Sony makes some of the best wireless headphones you can buy. Its pairs have won a glut of Awards over the years, and across a range of budgets – its offerings span from high-end headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM6 to the wallet-friendly WF-C510.
But choosing the right pair is only half the fun. Then comes how to get the best sound out of them. Thankfully, Sony makes this pretty simple with its Sound Connect mobile app (previously known as Headphones Connect).
Article continues below- The best Sony headphones to consider
What is Sony Sound Connect?
Sony Sound Connect is the mobile app that partners Sony's wireless headphones. Once you connect your Sony headphones to your mobile device, you can use Sony Sound Connect to adjust all kinds of settings, optimise the sound quality, customise the controls and more.
What does Sony Sound Connect do?
It acts as the control hub for your Sony headphones. You can use it to adjust the sound quality and profile, headphone controls, ANC settings (if applicable) and more.
We'll go through its capabilities in detail below. But be aware that not all features will be available for all models of Sony headphones.
Is the Sony Sound Connect app necessary?
No, you don't need to use Sound Connect in order to use Sony headphones. Instead, you can just pair the headphones with your device over Bluetooth and start using them. But you'll only be scratching the surface of what they can do, and you'll miss out on how to optimise their sound quality.
Which headphones does it work with?
Sony Sound Connect works with most Sony headphones released in the last few years, including some of its best-rated pairs. These include:
- Sony WH-1000XM6
- Sony WH-1000XM5
- Sony WF-1000XM6
- Sony WF-1000XM5
- Sony WF-C710N
- Sony WF-C700N
- Sony WF-C510
- Sony WF-C500
- Sony LinkBuds Open (WF-L910)
- Sony WH-CH720N
- Sony WH-CH520
In fact, compatible models date back all the way to the original Sony WF-1000X, though features will vary by model. You can see a full list of compatible pairs on Sony's website.
How to use Sony Sound Connect
So now you know what Sony Sound Connect is and what it does, let's find out how to use it. Here we'll run you through all of its features, what they do and how to use them.
Note: not all features are available for all Sony headphones. The eartip fit test is exclusive to the certain models of Sony earbuds, for example, while models without active noise cancellation will lack the relevant ANC features (though the WF-C510 do have an ambient mode, despite lacking ANC).
The settings below are available by tapping All device settings from within the My Device tab. Some also let you add a shortcut to the app's My Device screen for quick access – handy if it's something you often toggle on and off.
Choose a listening mode
This option lives within the Noise Cancelling / Ambient Sound menu, and lets you activate active noise cancellation, the ambient sound mode, or neither.
By default, these modes will be activated depending on your situation as detected by Adaptive Sound Control (there's more on this feature further down the page). But you can choose to override this and have Ambient Sound activated while you're sitting still, for example.
Noise Cancelling silences outside sounds , while Ambient Sound allows in some background noise so you can hear station announcements, bicycle bells and car horns, for example.
Tap Ambient Sound and you can adjust how much background sound the headphones let through. And if you tap Voice passthrough, it will suppress other sounds but boost voices, so you can be alerted easily if someone is speaking to you.
Optimise the sound quality
The Sound Quality/Volume tab gives you plenty of options to get the best sound from your Sony headphones.
Equaliser lets you pick from one of Sony's predetermined EQs ('Bright', 'Excited', 'Mellow', 'Bass Boost' and so on). You can also edit these as you see fit – some models have a 10-band equaliser, but Sony's more affordable headphones are limited to a five-band EQ. And you can create your own equaliser preset – just choose one of the 'custom' presets, tap Edit and tweak the levels to your liking.
Not sure which you'll like the best? Find Your Equaliser will help you choose. This presents different profiles – pick which sounds best to you, and you'll be presented with further balances to pick from. Once you've made your choices, it will assign your preferences to one of the custom equaliser presets.
DSEE Extreme (DSEE stands for Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) upscales lower-quality music files to restore some detail lost during the compression process. It can make streams and MP3s sound much better than otherwise, which is why we would always toggle this to Auto. But you can turn it off if you wish.
360 Reality Audio Setup lets you create a hearing profile in order to best experience Sony's 360 Reality Audio (i.e. spatial audio). Your hearing profile is based on your ear shape, and involves a series of listening tests to optimise the sound output for you and you alone. For example, it will play two sounds and ask you to pick which one sounds like it's directly in front of you at eye level. The app will then use this information to optimise your 360 Reality Audio-compatible apps like Amazon Music Unlimited, Nugs and 360 Reality Audio Live.
Get the best fit for the best sound
This one's only available on Sony's premium earbuds, but it's worth exploring if you have a pair of those. We've found Sony's earbuds to not be as comfortable or snug as rival pairs like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen), so it's crucial you've got the best fit possible. This won't only make them more comfortable, but also ensure the best sound, as a tighter fit means less ambient noise intruding on what you're listening to.
Tap Wearing > Check wearing condition and earbud tips and you can try the test for yourself. It plays an audio signal to measure how airtight the seal is in each earbud tip. If one comes up short, try another size.
