Sony WH-CH520 headphones review: Affordable audio

If you’re in the market for headphones that don’t go in your earholes, you’re likely going to be confronted with a lot of over-ear choices. While not as popular, on-ear headphones have some key advantages over their over-ear brethren: namely, more compact designs and better outside-world awareness without having to rely on ANC transparency modes. But there are cons, too, like concessions when it comes to noise isolation and audio leakage.

Still, if you’re the type of person who’s okay with those detractors, on-ear headphones are a decent pick. And when it comes to a great place to start—particularly for someone after a cheap but decent pair—the budget appeal of the Sony WH-CH520s is well worth listening to.

There are plenty of wireless on-ear headphones under the $100 mark, but there are diminishing returns the closer you get to $50. Despite the brand name recognition, the Sony WH-CH520 on-ear headphones are very reasonably priced at $68 RRP. In terms of competitors, that’s around $10 cheaper than the JBL Tune 520BT. Otherwise, you’re looking at super-budget options like the Laser range of headphones.

Sony lets you choose from beige, black, blue and white colour options for the Sony WH-CH520. Whichever colour you choose, you’ll get a pair of on-ear Bluetooth headphones with plenty of earcup padding and enough headband padding to ensure a comfortable fit, with or without glasses. As someone with a big noggin, I appreciate the wide design, which feels better balanced in terms of weight distribution between headband and earcups.

Suffice it to say, I didn’t have any comfort issues outside of my pet peeves with on-ear headphones resting on my ears rather than over them. Form-factor gripes aside, the other surprising initial disappointment is the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack. Admittedly, that’s less essential with modern jack-free devices, but it was jarring for me to not have a wired connection option for these cheap headphones. I’d also appreciate if they were foldable for easier storage, but they’re small enough to comfortably fit into most medium-sized bag pockets.

Port and input wise, everything’s on the right earcup: a solitary USB-C recharging port, a battery light, as well as power and volume up/down buttons. I’m not a fan of the power button being nestled between the volume up and down buttons, though I do appreciate the brail-like bumps that make it easier to get a feel for what button you’re touching.

The power button does control play and pause, but that’s about it. Unfortunately, it’s also a bit temperamental and doesn’t offer the best physical feedback for when it’s depressed. There were instances where I didn’t press the power button long or hard enough to power on or off. It was even more frustrating after using the isolated button on the similarly priced Belkin SoundForm Adapt, which I didn’t have any issues with.

On the pros front, the Sony WH-CH520 headphones boast multipoint connectivity, so you can have two simultaneous Bluetooth connections. They’re also rated for up to 50 hours of battery life, plus three minutes of charging equates to 1.5 hours of playback if you get caught in a pinch with drained cans. Still, it feels like a missed opportunity for a cheap pair of headphones to not have a 3.5mm audio port.

My everyday wireless headphones are also Sony cans, admittedly on the other end of the pricing scale. Initially, I thought I’d be overly harsh on the Sony WH-CH520 headphones because I’ve been treated with beautifully balanced and booming Sony WH-1000XM5 audio for the past two years. Impressively, that wasn’t my experience with the Sony WH-CH520 headphones the more I used them and as I worked my way through the Reviews.org testing playlist.

To keep things a bit fairer in terms of audio comparisons, I did a standalone base playback on my Sony WH-1000XM5s before doing side-by-side audio tests with the Belkin SoundForm Adapt ($79.95 RRP) and the Sony WH-CH520 ($68 RRP). Despite the price difference, the WH-CH520s were the clear winners, thanks mostly to commendable bass and Sony’s decades-long dedication to audio balance.

While understandably not as impressive as the WH-1000XM5s, the WH-CH520s offered surprisingly big bass for Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘I Didn't Just Come Here to Dance’ and Childish Gambino’s ‘3005’. While those tracks have a bigger emphasis on bass, I appreciated the subtle depth of the bass in The Beatles’ ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ and Steely Dan’s ‘Do It Again’. That latter track was the best showcase of the overall balance with the layered intro.

As for other wins, the WH-CH520s managed the madness of the pointier parts of Radiohead’s ‘The National Anthem’. The Sony cans impressed in a similar way for Opeth’s ‘The Funeral Portrait’ and the change-of-pace layered opening to Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’. The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ proved to be a great sign-off track for the WH-CH520s.

But it wasn’t all hit after hit. The piano disappears somewhat in Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ bolder sections, and it’s a similar story for the synth in Portishead’s ‘Humming’. When I hit the louder parts of Deftones’ ‘Swerve City’, the WH-CH520s did a great job until the rhythm guitar was almost drowned out towards the climax of the song.

But easily the biggest sound fumble of the WH-CH520s is the microphone. Okay, so it’s better than having nothing if you take or make a call with your headphones on. In the same breath, it really is bare bolts, and my typically deep voice sounded thin and distant. Thankfully, there weren’t any issues with clarity in my mic tests, but without any sort of noise cancelling, you should avoid loud environments if you want to make or take a call.

The Sony WH-CH520 Bluetooth headphones aren’t likely to blow you away if you’re used to mid-range or high-end wireless headphones. But anyone who’s in the market for a sub-$100 pair of wireless on-ear headphones should consider the Sony WH-CH520. The sound is frankly impressive for the price, and with features like up to 50 hours of battery life plus multipoint connectivity, they’re surprisingly value-packed.