Sony WF-C510 true wireless earphones review

As the name suggests, the Sony WF-C510 is the successor to the WF-C500. Like its predecessor, the WF-C510 sticks to the core experience, doing away with anything too fancy and arguably unnecessary in favour of better comfort, core features, and a decent sonic experience. It’s a fairly straightforward design and build, making use of plastic and a lightweight form factor to deliver what is arguably the most comfortable fit I’ve experienced on true wireless earphones in recent times.

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The simplicity of things is even more evident when you look closely, with physical buttons on each earpieces instead of touch controls, and a smaller-than-usual pill-sized charging case that’s made to fit in your pocket easily. You do get a proper in-canal fit, and noise isolation is impressive. There are no proximity sensors, no ANC, and really nothing too fancy beyond an ambient sound mode, so you’ll have to rely on manual controls for almost everything.

What you do get on the Sony WF-C510 is multipoint connectivity and app support through the recently re-branded Sony Sound Connect app for iOS and Android. This lets you modify the button controls (you can choose preset control collections for each earpiece), adjust the equaliser settings, toggle the ambient sound mode, and update the firmware, among other things. It’s simple, but it covers the core features and functions.

The Sony WF-C510 uses Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity, supports the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs, and has 6mm dynamic drivers. The earpieces are IPX4 rated for water resistance, and charging for the case is only through the USB Type-C port. As I said, it sticks to the basics.

The Sony WF-C510 doesn’t claim to be a high-end offering, and indeed doesn’t even have the specifications to match up. However the lack of even advanced Bluetooth codec support doesn’t hold it back, especially at the price. What the WF-C510 lacks in technical prowess, it makes up with good drivers and decent tuning.

The sound isn’t punchy, over-the-top, or any other descriptive word that I might be able to think of. Instead, it’s smooth, comfortable, and tuned to sound consistent and easily audible at pretty much any volume level. I didn’t find myself needing to go far beyond the 50 percent volume mark at home, and going up to about 70 percent was more than adequate outdoors. 

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There was absolutely no listener fatigue, given the generally laid back approach to attack in the sound. This might sound like a weakness - and probably will be if you’re looking at something that goes harder and more forward - but the ‘chilled-out’ vibe suits the Sony WF-C510 really well. It’s the kind of true wireless headset you can just leave in your ears for hours at a time, listening to music distractedly while also doing whatever else you need to be doing.

Listening to All The People In The World by Safri Duo, the Sony WF-C510 did have enough drive in it with the volume bumped up, giving the catchy beats of the drums room to shine without quite attacking too hard. Fans of bass might miss the punch in these earphones, but the listening experience is geared around comfort, and this was evident across genres and tracks.

 

 

 

 

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Battery life on the Sony WF-C510 is decent, largely because of the simple specifications and lack of bells and whistles such as ANC to consume more power. I managed to get around 10 hours of listening from the earphones, with the charging case topping up the batteries once over, for a total of 20 hours per charge cycle. It would have been nice if the case could do more than one top-up, but I do also appreciate its compact dimensions.

There’s nothing outwardly special about the Sony WF-C510, but then again there doesn’t have to be. This is a straightforward pair of true wireless earphones that pretty much does what it’s supposed to, with a strong focus on comfort not only in the fit, but also in the listening experience. Indeed, these are the least complicated true wireless earphones you can buy right now.

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Almost Rs. 5,000 might sound a bit steep for a TWS headset that doesn’t even have active noise cancellation, but that’s not the point of the Sony WF-C510. It’s the kind of headset you buy because you don’t want to deal with complications. You just want earphones that you can get on with your day with, and this is exactly that.