Sony WF-SP800N Truly Wireless  Headphones Review

The Sony WF-SP800N are truly wireless earbuds with a flat oval shape and silicone tips. Similar to the Sony WF-1000XM3 Truly Wireless, the buds are somewhat on the big side and protrude from your ears more than smaller competitors, like the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ Truly Wireless. They have a one-color design, except for a small Sony logo on the outside surface of the buds, and come in a few colors: 'Orange', 'Blue', 'White', and 'Black'.

The Sony WF-SP800N are comfortable truly wireless headphones. While their deep in-ear fit may not suit everyone, they don’t exert much pressure on the inner ear, so they should be comfortable enough to wear for extended periods. However, due to their somewhat large size, you're constantly aware of their presence when you’re wearing them.

The Sony WF-SP800N have a passable control scheme. The touch-sensitive surface is easy to use and you hear voice prompts or beeps when a command is registered. However, the default control scheme lacks some important functions. Out-of-the-box, you can tap the right earbud once to play or pause music, twice to skip the track forward, and three times to skip backward. You can tap the left bud to cycle between ANC on, 'Ambient Sound', and ANC off. The 'Ambient Sound' setting is supposed to 'mix' your audio with ambient sound so you can hear both at the same time. You can also press and hold the left bud to activate 'Quick Attention', which lowers your audio's volume as long as you have your finger on the earbud. There isn't a way to change the volume unless you remap the control scheme in the Sony| Headphones Connect app. Unfortunately, if you want onboard volume controls you have to remove either the ANC on/off or playback functions.

The Sony WF-SP800N are very breathable, which is to be expected of in-ear headphones. They don't cover your ears, so they don't trap heat against them. Wearing them during a workout shouldn't make you sweat more than usual.

The Sony WF-SP800N are outstandingly portable. You can put them in your pocket or toss them in a bag without much hassle. That said, their case is quite bulky and probably won’t fit into most pants pockets.

The Sony WF-SP800N have a good charging case. It’s quite large, which isn’t ideal for portability, but it does feel well-made and should do a good job of protecting the buds from drops and bumps.

The Sony WF-SP800N are well-built headphones. They're mostly plastic and silicone that feels good quality and have an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance, although we don't test for it currently. However, they don't feel as well-made as some other Sony earbuds, like the Sony WF-1000XM4 Truly Wireless.

The Sony WF-SP800N are impressively stable truly wireless headphones. They come with a couple of differently-sized ear tips and stability fins, so you should be able to achieve an airtight seal that allows the buds to stay in place, even during intense workouts.

• Sony WF-SP800N headphones
• 4x ear tips
• 2x stability fins
• Charging case
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable
• Manuals

The Sony WF-SP800N’s default sound profile is quite bass-heavy. Bass is over-emphasized across the range, which should please listeners who prefer a little more thump and kick. Vocals and lead instruments are present and clear, but some details seem veiled. It’s worth noting that the Sony| Headphones Connect companion app gives you access to a graphic EQ plus presets, so you can customize their sound profile to better suit your preferences.

Like most in-ear headphones, the Sony WF-SP800N deliver exceptional frequency response consistency. Provided you achieve a good fit with the included ear tips and stability fins, your audio should sound the same every time you wear them.

The Sony WF-SP800N have alright bass accuracy. It’s overemphasized across the range but reasonably flat overall, resulting in extra thump, punch, and boom that should please fans of bass-heavy genres like EDM and hip-hop. That said, some listeners may find it overwhelming and muddy.

The Sony WF-SP800N have excellent mid accuracy. The overemphasis in the high-bass range continues into the low-mids, which may make mixes sound slightly cluttered. However, it isn’t too noticeable, and the flat mid-mid and high-mid range responses ensure that vocals and lead instruments are present and clear.

The Sony WF-SP800N have acceptable treble accuracy. The entire range is underemphasized, resulting in veiled instruments and lead vocals, while sibilants like cymbals and S and T sounds are dull and lispy.

The Sony WF-SP800N Truly Wireless have excellent peaks and dips performance. The mid-treble range is uneven, which makes sibilants like S and T sounds alternately dull and piercing. The other deviations are smaller, including a peak from the low to mid-bass that adds rumble and punch, and narrow dips in the low treble that veil instruments and lead vocals.

The Sony WF-SP800N have remarkable imaging. Their weighted group delay falls beneath the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. Likewise, the L/R drivers are exceptionally well-matched in terms of amplitude, frequency, and phase response, resulting in the accurate placement of objects like instruments and voices in the stereo image. However, these results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

The Sony WF-SP800N have an awful passive soundstage, which is the norm for in-ear headphones. Their design means sound doesn't interact with your outer ear, which is essential for creating an out-of-head and speaker-like soundstage. As a result, audio seems to come from inside your head. The soundstage also seems smaller and more closed-off than that of most open-back headphones.

