Sony WI-XB400 Wireless In-Ear Extra Bass Headset/Headphones with mic for phone call, Black

my perspective on this review is solely based on comparison to the headset these were meant to replace. i had a pair of aukey ep-b60 that i loved. i felt the audio quality was good for what i needed, from phone calls to music to podcasts, etc. they were comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, they fit my ear comfortably (i have bad luck with earbuds either refusing to stay seated or hurting my ears after a short amount of time), they were not true wireless (i hate those), they were charged via usb-c. just loved them. but they were discontinued and when mine finally started to fail, i was left in a lurch. so i tried a couple similar styles of headsets, which lead me to the Sony WI-XB400.first off, kudos to sony for even offering this style or earbud headphones. true wireless dominates the market and i had a hard time even finding companies i recognize who had even one option like this. i prefer to have the buds connected so i don't lose one, and can just let them hang when not in use and don't have to keep track of each ear piece. i like being able to charge it with the same cable i charge my phone with (or any USB-C cable), and not have to ALSO keep track of a case and its charge (which also costs like half the price of the earbuds, if replacement cases are even offered.)i tried the beats flex and hated them. they sounded awful (or i guess, they just sounded too different from my aukeys.) the audio hurt my ears as did the earbuds themselves. there was so much cord noise. they were more expensive than these sony's or what i paid for the aukey's. it was a hard pass. i returned them and i kept looking.the Sony WI-XB400 seems to be a winner. they have a sound that is pretty close to how my aukey's sounded. while these do not have the little nub that hooks into your ear crevasse to hold the earbud in place like the aukeys, i none the less found the caps to be comfortable, non-irritating, and stayed put. while i don't think they are AS comfortable as the aukeys, i can nevertheless wear them for a long time without noticing them, hurting my ears, or needing to reach up to reinsert them constantly. i've had no problems charging them and they've lasted all day. no problems connecting to my devices. the cord noise is minimal, especially if the cord is seated perfectly on your neck. the voice cues are nice (hearing how much battery is left is a nice touch) but also a bit unnecessary.the following is not necessarily negatives as much as nitpicks. none of these are deal breakers for me, just some nice to haves:the cord is very long. to be honest, too long. they almost reach bellow my sternum when they are hanging around my neck. i've almost hit them on the stove burner or dipped them into dirty dish water. they do not need to be this long.the magnets that connect the buds together when around your neck are very weak. they separate too easily and are unwieldy trying to get them to snap together while they're dangling.you need to manually turn on and off the headset by holding down the play button. my aukeys would turn off and pause the media when stuck together. these do nothing. i think at the very least pausing the audio with you remove the earbuds and join the magnets would be a good feature. i DO like the power on and off switch in some cases, it's nice to know they won't switch on if i stick them in my pocket. it's just difficult to know if the headset is on or off without putting them back on and holding the power button and waiting the the voice to tell you.the play/power button is the exact same as the volume down button on the controls, just a slightly different size. bad bad bad design. i appreciate that you can find the buttons by feel alone, but the volume down button feels exactly the same as the pause button. you have to take an extra beat to make sure it's the button you need before pressing it. very annoying. making the power button even just like a hollow circle would be so useful.those issues aside, i am really happy with these earbuds. i still prefer my aukeys and am sad they no longer make them, but these are so far the next best thing. i cannot speak on their durability but i am hoping to get a good run out of them

I bought these because I cant use regular ear buds. They fall out of my ears on the plane and get lost or stepped on. I love my Bluetooth earphones but they kind of get in the way in the gym and take up more space when travelling. I saw these and was surprised that Sony had something at such a low price.These are great. The sound is loud enough but wont give you ear damage. They are easy to use and stay snug in my ears for hours with no discomfort. The cord being wrapped around your neck is actually much more comfortable than you might expect. The ear buds are safe from falling out of your ears and getting lost. They hold a good charge and seem to shut off if not in use for an extended time so the battery life is saved. Other cheap brands do not shut themselves off and let the battery drain.I have taken these to work in spain, norway, iceland, canada and recently to Thailand on vacation. They have been used in the gym, offshore on a loud ship, at airports, shuttle vans, noisy hotels... I dont keep them in a case, I dont handle them gently.They are worth every penny. Could you find a more premium earbud, sure I guess. I dont see any reason to spend another penny. These check all the boxes for me, and are great for calls too. I tried other brands on Amazon and these are the best I have found for only a few bucks more than the budget ones with less features and less everything else.You cant go wrong with these!

