The Sony WH-CH520 are an outstanding on-ear Bluetooth headphones, designed for comfortable wearing with an impressive battery life and using Sony Headphones Connect app features including EQ settings and virtual surround sound capabilities.
They feature a balanced sound profile that is neither bassy nor resonant, but there may be an imbalance in lower-midrange or midtreble ranges which makes harmonics and cymbals sound dull.
Bluetooth
The WH-CH520 Bluetooth headphones are an outstanding pair. Their headband feels sturdy and well finished, featuring a reliable and satisfying adjustment mechanism; similarly durable ear cups offer pleasingly resiliant feel. In terms of sound quality they deliver with balanced upper midrange that balances brightness with substance as well as ample bass depth to counterbalance their relatively lightweight design; although we would have wished for greater fine detail retrieval at such an affordable price point.
These Sony headphones support Bluetooth 5.2 and offer SBC and AAC audio codecs; however, they do not support higher bitrate aptX HD or other advanced features that might be considered necessary by some users. Unfortunately, these headphones do not include wired connections via 3.5mm port nor standard USB cables to link up with mobile devices.
The included Sony | Headphones Connect app for both iOS and Android is an effective control tool with numerous features and options, including preset EQ presets and five-band graphic EQ settings, hearing test functionality, prioritize audio quality or stability prioritization in multi-device pairing, apply Sony’s digital signal processor DSEE which claims to upsample low resolution music files to a higher-resolution standard, learn about this function through the “Getting Started” section, hearing test capabilities and much more.
Microphone
The right cup is equipped with three physical buttons that help you manage your audio experience and hands-free calls, including power (which also doubles as an LED), playback controls (play/pause, volume up/down and skipping tracks) and skipping tracks.
These headphones connect wirelessly through Bluetooth 5.2, supporting standard SBC and AAC codecs – no higher-bitrate streaming or lossless playback for this price point; but that should not be a dealbreaker. They also include a USB-C charging port on each cup but no support for wired listening via 3.5mm cables.
On-ear headphones aren’t typically known for being effective at sealing to your head and blocking out outside noise, but the WH-CH520 do an impressive job of this. They’re effective at blocking out high frequency noise as well as being comfortable enough for commuting and travel.
Sony’s Headphones Connect app comes equipped with features to help you customize the sound to suit you; there are EQ presets, hearing test, and the option of turning on Sony DSEE technology for higher-quality listening experiences. However, due to a number of permissions this requires, privacy-sensitive listeners may wish to forgoing it entirely; controls on your headphones still offer most functions.
Design
The Sony WH-CH520 comes in a compact box featuring a clean design that showcases their headphones. Inside you’ll find them along with a USB-A to USB-C cable and some documents; packaging experience overall is minimal but practical, which is ideal for travel headphones like these.
These headphones are lightweight with well-padded headband and ear cups, offering a fairly comfortable fit, though may feel tighter for those with larger ears or wearing glasses. As they don’t exert much clamping force or weigh very little, you can wear them for extended periods without fatigue.
Their sound is pleasant but doesn’t come equipped with fine detail like you might expect from more expensive headphones. Mids are full and balanced, and treble sounds have some weight added that provides balance to their brightness while adding clarity to treble sounds. Bass levels remain fairly full but lower registers tend to flatten out in order to prevent muddiness.
These headphones provide reliable stability for walking or sitting at a desk, but may move during moderate activity like an intense run or light workout. Furthermore, due to being on-ear without active noise cancellation technology (ANC), ambient noise may disturb them easily. They’re an excellent pair for commuters or travelers commuting over longer distances with built-in Bluetooth functionality allowing multi-device pairing capability.
Sound
The WH-CH520s deliver impressive sound quality at an extremely reasonable cost, thanks to their powerful bass and crisp midrange, making them suitable for everything from podcasts and audiobooks. Their construction is surprisingly sturdy with an earcup adjustment mechanism that moves with confidence.
The Sonys offer tight yet comfortable seals, making them suitable for public listening sessions. Leakage was moderate, with vocals and midrange content sounding thin at higher volumes; dynamic expression may be lacking somewhat compared to competing headphones at this price point, however.
These on-ears offer a decent soundstage, with instruments positioned accurately and vocals being audible within their own space. Unfortunately, however, they lack detail, failing to convey information such as interplay between instruments or overall size of a recording.
Like many Sony headphones, the WH-CH520s come equipped with a mobile app for fine tuning their performance. Although its layout can be somewhat overwhelming, Sony Headphones Connect provides plenty of features and tweaking options – from equalizer settings to dynamic range expander (DSEE) that elevate lower quality audio tracks by improving clarity and adding dynamic range enhancement.
