Sony WI-C100

The Sony WI-C100 is a comfortable marathon runner with a terrible singing voice and a habit of falling apart. Buy them only if you find them for pocket change and have zero expectations for music.

We were genuinely surprised by the battery life. Sony claims 25 hours, and while our testing puts it closer to a still-impressive 85th percentile, the quick-charge feature is a lifesaver. A 10-minute charge for an hour of playback is no joke. The real shocker, though, is the sound. With a 9mm driver, you'd expect at least a passable experience, but it lands in the 8th percentile. It's not just 'not great,' it's one of the worst-sounding sets we've measured. The bass is thin, and the overall profile is muddy. On a brighter note, the mic quality is perfectly average, which is more than we can say for the audio.

The WI-C100 gets absolutely crushed by the competition. The Soundcore P31i offers a similar neckband design but with far better sound and build quality for a comparable price. If you're willing to ditch the wire, the TOZO Crystal Pods deliver a much more complete package with decent sound and true wireless convenience. Even the JLab Jbuds Pods ANC, while not amazing, will give you active noise cancelling and a sound signature that doesn't make you want to throw them in a drawer. The only reason to pick the Sony is if you're dead-set on a neckband and find it for pocket change.

The price on these is all over the map, ranging from $28 to a frankly absurd $1499. If you can snag them for under $30, you're getting a comfortable pair with amazing battery life for the cost of a pizza. At that price, the terrible sound and questionable durability are almost forgivable. But if you're paying anything close to the higher end of that spread, you're getting robbed. For the best deal, stick to the lower-priced listings and cross your fingers.

The Sony WI-C100 is a budget neckband that gets one thing shockingly right: it's incredibly comfortable. You can wear these for hours and practically forget they're there. But that's where the good news mostly ends. The sound quality is a real letdown, falling into the bottom tier of our database, and the user reviews are flooded with complaints about earbud tips falling off and the right earbud dying within months. It's a classic case of a product that feels nice out of the box but doesn't hold up.

If you care about sound quality or need something that will last more than six months, these aren't it. Go get the Soundcore P31i instead. It's a neckband that actually sounds decent and won't fall apart on you. If you just want the cheapest possible way to listen to audiobooks and don't mind a gamble on durability, then maybe roll the dice.

Don't buy these unless you find them for less than $30 and only need them for podcasts in a quiet room. The comfort and battery life are genuinely great, but they're completely undermined by sound quality that's among the worst we've tested and a build quality that owners say falls apart. The constant complaints about earbud tips falling off are a deal-breaker for a product you're supposed to wear on the go. There are simply better, more reliable options that won't leave you fishing a silicone tip out of a storm drain.