Sony WF-C500 Truly Wireless In-Ear Bluetooth Earbud Headphones with Mic and IPX4 water resistance, Black

I ordered these earbuds because I wanted a quality set of earbuds that weren't a cheap throwaway pair after a year but didn't want to drop the coin on a set of Apple or Bose earbuds. Sony has a good rep in the consumer electronics space and after doing a little research outside of Shamazon, I decided I would give the WF-C500's a shot. A few things I like about these specific buds. 1. Fitment - they fit in my ears well and they stay in my ears without causing hot spots or pain points. 2. Battery life - I can't give you a precise number, but I can use these earbuds throughout the day and even into the night and still have some battery life in the morning. 3. Sound - These specific earbuds I use primarily for listening to Audible audiobooks, so I don't need an eardrum ticking base or eye-watering treble highs, that said I did test these out with a few of my favorite artists - Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto, AC/DC, old Van Halen, Vivaldi, the usual stuff we all listen to and in each style of music, I was very pleased, it was accurately represented within the context of having a half thimble-sized device stuck in my ear. Win. I also use these for phone calls, when someone calls and interrupts my audiobook, and I've always gotten good feedback from the other person on the call, in terms of clarity, volume of voice, and even outdoors, the wind management seemed to not negatively impact my call. 4. Earbud controls - There is a pro/con to the way you control these earbuds. I'll flat-out tell you I am not a fan of the touch-sensitive earbuds. I have big hand and rarely do I touch it in the way it wants to be touched and I end up hanging up on someone while I'm trying to turn up the volume or whatever the case is. The WF-C500's are more of a button-press kind of thing. It's tactile - you know exactly what your finger is doing when it's doing it because of that tactile feedback. I freaking love that. Super-duper simple!! So what's the con Shawshank? Glad you asked. It's probably a horrible habit but I use one of the earbuds when I go to sleep. Usually an audiobook, might be some Ludovico Einaudi, or that soothing ocean or thunderstorm sound with some good ol' scripture in the background. The problem is I'm a side-sleeper and SOMETIMES when I roll over to the side that has the earbud in it, the pillow will act like my finger and hit that little tactile button and pause whatever I'm listening to. I can hit it again and be a little more careful when I put my head back on the pillow, but that does happen. It's probably a bad habit anyway, but that's the con of the controls on these earbuds, from my POV anyway. 5. Overall quality - I really can't complain about these earbuds. I've dropped them in the sink while washing my face, and forgotten to take them out when taking a shower (I realized after the water hit my head that I was still listening to whatever it was I was listening to, but they got a good dose of water sprayed on them, and there were times where one did fall out of my ear, primarily because I didn't seat it well. I have been so pleased with these earbuds, that I bought my 17 yr old son a pair and he is also very happy with them. He listens to music primarily, 70-80-90's music (yeah he has good taste in music for a teenager.) :-) An update after I had written this. I ran into a problem with the left earbud not connecting to BT. I contacted Sony support because they have a 1 yr limited warranty, and I bought these back in May of last year. We tried doing a full reset, which didn't correct the problem. The CSR provided me the info to send them back, I received an email with a FedEx shipping label, dropped them off at the Fedex in a Dollar General nearby, 2 days later they arrived at the Sony repair facility, 1 day after that, Sony notified they had ordered a brand new pair of WF-C500's for me and I should get them next week. I'm not usually the kind of guy that gets massively butt-hurt when something breaks. Stuff happens. What I don't enjoy is when I am trying to correct a problem, be it a defect or whatever, with the manufacturer or the store and it becomes a battle of will and plain old integrity of service. My experience with Sony was outstanding. They asked me to try and correct the issue by doing a hard reset and when that didn't work, they moved right into replacement mode. I dig and respect that. So I wholeheartedly recommend this product. Unlike the growing number of Shamazonians who get free stuff to test and write reviews even though in all honestly sometimes they don't know crap about the product, I am a guy who buys his own stuff and in this case, I was 110% daily user of these Sony WF-C500 earbuds - at home, in my truck, at the gym, in the kitchen, in the bathroom (oops), outside mowing my grass and running my airplane sounding weedeater, in all cases this audio was good, and most importantly, I didn't lose one out of my ear and run my mower over it. As far as "noise cancellation", I will just refer to the numerous times my bride yelled at me because I didn't hear her when she was talking to me. I suppose in some regards that counts as "noise cancellation". (my beautiful Brazilian bride, if you happen to read this, you know your man loves ya.) BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): They feel good in the ear. They sound good in the ear. You don't look like you have a Chernobyl growth sticking out of your ears like some of the other earbuds. Perhaps best of all - Sony sticks behind their products and they understand what excellent customer service should be. These are the factors that drive my review and are the reason I bought a pair for my son, to whom I don't give him a rock when he asks for bread if you know what I mean. But he never asked for these, I knew the pair he had for 3+ years was having issues and wanted to surprise him. He was surprised on top of being happy. That's probably the highest recommendation I can provide, for what I give to the absolute pride and joy of my life - well I can't see these not being good enough for the King of England if they're good enough for my son. I'll TRY to remember and update my review with some pics when I get the new earbuds. Chances are however, that I will forget and probably remember when I'm in a situation that precludes me from executing the review update in that moment I'm thinking about it. But I'll try. BTW the price dropped on these. I paid $90 bucks for my pair and my sons pair, and I think I saw them for $70ish or $79 and they are worth every buck of that even at $90.

