Sony - WH-CH530 Wireless Headphone with Microphone - Black

While the XM line of headphones are top tier, they carry an exorbitant price. The CH350 is a budget friendly pair of headphones that has terrific sound that will satisfy most everyone’s needs. Not to mention the fun colors you can get. IN THE BOX Sony does a pretty good job of minimal packaging. You get the headphones and that’s it. Part of me wishes it came with a cable, but let’s be honest, at this point we should all have lots of charging cables. SETUP I use a Google Pixel phone. I’m confident the setup is similar for iPhones and other Android devices; but it was dead simple as most every Bluetooth headphones/earbuds.. I turn it on, and my phone instantly connects. Of course, it asks me to download the Sony Connect app (which I already had). But it’s not necessary. It just gives you a little more control (see below about the app). DESIGN Admittedly, the headphones feel “cheap.” They’re made of plastic and are ridiculously light. There’s cushions on the headband as well as the ear cups. They don’t go around your ear, but rest on them. There’s three tactile buttons on the right ear cup - a big plus as they’re easy to locate with your fingers. There’s obviously a USB-C charging port on the right ear cup as well. There’s convenient lettering in the inside of the ear cup so you know which way to wear them. Not truly necessary - you know the ear cup with the buttons goes on the right, but a nice touch.I love the colors, they bring a little character and charm to otherwise blah black colored headphones. Mine was the mint green which I really like. The headphones, while small, do not fold up. I didn’t find that to be too big of an issue, but I’m always worried about stuffing them in a bag -simply because they feel cheap. The earcups themselves rotate and flex to provide some type of contour fit to your head. COMFORT Oddly, I find these comfortable to wear - in other words, I don’t really feel them or have fatigue - but when I take them off, my ears feel a tad sore. See, these earcups sit on your ears and don’t cover them in their entirety. I’m used to ear buds and/or large noise cancelling headphones where the earcups wrap around my ears in their entirety. For pure comfort, I prefer over the ear and/or earbuds. SOUND QUALITY First, these do not have active noise cancellation. In most headphones with ANC you can turn it on and off. Not here. It relies on seal. So long as they’re sitting on my ears, I really can’t hear much. Granted, I’m not wearing them out in a busy/noisy city. But testing them around my house, I couldn’t hear people talking to me - I could hear a little voice, but couldn’t make out the words. In my office, it blocks most noise out, and I can barely notice my mechanical, clicky keyboard. The sound quality is superb and the reason I would recommend these. Of course this is somewhat dependent on the person and is subjective, but for the casual user, you’ll find these to be really good. It has a nice amount of bass with clean vocals. There’s a lot of details when listening to rock bands and classical music (which I listen to when working) sounds crystal clear. Sound quality on phone calls is a little worse. When making calls, everything sounds good on my end, but the other person said my sound was a little muted. BATTERY LIFE The battery life is pretty solid. It’s rated for 50 hours. I’ve been using mine primarily at the office for the past week and the battery is still at 90%. It has a quick charge feature whereby a few minutes’ charge gets you about 1.5 hours of battery which is convenient. SONY CONNECT APP The app isn’t necessary and it’s light on features. About the only thing you can do is adjust the EQ - which some people like others may not care. The only gripe I had with the app is that it kept telling me there was a firmware update but I could not figure out how to install it. I wasn’t sure if it was a bug or not. But the headset works fine, firmware update or not. CONCLUSION These headphones are a terrific budget option. It has a few limitations which are understandable given the price range; including the inability to fold, there’s no wired connection (which I would prefer to use on my PS Portal and Switch 2), can be uncomfortable to some over long periods. But the sound quality more than makes up for it.

These Sony WH-CH530 headphones are pretty good at the $70 price point. Even though they are on ear vs over ear, they still bring great comfort and sound quality. Personally I love the blue color (Cobalt) as it is my favorite color. In the box is literally just the headphones. No charging cable, case or any accessories. Just make sure you have at least a USB C cable handy to charge it. This is the sole reason for docking a star. Pairing is a breeze as you just need to hold the pairing button on the headset and connect to your device. If you have the Sony Connect App, pairing is almost automatic and easier. I do recommend having the app as it will unlock them to their full potential. Comfort is great. No lies, I have a big round head and did not witness any discomfort at all when stream my music or videos for a long period of time. My ears did get warm due to the pads pressing up against the ears but never warm/hot enough to be uncomfortable. The cushions are good to as they kinda "meld" to your ears to prevent sound leakage but a decent job at blocking outside interference. Sound quality is superb as expected of Sony's music division. Highs were high, lows were never distorted and everything from music to movies never sounded bad. The app also gives you presets and of course customizable EQ settings. Love this as I prefer to fine tune to my personal preference. Battery life is also no joke. Sony claims up to 55hrs on a full charge and up to 1.5 hrs on a quick 3 minute charge. I have lasted a few days working my shifts without the need to charge so I can attest to the claims. At the price point you will get a pair of great sounding headphones, but nothing else. I do miss the days of getting a charger or at the minimum a case to protect my investment, but it is what it is.

