Sony WH-CH510 Wireless Headphones Review

The Sony WH-CH510 have a very basic and straightforward on-ear design that's available in black, blue, or white. They're very simple and look quite cheap.

The Sony WHCH510 are fairly cheaply made so they don't have nearly as much padding as some other options. Their ear cups are reasonably padded, but the headband is entirely hard plastic with no cushioning at all. Due to their on-ear design, the ear cups sit on the ear, which may not be the most comfortable for everyone. Luckily the headphones shouldn't fit too tight unless you have a very large head.

The control scheme of the WH-CH510 is decent. It's easy to use, and the headphones play a sound when skipping tracks or when you reach min. or max. volume.

The Sony WH-CH510 are very breathable on-ears. They don't cover your ears entirely, like over-ear headphones, so they don't obstruct as much airflow and should be breathable enough for sports.

Their portability of the WH-CH510 is mediocre. While their on-ear design makes them smaller than most over-ear headphones, they don't fold up to allow for easier portability.

The Sony WH-CH510 don't come with any kind of case.

The build quality of these headphones is passable. While they don't feel like they'll break too easily, they're made of noticeably cheap materials overall. The headband extenders feel quite thin, and may snap under moderate stress. While they should be able to handle some accidental drops or bumps, they likely aren't the best choice for someone who's hard on their headphones.

The Sony WH-CH510 have mediocre stability. While they should likely stay on your head during normal use, quick head movements will likely cause them to move quite a bit on your head. They likely aren't the best option for running or working out.

• Sony WH-CH510 headphones
• USB cable
• Manual

The Sony WH-CH510 are a reasonably well-balanced pair of on-ear headphones, except for in the treble range. They made sound a bit bass-heavy, but shouldn't be too boomy or muddy, and some vocals may sound a bit recessed. Overall, they should be decent for most genres but may be best suited for less vocal-centric music. Their sound profile isn't too different from the JBL Tune 520BT Wireless, but unlike the JBL, you can't change their EQ.

The frequency response consistency of the WH-CH510 is good, though due to their on-ear design, they're sensitive to positioning. It's likely that people with glasses or long hair may hear different bass responses, and you may have to adjust them slightly to get the same treble response every time.

Their bass accuracy is good. While they're a bit over-emphasized in mid-bass, this will provide a bit of extra thump and shouldn't sound boomy or muddy. Due to their on-ear design, it's possible that people may experience varying bass responses depending on the positioning of the headphones on their ears.

Their mid accuracy is excellent. They're almost perfectly balanced and accurate throughout the entire range, ensuring present and properly balanced lead instruments and vocals.

Unfortunately, the treble range isn't nearly as well-balanced as the bass or mid ranges. Some instruments and vocals will be pushed back quite far in the mix and will sound dull and lacking in detail.

Their peaks and dips performance is decent. While they're decently accurate and well-balanced overall, the peak in the bass range will give them a bit of extra kick and thump, while the large dip in treble will make vocals and instruments lack detail and presence.

The Sony WH-CH510 have good imaging. Their weighted group delay graph shows that almost the entire range is below the audibility threshold, so they should have a tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. Our unit's L/R drivers were well-matched in amplitude and phases, though they were only decent with frequency mismatch, so some objects (voice, instruments, video game effects) may not have the most accurate placement. It's worth noting that these results are only valid for our unit, and yours may differ.

The Sony WH-CH510's soundstage is bad. Due to their on-ear design, they don't interact with the pinna and activate its resonances. This, as well as their closed-back design, results in a soundstage that's perceived as small and located inside the listener's head.

The Sony WH-CH510 don't have any virtual soundstage features.

Their weighted harmonic distortion performance is decent. While they sound quite clean and pure at higher volumes, there may be some slight compression artifacts at lower volumes. However, it's likely that most people won't notice this.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when listening using these settings.

These headphones do a bad job at isolating background noise. This is partly due to the fact that they're on-ear headphones, which don't do as good of a job at blocking out background noises as in-ears or over-ears. They will do practically nothing to block out the low rumbles of bus engines, or to block out chatty co-workers. They will likely do a good job at blocking out the sounds of AC units, however.

The leakage performance of these headphones is alright. At louder volumes, it's likely that people close to you will be able to hear what you're listening to.

These headphones have an integrated microphone.

Update 02/18/2021: We noticed that the wrong audio test file was uploaded to this review, and it didn't match our scoring. As a result, we have replaced it with the correct file. The scoring of this test hasn't changed.

The recording quality of the microphone is acceptable. While your voice should be clear and easy to understand, it will be lacking in depth and will sound quite thin.

The noise handling of the microphone is only adequate. If you're in even moderately loud environments, the person you're speaking to will likely have a hard time hearing you.

The overall battery performance of these headphones is decent. While their 36.5-hour battery life is outstanding, unfortunately, they take over 4 hours to charge, which is a long time. They also don't have any power-saving features to prevent the battery draining if you forget to turn them off, which is unfortunate. If you want headphones that don't take as long to charge, you may prefer the JBL Tune 660NC Wireless.

There's no dedicated companion app for these headphones. Unlike some higher-end Sony headphones, these aren't compatible with the Sony | Headphones Connect app, which is a shame.

Update 01/31/2022: These headphones were updated to Test Bench 1.5 and their latency values have changed. Our previous Test Bench 1.4 measurements reported 'iOS Latency' at 185 ms. However, our new test bench uses an average of three measurements instead of one, resulting in 119 ms on iOS. As a result, we have updated our text to better reflect test bench 1.5 measurements.

The Bluetooth connectivity of these headphones is good. They support NFC pairing, making it easier to connect them to an NFC-enabled device, and their latency on iOS is decent. Unlike the JBL Tune 510BT Wireless, however, you can't pair them with two devices at the same time, so you can't stream music from your phone while remaining connected to your computer. In addition, their latency on PCs and Android devices is quite high, and you may notice syncing issues between your audio and visuals. That said, some apps and devices compensate for latency differently, so your real-work experience may vary.

The Sony WH-CH510 are Bluetooth-only headphones.

These headphones can only be used via Bluetooth. They come with a very short 7.5 inch USB-C cable for charging.

These headphones are Bluetooth-only and therefore aren't compatible with Xbox One.

These headphones don't come with a base or dock.