This is my first pair of true wireless headphones, I'm listening as I write this, and I haven't written a review in years. I'm not a fan of bluetooth, so I was skeptical of buying these, but needed something for a long flight. For reference, I'm not an "audiophile", but my home hifi system cost 10k, is very minimalist (Hegel H190 w/ KEF Ref1s) and sounds pretty amazing. About ten years ago, it occurred to me that we would soon have an audio version of Google Glass, and it has been entertaining watching this slowly manifest in these types of headphones. This concept is very much in its infancy and I'm not surprised to see an overlap in market between tech users and the hearing impaired community. Soon, I imagine that there will be intelligent noise cancellation (select for/against certain "waveprints" i.e. FOR your friends voice at a crowded restaurant and AGAINST the crying baby sitting across the room) and the unique waveprint of your voice will be included with your general contact information. Infinite other applications, but I digress. I was surprised to see the breadth of the market, with so many companies doing gymnastics to distinguish themselves, and failing miserably in the reviews. And you would think that humanity would have mastered bluetooth pairing and connection by now, but for so many of these products, that is not the case. Sooo many dumb dumb dumb products out there, poorly designed and with little to no product testing or quality control, banking on what's left of their brand coupled with the nuisance of having to return a terrible product. But this isn't one of them. I think that Sony has nailed it with these headphones. There is definitely room for improvement, but not at this price point. The product arrives in a tiny little biodegradable box (which I love) with no frills or desperate attempts to gain first impressions. Cost has been reduced on the carrying case materials (good!) and there are little magnets which hold the buds in place (love it!). I plugged them in to charge for a bit, then put them in my ears. I was pleasantly surprised to hear them automatically pair, upon release from the charger, and connect to my Samsung Galaxy A50. I then put on Spotify, which has a somewhat poor bitrate to begin with (320 kbps) and is cheapened even further by bluetooth, and got about what I was expecting: a totally adequate though far from stellar sound that was largely out-shined by the newfound convenience and extreme comfort of this ergonomically well designed and executed technology. I then tried them with some high quality recording on high quality FLAC files. I really don't have much to say about the sound except that it is not offensive. Again, my baseline is a 10K system. The extra space over conventional wired earbuds facilitates bass presence, but there is nothing transcendent or even particularly precise about the mids or highs and no noticeable soundstage. They could possibly benefit from an "open back", but then you lose the privacy. But no one buys these for hifi sound quality. Most people have never even heard hifi. And so much of hifi depends on the physical environment (i.e. the room) that you could never hold this type of product up to those standards. Certainly not at this price. This success of *this* product carries an extra burden of comfort, convenience, and ease of use. In spite of my system, I have actually found myself wearing these around the apartment so I can listen at higher volumes late at night. They are ridiculously comfortable as so many other products fail so miserably at this most basic and essential function, and I honestly forget that I am wearing them. And the controls are simple and intuitive and don't have any stupid design flaws that make you want to strangle the designer. AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE AN APP (though one is available) WHICH MEANS YOU DON'T HAVE TO GIVE YOUR PERSONAL DATA TO A PSYCHOPATH! And again, the sound is adequate and inoffensive, and in my lack of experience, I am unconvinced that a much better sound could be produced, even for another $200/unit. But, this is my first pair, so what do I know?

