Design & Construction

With the successful launch and high sell-out rate of the recent WF-1000XM4, Sony is showing no signs of slowing down its audio lineup. Today, we have a very wallet-friendly option in-house, the WF-C500. So can it still live up to the expectations of its price point? Let's dive straight into the design. Like our previous WF-1000XM4 review, we got to first start off outside the box this time. Yes, and that is because there is no plastic in the WF-1000XM4 packaging. Sony's intention is to follow a ‘Made to be remade” philosophy that’s more environmentally responsible to totally eliminate plastic packaging by 2025. The WF-C500 revolutionises the design of previous Sony earbuds with a much smaller build and improved features. In fact, I was surprised at how small the earbuds were when I first unbox them. It is as small and compact as the Beats Studio Buds, Marshall Mode II and Jabra Elite 3. All controls for music playback and calls are controlled via both buttons on the face of the earbuds themselves. Since they still use trusty physical old school buttons, button presses are tactile and responsive. But unfortunately, you do not get the ability to customise the controls. Since they still use trusty physical old school buttons, button presses are tactile and responsive. And of course, the best thing is that you have the ability to customise the controls. Now for the controls, a single press on the left earbud will gradually increase your volume and holding it down will decrease the volume. Moving to the right earbud, a single press will play/pause your music, a double press will skip forward and a triple press will skip backwards. Holding the right earbud down will also enable you to bring up your smart assistant. To enable Bluetooth pairing, you can hold down both earbuds for a few seconds. However, when you remove either earbud from your ears, the music does not auto-pause. Moving on to the case, it is sloped and rounded to fit right into my palm, it is definitely one of the smallest true wireless cases when compared to the competition and it will fit in tight jeans pockets perfectly. A USB Type-C port can be found at the back of the case. The hinges holding the cover and body of the case is strong and is likely to survive a couple of accidental drops. The top cover is a translucent plastic cover so you could see the red LED of the earbuds when it is charging. It was a smart and intentional feature for Sony to reduce cost as the case itself lacks any form of LED indicator. The earbuds do magnetically click into place when they are docked into the case. Throughout my use, I dropped the earbuds couple of times and no signs of damages and scratches can be found on the exterior of the finish and also no compromises on the sound quality itself. Like all true wireless earbuds, they do dock in very easily and will not fall out when the case is flipped since there are magnets inside to keep them secure. It takes about 2.5 hours to charge both the case and the earbuds from a dead battery. If you are in a rush, the earbuds feature quick charge where a 10 minute charge will give you up to 1 hour of playback. There is however a lack of Qi wireless charging on the WF-C500. In the box, there are extra sizes of silicone ear tips to ensure a tight seal and secure fit. While I am mentioning about the fit, I do have to let you know that the sound tube nozzle don't go in as deep as the WF-XB700 and sits nicely on the outside, allowing you to forget about it after a short while, very much similar to what you get on the WF-1000XM4. Even though the WF-C500 isn't a sports earbud, it boasts a decent IPX4 water resistance for those quick workouts or rainy days, giving users the ultimate peace of mind. The earbuds also do a great job at resisting fingerprints smudges with a matte finish.

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Sound Quality

Clean and balanced is how I would describe the sound of the WF-C500. The 5.8mm drivers produced a pretty energetic sound signature out-of-the-box. So let's start off with the bass response. In short, it is deep, tight and punchy. It never managed to distort at loud volume and the bass does not become muddy or overpowering. The bass doesn't hit as deep as the Sony WF-XB700 or WF-SP800N but it definitely is stronger than the Sony WF-1000XM4 or the WF-H800. The highs sound very bright and filled with plenty of details while, the mids sound very crisp. The soundstage isn't as wide as other earbuds that are of a higher price point. The instrument separation is excellent and distinct left and right channels could be heard. The good news here is the WF-C500 is compatible with the Headphones Connect App available on the App Store and Play Store. In the app, you will find functions such as an internal equaliser to enable the best output of music. With a large category ranging from Bright, Excited, Mellow to Bass Boost, Treble Boost and Speech etc. You can also choose to customise your own too! This makes the headphones great for all genres of music ranging from soothing jazz to fast-paced EDM tracks. Now, there is also the addition of DSEE to help improve the high frequency sound and restore lose details in the song. Next, 360 Reality Audio is Sony’s object-based spatial audio technology that enables users to be immersed in music as intended by artists. However, this feature is currently only available to users of 360 by Deezer, Artist Connection, nugs.net, and TIDAL. There is no support for mainstream music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, or Youtube Premium as of yet. Call quality is decent, the caller manages to hear me on the other end but my voice sounds robotic to the other party. It is important to note that there is no active noise-cancelling on the WF-C500, only passive noise isolation.

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Connectivity & Portability

The earbuds supports the basic AAC and SBC codecs together with Bluetooth Version 5.0. The battery life peaks at an impressive 10 hours per use and 1 additional charges from the case; a total of 20 hours. The package also comes with a USB Type-C cable for charging. The headphones' connectivity to the app is perfect as I never experienced it being unable to detect my in-ear headphones. The WF-C500 also support Google’s Fast Pair feature that enable effortless Bluetooth pairing with your Android devices. You can easily locate where you left your headphones by ringing them, check their last known location on your smartphone or receive a notification when your headphones battery is running low so you know when to charge them. These features are further enhanced with Swift Pair on a Windows 10 laptop, desktop PC or tablet as pop-up pairing guidance will appear on compatible devices when pairing mode is selected. My only pet peeve is the lack of multi-pair Bluetooth that allows you to connect more than one device to the earbuds at any one time especially if you have both a laptop and a phone in use at the same time and you want to be able to take calls on one and listen to music on the other device. If you are planning to watch videos or movies with these, I am glad to report that they do not suffer from much latency. Should you also wish to only use one earbud at one time, either earbud is available to do so.

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PROS​

• Bluetooth 5.0

• Tactile Physical Buttons For Music Play & Calls

• In-App Equalizer

• Strong Noise Isolation

• App Support

• Compact Build

• Quick Charging

• Long Battery Life

• IPX4 Water Resistance

• A Range of Colours

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CONS​

• No Bluetooth Multi-Pair

• No Wireless Charging

• No Customisation of Controls

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The Bottom Line

The Sony WF-C500 is certainly a huge step-up and improvement to the bulky WF-XB700. With new features like an energetic yet clean sound signature, IPX4 water resistance, smaller design overall and long battery life, the WF-C500 is the nails the essentials of every urbanite's daily listening needs. It is highly recommended for daily commutes and long listening sessions. Lastly, the WF-C500 is offered in Ice Green, Coral Orange, Black and White, a variety of colours to show off your style.