Sony Wireless Headphones WH-CH510: Wireless Bluetooth On-Ear Headset with Mic for Phone-Call, Black

If you’re reading this review, what you really want to know is, “Should I buy these”? The answer is Sort of…? Maybe…? Possibly…? with some MAJOR caveats.

If you’re familiar with Sony headphones at all then you already know that the unboxing experience is underwhelming at best so I’ll just give you the 30sec run down. When you open the box, you get the headphones, a charging cable and the manual, that’s it. But like I said, unless you’re spending $200.-$350. You’re not going to get a case or even a bag for that matter. It’s just the Sony way. As for the build quality, well ummmmmm… Okay, there is a lot of plastic here and not quality plastic. Let’s just say it, these are 95% plastic. You know the plastic that feels like if you squeeze it just a little, something is going to snap? Yeah, they pretty much feel like that. And when I say they are 95% plastic, I mean, there’s not even any padding on the headband which makes them unbelievably uncomfortable especially if you’re bald like me. Even for short periods of time, these things just start to hurt the top of your head. Also, because of the cheapish plastic there is very little give (you definitely don’t want to try to stretch them out unless you like snapping sounds). The only non plastic part on these is the ear pads (if you can call them that). Now I know these are “on-ear” headphones, but they are so small that they feel like they are on-ear for little kids, even my 8 year old, who uses a pair a wired Sony’s everyday for school, said they felt tight and small to him. I’m not sure what the material is that they used for the ear pads but someone really needs to make earmuffs out of this stuff. This things get hot FAST, even with a fan on, I could only wear them for very short periods of time. For something that gets so hot, they are also unbelievably thin. These is also no noise cancellation except for the passive noise canceling you get from having a vice on your head.

Now, I see that confused look on your face because you probably remember earlier when I said that you might want to buy these even with all of those issues, why would I say that right? Because, again, in the Sony way, these things sound fantastic. Even straight out of the box with zero burn in time, they sound GREAT. The mids and highs have great presence and there is a surprising amount of thump in the low end. You also get 35 hours of playback. NOTE: there is a bit of confusion because the spec sheet on the description page says that these do NOT have quick charging, but I can confirm from the box and from actual use that these DO indeed offer quick charging via USB-C (yes, no padding but USB-C, go figure). Additionally, they do have NFC and the mics aren’t that bad when making phone calls (but seriously, how many people make phone calls from their headphones anyway). They support voice assist blah… blah… blah… but none of that really matters because I honestly can’t see you wearing them that long.

Bottom line, this review came down to one thing for me. When I asked my kid who wants ANYTHING that’s new if he wanted these and he said “no thank you” and that pretty much told me everything I needed to know. But, I guess if you have a lot of hair for padding, don’t mind a vice on your head, are beyond careful (think Tiffany crystal in plastic form), and have to have a pair of brand name headphones then, yeah, these will work. HOWEVER, if it were my money (and for the same money or even less), there are significantly better offerings by Cowin, TaoTronics, Bluedio and others. Heck you can even find the Sony XB700’s for around the same price. But yeah, I still have to admit that these do sound great.

This is usually where I put my signature ratings, but this time instead of saying “do I recommend these” I’m going to put it another way.

Would I spend MY money on these? No

Emoji Rating: 😞

Thanks for taking the time to read this review, I really hope that it helped. Cheers!

In this Budget go for this rather than other brands Headph. Before purchase i read all comment nd read about not comfortable on ears. I would say try it once. Everyone have diff shape of ears so don’t think if it not good on othrs it won’t on yours. You have facility for 10 day return. So use it nd feel it.. I will really recommend this. Quality is also good. Don’t think its light so it would be break easily. See you have to take care of it, if it would b heavy. Try it for 3,4 days thn decide you want to keep it or return.
Its sony.. Just buy it without any thought.

Pros:
• It’s nice and light. Very compact and something that will not take any more space than what it is.
• The earcups swivel. I appreciate this because it makes it easier to find a place if you need to pack.
• A very simple design. No led glows, big logos, or color designs. A jet black look makes these headphones follow the saying “less is more.”
• I found the microphone surprisingly good. Receiving phone calls where very clear and colleague has stated that my responses sounded like I was using any smartphone.
• Not only is the Bluetooth on this is fast, but it’s a 5.0. This means 1. It maximizes your battery life as much as possible and 2. 5.0 allows you to connect two different headphones to your phone. A great note to have if you want someone else to watch what you’re watching.
• The battery is phenomenal. Sony states 35 hours, but honestly it can go almost two weeks (3-4 hours a day) without charging. An A+ in this field.
• Even with great battery life, the headset charges extremely fast with the USB-C connector. I did just a 10-minute charge and it gave me 1:30 playtime. Do the math, that’s 9 minutes of playback for 1 minute of charge. WOW.
• Only three simplicity buttons on the right earpiece. I’m always a fan of buttons rather than touch sensors, so this is a thumbs up in my book.
• Minimum leakage of music. Around 70% of volume and no knew I was even playing Taylor Swift.
• Good midranges and is helped with a good stereo spread in the earcups. You get good sound color when anything with a guitar, or and solo voice is performing.

Cons and Oks:
• Not waterproof. There isn’t a waterproof rating for these headsets. This means that any water gets to this, its game over.
• No headphone jack. I have no idea why they didn’t install this feature with the price you’re paying.
• No built-in noise-canceling software. Without this, I felt a great reduction in the listening experience when I brought these outside (city life). It also made it difficult to communicate and respond with my colleague when talking to him. Inside they’re great, but the outside world leads me to ditch the microphone system.
• The buttons are so close together and are almost identical. It takes me a moment to figure out what I’m about to press. Even a simple texture change for each button would’ve been a major factor in resolving this issue.
• The ear cups are not the best around. After an hour of use, my earlobes started to get sore.
• I’m a fan of the Jet black, but if you’re not too bad. This is the only color.
• When you press the previous/next track, a little chime comes in. I found this very annoying and would love for this to go away. Just play the next song, don’t play a chime every time.
• The sound quality is what you get with the price. To summarize, the lows are soft, I felt you got to the most bang for your buck with any high range music, and sometimes the vocals get thinned out depending on the music. Playing Foo Fighters the instruments where very clear and crisp, but I felt it overshadowed the vocals. At the same time listening to Adel, the voice was spot on. For any midrange style, this will be a decent headset.

Bottom Line:

Listen, you get what you’re paying. It’s not up in Sony’s expensive headphones, but it does a decent job for the price you’re paying. A simple design that provided a decent performance in music. They’re very easy to travel with, and I’m a huge fan of battery life.

Still, the quality of sound is not best because having no noise-canceling software ruins the point of using them, if any loud noises are around you. Great battery life, simple design, and decent quality. Sometimes you don’t need to spend $200 on headphones if you’re just flying for 1-2 hours to see the family.

Overall: Excellent battery life that adds a little more value for these decent headphones.

Hope I was a help to you.
Love,
Honest Reviewer

Okay okay, so there are a lot of reviews on both sides, but here is the opinion of an 18 year old. They sound good, not good period, but they are excellent for the price. Bluetooth syncing is extremely simple so the technologically challenged will not have trouble. The microphone is good, it’s a little worse than the default iPhone microphone but it’s still good. The buttons could be better, it’s easy to select the wrong one on accident, but truthfully it’s not that big of a deal. Build wise, you get what you pay for, there build relatively well, I think they’re stylish. In terms of comfort they could be better, as a glasses wearer they are not the most comfortable but don’t let that turn you off of this product. It really isn’t that big of a deal. Anyways, if you’re considering these, go for them, I recommend it.