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Sony WF-SP800N
While many people prefer to use true wireless earbuds during their morning commute or a trip to the grocery store, my preferred use case is exercise. The lack of wires and the small size make true wireless earphones a convenient tool that I need to enjoy my runs. While there is no shortage of sports earbuds now that the true wireless market has matured, there are still some common issues that most products suffer from—mainly connection strength between the two earbuds, fit, and battery life. Sony claims to have fixed all three with the WF-SP800N earbuds, but I don’t find that to be the case. Is this worth the $199 USD price, or should you skip it for something else?
Editor’s note: this Sony WF-SP800N review was updated on October 21, 2021, to address the Sony WF-C500 and Beats Studio Buds as alternatives.
Who is the Sony WF-SP800N for?
- Fitness folk. The IP55 rating and extra bass EQ option in the app makes this a solid choice for anyone who exercises.
- People who want the latest and greatest. This headset is fully compatible with Sony 360 Reality Audio which is (spoiler alert) probably the only truly great thing about the WF-SP800N.
- Bass-heads. These earbuds don’t have a lot of bass out the box but thanks to the EQ settings in the Sony Headphones Connect app you can easily tweak it to your liking. That can come in handy for people that like to listen to music while working out.
What is it like to use the Sony WF-SP800N?
One of the first things I always take note of when I open a new true wireless product is the charging case. Products like the Apple AirPods and the Google Pixel Buds A-Series mastered the charging case by making it small and pocketable, without feeling cheap
The Sony WF-SP800N does a good job at not feeling cheap, but it’s not as small and portable. This reminds me of the WF-1000XM3 case, which is wider than it is tall and requires a dedicated pocket. It’s made of lightweight plastic, and the lid flips open and snaps closed securely. I never worry about the earbuds falling out while charging. While the earbuds stay secure in the case when charging, you need to be precise about placing the buds back into the case correctly.
The rubber wing tips on the earbuds move too easily and prevent the earbuds from getting into place properly. It’s just something to keep in mind, so you don’t open the case to go for a run only to realize that the left earbud was never charged. I assure you, it’s very annoying. The buds have touch-sensitive pads that let you control playback and toggle between ambient mode and active noise canceling (ANC).
It’s good to stay safe while running outside and hear what was going on around me without needing to pause music or podcasts. Active noise canceling and a transparency mode are two of my favorite features here. If you’re mid-conversation and need to answer a quick question, just hold your finger over the earbud. The headset will lower media volume, and use the embedded mics to let you hear what someone is saying. While it’s nice, these functions are very hit or miss. On top of that, the earbuds completely disconnect from my source device every now and then.
The Sony WF-SP800N earbuds are well built and have an IP55 rating, protecting them from sweat and dirt particles, to prove it. Sony even claims that you can rinse them off under a faucet after your workouts. My primary issue with using these earbuds for workouts is the poor fit. I adjust them constantly while running to ensure that they don’t fall out.
Does the Sony WF-SP800N stay connected?
As is the case with a lot of Sony products there is a lot to get into here when it comes to connection; I’m not impressed with these earbuds. Music constantly hiccups and skips when connected to my laptop and phone. When this happens, the only quick fix is to place the buds back in the case for a few seconds before trying again. A more permanent fix requires you to download the Sony Headphones Connect app. The app will walk you through a bunch of the features and settings with the headphones, even letting you customize a few things.
At the bottom of the Sound tab, there’s a section that lets you choose whether you want to prioritize sound quality or having a stable connection. Choosing “stable connection” solves the issue I was having but it left me confused. The earbuds only support the AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs, so hiccups shouldn’t be as prevalent as they are when using the WF-SP800N with an iPhone.
How do you pair the WF-SP800N?
Unfortunately, the Sony WF-SP800N doesn’t have a quick pairing hack like the AirPods or Pixel Buds, and it lacks NFC. If you want to pair this to a device, you’ll need to do it the old-fashioned way: Bluetooth settings. Thankfully, this couldn’t be easier to do initially.
As soon as you open the case and remove the earbuds they’ll begin blinking blue letting you know they’re in pairing mode. Then you just need to go into Bluetooth settings and pair to it like you would any other Bluetooth device. If you want to pair a second device things get a little trickier. To do this you’ll need to force them into pairing mode by holding your finger to the touch-capacitive sensors on both earbuds for roughly seven seconds at which point the buds should begin blinking blue again to pair to another device. This doesn’t support Bluetooth multipoint, though; so you need to manually switch between devices, rather than connecting to two simultaneously.
Is the Sony WF-SP800N compatible with Sony 360 Reality Audio?
There is one good thing about the app that makes it worth downloading: Sony 360 Reality Audio. This is the newest push from Sony to bring a completely 360-degree surround sound experience to headphones. It’s a completely new way to mix and master songs that allows sound engineers to place instruments in a unique way that takes directionality into account making songs sound like you’re listening to a live performance.
