The appeal of these headphones is pretty clear: You're getting the winning combination of sound-forward over-ear headphones, wireless/Bluetooth functionality, tons of battery life, and good-enough noise canceling for a lot less money than the top-tier models from many manufacturers.

If what you need in a pair of headphones, primarily, is that you get long battery life and decent sound on a low budget, the Sony certainly delivers that. The noise cancelling might not have as much impact as we'd like, but it's not useless, and the sound is enjoyable.

These headphones might not be the top choice for audiophiles – but if you’re primarily looking for a fun-sounding pair of cans for travelling, or to drown out chatter in the office, then you’ll have little complaint with the Sony WH-CH710N.

While the Sony WH-CH710N doesn't have the mind-blowing sound quality that more expensive headphones might offer, the excellent noise-canceling, USB Type-C charging, great battery life, and relatively low price make up for it in my book.

For around $150 this is a great option for anyone that wants good active noise cancelling but doesn't want to break the bank doing so. While it has plenty of flaws, it's still a solid pair of headphones overall that I would recommend to anyone with a hard budget.

We had a thoroughly mixed experience with the Sony WH-CH710N over-ear headphones. On one hand, they feature crisp playback with strong bass. They also last a helluva long time, with more than enough juice for extended travel. On the other hand, they are simply not very comfortable. Plus, the active noise cancellation was not nearly as strong as we’d hoped it would be.

As much as we wanted the Sony WH-CH710N Wireless Noise-Canceling Headphones to be a more affordable alternative to Sony's flagship headphones, they don't quite fit the bill. They sound good and use some novel adaptive noise cancellation technology, but their overall noise reduction effectiveness and mostly plastic build quality leave a lot to be desired.

Sony's WH-CH710N headphones offer solid audio performance and active noise cancellation for a relatively affordable price.

While they offer many features, half work great, and the rest are somewhat mixed.

A wireless value

They're comfortable enough to wear for long periods without a lot of fatigue, and their long continuous battery life can get you through long international flights. Unfortunately, their bulky design isn't very portable. They also don't block out a lot of background noise, especially in the bass range, so you can still hear bus and plane engines while wearing these headphones.

That leaves the CH710N in a tough spot. Perhaps you are someone who only really needs a long battery life or maybe just adequate if not exceptional noise-canceling while catching up on your favorite TV shows during your daily commute. In that case, you can be reasonably happy with these headphones, especially since they aren't necessarily bad in any way. But I had high hopes for the successor to the CH700N and the CH710N failed to deliver.