Sony WH-CH520 Wireless Headphones Review

The Sony WH-CH520 on-ear headphones have a sleek and understated design. The yokes rest flush with the ear cups, and there's a subtle manufacturer's logo on the side of the headband. The matte plastic and subdued color options match most workplaces or outfits. They're available in four monochromatic colorways: 'Black,' 'White,' 'Beige,' and 'Blue.'

The Sony WH-CH520 are decently comfortable. They don't exert much clamping force and feel light on the head. The headband and ear cups are well-padded, which is a notable upgrade over the previous Sony WH-CH510 Wireless' unpadded headband. Their light weight is evenly distributed across the headband. However, due to their on-ear design and relatively small ear cups, you'll need to adjust them to get the right fit on your ears. People who wear glasses will find them less comfortable because the force exerted presses your ears against the arms of the glasses.

The Sony WH-CH520 have adequate controls. They're intuitive, labeled, and easy to use. They have good tactile feedback with voice prompts to let you know when you've reached max/min volume, as well as the battery level when you turn them on. However, it can be hard to differentiate between buttons despite having raised or indented indicators. You also can't alter their controls in the app. The controls are as follows:

(+) Button:

• Single press: Raises the volume.
• Press and hold: Plays the next track.

(-) Button:

• Single press: Lowers the volume.
• Press and hold: Plays the previous track.

Middle button:

• Single press: Plays and pauses audio. Also answers and ends calls.
• Double press: Activates the voice assistant.
• Press and hold: Turns the headphones on and off.
• Press and hold for five seconds: Makes the headphones enter Bluetooth pairing mode from power off.

These headphones have passable portability. The ear cups can rotate to lay flat, but you can't fold them up, so they'll take up space in your bag. You can let them rest around your neck with the ear cups out of the way. Unfortunately, they also don't have a case to protect them during storage.

These headphones are reasonably well-built. Their frame is almost entirely made of plastic, which is not very dense but seems acceptable. The earpads and headband have a decent amount of faux leather covering foam. The yokes sit flush with the ear cups, which makes them less susceptible to getting yanked or damaged. Like most on-ears, they don't have an IP rating against water or dust. While they don't feel as cheap as their predecessor, the Sony WH-CH510 Wireless, they still don't feel as solid or durable as other on-ears, like the Jabra Evolve2 65 Wireless.

The Sony WH-CH520 have okay stability. They'll stay put while sitting at a desk or walking around. However, they can move around with moderate movements, like a light run, and fall off during an intense or dynamic workout.

• Sony WH-CH520 headphones
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• Manual and warranty

The Sony WH-CH520 have a slightly warm and fairly neutral sound profile by default. The majority of the bass and mid ranges are very flat and well-balanced, save for the low-bass roll-off, which only impacts sub-bass rumbles. As a result, lead instruments like keys and guitars come through, sounding full-bodied and lush. However, the treble range is less well-balanced due to a dip in the low-treble into mid-treble. This de-emphasis makes harmonics in vocals, cymbals, and sibilants (S and T) sound dark. If you want a different sound, their companion app has a graphic EQ and presets for full control over your listening experience.

These headphones have decent frequency response consistency. Because they're on-ear headphones, you'll need to adjust their fit each time you put them on for consistent audio delivery. Most headphones suffer inconsistencies in the bass region, but these sound rather predictable in the low-end, with slight variation to the low treble between wears and wearers. However, the uppermost treble frequencies are particularly impacted by different ear shapes and how the on-ear fit sits on different people.

The Sony WH-CH520 have excellent bass accuracy. The range is well-balanced without significant exaggerations, so genres like rock and folk sound full and punchy. For instance, the bass guitar in songs like Venasque by Ian Pooley sounds rich and full without overpowering synths and vocals. While they roll off the lower bass registers, there's not a lot of musical content that low besides very deep rumbles in EDM.

These headphones have remarkable mid accuracy. The range is very well-balanced, ensuring that instruments and vocals are clear and present. In songs like Sauna by Vulfpeck, the singers are right in front of the mix, and the twinkly pianos sound true to life.

These headphones have reasonable treble accuracy. The low treble is fairly accurate, so vocals sound present and somewhat detailed. However, the rolled-off mid-treble causes sibilants (S and T sounds), like cymbals and harmonics in vocals, to sound dark and veiled. The peak in the upper mid-treble region adds some airiness to the top end.

The Sony WH-CH520 have good peaks and dips performance. Due to a mismatch in our unit's L/R drivers, each side performs somewhat differently. A small bump in the mid-bass makes kick drums and bass parts sound punchy. It's most prominent in the right driver and extends into the high-bass, which makes them slightly boomy. A wide peak in from the mid-mid to low-treble makes instruments and vocals sound forward and slightly honky in the mix, especially in the left driver. Due to both a deep dip and peak in the mid-treble range, sibilants, like S and T sounds in dialogue, sound alternatingly dull and piercing. It's noticeable in both drivers.