- Overall Pros & Cons — Pros: Sound quality, style, and battery life — Cons: Fit, controls, and sound isolation - Sound Quality | 9.5/10 Sound quality is probably one of the most important things when looking for a pair of earbuds, and the sound quality on these are insane! After some EQ adjustments and a healthy increase in bass, these were truly thumping. Highs were pronounced and clear, mids were vibrant, and bass was stellar. The sound quality on these are better than my Bose QC45, which are over-ear headphones. The ClearBass EQ tuning gives you the subwoofer like thumpy, rumbling bass that so many people love. If you are an audiophile, these things likely wont impress you, however for the price range and for the average listener, these are absolutely amazing. - Style | 9/10 Personally these knock it out of the park with styling. The matte white color and circular shape makes these look premium, something above the glossiness of the Apple Airpods line. They look very modern and minimalistic, something that goes well with plain clothing, but they are large and will stand out. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. - Fit | 6/10 I really was hoping for a good fit, however even with the small size eartips they felt a bit stiff. They don’t fall out of your ear, however you really have to force them into your ear to get that great sound. They do give you that “plugged” feeling, however it does become less noticeable after a few minutes. Overall, I wish the fitment was better. - Battery | 10/10 These thing’s batteries are crazy! I can go a full day and end up with 70% battery left, and the charging case holds a lot of charge. This relieves so much stress, as I don’t feel the need to charge these every night, or charge the case everyday. -Controls | 3/10 This was just a huge mistake, the hard buttons instead of a touch capacitive are just plain clunky. If you are in a situation where you need to wear gloves often, these are great, however I can’t think of any other time where they would be better than touch functions. Pushing the buttons either jams the earbuds into your ear, shifts them out of place, or plain causes them to fall out. I opt to use my phone for audio controls anyways, if you plan to do the same then you’re fine, however these buttons are a real headache to use. -Sound Isolation | 7/10 These do not have ANC (Active Noise Cancelling). The plugging of the ears with the silicone tips is enough to “block” sound, but not “cancel” it. This are fine for libraries, schools, cafe’s, and even in cars, however I would not try to use these on planes, in crowded areas, or anywhere with a substantial amount of ambient noise. -Summary- For my purpose, these are perfect. I was just looking for something to listen to music with, something with great sound quality, and something that was stylish. This does all that and more, however its drawbacks being controls, sound isolation, and fitment could influence your decision to buy these. I would honestly recommend these if you are on a budget, the value proposition is amazing with these earbuds. Overall, if you are a casual listener, someone who just wants to hear high quality music and look stylish while at it, these are it.

I don't write many reviews but after recently trying many different earbuds, I hope I can help others in their search. First off, I have spent over 20 years in the audio industry and consider myself myself somewhat of an audiophile - so sound quality is very important. Unfortunately, that time in the audio industry listening at high DBs has no doubt cost me some hearing - so strong volume is also very important to me. Thanks to Amazon's return policy I have tried many highly rated ear buds under $100 on the market: Ear Fun Free Pro 2 = Great sound, great NC, good volume but would NOT stay in my ears, Soundcore Anker Life P3 = great sound quality, features, but NOT loud enough. SoundPeats MiniPro AC = Great volume, good sound but stick out way too far and fall out of my ears. Palm Buds Pro = just not loud enough! Soundcore Life A2 NC+ = Great Sound, Great volume, great features but stick out too far and also fall out of my ers! Now on to these Sony WF-C500s = Great sound, very good volume, 10 hour battery life, well designed case, nice app, and fit my ears like a glove. Heck I can even side sleep and not usually press a control accidentally, I have had no problems with people hearing me on phone calls. I can work out and they don't fall out of my ears! While they are not overly bass heavy (more true to the music), it can't be beefed up with the EQ in the app. I made a Custom EQ with pretty much the same settings as the Treble Boost EQ but raised the Clear Bass setting. The result is more than adequate bass, good separation and very good volume. I ordered all the above buds about the same time and when I tried these Sony's I figured they were the keeper. After trying all the others I mentioned, I kept coming back to these WF-C500s! Did I mention these fit like they were actually designed to go in a person's ears?

