Description
The Sony WF-C510 is the entry point of Sony’s true wireless line, sold under model code WFC510/B5, and it is one of the more honest listings in this catalog. Sony states an IP code rather than an adjective, separates bud runtime from total runtime, and names multipoint outright. It also omits one specification that matters a great deal and buries one packaging detail in the last bullet.
The listener this suits
Sony describes the C510 as light, compact and built for all day comfort, with recommended uses given as commutes, travel and office, and specific uses as music, running and exercising. That is a general purpose brief, and the product matches it. What the C510 does not have is active noise cancellation. The noise handling here is passive isolation from the ear tip, plus an Ambient Sound Mode that deliberately lets outside noise in. If you are shopping specifically to quiet an aircraft cabin or a subway car, this is not the model in Sony’s range that does that; the Sony WF-C700N adds active cancellation and is the closer match.
Ambient Sound Mode is worth understanding on its own terms. It uses the microphones to pass surrounding sound through to your ears, which helps for hearing a train announcement or a colleague. It does not turn a sealing in ear bud into an open ear product, and it is not a substitute for taking a bud out near traffic.
How it connects
Bluetooth version is 5.3 with a 10 meter range figure, which is the standard line of sight number. Sony explicitly lists multipoint connection, described as quickly switching between two devices at once. That is a genuinely useful feature and one that most earbuds at this level simply do not mention, so it counts as a real differentiator against something like the JLab Go Air Tones Plus, whose listing says nothing about multipoint.
The codec that is never named
Nowhere in the specification, the bullets or the description does Sony name a Bluetooth codec for this model. That is a notable gap on a listing that is otherwise careful. Without a stated codec, SBC is the only safe assumption, since it is the mandatory baseline every Bluetooth audio device carries. There is no published AAC claim, which is the codec that matters on iPhones, and no LDAC claim, which is Sony’s own high resolution codec and appears on its more expensive models. Because no codec is stated, nothing about this pair should be described as high resolution or lossless, and this review does not do so.
What Sony advertises instead is DSEE, its Digital Sound Enhancement Engine, described as boosting the quality of compressed music files. DSEE is signal processing applied after the fact: it estimates and restores high frequency content that lossy compression discarded. It is not a codec, it does not increase the data crossing the Bluetooth link, and it is not a high resolution claim.
Battery: 11 hours in the buds, 22 with the case
Sony is unusually clean here. The bullets state up to 11 hours of battery life and up to 22 hours with the case, and the structured battery life field records 11 hours, correctly logging the bud figure rather than the combined one. The product name leads with the 22 hour number, which is the total, so if you saw 22 hours advertised, understand that half of it lives in the charging case and is unavailable if you leave the case behind.
Quick charging is quoted at 5 minutes for up to 1 hour of playback. The 11 hour number is a best case measurement taken at moderate volume, so treat it as a ceiling. Sony’s own product description quotes only the 11 hour figure and omits the 22, so the title says 22 and the description says 11, and both are true of different things.
Fit, controls and what IPX4 actually covers
The water rating is stated as IPX4, and that is a specific, checkable claim rather than the vague word waterproof that appears on most listings in this category. IPX4 means protection against splashing water from any direction. It covers rain and sweat. It does not cover immersion, it is not a swimming rating, and it says nothing about dust because the X in the code means the dust digit was not tested. Sony’s own bullet phrases it correctly as splashes and sweat. Do not take the C510 into a pool, and be aware that IP seals degrade with age and with repeated sweat exposure. No consumer IP rating covers seawater or pressurized water.
Controls are where the listing contradicts itself. The bullets describe easy button operation for play, stop, skip, volume, voice assistant and calls, which implies physical buttons. The structured specification records the control method as touch and the controller type as touch, and a separate control type field says voice control. Those cannot all be true at once. Physical buttons and touch panels behave very differently in the rain and with gloves, so this is not a trivial discrepancy. Sony has not reconciled it on the page.
Ear tips are described as hybrid silicone, and the in the box list confirms tips are included, but the number of sizes is never stated. That is a real omission, because seal decides how much bass you perceive and how much outside noise the passive isolation blocks. A pair that does not seal will sound thin no matter what the driver is. The driver itself is given as a 6 millimeter dynamic unit, which is small and consistent with the compact housing.
What else the listing does not say
The single most practical omission is buried in the last bullet: the in the box list reads wireless earbuds, hybrid silicone earbud tips and charging case, followed by the note that the charging cable is sold separately. There is no USB cable in the box. If you do not already own a USB-C cable, budget for one. The specification also carries a stray field reading number of USB 2 ports, value 1, which is a template inherited from a different product category and should be ignored.
Wear detection, auto pause and app support are not mentioned, so any assumption about EQ adjustment should be verified before purchase. Weight is given as 31 grams and 1.09 ounces, which agree but describe the package rather than a single bud. Sony records the sales position as ranked 992nd in Electronics and 159th in earbud and in ear headphones, on a 4.4 star average across 978 ratings. The product name ends with the word New, so this is a new unit rather than a renewed or refurbished one.
If the C510 is close but not quite right, the older Sony WF-C500 covers the same non cancelling brief, the newer Sony WF-C710N moves up to active cancellation, and the JBL Vibe 100 TWS competes on price rather than features. All three sit in our earbud headphones section, and the broader true wireless earbud listings include the noise cancelling models this one deliberately leaves out.
Who should buy it, and who should not
Buy the WF-C510 if you want a small, light pair with genuine multipoint, a stated IPX4 rating and 11 hours of runtime in the buds themselves. It is a sensible commuter and office pair. Do not buy it expecting noise cancellation, because it has none. Do not buy it expecting high resolution audio, because Sony names no codec on this listing at all. And check your drawer for a spare USB-C cable before it arrives, because Sony does not include one.
