While Sony’s flagship XM6 has gotten great praise over the past year they are also a bit up there in price at $450+. This is where the WH-CH730N comes into play. They are the successor to the WH-CH720N and about 60% less expensive than the XM6. Do they still hold their own at a significant price difference?
Style
Sony came out the gate with a variety of colors for the CH730N with Black, Beige, Blue, Pink, and White. The latter Sony sent to us for review. They are over-ear headphones with circular ear cups that do a wonderful job covering my ears. They are utilizing a thermo-foamed, wrinkle-free material that has been quite plush. The headband also has some cushioning as well.
The cups do swivel out to go around your neck and fold up to easily fit inside a bag. There aren’t any sensors on the headphones so music will continually keep playing until you pause it. If nothing is playing though they will eventually auto power off.
The CH730N on the left side earcup has a power button (also Bluetooth), USB-C port, and 3.5mm jack. On the right side is volume and play control buttons and a Noise Cancelling / Ambient Sound button that is a bit isolated from the rest. They come in weighing a light 207g. The headphones themselves are comprised of plastic, which helps but they also feel a bit on the less expensive side.
Sony WH-CH730N comes with a 3.5mm audio cable.
Features
Like Sony’s other headphones you have access to the Sony Sound Connect App. Get your firmware updates and make any adjustments to the headphones. You can utilize the EQ, change the listening mode, add quick access buttons, or turn on the adaptive sound control. They support Multipoint with switching between my iPhone 17 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Fold8 seamless. It did an excellent job of not overtaking the other connection.
Sound
These are working with 30mm drivers, which also helps them stay at that 207g weight mentioned before. They support AAC and SBC codecs, 360 Reality Audio, and even have LE Audio even thought it has a “Beta” tag. LE Audio would be good for gaming.
CH730N provides nice sound but felt I was messing with the EQ at more times than not trying to cater it to the song to which I was listening. I would toggle between the Clear (more treble) and Hard (more treble / bass) options. But overall, they are still good on the vocals.
Using these while watching Disney’s VisionQuest kept me locked in and got a nice amount of the dynamic sound from the show in. Also synchronized perfectly while watching content on YouTube and other media apps.
Experience
I liked using these headphones more than I thought. They are lightweight and wearing them for lengthy periods didn’t provide any discomfort, especially wearing glasses. I used them on my daily train commutes. Active Noise Cancelling just does an acceptable job of blocking those outside distractions. Walking around they don’t do too bad and the same can be said with its Ambient feature as well.
With no case you might want to get one to keep it protected. I have gotten some marks / scuffs on them I luckily was able to get off but also, I am using the white pair as those need extra attention.
Also, I’m not the biggest fan of button placement. The NC/Ambient feels too separated from the others and I’m pressing the volume down button more often. I’d like all the buttons pushed more upwards, but I know it would put it close to the folding of the earcups.
Battery life has been a gem on these headphones. They advertised 50 hours with ANC on and 75 hours off and seem to hold true as I can rarely recall charging up these up.
Verdict
For the price of $180( has dropped to $150) they are a decent pair of headphones still giving you that Sony feel and sound. They are very lightweight, comfortable, and have an impressive battery life. You might just have to jump on the EQ and tweak them to the best sound for you. A nice improvement over the previous CH720N model.
Check unboxing of the Sony WH-CH730N Headphones on Instagram / TikTok
