sacrifice13
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2012
- Posts
- 204
- Likes
- 14
Hi all, I decided to start this thread and do a brief review, because there isn't a whole lot of information on these headphones and as far as i know, I'm the only one on head.fi who owns them.
Let me start this review with a disclaimer. I am an Audio Technica fanboy. I really love their stuff. One of the reasons for this is because I think they pack a lot of quality into their lower-priced items, and the S500 is no exception.
These were obviously named to compete with the JVC S500, but competition in the audio world is always a good thing.
I have given these headphones over 50 hours of burn-in with a combination of pink noise and regular music, and I didn't detect much change.
Packaging:
Packaging is quite plain. Plastic box with no accessories. No surpise there really for such a cheap headphone.
Design/Build Quality:
This is the only area where I have some complaints. First off, there is no padding on the headband. I have no idea why a company would put out a headphone without headband padding. For me personally, it doesn't affect the comfort, but I think it makes the product look unfinished. The design is pretty simple. It certainly won't win any awards for looks, but for $40 I wouldn't expect it to. I actually like the nice aluminium logo on the cups, however the cups are pretty big. When worn, the cups jut out quite a bit. This might bother some, but I don't really care about it. Also, I really like that these have a one-sided cable, which IMO should be a standard for portable headphones. The build quality seems decent, although the lack of padding makes the headband look flimsy IMO, but it should withstand general use.
Comfort:
I actually find these to be quite comfortable. The clamping is not very hard at all and the headband is surprisingly susceptible to stretching. I don't mean that it's going to bend and break, but if the clamp is hard, just leave them over some books or something for a few hours and they will loosen a bit. With a bit of stretching I find them VERY comfortable. The quality of the pads is pretty good (the same as the previous SJ55) but I would prefer the softer pads of the JVC S400. So these aren't the most comfrtable, but certainly not uncomfortable by any means.
Sound:
I'm comparing these primarily with two massive budget competitors - the JVC S400 and one of my favourite headphones, the Creative Aurvana Live!.
First off, these have big bass. I think these are probably the bassiest portables I own. What is great about theseis that the bass only comes to play when the song calls for it. Listening to Adrian Lux's "Teenage Crime", the bass is in full force, but then switching to Evanescence's "My Immortal" it's nowhere to be seen. I don't detect any significant sub-bass roll off. As far as I can tell, these things can go pretty deep.
The mids are reminiscent of most AT headphones, in the sense that they are very present. Vocals are upfront, moreso than the CAL. This quality makes listening to pop music particularly nice, because the bass and vocals are the main attraction. I find the mids slightly cleaner than the JVC S400 too.
Treble is very nice. Not laid-back, but not bright either. I would say the treble is quite natural. It has more of a shimmer than the JVC, but less than the CAL. I find rock/metal to be very pleasing through these because of the balance of mids and treble. I find the JVC too dark for those genres and the CAL's mids are slightly too distant.
The soundstage is probably where these lose a couple of points. They are definitely more intimate sounding headphones than the CAL, so depending on your preferences, that could be a good or bad thing. I definitely don't mind the slightly small soundstage, as it makes for a really nice intimate experience listening to vocal music, and a sort of 'club' feeling when listening to anything with heavy bass. Separation and imaging is decent, nothing special but not bad. Not much more to say than that.
Conclusion:
All in all, I really enjoy these headphones. I definitely prefer them over the JVC S400 due to the cleaner mids and more sparkly treble. Comparing it with the CAL is slightly harder. The CAL has beautifully sparkly treble and nice sized soundstage going for it (not to mention SUPREME comfort), but the ATH S500 has the harder-hitting bass and the more natural up-front mids. So I wouldn't say one is better than the other, they are just different sounding.
I would say these are an awesome value. I paid about $50 from CDJapan (incl. shipping) and the sound does not disappoint. If you can get over the cheapish design, I would highly recommend these. Comfortable, very fun sound signature, and cheap!
PS - sorry about the crappy smartphone photos.
Let me start this review with a disclaimer. I am an Audio Technica fanboy. I really love their stuff. One of the reasons for this is because I think they pack a lot of quality into their lower-priced items, and the S500 is no exception.
These were obviously named to compete with the JVC S500, but competition in the audio world is always a good thing.
I have given these headphones over 50 hours of burn-in with a combination of pink noise and regular music, and I didn't detect much change.
Packaging:
Packaging is quite plain. Plastic box with no accessories. No surpise there really for such a cheap headphone.
Design/Build Quality:
This is the only area where I have some complaints. First off, there is no padding on the headband. I have no idea why a company would put out a headphone without headband padding. For me personally, it doesn't affect the comfort, but I think it makes the product look unfinished. The design is pretty simple. It certainly won't win any awards for looks, but for $40 I wouldn't expect it to. I actually like the nice aluminium logo on the cups, however the cups are pretty big. When worn, the cups jut out quite a bit. This might bother some, but I don't really care about it. Also, I really like that these have a one-sided cable, which IMO should be a standard for portable headphones. The build quality seems decent, although the lack of padding makes the headband look flimsy IMO, but it should withstand general use.
Comfort:
I actually find these to be quite comfortable. The clamping is not very hard at all and the headband is surprisingly susceptible to stretching. I don't mean that it's going to bend and break, but if the clamp is hard, just leave them over some books or something for a few hours and they will loosen a bit. With a bit of stretching I find them VERY comfortable. The quality of the pads is pretty good (the same as the previous SJ55) but I would prefer the softer pads of the JVC S400. So these aren't the most comfrtable, but certainly not uncomfortable by any means.
Sound:
I'm comparing these primarily with two massive budget competitors - the JVC S400 and one of my favourite headphones, the Creative Aurvana Live!.
First off, these have big bass. I think these are probably the bassiest portables I own. What is great about theseis that the bass only comes to play when the song calls for it. Listening to Adrian Lux's "Teenage Crime", the bass is in full force, but then switching to Evanescence's "My Immortal" it's nowhere to be seen. I don't detect any significant sub-bass roll off. As far as I can tell, these things can go pretty deep.
The mids are reminiscent of most AT headphones, in the sense that they are very present. Vocals are upfront, moreso than the CAL. This quality makes listening to pop music particularly nice, because the bass and vocals are the main attraction. I find the mids slightly cleaner than the JVC S400 too.
Treble is very nice. Not laid-back, but not bright either. I would say the treble is quite natural. It has more of a shimmer than the JVC, but less than the CAL. I find rock/metal to be very pleasing through these because of the balance of mids and treble. I find the JVC too dark for those genres and the CAL's mids are slightly too distant.
The soundstage is probably where these lose a couple of points. They are definitely more intimate sounding headphones than the CAL, so depending on your preferences, that could be a good or bad thing. I definitely don't mind the slightly small soundstage, as it makes for a really nice intimate experience listening to vocal music, and a sort of 'club' feeling when listening to anything with heavy bass. Separation and imaging is decent, nothing special but not bad. Not much more to say than that.
Conclusion:
All in all, I really enjoy these headphones. I definitely prefer them over the JVC S400 due to the cleaner mids and more sparkly treble. Comparing it with the CAL is slightly harder. The CAL has beautifully sparkly treble and nice sized soundstage going for it (not to mention SUPREME comfort), but the ATH S500 has the harder-hitting bass and the more natural up-front mids. So I wouldn't say one is better than the other, they are just different sounding.
I would say these are an awesome value. I paid about $50 from CDJapan (incl. shipping) and the sound does not disappoint. If you can get over the cheapish design, I would highly recommend these. Comfortable, very fun sound signature, and cheap!
PS - sorry about the crappy smartphone photos.
