Sony WF-C510 FCC Teardown

These FCC internal photos provide a good look at the inside of the new model, but still not as complete as a full teardown. So let us take a look inside and see if Sony has changed up their engineering.

It looks like the case is held on by 2 clips in the back, right beside the hinge. It is too difficult to tell from this photo if there are any clips/tabs on the front of the case. The battery and the main PCB is held on with 2 screws in the back. A wireless charging coil would fit, so Sony could have added wireless charging. But, if this video is anything to believe, I would stick to regular wired charging as to prolong the battery and life of the earbuds and case.

With the battery and PCB removed, we can see the 2 magnets which position the earbuds into the proper alignment and keep them firmly secured when charging.

The case battery is the same capacity as the WF-C500 battery but it is different model. The new battery is a 3.85V 1.155Wh, rated up to a maximum of 4.4V. Springpower is the manufacturer like previously. The battery is attached to the PCB with a connector, where as before, the cables were soldered to the board on the WF-C500. So definitely an move in the right direction.

Looking at one side of the case PCB, we can see the USB type-C port on the left, the back button on the right, and the battery connector port in the middle. I believe at the top are 3 small LEDs for the notification LED. I do not see any resettable fuse on the board like we saw with the WF-C500. In fact, the new model seems to have a lot less components on the USB side versus the old model.

Flipping to the other side, we can see a lot more components. We also have the 2 charging pins, + and -, with no DET pins like previously on the WF-C500. It is impossible to make out the text on the chips, so we have no idea what they are. Most likely one is the main controller IC for charging.

Turning to the earbuds, the 2 halves of the earbud are held together with glue, so you will need to heat up around the seam to get them apart. There is no connector between the top half the the main PCB, so you will not break anything if you take them apart. But there is a flex PCB connection between the main middle section and the bottom half. So be careful when separating them.

Another angle, the mic hole is at the bottom of the PCB, with the corresponding hole in the case visible near the antenna connection.

In these 4 photos we have the inside of the bottom half, where we can see the charging connectors, and the magnet in the middle. The battery is covered by a plastic piece (top left) and affixed with adhesive tape. I am pretty confident that the battery connections are soldered to the main board. The battery is the same as the model found in the WF-C700N, the SP1254 or 1254PF4D. The JBl Soundgear sense also uses this battery, so replacement batteries should be available online.

Removing the battery, we are left with the rest of the components inside the earbuds, the main PCB, a flex cable, charging pins, and the main driver. The driver is 6.0 mm, which is 0.2mm larger than the old model. It may not sound like a lot, but the sound quality difference is very evident when comparing to both.

A close up of top side shows the antenna connector on the left, the button in the middle and the flex cable attachment on the right. This connection is soldered, so be careful not to damage it. We have the positive and negative traces to the charging pins. and the 2 connections at the top, P and N for the driver. One of these chips on the PCB is the MFI343S00176, which is the Apple MFI 3.0 chip. This is required for the device to work in Apple's ecosystem.

The reverse side has the Bluetooth SoC, Airoha AB1563E. You can barely make out the 1563 text, but it is there. There is no information on this chip. Perhaps it is an updated version of the AB1562, but this is just my guess. I have 2 emails for Airoha reps, but not sure if they would reply to a gmail address. Finally, the MEMS voice mic is located near the bottom left of the PCB. it is a bottom port version.

And finally here is the wireless antenna which is under the button. I wonder why Sony does not use a LDS antenna design like they do with the WF-1000XM5 and LinkBuds S/Fit? I suspect cost is one reason, but is it so much more than the design above?

The antenna is made by Shenzhen Cicent Communication TechnologyCo. ltd according to the FCC documents. The schematic for the antenna is from December 28th, 2023. This is a good 9 months before the official release. The antenna is glued into place. So if the WF-1000XM6/WH-1000XM6 are meant to be released in the first half of 2025, then they are being tested right now.

If you want to compare the teardown to the WF-C500 and WF-C700N, see my write up here, the 52Audio link here, and the WF-C700N here. There was no 52Audio teardown of the WF-C700N. The design and build of the WF-C510 is very similar to the WF-C700N, which is not surprising.

If anyone notices anything in the photos, do drop it in the comments below.