A sound investment

Having separate headphones for different occasions can be expensive.
Metropol’s gadget guru Ian Knott finds that one new headset may have solved the problem.

When it comes to investing in a good pair of over-ear headphones, it pays to think about where and when you plan to use them the most. For online work meetings?

Music while working or travelling? At the gym? Or a mixture of uses? The perfect headphones for one use, may be the worst for another.
Sony has released the WH-CH720N (an uninspiring name, for sure) that just might hit the sweetspot for a relatively affordable, multipurpose, yet stylish and comfortable headphone.

The extremely lightweight, yet remarkably sturdy headset has taken me from early morning sweaty gym workouts, to morning Teams meetings, to music and podcasts while I work, and even some casual gaming in the evening, without skipping a beat or needing to be recharged for a week. You can even connect to two Bluetooth devices at once and switch between them at will.

If the noise cancelling is used sparingly, then an impressive battery life of 35-50 hours can be expected.

The sound is decent for a $199 headphone, and the intelligent dual noise sensor recognises when to ideally filter ambient noise, or let it in, with even finer adjustments using the accompanying app.

The noise cancelling isn’t quite as good as Sony’s high-end units, but enough to drown out office chatter and background gym music.
Available in three stylish colours, the WH-CH720N is worth a look if you need headphones that will do a great job where and when you need them to.

SONY WH-CH720N HEADPHONES

• Lightweight but sturdy and reinforced
• Dual noise sensor with intelligent noise cancelling
• Soft synthetic leather earpads for all-day comfort
• 35-50 hours battery life (active feature dependent)
• Available in black, blue and white