TWS true wireless earphones - under $100
FOUR STARS - The Sony WF-C500 is a steady entry for Sony in wireless earbuds under 100 dollars - but prepare to tweak the sound via the app to make it sing on higher volumes.
Sony WF-C500 specs and features:
Bluetooth with AAC codec
10 hours playtime on a single charge
Charging case can charge earpieces fully 1 time
Comes with four ear tips, USB-C cable, English manual
$90 - Check price on Amazon US, Amazon Germany or other Amazon stores
Below this Sony WF-C500 review, you will find comparisons of the Sony WF-C500 vs SoundPEATS H2, Soundcore Life P3, Samsung Galaxy Buds+ and Moondrop Nekocake.
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Design, comfort and battery life
It's nice to see Sony bring new models to the under $100-market, and without looking or feeling very premium, the WF-C500 has a proper Sony vibe. It's available in different colors like mint green and dark grey, and in the latter, the orange charging lights you can see through the semi-transparent lid, somehow remind of a bit of Sony Walkman phones or alarm clocks from the past. The case is a bit too long to be considered compact, but there's a nice heft to the lid - it feels sturdy.
The case isn't very powerful: it can only recharge the earbuds fully once before needing new power via USB-C itself. On the plus side, the earbuds always report how much battery they have left when you turn them on and... the earbuds have up to 10 hours of playtime on a single charge. A massive score, along with the best in class.
The earbuds themselves wear the Sony branding visible when you wear them and have an actual round button on the side. Their partly round insides appear bigger than most earbuds but are shaped so that they have a comfortable, snug, yet soft enough fit in your ears to wear them for hours. They leave out wind noise wonderfully when you're cycling or running with them, and an IPX4 waterproof rating ensures they survive a light rain as well.
Controls and connectivity
The Sony WF-C500 has a control scheme that's different from many Chinese wireless earbuds on the market, but one that's surprisingly easy to learn.
Push R once to play/pause music
Push R twice to skip a song
Push R three times to return a song
Hold R to activate the voice assistant
Push L once to increase the volume
Hold L to decrease volume
Tying track controls on one earbud and volume on the other makes a lot of sense. However, as the buttons are a bit squishy and easily pressed, operating them takes a little getting used to. Lowering the volume is hard to do.
Overall connectivity is solid, with the Bluetooth signal holding strongly up to 9-10 meters away from your device. It's possible to switch between listening to one or two earbuds at all times, but music doesn't automatically pause when you take an earbud out.
Calling and watching movies
It's okay to take a phone call with the Sony WF-C500. Your voice is clear and plenty loud, with a subtle telephone-line crackle on the background. Wind noise is audible, but your surroundings are neatly left out of the call. Traffic and chatter are almost inaudible when you're calling. When you're silent, the other end can question whether you're still on the line - but the downside of this is that the WF-C500 has to put the microphone open again when you start talking. Your first word may get lost.
The WF-C500 is a mixed bag for video calls, like Zoom meetings or Microsoft Teams. Your voice is a bit tinny, yet clear enough normally - but it really needs to focus when there are noises around you, and the Sony often chooses to silence everything on the line, including your voice, with makes you end up much too soft sometimes.
Watching videos is a breeze, with good synchronization between audio and video on iPhone and Android. There is no low-latency mode for gaming, which means there is a noticeable delay in sound effects when you're playing games.
App support of Sony WF-C500
The Sony WF-C500 gets free app support on both iPhone and Android, adding the following functions:
Check the battery life of the earbuds
Update the earbuds firmware
Read the manual
Turn the earbuds off manually
Choose from 9 sound equalizers
Setup 3 custom sound equalizers
Slide the bass level from -10 to +10
'Analyse your ears' for 360 degrees audio (only supported by a specific Deezer app, Tidal setting, Artist Connection, and Nugs.net)
Choose between sound quality or connection quality
Activate DSEE to make them sound a bit fuller
Choose the language for the voice prompts
Choose from 12 equalizing options
Turning DSEE on is recommended
Select the language of the voice prompts
As you can see, almost all of the app options are focused on the earbuds' sound, and those are welcome additions...
Also read: The best wireless earbuds under $100
Sound of SOny WF-C500: Tweak the bump out
The British audio reviewers of WhatHifi rarely test wireless earbuds, so when they award the Sony WF-C100 five stars, it must be something really special, right? Well, sort of....
Sony has made good work of the lower regions of the C500's sound. Drums especially sound good, with decent impact, good texture, and excellent positioning around you. Strikes come from your left and right. The entire lows feel well-articulated. Lower-mids like darker electronic tones and lower male vocals aren't boosted, yet enjoy enough presence. The mid-bass rolls of quickly and has a nice pace, not once becoming too boomy. The sub-bass dives fairly deep and delivers a wonderfully steady rumble.
Unfortunately, the C500 nearly loses it all in the higher tones. There's a terrible upper-mids bump that's physically painful to listen to on higher volumes. Female, higher male vocals and the often melody-defining higher electronic notes in dance songs feel louder than other aspects of the music, and they come in blunt.
Take Incredible Bongo Band's energetic adaptation of Apache, for instance. After the wonderfully clean and well-positioned drum-focused middle of the song, trumpets and synthesizers kick in, and the song's volume suddenly seems louder, with the entire treble range sounding harsh and sharp anywhere past 65% of the volume bar on your phone.
