Sunday, 8 March 2020

Sony's upcoming WF-XB700, will it sport larger drivers?

Sony WF-XB700

The WF-XB700 is the final wireless headset coming from Sony in the first half of this year. The FCC filing last December gave almost nothing away, so this latest reveal from Anatel helps shine a light onto Sony's first Extra Bass Truly Wireless headset.

I apologies for the photo quality, the Anatel filing photos were not that great, so this is the best until Sony announces the model.

The design looks like it borrows from the WF-H800, specifically the round and oval shape. The top surface of the ear buds looks to matte like in the WF-H800, a middle glossy section and a matte bottom cover. In the photo below, the case is blue where as the earbuds are black, I think this is just a mix match for the certification since in another photo later, a blue earbud can be seen. I think we are looking at 2 colour choices, blue and black, like the rest of the Extra Bass headsets. One interesting design feature is the lid of the charging case seems to be a bit transparent.

Sony WF-XB700

Specifications in the manual are not fully filled out, so battery life, weight and charging times are absent, but Bluetooth 5.0 is confirmed, along with SBC/AAC codec support and the presence of an IPX4 rating, meaning these will be ideal for a workout.

Regarding the larger driver, it is difficult to tell from the design, but perhaps a slightly larger driver might fit inside the earbud, maybe 8mm up from the 6mm in the current devices. If Sony decides to use a larger driver here, I do hope they upgrade the battery but I feel we are looking at a VARTA CP1254 again but until a teardown is performed, the battery size will be unknown.

The rest of the photos from the filing show the rest of the case and the blue colour option. Release date is unknown, but the short term confidentiality on the FCC ends on April 1st, so they should be announced before that date.

Sony WF-XB700
Click on the photo for a larger size
Sony WF-XB700
Click on the photo for a larger size
Sony WF-XB700
Click on the photo for a larger size
Sony WF-XB700
Click on the photo for a larger size
Sony WF-XB700
Click on the photo for a larger size
Here is the blue colour option. The top and bottom of the earbuds seem to have some kind of textured surface that is a different shade of blue, and the middle portion has a glossy blue finish. Unlike the the rest of the WF line, the WF-XB700 seem to be manufactured in Vietnam and not Malaysia. Not sure why the change, perhaps not enough capacity at the Malaysian plant.

Sony WF-XB700
Click on the photo for a larger size
Sony WF-XB700
Click on the photo for a larger size

Source: Anatel

1 comment:

  1. looking forward to these, maybe they will be released in Europe as well. Just wish these are more affordable than the wf-1000xm3.

    ReplyDelete