These headphones have great imaging performance. Sony is known for good quality control and ergonomics. Their weighted group delay falls beneath the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. Our unit's L/R drivers have a slight phase response mismatch in the mid-range, with warping coming from the right driver, though it's not noticeable when listening to regular audio content. However, keep in mind that imaging varies between units.

These headphones have a poor passive soundstage. This is normal for closed-back, on-ear headphones. While they can create a more open-sounding experience than most in-ears, the experience isn't immersive. As a result, the soundstage seems unnatural and centered, as if the sound is in your head rather than from around the room.

The Sony | Headphones Connect app's 360 Reality Audio can analyze your ear shape and lets you integrate a virtual soundstage via compatible apps, like Tidal and Sony's own 360 Reality Audio Live. The technology uses object-based virtual surround audio to give you a more immersive listening experience, but they don't support head tracking. Note, also, that most of these other programs require a subscription to use them and have limited but growing libraries.

The Sony WH-CH520 have mediocre weighted harmonic distortion performance. Distortion is present in the low-bass and the low to mid-treble ranges at moderate and high volumes. It's noticeable with real-life content like EDM and hip-hop, which have artifacts in their thump and rumble that make audio sound less clear. Additionally, in the higher registers, voices and instruments are affected by distortion, but it's less noticeable because the distortion occurs when the frequency response rolls off treble significantly. Please let us know in the forums if your unit is also experiencing distortion.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The Sony WH-CH520 have poor noise isolation performance. They don't have active noise cancellation (ANC) like their over-ear sibling, the Sony WH-CH720N Wireless. Their on-ear design doesn't create a seal around your ears that blocks incoming noise. As such, bass-range noise, like the rumble of a bus engine, isn't cut out at all. They barely isolate you from noise like ambient chatter, so you'll hear your fellow passengers in an airplane cabin. However, they do a better job of reducing treble-range noise, like the piercing sound of a subway train braking.

The Sony WH-CH520 have decent leakage performance. Leakage is moderately present across a lot of the range. Audio that escapes sounds thin and bright, equally mid-rangey and trebly at high volumes with a bit of bass content. While patrons in a loud café won't hear your audio, coworkers in a quieter office may be bothered by leaking sound.

These headphones have good recording quality. Their integrated mic makes your voice sound clear and understandable but slightly thin and unnatural. It can make sibilant sounds (S and T) a bit exaggerated and yet slightly lispy on frictives (TH sounds).

These headphones have reasonable noise handling performance. You'll be clearly heard if calling from a moderately noisy environment, like a busy street. Depending on the background noise, a hiss might still be present, but the mic prioritizes your speech. However, the mic struggles to prioritize your voice with the introduction of sudden and loud background noises. While your speech is still audible, it may get drowned out.

These headphones have great battery performance. They last nearly 53 hours continuously, which is close to their advertised 50 hours of battery life. They'll have enough battery life to get you through several workdays without needing a recharge. However, when you need one, three minutes of charging yields 90 minutes of playback, according to the manufacturer. Their standby mode also lasts 200 hours, so you won't need to worry about them running out of power if you accidentally leave them on overnight. However, these headphones are Bluetooth-only, meaning you can't listen to them passively with an AUX cable if the battery dies. Keep in mind, though, that battery life depends on usage.

These headphones have a good companion app. The Sony | Headphones Connect app works for both iOS and Android. It allows access to customize the sound with EQ presets and a 5-band graphic EQ—6 bands if you include the 'Clear Bass' slider, which doesn't specify which frequencies it impacts, just bass, but you can have more or less of it. You can toggle on/off DSEE, which is the lowest tier of the brand's digital signal processor (DSP) used for upscaling lossy and compressed audio. You can also control the multi-device pairing through the app and choose between prioritizing sound quality or stability for the Bluetooth connection. In the app, you can customize the voice guide, adjust the sidetone for phone calls, and receive firmware updates. It's also where you can access the Sony 360 Reality Audio feature, which creates a virtual soundstage based on the shape of your ear. You can see how the app works here.

These headphones have great Bluetooth performance. They can stay connected with up to two devices at a time, but to play audio from a second device, make sure you pause playback on the first device. They use AAC and SBC codecs, which are standard, and if you own an iOS device, AAC pairs well. They don't support the brand's own LDAC codec for higher bitrate audio. LDAC is available on headphones like the bassy Sony WH-XB910N Wireless and the flagship Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless, but AAC and SBC connect to any operating system without issue.

If you're watching a video on an iOS or Android device, you'll experience a bit of noticeable latency, but it's not too bad. However, PC latency is high, so you'll encounter audio lag when watching live streams or playing video games. Although the Sony | Headphones Connect doesn't have a specific setting for games or video, different video apps and devices compensate for latency differently.

You can't use these headphones wired. The USB-A to USB-C charging cable included in the box is meant for charging.

These headphones have full mic and audio compatibility with PCs via Bluetooth. You can't use them wired.