Sound good and do the job for playing music and making calls wo the phone in hand all the time. Purchased to try help focus while working from home and not be distracted as easily along with being a big time Sony product owner (think back to the walkman no not the CD one but the cassest sports one) for both home audio and video among other things as they still work and provided great picture quality for the CRT's way back then. Wasn't expecting much as they are sort of wireless and for the price under $30 at the time, but was pleasantly surprised and knew I lose headsets rather often so getting the Plantronics's for my desk could wait to see if I even ended up using these. The only thing to be aware of (they don't make the claim and for the price and Brand loyalty I went w/o the ANC and charging case that the ear buds usually come with). Do they block out sounds like people above me and other distractions? Are they still working and am I using them still? Do I wish I would have gotten the higher model, not so much since I've used a smartish phone since windows mobile (pocket PC 2003 when Motorola dropped one around 2006 along with their bluetooth headphones which were around 200 bucks then and mini USB was the standard and only came in black/red while it didn't go with my suit, I could go to the gym and use the mini SD card and play the bland mp3's while still doing rip and replace for 2nd largest Cisco contract leading teams and taking calls in MDF's to swap fiber links (old motorola not the China lenovo owned company) and was the only headset left standing of the 13 lost or wires ruined and actually one other of theirs that the clip for the ear piece broke, but couldn't find a replace for that size at the time and forgot about it till now. These will do the job and with the around the neck cords I they make it easier to find when I forget I set them down somewhere vs. looking for just an ear bud which with physics I'm not sure that a driver that small can produce the sound they want for the amount I use these or my smart phone today anyway.I gave them a 4 since 4.5 isn't an option and I'm use to audiophile purchases and hearing the color of sound, but realize how the supply chain works today and manufacturing that for the purpose they would do the trick and if I feel I need headphone's to play records or a physical media medium vs. UDP (best effort) streaming where packets are going missing with wireless to bluetooth and all the network hops before it, well then I'll just hook the turn tables up and order whatever vinyl or get a dedicated device for it, but chances are I'll stick to the home theater setup and speakers I had to drive to pick up where voice coils and speakers were still handmade for under 50k each. Since I don't know if the ANC really works better as I haven't found a reason to upgrade and compare and the only issue I have with these is that on calls I sometime forget that the wire has the mic on it and or service might be a bit light down here that I'll have to turn them off and then your normal bluetooth pairing to the proper device and crowded unlicensed spectrum interference that I can't really blame Sony for what I've consulted clients on for a decade+ about with wireless speakers and other products when they say they want a setup that sounds better then mine until they'd have to actually spend the $ and not know what for as they don't appreciate the audio as I once did, but rarely find the time or content these days to be concerned with it along with the fact that networks drop packets and streaming via UDP not TCP is designed to handle dropped packets mixed with the fact that I realized the picture looks fake to me on certain displays at times, but that is because it is, since most is designed with digital tools and is just me being the old fart that one would argue on message boards that digital w/o the static in a lossless format is the best medium where the old timers would say vinyl and not let it go, but until I understood what the color of sound really was when listening to vinyl I had to search the globe for much of it and risk buying a used piece to get the 90's grunge or numetal I think it is referred to as today in a world of mostly rap and poorly mastered dubstep at one point where a mixtape CD ruined the competition car audio as the track was so distorted that lovely smell came, but the kill switch saved 1 sub which only from SPL and the smell that comes with fried electronics did I know to kill it, but had to be sure later and it was and fried the rest =/ Battery life on these seems more then suitable for the day, keep your ears clean and remember that others are around you and moving objects for some of you and these do the job just fine, sleeping in them might not always be the most comfortable, but I usually wake up drool down my face and someone yelling as I have my face smashed in the pillow when I sleep well, even though I'm not sure how I breath and sleep that way, plus w/o the cord I'm not sure I'd be able to those small ear buds out if I used it and had to grab it with scratching it with something if pushed to far in, for those of you heavy sleepers once you are asleep. If they break I'll update this otherwise 4.5 and maybe wait for a CC promo or other discount as I see a lot close to the price point now that might be white label and have newer features or even the buds for about 20 more at time from the big tech names and most are fan boys anyway so you might just want those otherwise.