JBL TUNE 500BT - On-Ear Wireless Bluetooth Headphone - Black

Product Information

These are great for casual listening during your commute, and using them with your smartphone for phone calls and YouTube binging.

JBL Tune 500BT Review - Budget On-Ears with Bass JBL Tune 500BT Review - Budget On-Ears with Bass

These are cheap on-ear headphones, and they feel like it. The plastics is a grade lower compared to more expensive headphones… It overshadows mids and highs to a considerable degree, but if you like bass, you’ll love the sound of these too. Generally, the sound is good for modern genres and watching videos or listening to audiobooks (as long as you keep your expectations low). You can rank them among rather average, and for the price, that’s pretty good. Yes, you can do that. A smartphone and tablet, or 2 phones. Pause on one device, and you can play on the other.

And when the earpads rub against your skin, they create more noise than pleather of velour pads. Nonetheless, they’re quite comfortable and don’t irritate the ears too much. Plus, you can crank them up quite loud, to dangerous levels actually ( don’t listen for too long at high volume).

JBL Tune510BT - Wireless on-ear headphones featuring JBL Tune510BT - Wireless on-ear headphones featuring

Connecting is easy. Press and hold the middle button, and the headphones go into connecting mode. After that, they pair automatically to the last known device. Can You Connect to 2 Devices at the Same Time (Multipoint)?Now, since these are budget on-ear headphones, you don’t get any fancy Bluetooth codecs, like aptX or AAC. You have to do with the basic SBC (and that’s fine for the price). at least when it comes to the feeling in your hands. From afar, you can’t really judge it because they look like they might’ve cost more.

JBL TUNE 500BT - On-Ear Wireless Bluetooth Headphone - Blue JBL TUNE 500BT - On-Ear Wireless Bluetooth Headphone - Blue

With the buttons, you control volume, play/pause, song selection, voice assistant, and calls (accept/reject). Even so, the lightweight headphones stay comfortable for a long time, especially once the pads warm up and soften.

Even though the Tune 500BT come with an older Bluetooth version 4.1, they provide above-average wireless connectivity with longer range and stability. LED light always shines blue when turned on (you can’t disable it). JBL is a popular brand with solid customer support and high build quality, though they aren’t water-resistant. But it’s a bit harder to distinguish between them. The middle button has a slightly elevated dot for easier recognition but could be more pronounced. The buttons are quite easy to distinguish but we’ve seen better. If that doesn’t work, like in our case (PC and Android phone), then you can seamlessly switch between the 2 devices. Press and hold the plus and middle button for 2 seconds to hear sound prompt. Then simply continue on the other device. Is Video Delay a Problem? The LED indicator always shines blue when turned on. And it also communicates whether the 500BT headphones are in pairing (or another mode). How is the Microphone Quality?

JBL Tune 500BT by Harman Powerful Bass Wireless On-Ear JBL Tune 500BT by Harman Powerful Bass Wireless On-Ear

The clamping force is quite strong as well. It makes them suitable for the gym or basic activity. They don’t really move around the head. But they do get hot, and you will sweat after a while. The bass emphasized sound quality is typical for JBL headphones. It’s clearly geared towards a general audience that isn’t too demanding about sonic fidelity and just wants stronger lows. There’s also the Multipoint feature discussed in the Bluetooth section. Basically, you can connect 2 devices at the same time and use either seamlessly. Build quality is where these show their low price. The materials are cheap and somewhat creaky, but look better than you’d think. If you listen at half volume in a quiet room, you’ll still leak some noise, and others will know what songs you’re listening to.

These aren’t audiophile headphones and come with a strong emphasis on bass. You can hear it immediately hence the name “JBL Pure Bass.” The Bluetooth features show signs of age, they charge with Micro-USB instead of today’s standard USB-C. The battery life of over 18 hours is great but not among the longest in the category.