Wednesday 24 April 2019

Sony WI-XB400, Wireless Xtra Bass In-ear headphones coming soon

Sony wixb400 wi-xb400

It appears Sony is not quite finished with their wireless headphone lineup just yet.  Today on the FCC, the WI-XB400 made an appearance, and judging from the model name, we are looking at a mid level pair of wireless in-ear headphones with Sony's Xtra Bass.

Very little information is provided in the FCC documents, apart from the fact it uses Bluetooth, no version number is provided in the paperwork.  The image of the label only shows part of the cable, a flat design, and the main pod (if you wish to call it that), which appears to house the battery, usb port and rest of the electronics.  Unknown if the pod will be doubled up like in the new WI-C200/C310 line or single like in the WI-SP600N.  Hopefully Sony will follow the WI-C200/C310 path and offer USB type-C.

There is some good news, the rest of the documents become available on May 26 2019, so if nothing appears on Sony's website before then, I will post the photos and manuals on here. But I suspect we are again looking at a launch like the WI-C200/C310 had, one day just appearing on the Sony site.

As for how this new headset fits into the new lineup, perhaps we are looking at a successor to the MDR-XB50BS headphones.  It has been a while since Sony released any wireless in-ear XB headphones, with the last release was back in Fall of 2016 during IFA, so almost 3 years ago.  Most of those in-ear XB headsets used the Qualcomm's CSR8675, which offers plenty of features, like active NC and aptX, but it maxes out at Bluetooth 4.2.  Of course nothing wrong with using Bluetooth 4.2 but when you have a small headset with limited battery size, offering Bluetooth 5.0 and a newer BT chip can increase battery life.  The WI-C200/C310 jumped from 8hr to 15hrs, so a significant increase.  The MDR-XB50BS offered up to 8.5 hours, so pretty decent for a 3 year old device, so anything more than this would be great.

If Sony moves this new WI-XB400 to the new Realtek audio chip, then we would be looking at Bluetooth 5.0 and USB type-C support.  We will know once the documents are revealed, assuming the photos provide the BT chip clearly enough.

While there was no testing of NFC spectrum, this does not mean NFC will not be offered.  The WI-C600N offers NFC, and this was not testing in the FCC documents, so there is a still a a chance we will see NFC.

So expect the next post about these headphones to be either the FCC documents and photos or news of them appearing on Sony's website.

6 comments:

  1. I want to lose weight and considering to buy wic310 and it's quite affordable as well , but, I don't know if they will stay out during running in the rain or gym. Not a big fan of bass but do you think I should wait for the wi400? Because wf1000xm3 are out of my budget and not for sports.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The WI-XB400 will have Sony's Xtra Bass feature, so if you wish to have that I say wait, but they have not been announced yet, and we might be looking at an IFA announcement in Early September. Another issue might be availability in your country, they may be announced but different regions around the world will get them later.

      The WI-XB400 will also not be water resistant, neither are the WI-C300. Currently only the WI-SP600N, WF-SP900 and WF-SP700N, but those might be too expensive as well.

      Delete
    2. Those are indeed too expensive! And even if say wfxm3 was affordable it isn't made for sports. It for luxury portable listening. It's monsoon where I live so it rains day and night. Do you recommend any Bluetooth 5 USB c headphones? I think I'll wait for xb400 because 310 will fall off and get damaged in water. Also, what do you think about Sony releasing the new Walkman? When might they release it?...oh and I saw the pictures of xb400, it's dual unit thing like 310...doesn't show any fins so probably not for sports ! Too bad.

      Delete
    3. Not sure there are any good BT 5.0 headphones I could recommend at the moment, since the ones on the market are usually high end models and any low end models are probably from china and would break easily.

      The WI-XB400 might or might not have any water resistance, so if you wish to wait that is one option.

      No information about any new walkmans, at least nothing on FCC just yet. Hopefully something, it is 40 years of walkman this year so a nice anniversary model would be appreciated.

      Btw where did you see photos of the WI-XB400?

      Delete
  2. Which BT chip is used in xb400? Airoha/mediatek? There is too much white noise or hissing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Neither, the XB400 uses the Realtek RTL8763B BT chip.

      Delete