Sony WH-CH720N and WH-CH520 leak (update 2)
WH-CH720N
Anyways, the WH-CH720N should feature dual noise cancellation, Bluetooth 5.2 but the model will lack Bluetooth LE support, as it is missing in the BT SIG filing. Whether Sony will re-certify with LE Audio in the future is unknown. The Bluetooth SoC is the Mediatek MT2822, the same chip found in the WH-1000XM5. Charging is via a USB type-C port. I can confirm that the V1 branding and name will be used on the press release and product pages, with reference to Sony's flagship 1000X line.
From the FCC filing, we know there will be 2 battery suppliers, with the battery rated at 3.85V and 520mAh. This is the exact same capacity as the WH-XB910N battery and even the same model by Spring Power, 702428.
Other specifications are a full recharge of 3.5 hours, 3 min quick charge providing up to 1 hour of playback, a frequency response of 7 - 20000 Hz, and a weight of 192g.
Now turning to the claims by 91mobiles that this is the new WH-XB910N successor. In their article they claim this new successor will use the V1 from the WH-1000XM5.
..upcoming iteration of the Sony WH-XB910N will use the V1 Chip as found on the WH-1000X series for sound processing.
Well I hate to break it to them, but the Sony WH-XB910N already uses the V1 chip (MT2822), see the teardown from 52Audio for the proof. If the old model used it, why would Sony not mention it in the product pages?
Would Sony use the same chip and battery capacity in a new model? Nope. One thing that their article was correct on was the battery life, 35 hours and I can confirm this is with noise cancellation on. There will also be noise reduction during calls.
The battery life is the same as the WH-C710N, but the new WH-CH720N will feature dual noise cancellation like the WH-XB910N and WH-1000XM5, so this should improve noise cancellation performance compared to the older model. The driver might end up being 30mm if we are to believe the FCC filing. I still do not have any information regarding codec support, so for the time being, only AAC and SBC.
Another issue 91mobiles brings up in their article is multipoint:
The next-gen Sony WH-XB910N headphones could also support a multi-point connection.
Again, the current WH-XB910N already supports multipoint, so nothing new here if the a new WH-XB920N would support it as well. Same deal with the current WH-CH710N, they also support multipoint support as outlined in the online manual, so nothing new again. Likewise, the new WH-CH720N also has multipoint support.
While not concrete proof, the new WH-CH720N has 3 colour options, black, white, and blue, the same as the current WH-CH710N. The WH-XB910N only offers black and blue, with no white colour. The previous model did have gray though, but no white option.
A more concrete piece of proof is this retail listing from Mediamarkt. No WH-XB910N successor here.
Finally one more thing. The WH-XB910N uses a touch sensor for various functions, like volume up and down as seen in the photo below. There are no separate volume up and down buttons on the headset.
When we look at the leaked model, what do we see? Volume buttons! I do not believe we will see a touch panel though.
I mean, would Sony be that silly as to remove the touch sensor in a WH-XB910N successor and use buttons? I do not think so. This once again shows we are looking at the WH-CH720N and not a new XB910N successor model.
I am not sure if there will be a press release, these might just show up on Sony's global sites without any announcement. Regardless, I was told a release date of around 24th of February, but not sure if this is retail or availability to order them. No doubt reviewers have or will be receiving units soon.
As for pricing, I was told it would be the same price as the new Float Run headphones, $129.99 USD. This is less than the current model, so it remains to be seen if this price holds true for all regions.
Update: EU pricing is around 120-150 Euros, but it again depends on the VAT in the EU country. In the Mediamarkt listing, the price is 149 Euros.
And now for the press photos
WH-CH520
Finally the affordable offering, the new WH-CH520. We already saw the design in my previous post, but now we have full press photos from various angles. There is no noise cancellation here, but there might be future LE Audio support as the model does support Isochronous Adaptation Layer which is required for LE Audio support. The Bluetooth version is 5.2.
The battery is a 3.7V unit, but no capacity was provided in the FCC filing. There will be AAC and SBC support but no LDAC, A USB type-C port is used for charging. A full charge will take 3 hours and a 3 minute quick charge will provide up to 1.5 hours of playback.
There is no 3.5mm jack connection like the WH-CH510, so the audio connection is only via Bluetooth.
Battery life is rated up to 50 hours of use, which is rather insane. The headset weight is 147g and frequency response is 20 - 20000 Hz. I would imagine will we only see AAC, SBC and perhaps LC3 with a firmware future update. The WH-CH520 should also be available in late February.
Update: I received some pricing information, the price is 41.99 Euros, excluding VAT, so you will need to add the VAT percent in your country to get the full price, for example on Mediamarkt the price is 69 Euros (nice!).
Both new headsets will have Sony Headphone app support, personal assistant support, and DSEE. The WH-CH720N will ship with a 3.5mm cable and USB type-C cable for charging and the WH-CH520 will only come with a USB type-C cable in the box.
Now we wait for the new WF-C500 successor, and any new model certifications like the new WF-1000XM5.
Thanks to Ed for sending this in, and my new anonymous source.
Re: Toggle Switch
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else miss the toggle switch on the headphones?
I don't hate the touch panel controls on the headphones itself, but I miss touching actual buttons for switching between music tracks.
Also, touch panels: What if your hands are gloved or cold? I'm guessing the headphones wouldn't respond.
I was hoping Sony would bring toggles back for the CH720N.
Does the WH -CH720N has LDAC? I can't believe this will miss again that codec. Sony is the owner, why so hard to put it in?
ReplyDeleteno LDAC unfortunately. pretty stupid decision.
