Sony made sure they covered all their audiences with the refresh of headphones they released early last month. The least expensive of the bunch is the WH-CH530 headphones. They come in the under $100 price range, and can they be considered the best for those on a budget?
Style
Like the WH-CH730N, Sony made sure to give you a nice variety of colors to choose from. Six in fact ranging from Cobalt, Coral, Mint, Pink, White, and Black. Sony was nice enough to send us the Black colorway. They might be the first on-ear Sony headphones I have used in a while. The earcups are made with urethane foam and covered with pleather. They have a pleasant squishy feeling towards them. Feels about the same on the headband underneath.
They have all their buttons placed on the right ear which is volume and play controls. At the bottom is the USB-C port. There aren’t any controls or ports on the left nor is there a headphone jack.
CH530 are lightweight coming in at just 150g but they don’t fold up so make sure you have space in your bag for them as the earcups just swivel. They are comprised of plastic and creak a good deal.
Features
The CH530 can be used on the Sony Sound Connect app. There isn’t much in the way of changes you can make there besides the EQ and turn on DSEE and try 360 Reality Audio. They do support multipoint though and I can easily swap between my iPhone 17 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8.
Sound
These headphones are using 30mm drivers. Honestly, they get loud and are punchy with sound and have a nice kick of bass to them at times. I can tell by listening to tracks like C.R.E.A.M. by Wu-Tang or Another One Bites the Dust by Queen. For how much they cost I’m surprised at the audio quality that is coming from them.
They support AAC and SBC audio codecs as well as LE Audio.
Experience
I wore them on my daily train commutes and of course with no ANC they didn’t do too well. With them being on-ear headphones they aren’t wrapping around my ears to block any potential noise like over-ear. But they are a bit snug on the ears though, at least for me especially wearing glasses, so it helps a bit. They have impressive battery life though coming in at 55 hours. With the on / off times I have worn them I haven’t charged them yet.
Verdict
The Sony CH530 headphones are a nice pair of budget headphones that cost $70. I have seen at times go as low as $50. They have a fantastic battery life pushing 55 hours. Fit is a bit snug for them. Sound quality is cool with bass varying. These wouldn’t be bad as a backup or a gift for a young one that just needs some headphones.
