Another wireless headset from Sony has passed through the FCC again, the YY2968. My first thought was, is this the WF-1000XM5? But looking at the company doing the testing, my thinking is no, this is not the WF-1000XM5. So what could it be? My bet is on a new WF-C500.
There are 3 things that point to a WF-C500 successor, first the label diagram looks almost exactly the same as the original WF-C500. Below is the label diagram from the WF-C500 filing. They are pretty much identical. One could argue it is just a label diagram, but other models like the WF-SP800N and WF-1000XM4 had their own specific diagrams.
Second the device is made in Vietnam like the WF-C500, and finally just like the WF-C500, the company doing the testing is CTK Co Ltd from South Korea.
So what is different? Well the new model now comes with noise cancellation, and should get a slight redesign to fit in the NC mics. Otherwise, the battery uses the same voltage, 3.85V, so it might end up being the same capacity.
The antenna design has changed a bit. A flat connector can be seen in the middle, which will attach most likely to the main PCB.
While similar to the WF-C500, the design has been updated. In contrast, the WF-1000XM4, LinkBuds line and, WF-SP800N, all get their antenna's printed on the plastic. No idea which is better, but I suspect this design on the YY2968 is less expensive.
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| Sony WF-C500 wireless antenna design |
That is most of the information from the FCC filing. We will need to wait for the Bluetooth SIG to see what Bluetooth SoC it is using, I suspect the same one but who knows. The FCC short term confidentiality ends on May 20th 2023, so perhaps a late spring release date.
If I get anymore information I will update the post here at the bottom.
Update:
The headset has appeared on Korea's FCC. The certification confirms the place of production, Vietnam.
Update 2:
The headset has appeared on TDRA which is the certification board for electronics in the UAE.
Update 3:
The YY2968 has appeared on Bluetooth SIG, dated, tomorrow. Bluetooth version is 5.2 which is an improvement on the 5.0 offered on the current model.
The combined designs 161921 and 163117 show the various Airoha chipsets that are under these certifications. The current WF-C500 uses the Airoha AB1562M which is on the list, so the new model might end up using the same chip or maybe something else. Would love to see the MT2822 in the new model, would give a nice boost to sound quality I. We will know once a teardown appears.
Some good news, expanding the supported layers section, shows support for Isochronous Adaptation Layer, which is required for LE Audio. This means the new headset should technically launch with LE Audio. There is something odd, in the FCC documents, the device is described as Wireless Noise Canceling Stereo Headset, but the Bluetooth SIG only shows Wireless Stereo headset. Even the TDRA certification says Noise canceling, so I believe NC will be present.
With Sony pulling a fast one with the new A and ZX Walkmans, perhaps the new WF-C500 model will appear sooner, could it be March? April? Regardless when it will show up, I wonder if Sony will keep the same price point or increase it.
Update 4:
Quick update, the model has appeared on E-ComM. Could it be that the new model will come out earlier than I initially anticipated? I know the WH-CH720N and WH-CH520 are supposed to be out in February, so perhaps we might see this new WF-C500 in March.
Update 5:
This information might not be 100% accurate but on I have some Canadian Energy Specifications numbers for the YY2968.
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| Sony YY2968 |
The rated battery energy most likely also includes the recharging case battery as well, so we cannot really pinpoint an exact capacity. But we can compare it to the current WF-C500.
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| Sony WF-C500 |
Here we have the numbers for the current WF-C500, and it seems that the rated battery in Wh is the same as the new model. I think it we can disregard the energy consumption part and look at the Power In Standby Mode (watts). The new model's standby power is 0.076 watts, where as the WF-C500 standby power is much less at 0.008 watts. No idea why it is higher, but perhaps this might be related to the added noise cancellation.
We can also look at the WF-1000XM4 numbers as well to see how they compare.
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| WF-1000XM4 |
Looking at the standby power, it it rated at 0.293 watts, much more than even the YY2968. Why the WF-1000XM4 use more power is beyond me. For those curious, the LinkBuds standby power is 0.162 watts, and the LinkBuds S is 0.158 watts.
I wanted to see if the rated battery energy added up to the actually capacity of the actual model, otherwise this information would be useless.
Looking at the WF-1000XM4, we know the case has a 2.0.Wh battery, leaving us with 0.569 for the earbuds. The batteries in the earbuds are rated at 0.29Wh each, which is a bit more than what we have. Dividing the 0.569 by 2 gives us 0.284 Wh, which is not far off, and most likely the actual capacity of the coin cells.
Looking at the WF-C500, the case battery is 1.11 Wh, leaving the earbuds with 0.54 Wh, divide by 2, we get 0.27 Wh, which is the actual headset capacity per earbud. So the numbers match up and seem like a good indicator of actual capacity.
So this means we can expect the same battery capacity in the case and in the earbuds like in the current model, which is a bit of a disappointment. Well at least the total capacity did not drop.
Hopefully something leaks soon. If anyone has anymore details about the upcoming model, feel free to some me any information you have, of course I will keep your details anonymous.
Update 6:
We know the name of the new model, WF-C700N, and the colours, black, white, green and possibly violet. See this post for the details.
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