A year ago, Apple was extremely criticized for removal of the 3.5 mm jack audio port in iPhone 7. The Cupertino giant was thus accused of jumping at the cashier, as they were about to suggest to customers the purchase of new wireless headsets, specifically the AirPods. It is quite attractive market because Sony decided to attack this segment with new WF-1000X headset.
At first glance, the new Sony headphones immediately resemble the Apple solution. True, the design is completely different, but in both cases there are two small “bugs” that are not connected to each other by any cable and can potentially be easily lost. In both cases we also deal with a small case that acts as a charger. However, the Sony WF-1000X is not supposed to be a cheap replacement for Apple AirPods. It’s just the opposite. New Sony headphones are about $40 more expensive than Apple products and cost as much as $199. What’s the catch?
Sony WF-1000X headphones offer very effective noise reduction.
However, this is not done by suppressing ambient sounds. All magic is done using two microphones. One of them is used to record sounds from the environment and the other to measure the characteristics of the user’s ear channel. Thanks to this, the Sony WF-1000X filters the noise coming from the environment, but it passes the human voice pass. Of course, as long as we set up a dedicated application in this way. The method used here is called active noise reduction. In a great simplification, it consists in generating a signal that cancels an undesirable sound.
Batteries are sufficient for 3 hours of operation and the case can charge them fully 2 times. So, in total we have 9 hours of work without looking for a charger. Apple headphones also come out better here because they last up to 5 hours on a single charge, and the case extends the working time to a total of 24 hours. Will the Sony WF-1000X find its fans?
