Sony WH-CH520 FCC Teardown

I do not expect 52Audio to do a teardown of the Sony WH-CH520, so we are only left with the FCC photos. The WH-CH520 is Sony’s affordable wireless headset this year, Like the previous WH-CH510 and WH-CH500, this new model is wireless only without a 3.5mm jack (more on that later). Thankfully the operating time of up to 50 hours is plenty enough for most users, but once the battery dies, these become useless.So start off with the right side.

We have the main PCB, the battery, and the 30mm driver. There is not much else inside. The battery is unfortunate covered by a plastic cover which is obscuring the battery details. There does appear to be more space around the battery compartment for a larger battery, but since Sony is using a standard size in most of their devices, probably a 621733 battery, so a larger compartment is not required.

From this WH-CH500 battery replacement guide on YouTube, we know the WH-CH500 capacity is 300mAh. And luckily this WH-CH510 battery replacement guide shows us that the same battery is used again. Likewise the same clear plastic cover is also present in the WH-CH510 as in the WH-CH520.

I have found another set of photos and it shows the battery capacity in the new model.

This confirms that the battery is identical to the WH-CH500 and WH-CH510, 300mAh at 3.7V.

Moving to the left side, we just have the driver. If Sony would have kept NFC, it would probably be on this side.

When we compare the WH-CH510, we can see a similar setup, identical drivers and the same battery compartment.

Funny enough, both the left and right sides have the plastic battery compartments, something gone in the new model. Not sure why there are 2 compartments. The new model appears to be more of an evolution of the design rather than something new.

The WH-CH500 is a bit different, with the battery on the opposite side, and the presence of an NFC PCB beside the battery.

Otherwise the drivers appear to be exactly the same ones as in the 510 and 520 and the construction is more or less identical with 3 bolts holding in the driver and the earpad sliding onto the plastic housing.

Looking at the WH-CH520 PCB, we can see everything is soldered on, with no connectors.

So any battery replacement would require some soldering knowledge. From the bottom left, we have the USB type-C, next the notification LED, then the button controls. The numbers at the top, 220513 is most likely the date when this version of the PCB was finalized (May 5 2022), the PCB manufacture date is most likely the 2 numbers on the other side, 2221, or the 21st week of 2022, which is is end of May 2022.