How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want long battery life with active noise canceling for flights and commutes, choose Sony ZX110NC; if you need a wired USB-C earbud with an inline mic and volume remote for modern phones and tablets, choose BENEWY USB C Headphones. These two are solving completely different problems, and that is exactly why the choice is easy once you know which problem is yours.
• Sony ZX110NC — biggest strength: Active Noise Cancellation that the spec sheet says reduces ambient noise by up to 95%, plus an 80-hour battery rating and a folding, swiveling on-ear design.
• Sony ZX110NC — biggest trade-off: It is a bulky on-ear headphone, it uses a 3.5 mm jack rather than USB-C, and it is sold as an International Version with no warranty.
• BENEWY USB C Headphones — biggest strength: A true USB-C wired connection with an inline microphone, volume buttons and a multifunction remote that handles calls, tracks and playback without touching your phone.
• BENEWY USB C Headphones — biggest trade-off: Wired in-ear buds mean a cable, no active noise canceling (only passive sound isolation), and no battery at all — nothing to charge, but also nothing wireless.
• Pick Sony ZX110NC if you want quiet, over-the-ear listening for travel, study or long listening sessions.
• Pick BENEWY USB C Headphones if your phone, tablet or laptop has dropped the headphone jack and you want a simple plug-and-play wired set with a mic.
The ZX110NC is an on-ear, over-the-head headphone built around one idea: make the noise around you go away. Sony rates the active noise canceling at up to 95% ambient noise reduction, and the frequency response spans 12 Hz to 22,000 Hz, which is a wide spread that points to deep bass at the bottom and clear treble at the top. The drivers are 30 mm dynamic drivers, paired with high-energy 300 kJ/m³ neodymium magnets — that magnet spec is the reason the spec sheet can promise rich, powerful sound with solid low end rather than thin, tinny output.
Then there is the battery. Sony lists 80 hours of average battery life and an 80-hour charge time, which tells you this is a headphone you charge occasionally rather than nightly. There is a genuinely useful detail buried in the description: it can be used as standard headphones without battery. So if the cell is flat and you are on a plane with no adapter, you are not locked out of your music — you just lose the noise canceling. That single design decision makes it far more forgiving than a lot of ANC headphones.
Who should buy it? Travelers, commuters, students in noisy dorms, and anyone who wants one pair for long-haul flights or open-plan offices. The swivel-and-fold earpads and the included carrying case (listed at 4 ounces, matching the headphone's own 4-ounce weight) make it genuinely portable for an on-ear model.
BENEWY USB C Headphones: Who It's For
The BENEWY set is the opposite philosophy. These are in-ear, USB-C wired earbuds with a 14.2 mm dynamic driver, 32 ohm impedance, 110 dB sensitivity and a 20 KHz frequency response. That impedance and sensitivity combination matters in practice: 32 ohms is easy to drive, and 110 dB sensitivity means your phone does not have to work hard to get them loud. Plug them in and they play.
The real story here is the remote. There is a multifunction middle button and dedicated [+] and [-] volume buttons on the cable, so you get full control without unlocking your phone: one click to play or pause, one click to answer a call, one click again to hang up, a two-second press to reject a call, a double click for the previous track and a triple click for the next one. Volume is handled by the separate buttons. For anyone who takes calls on the go, that inline microphone plus that button layout is the whole point.
Compatibility is the other headline, and it is unusually broad. The listing covers iPhone 15 through iPhone 17 families including the 17 Air, Samsung Galaxy S20 through S26 including FE, Edge and Ultra variants, the Z Fold and Flip lines from 2 through 7, a long list of Galaxy A models, OnePlus 7T through 11 and Nord, Google Pixel 2 through 10 including the a-series, HTC U11 and U12, plus iPad Pro, iPad Air and iPad mini. If you have a modern USB-C device, there is a good chance it is on that list.
Who should buy it? Anyone whose phone, tablet or laptop has a USB-C port and no headphone jack. People who take a lot of calls. People who want zero charging anxiety — these have no battery because they draw power from the device. The package includes a pair of eartips, a protective case and a manual, and the enclosure mixes aluminum, metal, plastic, rubber and stainless steel, so it is not a flimsy all-plastic shell.
Who should skip it? If you want active noise canceling, this is not that product — the spec sheet lists sound isolation, which is passive blocking from the bud seal, not electronics. If you dislike cables, skip it. And if you want over-ear comfort for multi-hour listening, in-ear buds will not match it.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for battery life → Sony ZX110NC. 80 hours of rated battery life, and it still works as a plain headphone with a dead battery.
• Best for modern phones without a headphone jack → BENEWY USB C Headphones. Native USB-C, no adapter needed across a very long device list.
• Best for calls and remote control → BENEWY USB C Headphones. Inline mic plus a multifunction button and separate volume buttons.
• Best for travel and long listening sessions → Sony ZX110NC. On-ear fit, folding swivel design, carrying case and ANC for engine and cabin noise.
• Best for pocketability and zero maintenance → BENEWY USB C Headphones. 4.81 g earbuds, no charging, no battery to degrade.
• Best for bass-forward sound from a bigger driver → Sony ZX110NC. 30 mm drivers with high-energy neodymium magnets versus 14.2 mm buds.
• Best if you want a warranty → BENEWY USB C Headphones. A 180-day manufacturer warranty; the Sony listing is an International Version sold with no warranty.
In my opinion, most people reading this should buy the one that matches their port. If your phone still has a 3.5 mm jack, or you mainly want to kill airplane and office noise for hours at a stretch, I would buy the Sony ZX110NC — the 80-hour battery, the 95% noise reduction claim and the work-without-battery design are a genuinely useful combination, and I would just accept the no-warranty International Version status as the cost of that package. If your phone is USB-C only and you want something that just works for calls, music and volume control without charging anything, I would buy the BENEWY USB C Headphones — the inline remote and the compatibility list are the reasons, not the sound specs. I would not buy the BENEWY set expecting ANC, and I would not buy the Sony expecting to plug it into a USB-C iPhone without an adapter.
how to headphones work
Both products here are wired headphones, so the signal travels down a cable rather than over Bluetooth. Inside, a dynamic driver moves air to create sound: the Sony ZX110NC uses a 30 mm dynamic driver with neodymium magnets, while the BENEWY set uses a 14.2 mm dynamic driver at 32 ohm impedance. The Sony adds active noise canceling electronics on top, which is a separate circuit from the audio path.
how to headphones on iphone
It depends entirely on the port. The BENEWY USB C Headphones list support for iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max and the iPhone 16 and 17 families, so they plug straight into a USB-C iPhone. The Sony ZX110NC ends in a 3.5 mm jack, so on a USB-C iPhone you would need an adapter — the headphone itself does not change.
how to headphone mode off
"Headphone mode" usually means your device is routing audio to the wired connection instead of the speaker. With the BENEWY set, the fix is simply unplugging the USB-C connector, since the connection is detected physically. With the Sony ZX110NC, pulling the 3.5 mm plug does the same thing; the noise canceling switch is separate from audio routing and only affects the ANC circuit.
how to headphones
If you mean how to use them: plug in, then use the controls. On the Sony ZX110NC you flip the switch for noise canceling and use the wired media controls; it also functions as a normal headphone without battery. On the BENEWY set, one click of the middle button plays or pauses and answers calls, a double click goes back a track, a triple click goes forward, and the [+] and [-] buttons handle volume.
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