Now, the C500 can go very loud, and on lower volumes, the upper-mid uprising actually makes for great clarity. But as active listening levels start around this 65% mark, you'll find yourself reducing the volume often when the upper-mids funfair kicks in. Outbursts are everywhere - and every introduction of treble in a song can be a stab to the ears.
It's a good thing then that Sony offers plenty of equalizers in its app. That said, most of the standard EQs make things worse. Bright boosts the upper-mids and highs more, letting more of the bad in. Excited does the same but pumps the mid-bass up fiercely as well, rebalancing thinks a bit - albeit in a very shouty way. Mellow and Relaxed tone down almost all frequencies, with the first injecting more bass and offering the best balance between energy and easy listening. Relaxed is the furthest removed from the original sound character, with heavily toned-down treble, while the sound remains well-articulated in the lows. Vocals can appear in the background, creating a hollow sound - but this may be a welcome change of pace now and then.
Besides those EQs, you can create your own equalizers and even adjust the bass independently. By adding the bass +2, leaving the lower frequencies alone, and reducing the treble and highs - see the screenshot - the C500 remains its articulate lows and loses some shoutyness in the highs; it then approaches the Lypertek SoundFree S20 sound. Also, consider switching on that DSEE slider, as it makes the C500 immediately sound fuller and reduces some of the sharpness.
With all the sound options, you can get sweet sound out of these earbuds - energetic, detailed, and well-articulated. It's a fun and even great toy if you're willing to tweak a few knobs - but the Sony WF-C500 isn't for everyone.
Sony WF-C500 comparisons
Sony WF-C500 vs Soundcore Life P3
Sony's biggest challenger in the wireless earbuds market goes by Soundcore, with its lineup of well-built and fully featured earphones. In the 50-100 dollars price range, the Life P3 impresses compared to the WF-C500. It has better call quality, more convenient controls, and solid active noise cancelling for the same price. It also has a fuller sound, more pronounced lower-mids, more detailed mid-bass slam, and deeper, rumblier sub-bass - even though you can alter Sony's bass. Meanwhile, upper-mids (vocals) show more detail without nearing Sony's sharpness. As the Sony sound is less thick, lows feel more articulated, and center-mids get more room and have a more natural tone. The Life P3 sounds airier, more expansive.
Soundcore Life P3 review ($80)
Sony WF-C500 vs Samsung Galaxy Buds+
The older Samsung Galaxy Buds+ can regularly be bought for $70 and swims in the same waters as the Sony. It has an even longer battery life (up to 12 hours!), clearer call quality, and comes with different sizes of ear wings to provide a more personalized fit. Both TWS boost upper-mids, but the Samsung keeps them in tone better, making them sound bright and clear but not overly loud. The Samsung displays a little more white noise floor when playing them, however. The bass on the Sony is easier tweaked to your liking, but the Samsung has a more qualitative bass, with deeper-diving subs and more mid-bass depth.
Sony WF-C500 vs SoundPEATS H2
Browsing for TWS in this price range on Amazon, you may stumble upon the H2 from the upcoming popular brand SoundPEATS. It only has half the battery life of the Sony, its controls and connection are worse and it lack ANC and Transparency modes, just like the Sony. The H2 strikes back with clearer calls and a more pleasant, slightly warmer sound. Upper-mid vocals on the H2 show more nuances without being so thin or harsh as on the Sony, and H2's lower-mids are more boosted without giving in on detail. The SoundPEATS is a bit more dense in the lows; Sony has more clarity and better pacing in these frequencies. SoundPEATS mid-bass is stronger out of the box, but as you can manually change the bass for the Sony, the Sony wins this round - yet the SoundPEATS sounds more comforting and entertaining with its thicker lows and warmer undertone.
SoundPEATS H2 review ($80)
Sony WF-C500 vs Moondrop Nekocake
If you appeal to WhatHifi's review of the Sony WF-C500 describing the Sony to have a very natural sound, the Moondrop Nekocake is a $40 alternative worth considering. It doesn't have volume controls on the earbuds, you can forget its weak ANC active noise-canceling, and it doesn't have Sony's battery life. But - it does come with five equalizers from the app, of which the standard sound and Moondrop Classic are convincing in delivering a natural, balanced sound. The Nekocake Upper-mids sounds less harsh and tinny, and there's a bit more emphasis on lower-mids to give drums more impact and make darker instruments play a bigger role. The Nekocake presents vocals a bit fuller than the C500 as well. Both earbuds have plenty of other equalizers to opt for a non-optimal yet more energetic bassy sound as well; but the Sony sound is more adjustable.
Moondrop Nekocake review coming soon - buy on Amazon US, Amazon Germany, other Amazon stores or AliExpress
Verdict
The Sony WF-C500 is a steady entry for Sony in wireless earbuds under 100 dollars - but prepare to tweak the sound via the app to make it sing on higher volumes.
FOUR stars - Good
Check Sony WF-C500 price:
Check price on Amazon US
Check price on Amazon Germany
Check price on other Amazon stores
I bought the Sony WF-C500 myself. My reviews are unsponsored and non-commercial. I test and review all audio products equally honest - read about it here.
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