Chilled-out Sounds

Sony WH-CH710N Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphone

- Kenny Yeo

The WH-CH710N is the latest addition to Sony’s ever-expanding stable of wireless headphones with active noise cancelling. At $249, it’s one of the brand’s more affordable options, sitting comfortably below the flagship WH1000XM3 and other offerings like the WH-H910N and WHXB900N.

All you’ll find in the box apart from the headphones are a charging cable and a 1.2-metre long headphone cable (3.5mm termination at both ends). There’s no carrying case, which is unfortunate because this headphone folds flat and was clearly designed for portable use.

The design is clean and sleek. It comes in three sensible colours: black, white, and blue. And in black, they are quite discreet and understated. It helps also that the cups aren’t so big that they stick out obtrusively and make you look like a dork when you are wearing them. But perhaps most importantly, it is comfortable to wear, thanks to fairly plush earpads and the mostly plastic construction.

Some people might take offence at the use of plastic but I’m totally fine with it given the price point and also because I want my portable headphone to be as light as possible so that they are easy to carry around and comfortable to wear. The headphone weighs just 223g.

There are buttons on the ear cups to control the WHCH710N’s various functions. On the left ear cup is your power button and on the right ear cup, you have your noise-cancellation button, volume, and playback controls. On the left ear cup, you’ll also find a 3.5mm port and a USB-C port for charging. Unfortunately, the USB-C port is used solely for charging and cannot be used as a digital input.