Sony WH-CH520 review: our full review – Headphones and earphones

Low price does not always rhyme with poor performance. Sony had also demonstrated this in a certain way with its WF-C700N active noise reduction headphones, currently offered at €79 and featuring acoustic qualities that rival much more expensive products. For the WH-CH520 headphones, Sony had to make some concessions on materials and functions – no active noise reduction here – but nevertheless offers a headset with a surprising sound signature.

Sony WH-CH520 Technical sheet

This test was carried out with headphones loaned by Sony.

Sony WH-CH520 Light, but a little tiring

No obvious concession regarding the lines of the WH-CH520. Sony apparently did not seek to minimize costs by reducing its size as much as possible. It’s a stylish over-ear headset, with earcups large enough to fully cover the ears. Materials side is another story. As one might expect, plastic dominates, right down to the core of the headband, traditionally metallic on higher-end helmets.

The headband is nevertheless padded with soft memory foam and imitation leather, to ensure pleasant contact with the top of the head. The earcups are also covered in foam and wrapped in synthetic leather. Compared to the WH-CH500 in my possession, the Sony WH-CH520 exerts more moderate pressure on the ears and seems to have more effective damping. It also cracks less when handled.

The feather weight of the helmet (147 g) considerably reduces its inertia and you can walk or jog with it without it wriggling. Thanks to well-balanced pressure, wearing comfort is good despite the mechanical stress exerted on the ear pinnae, linked to the supra-aural format. However, it is difficult not to experience mechanical fatigue after an hour or more of continuous listening, especially if you wear glasses, because the temples become painful. The control buttons to be pressed are housed on the right shell and allow you to manage playback, volume and Bluetooth pairing in particular. The USB-C charging port is installed right next to the buttons.

Sony WH-CH520 A welcome equalization assistant

Its positioning at the entry level of the manufacturer’s range deprives the Sony WH-CH520 of an active noise reduction system and the comfort inherent to this function. However, the passive isolation of the headphones is quite good and adequately attenuates certain parasitic noises. If you like to listen loudly – ​​which the WH-CH520 allows in excellent acoustic conditions – you can consider taking these headphones with you on public transport.

In use, this headset is easy to use. The volume control buttons can be used to change tracks and the main button used both to manage pausing or to invoke the smartphone’s voice assistant.

• Volume buttons: a single press increases or decreases the sound intensity depending on the button; a long press on the up button goes to the next track; long press of the down button returns to the previous track
• Central button: a long press turns the headset on or off or rejects a call when powered on; a short press pauses or restarts playback or takes an incoming call; a double tap invokes the voice assistant or turns it off.

Sony Headphones and 360 Reality Audio

As always, to go further in the headset settings, you have to rely on its control application. Sony Headphones provide access to a whole bunch of very useful settings, including an equalization wizard. A good idea which consists of offering the user to choose from 5 equalization profiles very different from each other, then to refine their choice with two sub-profiles.

Don’t deprive yourself of trying this system, in my case it radically changed my perception of this headset, because it revealed its dynamic capabilities and corrected a crippling defect. We’ll come back to that.

The other flagship function of the Sony WH-CH520 is support for 360 Reality Audio technology, i.e. Spatial Audio titles available on Tidal. As you will have understood, to benefit from it, you must be a Tidal subscriber. In this case, you will be invited to create a personalized audio profile, with photos of your ears. The Sony Headphones app then transmits the calculated equalization profile to the Tidal app.

Nothing new under the sun, the rendering is still disappointing, with pinched voices, sometimes too far away and a soundstage barely larger than with classic stereo titles. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson in 360 RA has no scale, too many elements are in the center, with too much treble. The snare drum in the intro lacks consistency and generosity. By switching to the stereo version, everything is immediately better and, paradoxically, the soundstage is significantly wider and more immersive. The problem with 360 Reality Audio titles is inherent to Bluetooth compression, which does not allow the spatialization metadata embedded in 360 RA titles to be transmitted to the headset.

Multipoint Bluetooth on the program

The Sony WH-CH520 headset is multipoint Bluetooth compatible, but this feature is not active by default. You have to go to the system settings of the Sony Headphones app to activate it. The app indicates that we then lose the benefit of the LDAC codec, which seems an error because only SBC and AAC compressions are supported by the WH-CH520. Multipoint mode then allows you to connect the headset to two devices and listen to music successively on one then the other without having to disconnect and then connect.

This dual connection also allows you to listen from a computer and play the equalizer from the Sony app with your smartphone. The radio link was solid throughout this test, whether on the street or at home, with the signal not blocked by a thin wall or floor. Transmission latency is noticeable in video games, where the sound lags behind the image. Nothing excessive. In video playback, sound and image are synchronous.

Sony WH-CH520 Powerful, catchy sound

The Sony WH-CH520 headphones are equipped with 30mm transducers with very good performance, particularly in terms of dynamism and staging of sound planes. The default tonal signature (without equalization) suggests some harshness in the high-midrange and excessive emphasis on certain sounds, which has the effect of masking the highest frequencies.

Reading the response curve confirms these points, with an output peak around 2-3 kHz, which brings clarity to listening, but tickles the ear right on the frequency range at which it is the most sensitive. Listening to the Sony WH-CH520 set up like this makes you tire quickly. Fortunately, we can play the equalizer and repair all these defects. For my part, I activated the Clear Bass mode and added 7 more points in the bass in order to further structure the restitution. I then removed 3 dB at 2.5 kHz (the harshness then disappears), added up to 2 dB at 6.3 kHz and 6 dB at 16 kHz. The WH-CH520 headphones offer a much more balanced sound.

However, some colorations remain in the high-pitched sounds, but they are reasonable and do not spoil the listening pleasure. Because this headset has a great sense of rhythm and easily draws the listener into the music. We don’t hesitate to really turn up the volume to immerse ourselves a little more.

• Severe: power and articulation are there; we benefit from activating Clear Bass mode in the equalizer to gain density and a little extension
• Mid: clear by default and some harshness, but the equalizer is very effective and corrects everything
• Treble: hidden without equalization, it logically lacks the finesse of the best headphones even after equalization

Dynamic behavior and soundstage

The Sony WH-CH520 headphones have good dynamic qualities and thus adequately mark small gaps and even better large ones. The result is a powerful, dynamic and seductive sound. The soundstage is of good width and the depth in the central axis is sufficient for the sound planes to seem well arranged. This headset easily competes with much more expensive models on this point.

Sony WH-CH520 Perfectible calls

You can make phone calls with the Sony WH-CH520 headset, but at a price of barely acceptable quality. The capture of the listener’s voice lacks definition and the noise filtering is not efficient enough. Certainly, the parasitic noises are attenuated after a good second or so, but the user’s voice is subject to pumping effects which distort it.

Sony WH-CH520 Gargantuan autonomy

The Sony WH-CH520 has great endurance, with just over 46 hours measured at 50% volume, equalization active. It’s absolutely excellent. Sony announces that, when the battery is completely discharged, a 3-minute recharge provides 1h30 of listening time. It takes around two hours to fully charge the headset.

Sony WH-CH520 Price and release date

The Sony WH-CH520 is available in black, white, blue or beige at a price of €49 and sometimes offered at €39 during promotional operations.