Sony's new affordable headphones could go days without seeing a charger

Sony has already had a pretty busy year for headphones. We’ve seen the company launch the flagship WF-1000XM6 earbuds, introduce its limited-edition 1000X Collexion, and give the WH-1000XM6 a fresh new color earlier this year. But Sony apparently isn’t finished yet. For the fall, it has three more headphones lined up: the WH-1000XM4C, WH-CH730N, and WH-CH530. The latter two could be particularly interesting if you want a good pair of everyday headphones without spending hundreds of dollars.

The WH-CH730N is the bigger upgrade of the two. Sony has finally given its affordable noise-canceling headphones a foldable design, which should make them much easier to throw into a backpack or carry-on. If you commute to work or regularly travel with headphones, that seemingly small change could make a big difference.

Battery life has received an even more impressive upgrade. The WH-CH730N can last up to 50 hours with active noise cancelation enabled and up to 75 hours with ANC switched off. Its predecessor, the WH-CH720N, managed up to 50 hours without ANC, so this is a substantial jump. You could potentially get through several days of commuting, work, and evening listening before having to find a charger.

Sony is also promising better noise cancelation this time around. The WH-CH730N uses four microphones and is claimed to cut around 10% more noise than its predecessor. AI-assisted noise reduction and beamforming are included for calls as well, which could be particularly handy if you regularly take meetings from a café, airport, or noisy office.

There’s more control over how everything sounds, too. Sony has added a 10-band equalizer, a dedicated gaming EQ, and a background music mode, alongside what it describes as more natural vocal reproduction. We’ll have to actually hear the headphones before judging the latter, but the expanded EQ alone should be a welcome upgrade.

The WH-CH730N will cost $180 in the US, around $32 more than its predecessor. A 50-hour battery life with ANC, improved noise cancelation, and a foldable design make the upgrade considerably easier to justify.

The WH-CH530, meanwhile, takes a simpler approach. These are lightweight on-ear headphones aimed at casual everyday listening, and Sony is clearly trying to make them a little more fun. You’ll be able to pick from Black, Cobalt, Mint Green, White, Pink, and Coral, so there’s considerably more personality here.

The upgrades aren’t limited to the colors. Battery life increases to up to 55 hours, five hours longer than the WH-CH520. The WH-CH530 also gets a 10-band EQ, improved vocals, a gaming EQ preset, and AI-assisted noise reduction for its microphone. There’s also a useful listening-monitoring feature. You can keep track of things like sound pressure, listening time, and maximum volume, which could be handy if your music tends to creep louder and louder during a long listening session.

Sony is charging $70 for the WH-CH530, which is $10 more than the model it replaces. That’s still comfortably within budget-headphone territory, though, and the combination of 55-hour battery life, expanded EQ controls, and six colors gives the new model plenty of appeal.

Overall, both look like solid upgrades. The higher prices are unfortunate, but there’s enough new here to make both worth considering when they arrive this fall.