A huge leak reveals the sequel to Sony's 5-star budget ANC earbuds, including specs and a cool new see-through look

• A new leak shows off The Sony WF-C710N earbuds in huge detail
• Specs suggest a proximity sensor and updates to ANC and battery life
• The earbuds could launch as soon as May 2025

Two years after the Sony WF-C700N were released, and topped our list of the best budget wireless earbuds at the time, the electronics manufacturer looks set to do it again.

The Walkman Blog has obtained leaked photos of the WF-C710N earbuds, alongside a host of specifications and guidance on price and a release window, seemingly provided by “a well trusted source”.

This follows a previous design leak via a Taiwanese certification body in January, but there are plenty more details this time around.

The earbuds are shown in four different colors – black, white, pink, and a pleasingly retro transparent blue that shows the bud’s inner workings – alongside a companion charging case.

The WF-C710N earbuds share its predecessor’s 5mm drivers, IPX4 water resistance, and support for ANC, with a couple of notable changes.

For one, there’s now a dual microphone setup for more advanced noise cancellation, and a proximity sensor hopefully means they'll offer wear detection, which the previous model lacked. Bluetooth 5.3 is also included, up from Bluetooth 5.2 in the last model.

Battery life will be slightly changed too, with the buds reaching 8.5 hours with ANC activated and 12 hours total through the charging case, rather than the 7.5 hours from the buds and 15 hours total through the charging case of the previous model. That's an improvement in one direction, but a step back in the other – perhaps we'll be pleasantly surprised and will find out the total battery life is better than it looks.

The Walkman Blog predicts a late May release window, at an RRP of $110-120, around the same price as the previous model.

Improving on perfection

In our WF-C700N review, TechRadar’s Audio Editor Becky Scarrott wrote that “Sony has taken everything I loved about its more expensive earbuds and squirrelled it into smaller earbuds, at a lower price. You don't get lossless LDAC or the firm's top-tier DSEE upscaler, but for this money, the audio quality cannot currently be beaten.”

While there are better headphones out there, this line of earbuds are pretty much perfect for their near-$100 price, and it’s exciting to see Sony build on that success with a new model. It does seem like an iterative upgrade, rather than a transformative change, but if it keeps the WF-C710N earbuds affordable, we’ve got little to complain about.

Let’s just hope we get some of the more interesting colors of the WF-C700N, like lavender or sage green, down the line.

You might also like

• Spotify will 'double down' on music in 2025, but does that mean Hi-Fi or AI?
• Apple finally gives instructions on how to update AirPods… sort of
• More of the best wireless earbuds in 2025, all real-world tested