Sony WF-C510 was introduced in the Indian market in September this year. It sits at the lower tier of Sony’s audio wearable products. It doesn’t support high-end audio codecs or active noise cancellation, which seems to be a popular feature in almost all TWS earphones today. With their 6mm drivers and up to 22 hours total battery life, are they still worth your money? They currently retail in the country at Rs. 4,990. So let’s decide whether you should consider them when buying your next set of everyday headsets.
Sony WF-C510 design and features: Simple and effective
- Weight – 4.6 grams (Earphones); 31 grams (charging case)
- Water and dust resistance – IPX4 (earphones only)
- Color – Black, Blue, Yellow and White
The Sony WF-C510 offers a comfortable fit in the ear. The earphones come with three ear tip options in-the-box – small, medium and large. The default medium size suited me best. The earphones have a similar design to the Sony Linkbuds S but are slightly smaller and lighter. Instead of a touch sensor, there is a physical button on the top that we can press to control volume, playback and other features.
The TWS earphones come with three ear tip size options in-the-box
These are offered in black, blue, yellow and white matte colors. The Sony WF-C510’s pill-shaped charging case is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand or into the cowboy pocket watch slot of your jeans. Weighing only 31 grams, it’s lightweight and easy to carry around, and because it has a flat bottom, it doesn’t roll off the desk. However, if you’re outside, or traveling with it, the case attracts a fair amount of dust. Usually, not so much that the dust can’t be removed (or rubbed onto the jeans) but if you have one of the pastel shades, the dust doesn’t look good.
There is an LED light on the front of the Sony WF-C510 charging case that flashes green, amber, and red to indicate battery level. There is Sony branding engraved on the top, while there is a USB Type-C charging port and pairing button at the back. Notably, there’s no charging cable in the case, but that’s no disappointment. I’m actually a little relieved, since we already have copious amounts of cables to deal with every day, and any old USB Type-C cable in your house makes the case just fine.
Sony WF-C510 apps and specifications: Straightforward, no frills
- Driver – 6mm
- Companion App – Sony Sound Connect
- Gesture control – physical button (press)
The included Sony Sound Connect app is hassle-free and easy to use. You can do the usual press gesture personalization and battery level monitoring. While you can customize your equalization settings, you also have several presets to choose from like Bright, Excited, Mellow, Relaxed, Vocal, Treble Boost, Bass Boost, and Speech. The Find Your Equalizer feature on the app can also help you personalize your EQ settings. With music playing in the background, this section of the app will provide you with several EQ variations in two sets. You can choose the one you enjoy most and the app will save your selection.
The Sound Connect app allows you to access Sony’s DSEE feature
The Sony WF-C510 supports 360 Reality Audio which provides users with a more immersive stereo sound experience. You will need an additional app for this customization. These earphones have 6mm drivers and support multi-point Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity. Although they don’t have support for any higher audio codecs other than SBC and AAC, the Sound Connect app allows you to access Sony’s DSEE. It helps to enhance details on some compressed audio files. You can also choose to prioritize audio quality over connectivity or vice versa through the app.
The Sony WF-C510 comes with an IPX4 rating for splash resistance which makes it the perfect companion for your morning or evening runs or going to the gym as it can deal with a little sweat. These do not have ANC support, which helps in battery life. However, the Fit does provide a decent level of passive noise isolation.
Sony WF-C510 performance and battery life: efficient and reliable
- ANC – No
- Battery Life – Up to 11 hours (earphones only) + up to 11 hours (charging case)
- Fast Charging – Yes (Claims 5 minutes to 1 hour)
- Bluetooth – 5.3 (SBC, AAC)
The Sony WF-C510’s comfortable fit provides a sufficient amount of passive noise isolation to block out most atmospheric disturbances. Even without any music, you can hear the slight whirring of the fan, but a TV playing in the room won’t bother you that much. If you have music or a podcast on, there isn’t much outside noise that interrupts your experience. However, there is a transparency mode called Ambient Sound that you can toggle on via a button on the app or on the earphones. It uses the mic on the earphones to stream atmospheric noise. This is useful if you’re outside and want to be more aware of your surroundings.
The charging connectors are placed on the inside of the earphones
The Sony WF-C510 provides you with a rich and vibrant sound experience. You can tweak the sound to your liking using the five-band equalizer in addition to the preset options. For bass lovers, there is a separate Clear Bass slider that can help add the desirable punch to a given track. The DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) mode can further enhance the detail of each song, especially the slightly muddy mids, although at the cost of some battery life. You’ll be able to enjoy all the intricacies of Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar jam with Jon Lord in Deep Purple’s Child in Time track. Even with the balanced, balanced grooves of Kaytranda’s Witchy featuring Childish Gambino or the trappy, explosive tracks of August D’s Tony Montana, you also get an intense, sonic journey.
Connectivity options on the Sony WF-C510 include Bluetooth 5.3 and supports Google Fast Pairing. So as soon as you open the case near your Android device, the pairing option pops up. It is a simple process. Since they support multi-point connectivity, you have to long press the pairing button to pair it with another device. Make sure you have the “Connect to 2 devices simultaneously” option enabled from the Sound Connect app. Once connected, you can seamlessly switch between both devices without any significant lag. Notably, the earphones do not have an in-ear detection feature, so even if you remove them, the music track or video continues to play and only disconnects when put back in the case.
In terms of battery life, I have no issues with the Sony WF-C510, maybe the charging case, which is claimed to last up to 11 additional hours of usage, could add a few more hours. With the ambient sound mode off, the earphones can last up to 10.5 hours on a single charge playing AAC only. If you add the DSEE modification, battery life drops to a little more than eight hours. With Ambient Sound mode on, without DSEE, they provide about six hours of playback time. The earphones support quick charge feature that completes up to an hour of usage in just five minutes. The charging case can go from zero to full charge in two hours and forty-seven minutes using a USB Type-C cable.
The magnetic charging case is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand
Sony WF-C510: Verdict
The Sony WF-C510 is a good pair of TWS earphones at Rs. 4,990. The low range of Sony earphones without ANC initially made me skeptical about the sound quality. However, the tuning of these headsets doesn’t leave much room for complaint. Combined with the companion app, you can customize equalization settings and bass levels and even adjust and enhance detail with DSEE. The lightweight and comfortable fit of these earphones is also great, especially if you intend to use these as your everyday pair. Playback time of more than 10 hours on earphones is also rare and a welcome change in the sea of ANC earphones (enabling ANC drains the battery faster). A larger charging case could probably give us a little more extra battery life.
Of course, if ANC is one of your deal-breaker criteria, you’ll have to look elsewhere. The CMF Buds Pro 2 are a good option at Rs. 4,299. You’ll get up to 50dB of ANC, up to 43 hours of total battery life, and ChatGPT integration with the companion NothingX app. You can also pick up the OnePlus Buds 3 (Review) at a slightly higher price of Rs. 5,499. With up to 49dB ANC and a total playback time of up to 44 hours, you’ll also get support for the LHDC audio codec and IP55 dust and water resistance.
