Wireless headphones gained an extent of popularity throughout the last few years. Different brands have designed a lot of unique wireless sets that have stolen our minds. Known brands have warm fights by introducing quirky designs within a sort of time.
Sony revived its entire audio line-up to reflect this trend better. They have a wide array of headphones across all categories including in-ear, on-ear, over-the-ear and now neckbands. Today I am sharing my honest experience of using Sony’s wireless in-ear neckband, WI-C300.
When I first saw these pairs, I was like omg how could they price it above Rs.1000? As I turned it on, I got my doubt cleared. So let us move on to the entire review and clarify your doubts.
PACKAGING
The Sony WI-C300 Bluetooth neckband comes in a standard white box with a tag on the top for hanging. Inside it, you’ll find another cardboard box in which the earphones along with two extra pair of ear tips in different size, and a micro-USB charging cable packed well. It also has an instruction manual in it.
DESIGN AND FEATURES
The Sony WI-C300 have a straightforward design. Overall it is made up of plastic and has small earbuds that look a little cheap and a 17 cm flimsy cable that has an extra niche to place the battery. The battery is supposed to sit behind the neck.
It is incredibly lightweight, which weighs only 15g or 0.53 Oz. The tiny earpiece makes them comfortable to wear without any fatigue for a few more hours comparing other in-earphone. The controls housed near the left earpiece. The housing has three buttons: volume up and down button, and power button along with the charging port. These are easy to use due to the flat buttons but they have less feedback.
I do not recommend these pairs for the gym or any other sports activities. The earbuds fit perfect, and the earphone is very much compatible, you know its tangle free and easily slide into your pocket or bag or anywhere. It powered by 9mm Neodymium driver unit which has a frequency range of 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz (44.1 kHz Sampling).
The Sony WI-C300 can be paired in two methods: Bluetooth v4.2 and NFC. The seamless connection through NFC can be activated very quickly by tapping the N symbol on the body. You can still manually connect to Bluetooth connection using your device’s settings menu if you need.
A long press of the power button connects you to your smartphone’s voice assistant (Google Assistant/ Siri) to get directions, play music and communicate with contacts. The pair is compatible with A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP Bluetooth profiles. The Bluetooth has an effective range up to 30 ft.
The Sony WIC300 headphones do not come with a connect app for further customization. The arrangement of the controls looks odd for me. The controls could be done better. The WI-C300 comes in four available colours in the market: Blue, Red, Black, White.
SOUND EXPERIENCE
The Sony WI-C300 is an average quality neckband which cannot be recommended for hardcore audiophiles. But honestly, the sound is not as bad as I was expecting. It has a moderate noise isolation performance which will not be enough for a brash environment. These headphones don’t leak sound in the bass and mid ranges.
The highs are not smooth in higher volumes. This earphone may disappoint you if you love tons in highs. The mid-range is sweet. The overall response is somewhat even and decently balanced. The lows are satisfactory, with some detail and good bass. The bass is accurate, but the sound is boomy at high volume.
CALL QUALITY
The performance of the in-line microphone of Sony WI-C300 is below what I expected. While checking the quality of the microphone by making calls, I could hear some rumbling noises which interrupt smooth call. I have struggled to hear from the opposite side in a loud, noisy environment.
BATTERY LIFE
Sony claims that in a single full charge, which will be expected to take about 2 hours will provide up to 8 hours of continuous music playback time. In my experience charging is very quick, won’t make complete 2 hours to get a full charge but they don’t have power saving option.
For me, the power ended up completely after 7 hours of continuous usage. when left it without any usage, battery life has a maximum standby time of 200 hours.
CONCLUSION
The Sony WI-C300 are undoubtedly comfortable and lightweight in terms of design. They offer a moderately balanced sound, great battery life, but they have mediocre audio quality for critical listeners. They’re compact enough to fit in anywhere and stable for running, but not sweat proof. In my opinion, it’s just an average headphone for the price.
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