First impression out of the box is WOW! these are SO LIGHT! My scale shows them at 5.3oz, about 150g. I almost don’t know I have them on. I like that the ear cups fold flat so they don’t take up much room in a backpack. Since these are an on ear style headphone the ear cushions are especially important and these are PLUSH. They are very comfortable to wear for hours. I wear a 2XL hat and I was able to adjust these to fit with room to spare. That’s unusual for me, normally I have to run the adjustment to the max and the headband pad is tight on my head. No so with these, they sit lightly on my noggin which I appreciate. I had to search up what LE Audio is. I had heard of Bluetooth LE but LE Audio is different. According to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group website, LE Audio provides “improved audio quality, reduced power consumption and improved interoperability.” Which is what allows these headphones to sound amazing and claim a battery life of 55 hours. I’ve been using them for hours every day on the initial charge from when I received them and they still show 90% charge in the Sony Sound Connect app. These headphones support 360 Reality Audio but that can only be used if you are using an app that supports 360 Reality Audio. There is a sound sample in the Sony app to allow you to listen to what it does for the music. The app allows you access to the Bluetooth connection method, it’s set to Bluetooth Classic by default but you can enable Bluetooth LE Audio for devices that support it. The app also allows you to access the EQ settings, there are seven presets and two you can customize to your taste. In the app you can also set up auto switching between the headphones and a compatible Bluetooth speaker, enable DSEE which upscales compressed audio tracks for better sound, or set a max audio level to protect your hearing from undesired loud sounds. Very nice headphones, amazing value, highly recommend!

The Sony WH-CH530 is Sony’s latest wireless budget model as contrasted to its premium siblings namely the XM series. But don’t let the budget label fool you. This review is to show that this model can actually deliver. First being a budget model, there are things that are expected from being a budget model. As such, this model is minimalistic that it has only a brief quickstart guide which is expected. But more so, it did not include a USB-C cable. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting that. The norm nowadays is not to include a charger, but not to include a cable is new to me. But really that is not much of a big deal to me. Build quality as expected to be at par with the XM or XB series which I both have. It is more aligned with the wired ZX series which I used to have. Like the ZX series the build is plasticky and has a firm grip. The ear cushions tend to strain your ears after extended use unlike its premium siblings. The CH530’s major selling point is that it boasts of a 55H battery life. It’s predecessor the CH520 has a 50H battery life. My unit came with a 60% charge and I’ve been using it daily for a week now and I am still at 30% battery life. I am so far impressed. As for the sound quality, this model can compete with the premium models sans the noise cancelling feature. But do note the XB series which means extra bass, of course is different but it can compete with the XM series. It’s sound features are similar to the other models and since I have two older Sony headphones, customization such as settings for 360 audio is already setup. Hence, it’s comparable sound wise. It has the same BT connectivity and clear voice calls plus integration with Google. It’s practically the same and again without the noise cancellation feature. Overall, this is a value for money headset. And unlike the other premium models, this comes in four colors, black, cobalt, pink and white. This model is a performer!

This Sony Bluetooth Headphone is lightweight and very compact. The on-ear headphones are comfortable and offer up to 55 hours of battery life. Also, the headphones have built-in microphone and iPhone users can be used the headphones to interact with Siri. Build-quality is actually great for entry-level headphones; everything just feels solid and worthy of Sony’s big name. The headphones use Bluetooth LE, which makes the headphones easy to connect with our devices while conserving the power when not in use. The headphones also support 360 audio, which is a fun feature to use. Music listening As an entry-level headphone and being an audio enthusiast, the sound quality is good but not great. It lacks dynamics and audio quality that much higher price headphones can offer. But to be fair, I don’t expect these entry-level headphones to exceed my expectations in terms of audio performance. Podcasts and Movies This is where the headphones shine. Dialogue and spoken voices sound clear. With such a long battery life, these headphones are great for traveling. Watching a couple of movies on a long flight would be great with these headphones. Conclusion These headphones are clearly designed for the budget conscious market and Sony has done a pretty good job. Audio performance for music listening is good but not great. Podcasts sound very good and the headphones are very comfortable to use for watching full length movie. Bearing in mind that these headphones are designed as an entry-level, these headphones are actually great. Pros: Lightweight Comfortable to use Long battery life Bluetooth LE Cons: Audio performance for pure music listening