Sony WH-CH520 Bluetooth On-Ear Headphones with Mic: A Full Review

On a packed train, these Sony WH-CH520s take the edge off chatter, but they do not shut the world out like true ANC headphones. That matters because if you searched for the best under $100 noise cancelling headphones, this is not really that product. There is no active noise cancellation here, just the natural passive isolation from the on-ear pads.

That said, I still get why these are popular. They are light, easy to toss in a bag, and the battery is the kind you stop thinking about because it just keeps going. Sony claims up to 50 hours, and in normal Bluetooth use, that feels believable. Quick charging over USB-C is also handy when I forget to plug them in.

The sound is better than I expected for the price. Out of the box, it is clean and friendly rather than bass-heavy, and the Sony Headphones Connect app lets you tweak the EQ enough to make podcasts, pop, or gym playlists sound more like you want. Calls are fine for everyday use, and multipoint pairing is genuinely useful if you bounce between a laptop and phone.

The catch is comfort and isolation. On-ear cups can press after a while, especially with glasses, and they leak more outside noise than over-ear noise cancelling models. I would buy these for battery life, casual listening, work calls, and travel on a budget—not for blocking plane engines or office chaos.