Read on: Everything you need to know about surround sound in headphones
There are some steps you need to take in order to try it out. First, you’ll need to use the app to upload pictures of your left and right ears. Sony says that it doesn’t keep the actual images but rather it uses the data points captured in order to make a custom sound profile for your ears that’s saved to your profile. From there, you’ll need to use a compatible streaming app like Tidal or Deezer. Once the app has optimized then you’ll be able to listen to songs that have been mixed specifically for Sony 360 Reality Audio (my favorite is still Toxic by Britney Speakers). Of course, not every song is going to be compatible but as more get added in the future, it’s going to be a really cool feature to have.
How is the battery life on the Sony WF-SP800N?
Sony claims that the WF-SP800N true wireless earbuds will get 9 hours of constant playback and in our testing that was pretty spot on. At a constant output of 75dB(SPL), the Sony WF-SP900N lasts 9 hours, 56 minutes which is impressive. Unfortunately, the case only has one extra charge in it, so as soon as you charge up the earbuds from 0-100%, you’ll need to throw the case back on the charger. While there is no wireless charging here, it does have USB-C input.
How is the microphone on the Sony WF-SP800N?
One of the most underrated features of a pair of workout headphones is the microphone. When you’re mid-run or in a virtual meeting, having a decent microphone can really make or break the experience. Unfortunately, the microphone here is not great. Your voice will sound slightly higher than normal to the person on the other end of the phone. Speech intelligibility was never an issue, though, which is the most important feature of a headset microphone system.
Sony WF-SP800N microphone demo:
How does the microphone sound to you?
As of October 21, 2021, 421 readers have rated the above mic sample as somewhere between “okay” and “good.” This is a pretty good result for true wireless earbuds, and at the upper end of what you should expect to get out of any products of this type.
Is the noise canceling effective?
One important aspect of sound that you need to consider is how well the earbuds isolate you from outside noise. Your favorite earbuds might sound great but if all you hear are the cars passing you on the street then what good are they? Being able to block outside noise so you can focus on your music is crucial. Unfortunately, the Sony WF-SP800N isn’t great at it. As you can see from the isolation graph above the earbuds do a solid job at blocking out sounds above 1kHz but anything below that (which is where most low humming sounds like air conditioners and buses reside) are going to pass right though.
On the bright side, these do have active noise canceling which should help get rid of some of that unwanted noise. At least, that’s what it should do in theory. In practice, the noise canceling is so slight that it really doesn’t affect the overall experience much. If you compare this noise canceling chart with the standard isolation one where noise canceling was turned off, you’ll see that there are only some minor changes to the power of the ANC around 100Hz and around 600Hz. And even those frequencies aren’t cancelled enough to make a difference.
Does the Sony WF-SP800N sound good?
The headset retains a neutral-leaning frequency response through the mids, while slightly emphasizing bass notes and de-emphasizing upper mids and some treble troughs. This kind of sound signature plays well with all sorts of music, while the amplified bass response makes the sound more familiar to those accustomed to typical consumer headphones.
Lows, mids, highs
To offset this Sony added a slight emphasis in the low end to help you hear the bass notes while you’re out and about. The slight bump in the lows (pink) of the frequency response graph at around 80Hz makes basslines slightly louder and easier to hear. This could be heard in the song Party With Children by Ratatat where the bass kicks were still easy to hear even though they were lacking the depth of larger kick drums.
On the bright side, you can easily EQ the sound yourself from the Sony Headphones Connect app. The app has a few presets that work well but if you know what you’re doing, this headset could really benefit from some nice tweaking. Vocals and instruments in the mids and highs are easy to listen to. The vocals in So Many Details by Toro y Moi were easy to distinguish among the instruments throughout the song. I did find that hi-hats and some of the cymbal crashes were more subtle than I’m used to.
Should you buy the Sony WF-SP800N?
While the Sony WF-SP800N is good at a few things and has some genuinely cool features, I wouldn’t recommend that you go out and buy it. Plus, as of October 2021, it’s very hard to find the WF-SP800N in stock anywhere, even on Sony’s site. There are some great alternatives out there still, namely the Jabra Elite Active 75t.
What’s more, the inconsistency in touch controls is a real deal-breaker, and while noise canceling and transparency mode is cool, the unpredictability detracts from the experience. On top of that, I never feel comfortable with how these fit, which is one of the most important aspects of a pair of earbuds. Throw in the weird issues with connection stability, and it’s one strike too many.
It’s great that the Sony WF-SP800N is fully compatible with Sony 360 Reality Audio, but that feature alone isn’t enough to sell me on this set of earbuds—and it shouldn’t sell you on it either.
What are some alternatives to the Sony WF-SP800N?
If you’re still after a pair of true wireless earbuds then there are plenty of other options you can choose from. The Jabra Elite 85t is a great pair of daily-use earbuds that is hard to beat whether you’re on Android or iOS. If you are on Android then you might also want to check out the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro which has good battery life and support Samsung 360 Audio. iPhone owners should look no further than the AirPods Pro as it’s just hard to beat when it comes to the Apple ecosystem.
Maybe you switch between Apple and Android; in that case, consider the Beats Studio Buds. It performs very well on either operating system and costs less than the WF-SP800N at $149 USD.
For those that still have their heart set on Sony and the 360 Reality Audio experience then it might be worth saving for a little longer and just going with the Sony WF-1000XM4 as this are a tried and true great pair of earbuds. Alternatively, you can spend less than $100 on the more Spartan Sony WF-C500.