Beats Powerbeats Pro vs Sony WF-C500

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Powerbeats Pro compared with WF-C500

	BeatsPowerbeats Pro	SonyWF-C500
Overview
Released
Released	May 2019	October 2021
Sound
Type
Type	In-ear	In-ear
Noise cancelling
Noise cancelling	No	No
Transparency mode
Transparency mode	–	No
Driver size
Driver size	–	5.8 mm
Bluetooth codecs
Bluetooth codecs	SBC and AAC	SBC and AAC
Chip
Chip	Apple H1	–
Drivers
Drivers	Linear piston drivers with a pressurised airflow design	Closed dynamic 5.8 mm drivers with neodymium magnets; the maker figure is retained rather than TechRadar's rounded 6 mm in its design discussion
Noise cancelling detail
Noise cancelling detail	Passive noise isolation only; no active noise cancelling (SoundGuys)	No active noise cancelling or ambient listening mode; the reviews confirm these omissions. Call noise suppression is separate from listening noise cancellation.
Audio features
Audio features	Class 1 Bluetooth; Bluetooth 5.0 and SBC/AAC codecs (SoundGuys)	DSEE processing, app equaliser and personalised 360 Reality Audio playback with compatible services
Battery
Listening time (maker's claim)
Listening time (maker's claim)	Up to 9 hours	Up to 10 hours
With the case
With the case	–	Up to 20 hours
Wireless charging
Wireless charging	No	No
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	More than 24 hours of combined playback with the case; the maker does not give an upper bound	Up to ten hours per charge and 20 hours including the case with DSEE and equaliser off. The manual lists ten hours for AAC or SBC with DSEE AUTO or OFF, but warns that equaliser and DSEE settings can shorten runtime. Talk time up to five hours.
Charging case
Charging case	Lightning; no wireless charging (Macworld)	USB-C charging; maker UK support gives approximately 2.5 hours for the earbuds and three hours for the case. No wireless charging, as confirmed by both reviews.
Fast charging
Fast charging	A 5-minute Fast Fuel charge gives up to 1.5 hours of playback; 15 minutes gives up to 4.5 hours	Ten minutes charging provides approximately one hour playback
Design
Weight (each earbud)
Weight (each earbud)	11 g	5.4 g (better)
Water and sweat resistance
Water and sweat resistance	IPX4	IPX4
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.0	5.0
Two devices at once
Two devices at once	–	No
Controls
Controls	Volume rocker and multi-function button on each earbud; optical sensors for automatic play/pause; motion sensors for idle sleep	Physical buttons for playback, tracks, volume, calls and the paired phone's voice assistant
Microphones
Microphones	Two beamforming microphones and a speech-detecting accelerometer per earbud	Omnidirectional MEMS microphones; maker Japanese specifications
Fit and ear tips
Fit and ear tips	Adjustable ear hooks and four ear tip sizes	Hybrid silicone tips in SS, M and LL; either earbud works independently
Case weight
Case weight	80 g	Approximately 35 g; the earbud weight is approximately 5.4 g each
Dimensions
Dimensions	Earbud height 2.3 cm, length 5.9 cm, width 3.8 cm; case height 4.3 cm, length and width 7.7 cm	Charging case approximately 80.0 × 34.9 × 30.9 mm
Water resistance detail
Water resistance detail	–	IPX4 applies to the earbuds excluding the sound outlets; the charging case is not water resistant
Works with
Works with	Apple H1 with hands-free Siri and pairing across devices on the same iCloud account; manual Android Bluetooth pairing; Find My	Bluetooth A2DP, AVRCP, HFP and HSP; up to eight remembered paired devices. Maker manual explicitly excludes multipoint. Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair; Sony Headphones Connect app. European maker announcement states October 2021 availability; Japan specifies 8 October, while Hong Kong specifies late October.
Colours
Colours	Originally announced in Black, Ivory, Moss and Navy; Black shipped first	Black, White, Ice Green and Coral Orange
In the box
In the box	Earbuds, charging case, four ear tip sizes, Lightning to USB-A cable, Quick Start Guide and warranty card	Earbuds, charging case, hybrid silicone tips in SS, M and LL, approximately 20 cm USB-C cable and documents