HI!
Welcome to Lachlan Likes A Thing, a show where I take a thing and see whether or not I like
it.
Now the thing we're looking at in this video is the KEF M500, which is the first pair of
portable headphones produced by the prestigious UK audio manufacturer KEF.
Now these headphones retail for a recommended retail price of $299 US Dollars or $399 Australian
Dollars.
But this pair is a used pair that I got from another local Australian member of the audio
forum Head-Fi.org!
Now in this video we're going to go through the design and the build quality and the comfort
of the M500, and then we're going to go a little into the sound quality and how it compares
to other premium lifestyle headphones on the market today, like the Sennheiser Amperior,
the Sennheiser Momentum and the Audio Technica ES10.
Now KEF is probably known as a very prestigious British loudspeaker manufacturer and although
I haven't heard any KEF speakers myself personally I do know that they've been known in the past
for making some pretty innovative and high tech stuff.
I have to say in terms of build quality and design I'm honestly a bit surprised that the
M500 is the company's first attempt at a portable headphone because it honestly seems like they've
been doing it for decades and the reason why I say this is because it's obvious that whoever
designed this headphone has done their research and their homework into what makes a good
portable headphone.
Starting off with the design of this headphone, first of all, it's just a minimalist, really
sleek, really eye catching modern design and I think it looks great.
In terms of the materials they've used in the design of this headphone the entire frame
is made mostly out of solid aluminum and a few of these pieces, especially the single
piece of aluminum here are just really solid and premium feeling.
The materials they chose for the earpads, it's just really soft and supple - I'm actually
not sure whether this is synthetic leather or animal leather but it feels really nice.
At the same time this headphone is quite lightweight, it's 208g, which puts it on par with something
like the Sennheiser Momentum.
Now with this design it has a detachable cable which is always a plus and it's a flat style
of cable that doesn't tangle very easily and it terminates in a 90 degree plug which means
that it doesn't stick out of your pockets and that's really good.
Now in the box you get two cables, you get a standard 3.5mm cable and you also get the
4-pin remote cable for iOS and iPhone and those kind of devices.
It attaches to the headphone with a 2.5mm plug and unfortunately the socket is fairly
recessed so I'm pretty sure this will only accept cables from KEF and you won't be able
to use any third party cables in case you break the cable.
The other thing about this design is that the earpads initially I thought were not removable
which is something that I would have dinged the design for.
But apparently I've seen videos where you can remove these earpads, I have not been
able to work out how to do it, but apparently that's a thing that you can do.
Now as you noticed the headphone does fold up, and it folds up into a more compact shape
which is a big plus and I think it trumps the Sennheiser Momentum in this regard.
And it also comes with this really nice compact carrying case which you can just put the headphone
into.
You know, it's a really nice, well thought out package, so kudos to KEF for getting it
right the first time.
The only bad things I can say about this design is that I'm not too sure about the long term
durability of this hinge mechanism.
It seems fairly solid to me but it does seem like a point of the design which could fail
after a while.
And the headphone does produce a little bit more creaking in the frame than I would like
to see.
Now considering that this is a used pair I don't know what this headphone has gone through
but it doesn't feel quite as solid when you kind of swivel it around on the headband as
something like the Sennheiser Momentum or the Sennheiser Amperior.
So moving onto the ergonomics of the M500 I'm happy to report that the good news does
continue because the M500 is an extremely comfortable headphone.
Even though it's an on-ear headphone and the earpads do rest on top of your ears I do find
that it is more comfortable than a lot of over-ear headphones because the earpads are
just very soft and pillowy and the whole thing is just very lightweight with a very lightweight
clamping force and it's just very comfortable as a result.
Now two things to note, one thing is that it still is an on-ear headphone so in hot
weather it still does press on top of your ears and it might get a little sweaty and
the other thing is that because clamping force is relatively light it doesn't feel as secure
on the head as something like say the Sennheiser Amperior or the Sennheiser HD25 which are
modeled on DJ designs.
In terms of noise isolation the M500 is probably a little a bit average in its class for on-ear
headphones, it isn't fantastic it isn't going to block about a huge amount of noise but
it's still pretty decent and I'd be more than happy to kind of travel around with this headphone.
