Unfortunately there isn’t any fancy way to connect to these in the same way that there is for other popular models. You won’t even find NFC here which I find to be a bit of a bummer as I still think it’s a seriously underrated way to pair two devices together (if you’re on Android at least). To initially pair, all you have to do is take the earbuds out of the case for the first time and they will automatically enter pairing mode. From there, just look into the Bluetooth settings of your source device for “WF-XB700” and tap it to connect. If you’re already connected to a device and want to pair a second device, then there’s a bit more of a process that you’ll need to go through. The XB700 are a fairly basic pair of wireless headphones, and you can tell that from their design. They have a very minimal, monochromatic design without any flashy elements or any design flair of any sort. Finally, moving on to the performance, the XB700 deliver what they say on the tin. If you enjoy overly exuberant bass, these really are the headphones for you. Once you hear the “Bluetooth pairing” notification go to the Bluetooth settings son your secondary device.

However, in the past, Extra Bass headphones were rather disappointing. Sony would tend to turn the bass up till it broke the dial, which resulted in a horribly bloated sound where it was hard to hear anything but the bass. With the XB700, there seems to be an attempt at some semblance of a balanced sound apart from the advertised extra bass. When registering a device (pairing), [WH-XB700], [LE_WH-XB700], or both may be displayed on the connecting device. When both or [WH-XB700] is displayed, select [WH-XB700]; when [LE_WH-XB700] is displayed, select [LE_WH-XB700]. The sound features include various surround effects, such as arena, club, outdoor stage and concert hall. You can also adjust the bass level and also the position of the sound around your head. The exact purpose of the latter has always deluded me but it's a cool effect nonetheless. There's also DSEE, which is Sony's upsampling feature for improving the sound of compressed audio files but either I don't have sufficiently compressed files or the feature doesn't do much because it's impossible to tell the difference between it being on or off. Unfortunately, the deal breaker for me is the design, which is just not comfortable at all. It was difficult for me to listen to these for more than half an hour at a time without an equally long break in between. While this may not be the case for everyone, supra-aural headphones are generally not as comfortable as circumaural headphones so it's more that I'm the rule here rather than the exception. Also, the sound quality really isn't worth the pain. Not that any headphones are worth hurting your ears. As for the rest of the sound, the headphones have decent imaging, although the soundstage isn't very wide and seems restricted to the size of your head.The XB700 work with the same Sony Headphones Connect app that works with Sony's other wireless headphones. Here you can see your remaining battery, what audio codec it is using, update the firmware, and adjust a bunch of audio features. The XB700 are woefully uncomfortable headphones to wear. I generally dislike supra-aural headphones because they tend to press down hard on my ears and the XB700 are no exception. It takes about ten minutes before I start noticing discomfort in one of my ears, which over time keeps rising until about 30 minutes or so later I have to remove the headphones to prevent further discomfort. There have been times where they were simply too painful to keep wearing and my ears hurt long after they were removed. Once Bluetooth devices are paired, there is no need to pair them again, except in the following cases: All of the pairing information is deleted. In this case, delete the pairing information for the headset from the device and then pair them again. If pairing is not established within 5 minutes, pairing mode is canceled, and the headset turns off. In this case, start the operation over from step 1.

Understandably, everyone will have different ears and tolerance for pain and some might not find an issue with the design at all. But if you are someone who, like me, has experience with discomfort with supra-aural style of headphones then you know to avoid this one.The XB700 also, thankfully, charge over USB-C. Sony includes a cable in the box but at 20cm long it feels rather useless. The headphones do have a fast charging feature, where they can provide 90 minutes of usage after just 10 minutes of charge. A full charge, however, takes a lengthy 4 hours.

The major problem with these effects, as I have enumerated in my previous Sony wireless headphone review, is that they only work if you choose SBC as your codec. If you choose any of the higher quality codecs, which in case of the XB700 is aptX, then all the features get disabled (except DSEE, which doesn't do much, anyway). This makes them somewhat pointless and I'm not really sure why Sony can't or won't make them work outside of SBC. In a small twist of irony, the XB700 are some of the longest lasting headphones I've used. Sony claims a battery life of 30 hours and while I didn't put it to test, the headphones did seemingly last forever on the 70% charge they came with out of the box. I have no doubt they will manage to reach that 30 hour figure if one were to put it to test.

How do you pair to the Sony WF-XB700 true wireless earbuds?

Applicable headphones are WH-1000XM3, WF-1000XM3, WI-1000XM2, WH-1000XM4, WF-1000XM4, WH-XB900N, WH-XB700, WH-H810, WH-H910N, WF-C500, WH-XB910N. Acoustic Center Sync is compatible with Sony Soundbar HT-A7000 /HT-A5000 and Home Theater System HT-A9. Product availability varies by region.