Customer Reviews

Sennheiser MX500 Lightweight In-Ear Headphone (Blue) with Carrying Case

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I read several reviews on the MX-500's and thought not to buy them initially. I'm using them with the Sangean DT-210V radio, which a great unit, with great selectivity and PLL tuning. Not to mention it also has a built in speaker that sounds great for "in bed" listening. In any event, I purchased the Sennheisers for the notable name, and am very happy that I did. I will say that without any "bass boost" they tend to be too flat initially, but not at all with acoustical string instruments or Classical music. I think some of the negative reviews previously are due to the fact that so many people now adays think that if your sound doesn't go "boom", that there's something missing. Well there isn't. Many audiophiles will tell you, that in order to properly test any speaker "objectively", that it's best to hear a jazz or string quartet on a quality recording only. This way, their instruments will either sound "natural" or not, and there is no room for "colorization" and the ambiguity in sound created by electronic sounds. Suite yourself, but for $17, these are much cleaner that the stock headphones with the Sangean DT-210V, and also any cheap Sony models. For a good, albeit "unusual" reference recording, I recommend "Book of Roses" by Andreas Vollenweider. He's a harp player from Switzerland, and this album sounds like something out of the Hobbit. But it's chock full of acoustic instruments and very involved natural "sound stages". I've used it as my reference for years. To summarize, if you have a "mature" ear, love natural strings, and classical music. I think you'll be very happy with the MX-500's. Not to mention, that talk radio never sounded so good as well. I say go for it.
It's quite a fair shake, and easy to wear for "pillow" listening at night. I also very highly recommend the Sangean DT-210V, as a great "headset" radio, that just happens to have a handy build in speaker, that's clean. P.S. I also have a Drake R-8. Nice to see another "radio head" out here. I'm also into amateur radio, so I speak from a slightly advantaged experience. So.. "humbly" I recommend the MX-500's, yet specifically for the above mentioned listening preferences to be most accurate of my review. Enjoy.

Here's my impressions of the Sennheiser MX500.
I own a Sony NW-HD3 mp3 player for quite some time now and from the beginning wanted to replace the bundled Sony earbuds with something better.
So I've bought from one to the next the following Sennheiser earbuds:1)MX350 (sucks bigtime!) 2)MX450, after burning them in I thought that they must be on of the loudest and fun to listen to pairs on the market.The high frequencies are very accurate and strong to the point that cover many times midrange response(bad thing that I realised later when bought the MX500).Midrange is from average to good though a bit harsh.Bass
is not the strong point of this pair but isn't absent as others say.Fit and wearing comfort is excellent.Quality is average compared to other Sennheiser earbuds,that was the reason that after the right driver unit died,I bought the next pair.The 3)MX550
is the MX450 with a volume control slider.After crashing that one I wanted to try the MX400 since I don't need the volume
control slider of the MX500 but it wasn't available in a store neer me,I thought of getting the hyped PX100 but did't try it
at the end cause I wanted something more descreet since I use my mp3 all the time when I move around the city.So I got the 4)MX500 it's bass and midrange response is far more accurate and warm than that on the MX450 & MX550 pairs while it's high frequencies could be described by fairly the same accuracy but not so emfasised as to the MX450 and MX550,which is a good thing cause it allows you to enjoy sounds in the low end and midrange spectrum just as good.The bass is much more present here though the difference between that on the MX450 & MX550
isn't huge as others say,it's noticable.The MX500 can't get so loud as the MX450 & MX550 due to its 32 Ohm resistance compared to 16 Ohm in MX450&550.Fit and wearing comfort is inferior to the MX450 & MX550 cause though
they have the same diameter the profile of the MX450 & MX550 is thiner thus allowing better fit.Build quality of the MX500 is much better though than that found on both MX450 & MX550.

Being an audio engineer I am quite picky about the sound products that I purchase. For the most part these guys have past the test. Young people listen to rap and R&B now. When the music is mixed and mastered there is a great emphasis on lower end. Point being, if you are in to rap and R&B and the like then these are not the best phones for you. I did a side by side comparison with the I-pod phones and the I-pod won hands down in bass. These I-pod phones are "hyped" in the bottom end but do not have the clarity of the Sennheiser MX-500s. The Sennheiser MX-500 do not color the sound like other headphones, they just give you a crisp natural image of the sound. If you need more bass, you can always use the bass boost on your cd player. In my humble opinion, I would suggest the Sennheiser MX-500s because they are much clearer sounding overall and you can't beat the price.

These are great earbuds, with some small caveats:
If you have small ears they will be uncomfortable. I have larger ears and I have to fuss with them to get the position just right.

The little foam covers on the buds seem delicate and have fallen off a few times.

The cord is short (maybe 3 ft) which is fine for a portable player, but is awkward for using with many computers or other non handheld components. I just got a miniplug extension cord at radioshack to fix that, and it is great.

On the plus side:
The sound is very clean and natural sounding with no excess bass or treble.

I did not realize it for over a month, but there is a tiny linear volume control on the cord, which is very nice.