DeleteI think Sony is keeping LDAC as a premium feature for their higher models and the CH700/710/720N are entry level Sony Over-ear ANC’s in my region. LDAC was also not available for the older gen CH700N and CH710N models either. CH700N had AptX/AptX HD support but they dropped that to SBC/AAC only for CH710N.
DeleteAll three of these models are normally $200 locally where I am, but I have seen the CH700N drop to $80 twice at two different stores. So my thoughts were they are more like a $80 pair of headphones (budget model), but you are paying the premium for Sony quality and reputation.
I guess the question is, are they worth the extra couple bucks compared to the WH-XB910N?
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it, it depends.
ReplyDeleteXB910N - Heavier 250g, 30 hours ANC on, larger 40mm driver (less distortion at higher volume), bass heavy default tuning, LDAC support, Touch control (swipe earcup, hold with palm for ambient mode), collapses when folding (thicker but more compact overall in case).
CH720N - Light weight 190g, longer battery life (35 hours ANC on). smaller 30mm driver, balanced default tuning, no LDAC (SBC/AAC only), no touch controls (buttons only which some people prefer), white color option available, only folds with earcups facing flat (some people prefer this because while larger in surface area, the case is thinner overall making it easier to put in a bag).
By the way or anyone else interested in WH-CH720N. A lot of negative reviews on Amazon with the same issue where the headphones disconnect from their device every 5 minutes (with apparently no fix from factory reset or disabling multipoint or connection/sound quality priority features).
DeleteI watched a Japanese review on YouTube just now which mentioned that this seems to be a issue that happens if you leave the Sony app open in the background, it causes the headphones to restart regularly/repeatedly. So try closing the Sony app on your device and see if it fixes the issue. Hopefully a firmware update will permanently fix the issue, but worth trying to see if closing the app fixes it for now.
So I did some testing, on PC and mobile. On PC, windows 10, the headset keeps playing, doesn't disconnect at all.
DeleteTesting on mobile, Xperia 5iii on latest android firmware, the headset is also updated. Using the headphone connect app to connect to the device, and I am using the music app that is on my phone, version 9.4.11.A.0.13. DSEE ultimate is off. Same for the intelligent wind filter in the music app. I have a custom EQ also turned on in the headphone app. The headphone app is set to prioritize sound quality, but no idea what codec is being used. The results, no disconnects or even cut outs. the phone is about 50cm to 75cm away from the headset.
Thanks for reporting your experience. It could be the issue was only present on the first firmware revision (firmware which is loaded onto headphones at factory) and Sony was quite quick to fix it and provide the firmware update through the app. I know the CH720N is a very recent release (May 2023) so I didn’t expect Sony to fix it so quickly.
DeleteGood to know though that it is not an issue for you. I am still going to wait for the CH720N price to come down before I consider it. It only became available about 2 weeks ago in my region so all prices are the same high retail price at all stores.
One thing I am excited about with WH-CH720N is the use of V1 sound processor, same as XM3. XM4 seems to use the QN1 processor? Although reviews say the CH720N’s ANC is not a high as XM4 level, that is expected.
I would just like to correct myself. Up until now I always thought the V1 was the dedicated NC processor, but it seems to be referred to just as the “processor” on Sony models. The dedicated NC processor is called the QN1 and has been present together with V1 since the XM3 model.
DeleteSo XM3/XM4/XM5 all use V1+QN1 NC processor to achieve their superior performance. The CH720N uses only the V1 processor, so my original expectations were a bit too high.
WH-1000XM3 uses the Qualcomm CSR8675 as its main Bluetooth SoC along with the QN1 (CXD90050). So not V1.
DeleteWH-1000MX4 uses the Mediatek MT2811 as the main Bluetooth SoC, along with the QN1 chip. Also not V1.
The WH-1000XM5 uses the Mediatek MT2822 Bluetooth Soc, this is what Sony calls the V1 processor. The QN1 is also present.
The WH-CH720N only has the MT2822 bluetooth SoC, which is the V1, but no QN1 as you said.
WF-1000XM4 also uses the V1, same for the LinkBuds S.
That being said, the V1, called integrated processor, is more than just a Bluetooth chip. I have a post about the V1, and according toe EE times, the chip integrates some of Sony's own tech. This would be the processing aspect of the WF-1000XM3 QN1e (CXD3781).
The post in question if you haven't seen it
https://thewalkmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/09/sony-v1-integrated-processor-deeper-look.html
Wow thank you. Your comment is more than I ever expected and very thorough. Thanks for the corrections.
DeleteBefore writing my comment I did go through all the corresponding models pages on the Sony website and swear I had seen V1 mentioned from XM3 onwards, but indeed it was not. Perhaps I was carrying false information from third party articles or automatically assumed where QN1 was mentioned, V1 was present (not the case).
I am definitely learning a lot here because I hadn’t heard of the QN1 chip until days ago, when it is the chip which seems to predate the V1.
I guess after learning about the CH720N having less microphones and no QN1 NC processor of the XM5, my expectations were reduced, and I was hoping to see a “H.ear on 4/H920N” model which was closer in spec to the XM5 or at least XM4. But as you said that model line may be discontinued due to a long gap since release, and a potential H920N will be much more expensive (around double the retail price on release).
I think I will still look out for a nice deal on the CH720N for now as it is in my budget. My experience up until now is only with retail USD$100 ANC products so I think my expectations for the CH720N will still be met. Amazon’s Prime Day is coming up in July I believe, so I hope to see the currently non-existent discounts on the CH720N.
Also sorry for the long comment but worth mentioning. I had some concerns about the the durability of the thin headband of the CH720N, but after watching 2 YouTube videos stress testing the headband I am pretty happy with its toughness. It was stretched and twisted and I did not hear a single crack or stressful sound and the headband stayed completely intact with no gaps or movement of parts. Feeling confident the CH720N will be a good investment.