Sony WH-CH720N and WH-CH520 Leak

This leak provides us with a clearer look at the two new upcoming wireless headsets from Sony and now with more information. The FCC photos gave us a preview of the WH-CH520 but with this leak we can see the entire headset in all its glory. Several websites are running that the WH-CH720N is the new WH-XB910N successor and this is wrong. I will explain further down the post.

 WH-CH720N

The WH-CH720N should feature dual noise cancellation, Bluetooth 5.2 but the model will lack Bluetooth LE support, as it is missing in the BT SIG filing. Whether Sony will re-certify with LE Audio in the future is unknown. The Bluetooth SoC is the Mediatek MT2822, the same chip found in the WH-1000XM5. Charging is via a USB type-C port. I can confirm that the V1 branding and name will be used on the press release and product pages, with reference to Sony’s flagship 1000X line.

From the FCC filing, we know there will be 2 battery suppliers, with the battery rated at 3.85V and 520mAh. This is the exact same capacity as the WH-XB910N battery and even the same model by Spring Power, 702428.

Other specifications are a full recharge of 3.5 hours, 3 min quick charge providing up to 1 hour of playback, a  frequency response of 7 – 20000 Hz, and a weight of 192g.

Now turning to the claims by 91mobiles that this is the new WH-XB910N successor. In their article they claim this new successor will use the V1 from the WH-1000XM5.

..upcoming iteration of the Sony WH-XB910N will use the V1 Chip as found on the WH-1000X series for sound processing.

Well I hate to break it to them, but the Sony WH-XB910N already uses the V1 chip (MT2822), see the teardown from 52Audio for the proof. If the old model used it, why would Sony not mention it in the product pages?

Would Sony use the same chip and battery capacity in a new model? Nope. One thing that their article was correct on was the battery life, 35 hours and I can confirm this is with noise cancellation on. There will also be noise reduction during calls.

The battery life is the same as the WH-C710N, but the new WH-CH720N will feature dual noise cancellation like the WH-XB910N and WH-1000XM5, so this should improve noise cancellation performance compared to the older model. The driver might end up being 30mm if we are to believe the FCC filing. I still do not have any information regarding codec support, so for the time being, only AAC and SBC.

Another issue 91mobiles brings up in their article is multipoint:

The next-gen Sony WH-XB910N headphones could also support a multi-point connection.

Again, the current WH-XB910N already supports multipoint, so nothing new here if the a new WH-XB920N would support it as well. Same deal with the current WH-CH710N, they also support multipoint support as outlined in the online manual, so nothing new again. Likewise, the new WH-CH720N also has multipoint support.

While not concrete proof, the new WH-CH720N has 3 colour options, black, white, and blue, the same as the current WH-CH710N. The WH-XB910N only offers black and blue, with no white colour. The previous model did have gray though, but no white option.

A more concrete piece of proof is this retail listing from Mediamarkt. No WH-XB910N successor here.

Finally one more thing. The WH-XB910N uses a touch sensor for various functions, like volume up and down as seen in the photo below. There are no separate volume up and down buttons on the headset.

When we look at the leaked model, what do we see? Volume buttons! I do not believe we will see a touch panel though.

I mean, would Sony be that silly as to remove the touch sensor in a WH-XB910N successor and use buttons? I do not think so. This once again shows we are looking at the WH-CH720N and not a new XB910N successor model.

I am not sure if there will be a press release, these might just show up on Sony’s global sites without any announcement. Regardless, I was told a release date of  around 24th of February, but not sure if this is retail or availability to order them. No doubt reviewers have or will be receiving units soon.

As for pricing, I was told it would be the same price as the new Float Run headphones, $129.99 USD. This is less than the current model, so it remains to be seen if this price holds true for all regions.

EU pricing is around 120-150 Euros, but it again depends on the VAT in the EU country. In the Mediamarkt listing, the price is 149 Euros.

And now for the press photos

WH-CH520

Finally the affordable offering, the new WH-CH520. We already saw the design in my previous post, but now we have full press photos from various angles. There is no noise cancellation here, but there might be future LE Audio support as the model does support Isochronous Adaptation Layer which is required for LE Audio support. The Bluetooth version is 5.2.

The battery is a 3.7V unit, but no capacity was provided in the FCC filing. There will be AAC and SBC support but no LDAC, A USB type-C port is used for charging. A full charge will take 3 hours and a 3 minute quick charge will provide up to 1.5 hours of playback.

There is no 3.5mm jack connection like the WH-CH510, so the audio connection is only via Bluetooth.

Battery life is rated up to 50 hours of use, which is rather insane. The headset weight is 147g and frequency response is 20 – 20000 Hz. I would imagine will we only see AAC, SBC and perhaps LC3 with a firmware future update. The WH-CH520 should also be available in late February.

Update: I received some pricing information, the price is 41.99 Euros, excluding VAT, so you will need to add the VAT percent in your country to get the full price, for example on Mediamarkt the price is 69 Euros.

Both new headsets will have Sony Headphone app support, personal assistant support, and DSEE. The WH-CH720N will ship with a 3.5mm cable and USB type-C cable for charging and the WH-CH520 will only come with a USB type-C cable in the box.

Now we wait for the new WF-C500 successor, and any new model certifications like the new WF-1000XM5.

Thanks to Ed for sending this in, and my new anonymous source.