Sony WH-1000XM3 vs Sony WH-CH520

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WH-1000XM3 compared with WH-CH520

	SonyWH-1000XM3	SonyWH-CH520
Overview
Released
Released	September 2018	March 2023
Sound
Type
Type	Over-ear	On-ear
Noise cancelling
Noise cancelling	Yes	No
Transparency mode
Transparency mode	Yes	No
Driver size
Driver size	40 mm	30 mm
Back
Back	Closed	Closed
Bluetooth codecs
Bluetooth codecs	SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD and LDAC	SBC and AAC
Lossless over USB-C
Lossless over USB-C	–	No
Chip
Chip	HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1	–
Drivers
Drivers	40 mm dome drivers with aluminium-coated liquid crystal polymer diaphragms, CCAW voice coils and neodymium magnets; wired frequency response 4 Hz–40 kHz. Impedance is 47 ohms powered on and 16 ohms off; sensitivity 104.5 dB/mW on and 101 dB/mW off.	Bluetooth response 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz at 44.1 kHz sampling
Noise cancelling detail
Noise cancelling detail	QN1 processor and dual noise sensors; Personal NC Optimizer and Atmospheric Pressure Optimizing; Ambient Sound Mode, Quick Attention and Adaptive Sound Control	–
Audio features
Audio features	DSEE HX upscaling; Bluetooth frequency response 20 Hz–20 kHz at 44.1 kHz sampling, or 20 Hz–40 kHz with LDAC at 96 kHz and 990 kbps; QN1 includes a DAC and amplifier	DSEE upscaling and customisable equaliser in Sony | Sound Connect (formerly Headphones Connect)
Battery
Listening time (maker's claim)
Listening time (maker's claim)	Up to 30 hours	Up to 50 hours
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Maximum 30 hours with noise cancelling or 38 hours off uses AAC with DSEE HX off. The manual lists 24 hours with noise cancelling for aptX, aptX HD and LDAC; SBC is 28 hours with noise cancelling and DSEE HX off.	Up to 40 hours of calls and 200 hours on standby; no passive operation or wired playback
Charging case
Charging case	USB-C charging; about 3 hours for a full charge; USB does not carry audio	–
Fast charging
Fast charging	10 minutes gives up to 5 hours with a USB adapter rated at least 1.5 A	3 minutes gives up to 1.5 hours; full charge approximately 3 hours
Design
Weight
Weight	255 g	147 g (better)
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	4.2	5.2
Two devices at once
Two devices at once	Yes	Yes
Headphone cable
Headphone cable	Yes	No
Controls
Controls	Right earcup touch panel for playback, volume and calls; holding a palm over it activates Quick Attention; separate power and NC/AMBIENT buttons	Physical buttons for playback, calls, volume and track selection; press the play/call button to use the connected phone's Siri or Google voice assistant
Microphones
Microphones	Internal and external microphones for noise cancelling; built-in microphones for Bluetooth calls	Built-in call microphone with noise suppression processing
Fit and ear tips
Fit and ear tips	Circumaural ear cushions; adjustable headband and folding earcups; carrying case supplied	Adjustable padded headband, soft earpads and swivelling earcups
Water resistance detail
Water resistance detail	–	No water resistance rating published
Works with
Works with	Bluetooth A2DP, AVRCP, HFP and HSP; NFC pairing. Multipoint connects one music source using A2DP and another device for calls using HFP/HSP, without two music sources; unavailable with Google Assistant or Alexa assigned. The supplied cable allows passive listening, but disables Bluetooth and does not carry the headphone microphone.	Two-device multipoint, Fast Pair and Swift Pair; approximately 10 m range, profiles A2DP, AVRCP, HFP and HSP; USB-C is charging-only (SoundGuys)
Colours
Colours	Black, Platinum Silver	Black, Blue, White, Beige; Pink and Yellow added in March 2025; One Piece Black and One Piece White limited editions on the current UK page
In the box
In the box	Headphones, carrying case, 1.2 m headphone cable, approximately 20 cm USB-A to USB-C cable, in-flight plug adapter	Headphones and USB charging cable; no carrying case listed