AKGY500 On-Ear Foldable Wireless Bluetooth Headphones - Black (US Version)

I spent a lot of time researching bluetooth headphones and looking for a clear front-runner; to no avail, since there seems to be no consensus on the best ones and what gets a five-star rating on one site, another reviewer utterly hates. I ultimately took a plunge on these for no other reason than that as an audio engineer I'm familiar with AKG and trust them to make good stuff.These are seriously so great.The ear pads are cushy and soft, and even though they don't have active noise cancellation technology, the mere fact of having the plush ear pads pressing onto my ears provides a fair amount of isolation. The headband is comfortable and adjustable, even for my giant head. The controls are straightforward and took very little time to become second nature. They fold up quite small for transport in the little bag they come with.Music sounds stunning on these, they have a rich full low end without having the kind of dumb overhyped bass response that some consumer headphones do. The mids and highs are clear, and overall they seem to reflect a pretty balanced representation of a sound source, without any odd peaks or exaggerations that I could detect. I listened to an album that I had painstakingly mixed myself (and was therefore intimately familiar with the sound of) and it sounded deep and full and accurate. Podcasts sound a little thinner in some cases, I'm guessing because the high quality headphones are shining a spotlight on the varying production quality different podcasts have. Some sound great on these and some sound a little weak and treble-y. I didn't notice this difference as much on my cheap earbuds before.As far as Bluetooth adaptability goes, they paired with my iPhone immediately and with hardly any effort on my part, and have never come un-paired. My desktop computer wasn't Bluetooth-capable so I had to add an adapter dongle, and that's occasionally given me some hiccups but nothing I couldn't sort out by turning the headphones off and then back on again. What I was most impressed by is their ability to jump back and forth between two separate Bluetooth sources - I can be listening to my computer, hit play on my phone, and within a few seconds the headphones 'hop' over to the new thing. Fancy.If there is anything that irritates me about these - and I'm reaching to find something - the beep they make when they turn on or successfully pair with a source is strangely loud. Within a couple of uses I had developed a routine where I pick them up, turn them on, and continue holding them in my hands until I hear those two beeps, * then * put them on my head. Easy fix, but not sure why that beep is so obnoxious.Other than that one nitpick, these are meeting and exceeding my expectations. These are a joy to use. I carry them with me everywhere, they're my new sidekick.

It took me three weeks and some very frustrating interactions with the "start guide" to figure out the way these are supposed to work. On the positive side it is very simple to pair the headphones with an iPhone and our Samsung smart TV. Simply turn the phones on and the device and they'll find each other. My problem was with the "ambient" setting. When activated the ambient setting freezes the volume control at a very low level. Figuring out how to turn ambient off was the problem. The directions are very simplistic, they do not explain what the functions actually do. It took some time of trial and error to find out how to turn ambient off. A little more detail in what the functions do and how to work them would have prevented me from almost returning the headphones before I decided to keep them and "figure it out". Now they sound good, are comfortable and lightweight, and work very well. They also sound good for a small (compact) headset.

The media could not be loaded. So I haven't used these extensively yet. I tried them out a bit to see how they work.They sit firmly on the ears but soft enough to not hurt, very padded like memory foam. Again, I haven't used it long enough but that was the impression I got after putting them on. They do drown out outside noise such as my loud fan, there is an ambient feature in case you actually want to pay attention to your surroundings and not get hit by a car. It does work, the volume lowers very noticeably and you are able to hear my loud fan again. I would have to test this out in a louder location but hey, Rona so 🤷.They are very bendable which is a plus for me to be able to fit in my bag. The headband part has a small softer layer underneath to not hurt the top of your head and each ear is designated R & L.The adjustable headband piece seems to move too easily to stay in place but once on your head, it isn't a problem. There are also numbered tick marks on the adjustable exposed metal to not keep you guessing whether each side is extended evenly so that's a plus.Sound is nice and crisp. At the loudest level it can almost hurt my ears which is honestly what I want when I'm really feeling my music. I also appreciate the toggle button for volume, instead of two different buttons to increase & decrease volume. Makes it easier to know which one I'm selecting. Sometimes, depending on the track, the bass can over power the vocals but I'm fine with that and it only occurs with some songs, its not a disappointment, just something I wanted to point out. It could also depend on the source the music is coming from as well.The pause/play feature works almost perfectly but sometimes it does continue to play after taking them off to place on the table, not a big deal idc. It works perfectly when taking them off to place around your neck though. There is a 2-second delay. You can disable this feature as well, it's in the provided instructions booklet.There is a charging cable included as well as a detachable audio cable with built-in mic. The headphones also have an answer/end call button.It has multipoint connection for those who want to connect to two devices. Ex: those who want to connect to a separate bluetooth device for music and connect to their phone to answer calls.