I bought new earbuds. It was a purchase made out of pressure and excitement. I am actually quite happy with them after a few days of use. So here are my impressions.
I am on vacation, and in my case that means my family will cross the border and make some purchases just for the sake of it at some point. That moment came a few days ago, and since I had made a bit of money thanks to my sidegig as a decent Inkscape user, I decided to treat myself to some new earbuds.
The decision of getting new earbuds was made from the start, since the pair I already had fell pretty hard on the floor, and one of the beans broke a little. It still worked, and it sounded fine, but the other side which was still physically intact got volume issues, and it was not as strong as the other.
My previous pair were the Haylou GT1 Pro, which costed me around $25 USD. They’ve served me well. But, I mean, they’re 25 bucks, you can’t expect much from them (nor from this “review”).
I lived with wired earphones until late 2018. The quality of them was mixed, some were the ones that came with the phone (remember those times?), others were iPod style clones, and most were budget Sony earphones that costed me around $8, and were pretty good for the price.
Back to a few days ago. When we got to Walmart and I ran to the tech section, I saw some of the cool Samsung, Pixel and Apple products which were $150 or so, I immediately looked for something cheaper than that. Below I saw some more affordable options. JBL, Soundcore, Onn and others I didn’t know at all. I was not convinced by any of them. I saw some that advertised ANC and other features that I was kinda interested in, but I knew enough to know that even if those features “worked”, they would not compare to the real deal.
I was losing hope, until I noticed in the top right corner of the bottom section, hidden from the view of most, there was Sony, a brand I recognized, although the model, not so much (We all know Sony sucks at naming their products).
I decided to go for them. There was free internet in the store, so I looked up a couple reviews and decided to get them, without really getting to know a lot, since at that moment my parents were ready to checkout and go somewhere else.
First impressions, or is it a review?
I got the Sony WF-C500, and I have been trying them for 4 days or so, while doing work, walking and sleeping.
They are incredibly comfortable. Sony’s designers have a made a great work, this model is really similar to their top of the line earbuds such as the ones Kev bought. They fit nicely in my ears and I did not wake up with my ears in pain, as I used to do so before.
The controls are physical buttons. Some reviews may say that you can feel them pressing against your head, which could be uncomfortable, but its perfectly fine for me, it feels more like haptic feedback, its not bothersome.
The one downside is that I cannot turn my head while sleeping, since I could make a button press by mistake, I can place my hand in between my head and my pillow to create some space and avoid false positives. I’ve been sleeping face up more often lately, so this is not really a big issue.
I was surprised at the English voice indications. I got used to Haylou’s sounds effects, but the voice here is quite soothing.
There is no ANC nor Transparency mode. But I can’t miss what I’ve never had, so its a no problem.
Sony has quite a decent app that comes with a great equalizer and some modes available, and they really improve the sound a lot. Its the first time in my life that I’ve been able to notice the equalization actually do something noticeable to improve the music coming to my ears.
The battery life is pretty great. In my first night I forgot to setup a sleep timer for my music. I woke up to the sound and they still were at more than 50%. I may have woken up quite early, but still.
The case only holds an extra full charge, giving around 20 hours total. Its a bit less than what the GT1 Pro had, but the case is a lot more portable, and the earbuds battery life is superior.
There is a bit of white noise when nothing’s playing in my right ear, it is what it is, I can’t notice it when music’s playing, so its not a big deal.
Also, the case has a semi-transparent lid, which looks pretty cool in my humble opinion, it lets the LED indicators shine through it, which is nice.
Overall it was a really satisfying purchase that fits my needs quite perfectly.
My pair of earbuds on top of my laptop.
Comments
If you have something to say, leave a comment, or contact me ✉️ instead