This are the most recommended cheaper earbuds ( I did a lot of review searching), and I wholeheartedly agree.

I'm very pleased with these earbuds, their sound is very good, pleasing and smooth... almost as good as my more expensive headphones. It's not tinny or overly heavy on the bass, though the bass is definitely there. It is by far the best of the earbuds that I own, and definitely better then anything packaged with your MiniDisc or CD or MP3 or Ipod players. The price is great too. The foam pads are very thin, but these can be easily replaced. The ear buds are on the larger side, but I find they fit quite well. The case is very convenient and the small size makes it very portable (I can take them with me everywhere). This is definitely a best buy.

Wow.

I didn't really think you could get good sound out of earbud-style headphones. I mean, they're so *small* -- how could they sound good?

Well, I was pleasantly surprised by the Sennheiser MX500's. I upgraded from an older pair of same-style headphones made by Sony, and could immediately tell the difference. I was amazed at the amount of bass they could produce. But the sound isn't muddy; you can still appreciate the high treble and middle-tone sound stages.

Volume is good, too. Some of my music (mainly MP3s, but I also listen to high-bitrate Internet radio) was too much for my old headphones. They'd just crater trying to reproduce the levels. The Sennheisers work great; they deliver the levels effortlessly.

I was also initially skeptical about the price. Like I said before, I didn't think these guys could live up to the other glowing reviews people had left. Certainly they weren't *really* worth the price. But as I listen to my music for a significant portion of my workday, 5 days a week, I thought they'd be worth trying out. I'm glad I did -- I think they're worth every penny and then some.

Really appreciate your tunes? Try 'em. You'll like 'em.

I'm using the Sennheiser MX-500's exclusively with my new 4G 20GB iPod. I purchased these because I've repeatedly heard that the Apple earbuds were pretty underwhelming. I have not tried the Apple earbuds, and they're still in the anti-static sealed bag.

Before I had these I was using an older pair of Sony MDR-A34 headphones. Those are the buds that enter the ear perpendicular to the side of your head, mounted on a foldable above-the-head band. As a reference, I considered the Sony's to not be so great.

The first thing that you'll notice is that the Sennheiser's give you fantastic detail. With the Sony headphones, I wasn't able to hear as much detail... I also couldn't tell the difference between the AAC files and MP3 files on my iPod. While the MP3 files sound better than before, I can clearly tell that the AAC files are higher quality (yes, they are the same bitrate as MP3).

However, with the increased clarity and detail, I have noticed that the bass isn't great. I can still hear the bass, but it isn't so powerful. This isn't a real problem unless you listen to hip-hop or classical jazz. I listen to a pretty good variety of music, and haven't been bothered by this on a lot of other genres. I particularly like the sound of live music, classic rock, and vocal-intensive music with these earbuds.

I've read a lot of other reviews, and will comment on other features:
- cord length is sufficient but could be longer.
- the volume slider is very small, and very convenient. Another reviewer made the comment that it's a "linear" volume switch. To clarify, the switch slides along a linear axis; it is not a knob or dial, which helps keep the size small. However, the volume is controlled by a logarithmic potentiometer, not a linear potentiometer... This is good, because humans hear on a logarithmic scale. Just a friendly clarification for any other EE's out there who might care.
- the buds seem to fit my ears, but I probably have big ears.... I definitely have a big melon.
- the protective case works well, but isn't a special feature.

At the end of the day, I'm very happy with the ~$16 I spent on these. I highly recommend these to anyone who wants something inexpensive and highly portable.

You can get better earbuds, but usually not for anywhere close to the same price.

I'm not sure why a couple of other reviews have complained about the earpiece fit. I like them better than any other headphones. Unlike competitors, these don't have a useless bulge on one side, and the stem from the earpiece is thin enough to fit between whatever you call those two flesh flaps on your ear. They aren't excessivly thick in any way, so if these don't work for you probably nothing will. Ditch the foam pads, and just put them in gently.

I have had these for a few months now and I am very satisfied with my choice. For the size and price they have very good sound quality that can't be beat. The openness and tonal balance is generally what you expect from Sennheiser. The sound quality is not as good as my HD 570s, also Sennheiser, but the 570s also cost about one hundred and forty greenbacks, and they are of the traditional type. I think that the sound produced by the MX-500s has a little bit of emphasis on the mid range which I could do without and the connector definitely should have been gold plated, but they are generally a very good pair of headphones. The case is a nice inclusion too. The MX-500s are an excellent choice for Minidisc players and other devices without a lot of power output as they are very efficient.

These are the best earbuds to buy at this price. The sound is great and they are not so large as to be too uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. The in-line volume control is an added bonus. Earbuds that cost 2 to 3 times as much as these don't have that feature. I have a more expensive pair of Sony earbuds that are rated higher in sound quality by "experts" but the size of the earbuds is larger and uncomfortable to wear for more than 30 minutes. If you are like me and have smaller ear canals, get these earbuds. If you want the biggest bang for your buck, get these earbuds. Paying [money] for earbuds is stupid if you can't wear them.