You can also check the earbuds' positioning by taking a photo of each in your ear and comparing to Sony's preferred positioning.
Connect to two devices at once
Thanks to Bluetooth Multipoint, you can wirelessly connect some Sony headphones to two devices at once. That means you can seamlessly switch between listening to music on your laptop to taking a call on your mobile without having to unpair and re-pair.
Under Connection, tap Connect to 2 devices simultaneously to toggle this option on, and then add new devices to your list of paired devices. But note that if you are paired to two devices at once, you can't playback Sony's higher-quality LDAC format, so you might want to disable it at times.
You can also choose to prioritise sound quality in your wireless connection. Under Bluetooth Connection Quality, tap Prioritise Sound Quality. If a stable connection is more important to you (you're on a work call, for example), tap Prioritise Stable Connection instead. But we would always optimise sound quality, work calls be damned.
Control which ANC modes kick in when
Adaptive Sound Control is a mighty clever feature. This detects what you're doing, and optimises the headphones for you, so they automatically adapt without you doing anything. But of course, you can customise it to your heart's content.
By default, when you're sitting down the headphones will activate full noise cancellation, on the assumption that you're working or listening to music and don't want to be disturbed. When they detect that you're walking, Ambient Sound kicks in, allowing in some outside sounds to keep you aware of your surroundings (it defaults to let in level 12 out of a total ambient sound level of 20, but you can adjust this).
Running? This ups the amount of ambient sound let in to 20 to help keep you safe. And if you're travelling in a vehicle, the headphones revert to noise cancellation, blocking the sounds of the engine and traffic.
The headphones can learn how you use your headphones while Adaptive Sound Control is enabled, to switch modes at the optimal time (you just have to toggle this to On). But even without this enabled, we've found the Sony WF-C710N pretty good at detecting our activity and responding quickly.
You can also have set modes kick in when you reach a certain destination, so noise cancelling in the office, say. Tap the cog wheel next to Register a location and you can choose to Register from learned locations or Register from map. That way, every time you arrive at the office, your headphones will activate noise cancellation automatically.
Customise the controls
You can customise the controls of your Sony headphones, too. Over-ears like the WH-1000XM6 have a touch-sensitive control panel on the right earcup, while Sony's wireless earbuds have one on each bud.
By default, the left earbud is for switching between ANC modes and turning the volume down, while the right is for controlling playback and increasing the volume. But you can switch these around.
You can also adjust how many presses activate a certain function, disable ANC or Ambient Sound entirely, and turn off the feature that pauses playback when the headphones are removed from your ears.
Set quick access to streaming services
You can choose to assign certain streaming services to a series of button presses (two presses, three presses, etc). Supported services include Spotify Tap and Amazon Music Play Now.
In Quick Access, tap the relevant service and assign it a series of button presses. Hey presto.
Enable quick chats
Sony's more premium headphones and earbuds support two features that make it easier to have a conversation without removing them from your ears. Both are found in the Sound section of the Sound Connect app.
Speak to Chat detects when you're talking and lowers the playback volume so you can hear what the other person is saying. (We've found it can also be triggered when you start singing or humming, though you can adjust how sensitive the detection is.)
With Quick Attention, you place your hand over the right earcup (or touch the right earbud with a compatible pair of Sony 'buds) to drop the volume and enable Ambient Sound mode.
Save battery
There's a handy way to preserve battery life, too. Automatic Power Off turns your headphones off automatically when you've taken them off and not used them for a certain amount of time. That way, their battery won't drain away if you forget to turn them off / put them in their charging case. But you can turn this feature off if you want.
Auto Power Save also comes on some Sony headphones. This cuts down on some features when the battery is low, reducing the chance of your headphones dying before you get to a charging point. When the battery drops to 20 per cent or lower, it adjusts the settings for Equaliser, DSEE Extreme, Speak-to-Chat and voice controls. Think of it as the iPhone's low power mode, but for Sony headphones.
If you then adjust any of the settings for these features, however, Auto Power Save is disabled. If your priority is to keep listening until you get home, we would advise leaving it on.
Clarify your calls
Calls through headphones are very useful, but conducting one can feel a bit like you're speaking underwater. Thankfully Sony headphones can make your own voice clearer to hear. Toggling on Capture Voice During a Phone Call will boost the sound of your own voice, though it may also enhance other sounds around you. If that's the case, you can turn it off.
Keep your software updated
The System setting also has some useful options.
Download software automatically will ensure your headphones always have the latest firmware updates for the best security and most recent features. Or you can choose to only download when you're connected via wi-fi to avoid eating into your monthly data allowance.
And Notification & Voice Guide lets you set the volume and language of the spoken feedback and guidance. You can toggle this feature off, but important notifications will remain.
MORE:
The best wireless earbuds around
The best wireless headphones of all styles
I wore the Sony WH-1000XM6 for 10 hours on a train – and now I'm a convert
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