So the design and the ergonomics of the M500 are fantastic but how does it sound?
Well I reckon the M500 sounds almost as good as it looks.
So it has a signature that I think a lot of people would enjoy quite a bit.
It's got an overall sound signature which is warmer than neutral, it's not completely
bass heavy, but it is definitely got an emphasis in terms of the bass and sub-bass elements
of the sound.
It's very chesty and authoritative in the sound.
I do find that the bass can sound a little blunt and just a little loose at times.
But it's not something that really detracts from the overall experience unless you're
directly comparing to other headphones in its class.
In terms of the treble frequencies and the vocals, it's a bit rolled-off, it has a slight
bit of smoothed off kind of vocals that make it sound a little less clean than I would
personally prefer, but some people might like that slightly less aggressive approach.
And in terms of soundstaging it's quite decently wide for an on-ear headphone, it's not mind
blowing but it's certainly not compressed like a lot of other smaller on-ear headphones.
So let's move on to more specific comparisons between the M500 and some of my other favourite
portable on-ear headphones.
Now firstly lets compare with the Sennheiser Momentum.
Now the Sennheiser Momentum was one of the first headphones that I reviewed, actually
it was the first headphone I reviewed on my channel, and it definitely is the only portable
headphone that I own that has a similar level of build quality and comfort with the M500.
Now in terms of sound the Sennheiser Momentum is definitely the more mellow and the more
relaxed sounding of the two headphones.
They are both warm sounding headphones but the Momentum doesn't have quite as much emphasis
on the bass and the mid-bass frequencies, and the treble I think is a little more defined,
it's a little more forward and a bit more textured and more interesting on the Momentum.
Now in terms of bass again I think the Momentum is just a little bit tighter than the M500
but it's not a huge difference.
Personally I prefer the Momentum just because it's a bit leaner in sound but I'd be very
happy with either of these two.
Now compared with the Sennheiser Amperior which is my current favourite portable headphone
the Sennheiser Amperior is definitely more aggressive sounding than the M500 because
it has a much more forward, much more emphasised vocal section particularly in the lower treble
so it has a much more aggressive sound which I think is particularly well suited for rock
music and electronic music and overall the Amperior has I think more of a tight sound
overall.
It's more defined, especially in terms of the bass, the Amperior has some of the tightest
bass that I've heard on a portable headphone.
The flip side is that the Amperior has a bit more of a compressed, bit more of a congested
soundstage, so if that's really important to you I think the M500 has the edge in that
regard.
Now let's compare to the Audio Technica ES10 which is a bit more of a rare headphone outside
of Japan.
I actually think that of all these headphones the closest to the M500 in sound is the Audio
Technica ES10.
It does have that kind of warmth to it.
The only difference I would have to say is that the ES10 has a wider soundstage than
the M500, in terms of bass it doesn't have quite as much emphasis on the sub-bass as
the M500, but I do find the ES10 is tighter overall in terms of bass than the M500 and
in terms of the vocals the peak in the vocals on the Audio Technica ES10 is just a bit higher
like all Audio Technica cans, so it has a bit more of a, a bit more of an emphasised
signature in terms of vocals that particularly sound out - sorry, STAND out in a way that
they don't on the M500.
So I've gone through all these headphones and it's kind of like I'm saying that the
M500 isn't quite as good as all of these, and that's true to an extent - I do prefer
all these headphones to the M500 but I would still very happily regard this headphone as
being on a similar tier with all these other portable headphones and especially considering
the excellent build quality and the design of the M500 I'm very very very happy to recommend
these as a really good portable headphone and I'm quite sure that you would be very
happy if you took these home and had a listen to these.
Anyway thanks for watching this video, please 'Like' this video if you found it helpful,
and you can check out some of my other reviews on my channel and subscribe for future reviews.
Thanks to everyone who's liked my other videos and left their comments and subscribed to
my channel, and I'm looking forward to your comments on the M500.
I know you've been waiting quite a long time for my review of these headphones.
You can talk to me about gear on Facebook at facebook.com/lachlanlikesathing or on Twitter
@lachlikesathing and again it's that kind of year again, we're rapidly approaching Christmas
and you know, the holidays, so in case I don't see you again before the end of 2003 I hope
you have a really happy holidays and a happy new year!