Update 02/28/2022: These earbuds are compatible with Sony's 360 Reality Audio feature, which can offer better sound quality. However, you need to subscribe to services that support this feature and use compatible files. The review has been updated to reflect these changes.

The Sony WF-SP800N are compatible with Sony’s 360 Reality Audio (360RA) virtual surround sound feature, but it comes with a couple of caveats. First, only a few music streaming apps offer support for it, including Deezer, TIDAL, and nugs.net. Relatively few songs are mixed with 360RA, so depending on your listening habits, it may be tricky to take advantage of this feature.

The weighted harmonic distribution performance of these in-ears is very good. While there’s some distortion at moderate volumes in the low to mid-treble range, it’s not especially noticeable. The rest of the frequency spectrum falls within acceptable limits, which should result in fairly clean and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings we used while testing the Sony WF-SP800N. Our results are only valid when the headphones are used in this configuration.

The Sony WF-SP800N’s noise isolation capabilities are mediocre. While they do a good job of blocking out mid-range sounds like ambient chatter, their ANC doesn't offer much of an advantage. At most frequencies, it barely blocks out more sound than with ANC turned off, and it sometimes actually hurts their passive noise isolation performance. In this respect, they're similar to their predecessor, the Sony WF-SP700N Truly Wireless. With ANC on, they block out a bit of bass-range noise like rumbling bus and plane engines and an okay amount of high-pitched noise, like a humming A/C unit. If you want earbuds with more effective ANC headphones, you may prefer the EarFun Air Pro True Wireless.

The noise leakage performance of these in-ears is remarkable. You should be able to listen to your music at high volumes without disrupting people nearby, even if you’re in a quiet environment.

The Sony WF-SP800N’s integrated microphone has satisfactory recording quality. Your voice should sound natural and mostly free of distortion, but your voice seems thin and a little muffled.

The Sony WF-SP800N's integrated mic has decent noise handling capabilities. It has a noise gate that you can't switch off, and although it does seem to reduce moderate background sound, it also seems to drop the microphone's volume at the same time. In a loud environment like a subway station, you can hear it kick in and lower the volume of the background noise, but rather than isolating your voice, it makes your voice quieter, too. These headphones should be suitable for making phone calls in moderately noisy environments, but if you’re calling from a loud place like a busy subway station, your voice may get drowned out by background noise.

The Sony WF-SP800N have a decent battery performance. With ANC turned on, they last for roughly 9.3 hours of continuous use on a single charge, which is quite good for a pair of truly wireless headphones. They only take a little over an hour to charge and come with a case advertised to hold about one additional charge. They also have an auto-off timer that turns the headphones off during periods of inactivity, which you can activate in the Sony| Headphones Connect app. Unfortunately, you can’t listen with one bud while the other charges. Note that battery performance can vary with real-life usage, meaning that you may have a different experience. If you're looking for truly wireless headphones with longer total battery life, the TOZO NC2 Truly Wireless come with a case that holds three extra charges.

The Sony| Headphones Connect companion app is good. It provides a pretty broad range of configuration options, including a graphic EQ and audio presets so you can customize the sound profile, ANC options, and control remapping for both earbuds. You can also toggle the auto-off timer on or off and check the remaining battery life of each bud and their case.

You can turn noise cancelling on, off, or choose 'Ambient Sound', which is supposed to mix ambient sound with your audio and allow you to stay aware of your surroundings. There's also a menu for the 'Adaptive Sound Control' feature, which is advertised to detect your environment and adapt the headphones' ANC performance accordingly.

The Sony WF-SP800N’s have okay Bluetooth connectivity. They support Bluetooth 5.0 but not multi-device or NFC pairing. Also, their latency with PCs is too high for them to be suitable for watching movies or gaming. There’s substantially less audio lag on iOS and Android mobile devices, but you may still notice some latency while streaming video on your phone. That said, some apps seem to compensate for latency, so your mileage in the real world may vary.

The Sony WF-SP800N are truly wireless headphones and can't be used wired. They come with a very short USB-C to USB-A cable for charging their case.

The Sony WF-SP800N are compatible with Bluetooth-enabled PCs. However, their latency is likely too high to be suitable for gaming.

The Sony WF-SP800N come with a case that holds about one extra charge. You can charge it via the included USB-C to USB-A cable.