KEF M500 On-Ear Headphone Review

[admin]

In the world of on-ear headphones, few can actually be called comfortable. The KEF M500 headphones are the only ones I've ever encountered that were as comfortable, and in some cases more comfortable, than over-ear headphones. For some, that would be enough to justify taking a closer look at these little beauties. Add the fantastic build quality, superior performance to other headphones in the same price bracket, and great noise isolation, and KEF has a winning package with the M500s. I won't say these are some of the best sounding and most comfortable headphones in the on-ear category, I'll say they are some of the best and most comfortable in any category! Highly recommended!

Discuss "KEF M500 On-Ear Headphone Review" here. Read the article.

 

[jliedeka]

I wish I would have seen this a couple of weeks ago. I have the same gripe with on-ear headphones. I was using Grado SR-60i with a gaming laptop. They get uncomfortable after a few hours. I picked up the Beyerdynamic T51p which sounds as good or better but can still be uncomfortable after a while although I think that is improving with age. I would have tried the KEF based on your comments.

Jim

 

[israndy]

Well it figures that Kef would finally come out with headphones JUST after I spend a fortune on B&W. I tested the Bose and the Beats, the Sennheisers, the Harman Kardon, and even the Sol Republics. I could not do better than the P5s by Bowers and Wilkins.

The P5s were just an amazing set of headphones. I have never heard such crisp music w/o any shrillness even at loud volumes. The bass was stable but not concussive, I could hear all that was recorded w/o requiring the speaker to add it's own sound like some hip-hop is recorded to do, shaking the car. I only heard the track in it's purist form. Every selection I played on them was flawless unlike EVERY other headphone I tried, always some problem stood out.

Well, I didn't test the Parrots, but I am not a battery powered headphones guy, and I really don't want noise canceling. Why suffer with distortion ADDED by your headphones. So I spent the money and got the P5s for regular use and the P3s because they were so close to the P5s, slightly less bass presence, but quite a few less dollars. Then if the wife wants to listen to something at the same time I got no complaints.

Then right after they arrived the P7s came out. I was so angry until I got a chance to listen to them. They were even less bass than the P3s, although not as clamped on your ears either. Hopefully overtime that will not be so harsh.

Now it has been half a year and the KEFs are out. I love KEF. My 104A/B stereo speakers that I have had since I was 17 (after my sister took her JBLs to college) are still my main speakers. When surround became a thing I got the KHT 3000 series with subwoofer, rocks my world when watching BluRay. The review you did was epic and sold me on buying the KEFs, I just wish you had ever done a review of the P5s when they were new, I think they would have impressed. Certainly nothing else on the marketplace of stores I can walk into and buy/return.

-Randy