When I first tried them out I wasn't blown away by the sound quality, but after playing around with the equalizer I feel like I get VERY good sound from these things, listening to a variety of genres: hip-hop, reggaeton, rock, classical etc it all sounds good to me. I've had them for about a week and only charged them for an hour or two upon first receiving them; have not had to plug them in since. Connection to both my iphone and macbook are good and typically very fast/instantaneous. Some minor complaints that I didn't feel were worth taking a full star off for: - some people have mentioned a hiss when no music is playing. I do experience this occasionally, but it's very quiet and brief. It really doesn't bother me and it's something I've noticed in other bluetooth headphones so idk whether or not it's reasonable to expect a budget model to have a totally imperceptible noise floor. - case is cute and well-designed but I do wish the lid felt a bit sturdier. - as others have pointed out, the buttons on the sides are big and easy to accidentally press, but I feel like once you get used to them being there it's not a big deal, just wouldn't be the best option for sleeping in I keep these in my bookbag so they're always on hand at work, the gym, etc. These do not have active noise cancellation but I feel like the passive noise cancellation is pretty good and I don't have to turn the volume up high at all to drown out ambient noise. Since I'm very pleased with these earbuds, I may treat myself sometime to one of Sony's over-ear headphones as a noise cancelling option.

I don’t write many reviews so the fact that I’m leaving this one means I’m pretty impressed. For years Sony has made good products some butter than others, so when I saw these I decided to give them a chance since the Apple ones were so much more. I am really glad I did. I had no difficulty connecting them and for me the battery life is pretty awesome. I’ve yet to have the charger indicate that it needed to be charged and I’ve gone more than a week (at which point I charged it because I felt that it must be getting low). I use it for Zoom about 4-6 hours a day and return them to their charger when the break is more than a few minutes. Sometimes I have them in my ears without using them for music or meetings because of the excellent noise canceling. The sound is excellent. I do get the base I like as well as the mid and high ranges. I will leave the describing how they sound to the other reviews that speak highly of them, since they do a better job than I do. I would like to speak to their noise canceling and microphone. I use them at work with zoom in a room with others. One of them speaks very loudly. I was concerned that I would still hear her and the students I work with would also hear her. These buds were able to identify my voice and dampen all the other noise. I could barely hear her and my students reported that they couldn’t hear her at all. Also, even when not actively listening to music or a meeting, they still provided the quiet I need to be able to focus, so much so, that to get my attention someone has to get in my field of view and wave at me. My students report that they can hear me well and when I’ve had them in for phone calls, I haven’t had any problems. Overall, I recommend them for great sound and especially for those looking for good noise cancellation.

I BOUGHT THESE WF-C500 SONY BUDS FOR USE WITH A SONY NW-A105 WALKMAN. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE SONY WALKMAN INCOMPATIBLE WITH SAMSUNG EAR BUDS. SAMSUNG QUALITY AND DURABILITY IS SUPERIOR TO SONY. ON MY SONY WF-C500 EAR BUDS THE RIGHT SIDE STOPPED WORKING ON THE 13 MONTH AFTER THE 12 MONTH WARRANTY. THAT'S RIGHT 1-MONTH OFF WARRANTY AND SONY KICKS YOU TO THE CURB. WHEN I CALLED THEIR 800 SERVICE NUMBER - I'M TOLD ITS BASICALLY A DISPOSABLE PRODUCT AND TO THROW IT OUT - AS THEY DO NOT REPAIR THEM. I ASKED IF THEY WERE COMPATIBLE WITH SAMSUNG BUDS? SHE DID NOT KNOW AND COULD NOT GET ME TO A TECH PERSON. SO SONY FORCES YOU TO USE THEIR EARBUDS AND THEN LEAVES THE CUSTOMER HANGING IF THEY ARE OUT OF WARRANTY. THE ARE VERY HARD TO MAKE CONTACT WITH, ZERO CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND A PRODUCT THAT FAILS WAY TOO EARLY. I TRIED EVERYTHING FOR HOURS - RESET, POWER ON OFF, INITIALIZE, PAIR AND UNPAIR, RECHARGE CASE AND BUDS = BIG FAT ZERO. RIGHT SIDE IS DEAD. HAS POWER, IS CHARGED - BUT NO SOUND. I EXPECTED MORE FOR SONY IN TERMS OF QUALITY AND SUPPORT - IN OR OUT OF WARRANTY. GO AHEAD LOOK OF SERVICE FOR EAR BUDS - GOOD LUCK. THEY SEND YOU TO A BUNCH OF WEB PAGES AND ENDLESS SEARCHING FOR AN ANSWER. SONY - GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER. PETER G./ SAN DIEGO

I bought a pair of these new several years ago. The model is great but I lost one so I ordered another pair offered by discount jungle that were reconditioned - but at a great price. The right bud had an issue in that it wouldn't charge up. I never could get that 2nd pair of buds to pair w/my phone. I'm returning them. I'll give discount jungle a 2nd chance. I loved my functional 1st set. I trust Sony.