Sony’s new cheap noise-cancelling headphones must be close, following retail leak

Hot on the heels of an earlier leak which saw a host of new Sony audio products break cover, comes some fairly conclusive details of the Japanese brand’s all-new WH-CH720N wireless headphones.

As reported by Notebook Check (opens in new tab), the latest leak, which includes renders, spec sheets and pricing of the upcoming over-ears comes courtesy of German retailer MediaMarkt, which appears to have jumped the gun by publishing details on its website ahead of an official launch from Sony.

The inadvertent leak appears to confirm that the new model will be a direct successor of last year’s Sony WH-CH710N, with the upgraded headphones bringing support for Bluetooth 5.2 and Multipoint connectivity as its key new features.

Noise cancellation, meanwhile is said to come via the Sony V1 chip, which is the same MediaTek MT2822-based processor that’s found in the brand’s flagship Sony WH-1000XM5 cans and its Sony WF-1000XM4 buds, which we rate as the best wireless earbuds around.

Improvements also appear to have been made in terms of comfort over the WH-CH710N, with the new, lighter WH-CH720N’s weighing just 192g, compared to the 223g of their predecessor. That weight loss comes despite what appears to be greater padding around the earcups and beneath the headband, based on the pictures.

As with the WH-CH710N’s, battery life is set around the 35 hour mark with noise cancelling on.

No release date was revealed in the MediaMarkt leak, but a price of €149 (around $160 / £131) was posted on the site. Really, with this much info on a retailer’s site already, the launch must be weeks away at most.

Analysis: Updates could see the Sony CH720N punch above its price tag

The fact that this latest Sony leak appeared on actual big-name retailer’s site gives us plenty of confidence that the WH-CH720N are indeed real, while the specs provided ring true, particularly when lined up against the WH-CH710N. 

Encouragingly, Sony appears to have listened to some of our criticisms in our review of the previous model. Our biggest issue was with the mediocre noise cancellation of the WH-CH710N, something that should certainly be addressed with the inclusion of Sony’s V1 chip – it’s powering some of the best noise-cancelling headphones on the planet, after all.

Couple that improved ANC with Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and the WH-CH710N’s fun, energetic sound which we really rated, and Sony should have a winning set of headphones on its hands capable of competing with far more expensive cans currently out there.

We’ll share further details as and when we get them, so for more on the best cheap headphones and best wireless speakers, stay tuned.