Sony NW-WS623: The walkman takes on a new form and it works

The Sony NW-WS623 , also called the Sony Sport NW-WS623, are wireless headphones with a built-in MP3 player that carry the torch of Sony’s iconic Walkman. They are perfect for exercising and playing sports thanks to their band design, to which we must add their IP68 resistance; the latter means that they are suitable for swimming. On top of all that, they deliver high-quality sound, fully worthy of Sony’s Walkman stamp, and deliver a phenomenal battery life of up to 12 hours.

Sony NW-WS623 Design

As you can see, these are not conventional headphones, they are hybrid and have a curved design with a headband that goes behind the neck and keeps them in position at all times, even when exercising or running. With that in mind, it’s true that earphones apply pressure against your ear to keep them from slipping out of position; As a result, it may cause ear canal bone discomfort after long-term wearing.

The body of the headphones has a matte finish available in various color presentations, but what interests us is that they are resistant, we can stretch, straighten, curl or bend them; They won’t fray, break, or warp, in fact, they return to their base shape quickly. For its part, the neck band is robust , it does not protrude and it shows that it was reinforced, but without sacrificing flexibility, which is great.

In the same way, they have buttons at our fingertips with all the possible functions , such as changing the volume, going forward / back the track and activating the ambient sound mode. Also, the layout of the buttons is the same on both headphones and their response is satisfactory. However, the controls can be a bit confusing at first, as holding down one performs another action, so it might be a good idea to consult your manual.

To put the cherry on the cake, these headphones are IP68 certified, so they are waterproof and dustproof , to the point that we can use them in the pool and also on the beach, as they are resistant to water and also to low and high temperatures. (from –5°C to 45°C).

Sound

The Sony Sport NW-WS623 bring a fairly balanced sound to the table without the need for tuning. Going into details, they offer good depth throughout the treble, midrange and bass . Highs are clean and crisp, and vocals stand out clearly. The mids provide a very good soundstage that adds some 3D personality to the instruments, and there’s no trace of distortion even at maximum volume.

They don’t have active noise cancellation as such, but their design pretty much takes care of isolating all background noise effectively, and it’s so good at it that you actually need an ambient sound mode to be able to hear what’s going on around you. around, because after all they are headphones with sports purposes in mind. Said mode is present and its activation is at the reach of a button.

As we mentioned before, the Sony NW-WS623 can play MP3, FLAC and WMA files locally , so we don’t need any paired device to use them. The internal memory is 4GB in the version that we are taking as a reference, but there is also one with 16GB of storage, it is not much, but when it comes only to saving songs, this figure is enough and plenty.

Connectivity

Although the premise of these headphones with the Walkman seal is that they can play MP3s locally, that does not mean that we cannot pair them with our mobile, tablet or notebook wirelessly. In fact, we can do it both through Bluetooth and NFC with a simple touch of a button, so the options are not lacking.

There is also a remote control that is sold separately.

The only thing that doesn’t quite convince us is how the songs are loaded and transferred, since it requires a proprietary support to which a USB cable and headphones are connected . If it is lost or damaged, it will not be as easy to replace as a conventional charger, so be careful with that detail.

Battery

Lastly, the Sony NW-WS623 promises up to 12 hours of music playback on a single charge , but that’s with local playback. One thing Sony forgot to mention is that when used via Bluetooth or NFC the actual battery life is around 10 hours tops, and that’s with the volume at 50%, so you can expect a lower figure if you’re using the volume at maximum at all times (something we advise against doing because of the risk of hearing damage).

That said, the recharging process takes around an hour and a half, and according to Sony, we can get 1 hour of music playback from just 3 minutes of charging.

PROS

•  Excellent audio clarity
• Good controls and response
• Ambient mode makes it easy to hear your surroundings
• can be used for swimming

CONS:

• USB dock design is awkward
• Using Bluetooth drains the battery faster
• They do not include a storage bag
• Bass could be better

Sony Sport NW-WS623 specifications: