Sony's 2018 Wireless Affordable series(WI-C300, WH-CH400, WH-CH500) Hands-on Review

Sony recently announced their new lineup of Affordable series headphones for India. These headphones or earphones are designed to be used during everyday activities like Computing or relaxing at home. The new sports series headphone range starts from Rs 2,990 and goes all the way up to Rs 4,990.

The new range of Sony's affordable series headphone includes three models. Namely, WI-C300 (Rs. 2,990), WH-CH400 (Rs. 3,790), WH-CH500 (Rs. 4,990). All of these headphones are completely wireless. Also, they come packed with active noise cancelling. They are optimized to work with Google Assistant. No Siri optimisation though. However, these come packed with NFC for easy connectivity. Also, standard connectivity is via Bluetooth.

Design

Sony WH-CH400

The design of the Sony WI-CH 400 is pretty basic. It comes with a plastic headband with no support. However, the headbands have a cut in them. This makes it both look a little better and allows air pass and cool your head. However, these are the cheapest ones also, yet offers almost the same features as it's big brothers. Hence the compromises were made in the design department. The earcups are also on-ear style, with no support for ear whatsoever. They are just plain flat. This might hinder comfort in the long run. However, they come with active noise cancelling and NFC support. Overall, design-wise these are just bland.

Sony WH-CH500

The design of the Sony WH-CH500 is pretty similar to Sony's other offerings.  It comes with a soft plastic headband. A mixture of durability and comfort.The earcups come with link controls and swivel design for easy storage. The headphones are quite comfortable in the ear. The headphones like the other ones come with NFC support along with active noise cancelling.

Sony WI-C300

The Sony WI-C300 is the only new in-ear style headphone for the company's affordable lineup. The design of the Sony Wi-C300 is little questionable. The earphones come with two earbuds joined with a cable. The cable contains two blocks. One housed the inline controls and the NFC pad. The second contains the battery. The position of the battery module might be uncomfortable for many while wearing them around the neck. However, if that's not an issue for you, it has a pretty good design.

Sound Quality

All of the three, affordable series headphones are designed to be fully wireless and offer active noise cancelling. Along with, they can offer ambient noise modes to offer sounds in when you need it. We tried all three of the above-mentioned earphones for a couple of minutes. Our first impression of the sound quality is really good. The active noise cancelling works really well. Pairing them using NFC was easy and convenient. The base of the headphones is extremely good. Also, these headphones get really loud if you decide to turn up the volume. However, the few minutes of testing isn't enough to completely tell us the quality of sounds these earphones will put out in all genres. However, the first impression makes us feel it will be pretty good.

Conclusion

The WI-C300 (Rs. 2,990), WH-CH400 (Rs. 3,790), WH-CH500 (Rs. 4,990) are greatly designed wireless headphones and earphones by the company. These look and feel very good. Also, they sound good by the initial testing. These make the earphones completely worth the money spent on it. However, missing Siri optimization might put some iOS users down. However with the smartphones killing the headphone jack, buying wireless headphones could be a good decision. Also, who can forget the convenience of wireless headphones.