Sony’s upcoming budget noise cancelling WF-C710N earbuds leak, with the upgrade we most want to see

• WF-C710N could be everything we love about the WF-C700N, but better
• Proximity sensing for auto play/pause
• No pricing or release date just yet though

Regular readers will know that we really like the Sony WF-C700N earbuds, but we really don't like the lack of controls – and in particular, the lack of an auto-off feature on the earbuds themselves, when you remove them. So we're not so much pleased as ecstatic to see the leaked Sony WF-C710N earbuds and their proximity sensor.

Sony did update the WF-C700N buds after our review in order to add on-device volume controls (which initially they couldn't do), but the lack of wearer detection (aka auto-off) remains. And while I fully accept that that's not a huge deal, it's still really rather annoying – and it means the new generation is even more attractive than their five-star budget predecessors.

Sony WF-C710N: key features

The latest leak comes via The Walkman Blog, who in recent weeks has had stacks of Sony scoops. And that means we've got a very good picture of what these new earbuds will (probably) deliver, including:

• Possible LE Audio
• Proximity sensor for play/pause control
• Noise cancellation
• Four color options: black, white, pink and transparent blue
• A 70mAh battery in the buds
• A 500mAh battery in the case
• USB charging, but not wireless charging

Some details are still a mystery, though. We don't know which codecs the buds will support, or how long those batteries will run for. And we don't know the mic or driver configurations – or the price.

But given that the WF-C700N were originally priced at $119 / £99 / AU$199 we'd expect these new earbuds to be similarly affordable.

I'm really looking forward to hearing these: in our review of the current model we said that "for features, design and most-importantly sound quality, these cannot be bettered for the money."

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