Sony STH30 is an compact, lightweight, comfortable earbuds, and they come with a a budget price tag. My first impression hand-on with these earbuds are the flashy design, which is undeniably typically identical to Apple Earpods, and is lightweight and water/dust-resistance scored IP5-7. The waterproof rating means that it can be submersed in water at depth 1m for 30 seconds without breakage or you can wear these earbuds while running in light rain. Just in case you drop it into water, the STH30 needs to settle to dry for at least 3 hours to achieve the best sound performance.
Note that Sony has recently announced the new sports earbuds model, Sony XB510AS which has a better noise isoation than STH30 and feature sports eartips
Here are a few spec that matter
- Frequency response: 20Hz – 20000Hz
- Nominal Impedance: 18 Ohm
- Connector 3.5 mm audio jack
Build, Accessories and Design
The plastic housings are lightweight and well-designed. Note that the STH30 is styled like Apple earbuds, but in term of sound quality, it is quite different.
STH30 appears similar in design to Apple Earpods on the font, but on the back it’s nicely coated by chrome Sony logo, the bright chrome metallic. Specially STH30 comes with 3 different colors, black, white and purple.
STH30 includes 1 short cable, and another long cable to let users wear behind the neck for more convenience and secure fit. The L- jack makes it easy to plug to your phone, in case of the audio output of your phone is positioned on the side. It is gold coated to enhance transferring audio signal, which you also find in Xiaomi Piston 2.
The inline-remote control and mic are completely compatible with Android devices, including navigating tracks, answering calls, but only mic works when using with iOS device. There is also a clip and guide.
STH30 has a pleasant sound, though it is not loudy like CX 300 II. And because it doesn’t feature silicon eartips, for those who feel uncomfortable with eartip insertion and and like to hear the world around, this will be a earbuds of choice.
Fittting
No eartip causes sound leakage, however, by desigh it sticks well to the ear even while running.
Performance
You generally get the sound with detail, spacious and airy with good bass response – yep the bass is there but not that noticable, and it sounded much better than the Apple earbuds.
In order to experience the true bass of STH30, you need to insert earbuds properly into the ear. By doing so, the bass is pushed more crisp and powerful than CX300ii and E10 with the same price tag. And it doesn’t mean to over-whelmed and leaving tails like NE700 hay CX300ii. Actually the bass comparable to E10 and other earbuds with the same price point. Though, it is not for fans of R&B music, in which the bass is fast and steady, making STH30’s bass is out of control.
Mid-range: this range is not recessed or forward, actually it’s slightly neutral, but not too colorful, even so STH30’s mid-range is still smooth. STH30 lifts a bit on high-mid, in turn, you will find the female vocals are nice.
Treble: this range, the STH30 goes fine, not crunchy and over controlled, good detail.
Soundstage and detail: It sounded openly, go beyond CX300 or NE700 in the same category. The details of STH30 are pretty good for the full range of treble.
Verdict
It appears to have the same design concept with Apple Earpods, but the STH30 brings about the different aspect of sound quality to level it up from earpods, this is definitely a rare Sony earbuds that sounds good with an open and airy sound and offers reasonable amount of bass. STH30 doesn’t feature eartips, so it doesn’t good at keeping the ambient noise out, but for folks who hate silicon eartips and are in need of good bass, it will be satisfactory to how comfortable and easy they fit to the ear.
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