is over.
Sony, unlike Nikon, did not announce the development of this habit. And such a fast-paced product as a headset, the announcement time is basically released directly.
Therefore, in this kind of press conference where only the promotional video and the simple venue are unboxed, there will basically be no new product information.
However, recently there is really information about Sony's new generation noise cancelling bean WF-1000XM5.
According to the information blog thewalkmanblog, the certification information for the WF-1000XM5 has appeared on the FCC.
thewalkmanblog expects the new model to use Bluetooth 5.3 and support LE Audio. The fuselage will continue to use touch design, but the design of the fuselage is not disclosed in the FCC's certification filing, so the new design cannot be speculated at this time.
thewalkmanblog also predicts that the FFC secrecy period for the WF-1000XM5 ends on August 8, and Sony may release the WF-1000XM5 in May. Considering that the WF-1000XM3 and WF-1000XM4 were released in July and June, combined with the unbanning period of the FCC in August, it is not impossible for Sony to launch the new WF-1000XM5 in May.