Great-Sounding Basic Buds for $100 – Review Geek

• Drivers: 5.8mm neodymium full-range dynamic
• Frequency Range: 20Hz-20,000Hz
• Earbud Weight:
• Case Weight:
• Solo Bud Mode: Yes
• Active Noise Cancelation: No
• Bluetooth: 5.0
• Supported Codecs: SBC, AAC
• Battery Life: 10 hours, earbuds; 20 hours, with charging case
• Wireless Charging: No
• Additional Tips: 3 tip sizes in the box
• IP Rating: IPX4

I genuinely love the style these earbuds (and their charging case) rock; Sony opted for a black pill-shaped case with a dark grey semi-transparent lid. The case easily fits in the palm of your hand, and won’t take up much space in your pocket or bag. It feels sturdy and well made and even has a flat bottom that allows it to sit flush on a table. Best of all, the matte-plastic lid has a gorgeous frosted-glass look that lets you easily see the glow of the three orange LEDs inside (one for each bud, and another for the case) while they charge.

As for the buds, they’re not the tiniest. They look relatively similar to (albeit a little smaller and plainer than) their older sibling—the WF-1000XM4 earbuds—and pack in a bunch of Sony’s outstanding hardware. They stick out from the ear a bit, but it’s not totally unsightly, and I think it’s fine. The buds also use physical buttons, as opposed to touch controls. They’re responsive and don’t require you to push too hard, which is just perfect.

For these earbuds, Sony seemed to be focusing on sound quality at an affordable price and had no qualms about cutting out other features to do so. And honestly, I think the company did a good job here.

These are the earbuds to beat when it comes to battery life! The earbuds last for 10 hours on a single charge, which is more than enough to get you through a long flight or an entire workday plus your commute. Plus, the charging case packs another 10 hours. The fact that the case only offers up one additional charge is a bit of a downside here. Sure, the earbuds’ battery capacity is greater than most others out there, but most other charging cases can give at least two (if not three or four) additional charges before it needs to be recharged. It feels like Sony sacrificed this for a sleeker case.

I consistently got 9.5 hours out of the buds in testing despite listening to the music at a moderately loud volume. I love the battery life on these, especially since they’ve proven they can last all day without me having to worry about them dying on me while I’m at work.

The case charges via USB-C but does not support wireless charging. That’s one of those nice luxuries Sony sacrificed here, presumably to keep the cost down. However, it does have a quick charge feature that’ll give you another hour of juice in just 10 minutes. It takes about three hours to recharge the case and buds fully, so a quick charge feature is great to have here.

These buds make a lot of effort to ensure the user experience is pleasant, and despite their lower price point pushing out a few higher-end niceties, it genuinely is. It’s easy to use both the buds’ physical buttons and their companion app, plus they support Fast Pair and have intuitive controls for music playback and taking phone calls.

However (and it’s a big however), these earbuds do not have active noise cancelation—a feature that’s fairly standard now, even in more budget-friendly pairs. Still, the WF-C500s do a fair job of blocking out higher-frequency noises, thanks to their in-ear-canal design. With them, I was still able to stay pretty focused on whatever I was listening to or doing, even though I could still hear the muted sounds of things like conversations and air conditioners near me. The buds block out just enough, though, and they sound great, so I’m not too mad about it.

I do lament the lack of a transparency mode, though, as it allows me to hear my surroundings when I’m riding public transportation, for example, without removing my buds. It’s not a serious ding against the earbuds, especially given how solid they are elsewhere, but it’s still a feature that’s nice to have, and that is noticeably missing here.

I love that the buds support solo mode, allowing you to continue listening to your music even if you only have one earbud in. The downside of this, though, is that whatever you’re listening won’t automatically be paused when you pull one (or both) out; this is ultimately a matter of personal preference. Additionally, I wasn’t a huge fan of the loud system noises that say “connected,” for example; I’d love to be able to turn that off or at least have the ability to adjust the volume level.

The button controls are all pretty straightforward. With them, you can easily enter pairing mode; answer, end, or reject calls; increase and decrease volume; summon your preferred voice assistant; and play, pause, skip forward one track, or skip back one track. Plus, the buttons have a satisfying, responsive click to them but don’t push the buds too far into your ear, potentially causing some discomfort (or messing up the seal). All in all, the buds are easy to use and don’t get in your way at all.

Sony’s WF-C500 earbuds are the ideal pick for anyone looking for buds with stellar audio quality at a reasonable price point. Although they’re far from the most feature-rich options out there, they do a good job of what Sony designed them to do: putting excellent audio in your ears without destroying your budget.

It sucks that they don’t have active noise cancelation, wireless charging, or a transparency mode but honestly, the WF-C500s sound better than any other pair of $100 buds out there, and it’s a worthwhile trade-off. Plus, they have terrific battery life, they’re stylish, and they are incredibly easy to use. These basic buds should absolutely be your next go-to pair, simple as that.