Disclaimer: These earphones were purchased at €275 right here on head-fi from another user. Although they are discontinued now, the MSRP for these was $650 so early adopters of these, or those who purchased close to MSRP might have harsher opinions than I do. Please understand that if I had purchased these closer to MSRP, I would probably deduct a star from the score.
DACs used (by order of preference): SMSL iDea, Apple Dongle, Audio GD NFB-12 (only tested once)
Sources: Pixel 6, Custom Gaming PC connected to a USB Dac with a mix of music from Spotify, Foobar and Youtube

Why I bought it

Ever since I acquired the Sony EX800ST, one of my favorite IEMs, I've been on the lookout for something similar-sounding but usable outdoors. After much soul searching, and no luck, I got a tip from a fellow on Discord whose name eludes me at this point, it's been a few years, about checking out the Acoustune HS1650CU and how it would be a nicer counterpart to the more neutral-sounding Sony IER-M9 in my collection. The high MSRP of the 1650CU made them a particularly difficult sell and after their discontinuing I figured my odds of being able to get one would only diminish until I saw an opportunity for a price that I found palatable.

Onto the review!

Build Quality, Fit and Isolation

Most people here have seen pictures of the 1650CU. They look unlike most other IEMs and perhaps that is a quirk that I gravitate towards given that the EX800ST looks like I'm trying to shove miniature UFOs in my ears when I'm wearing them.

What I did not expect was quite how small they were. They look less like earphones and closer to what I'd expect to see inside a precise mechanical watch. The small intricate on the exterior are a thing of beauty and the connector is, thankfully, a departure from the plagued MMCX which seems to persist despite all the issues it causes to everyone that uses it. On the 1650CU you get an MMCX which is not my favorite connector, not by a longshot, but at least the cable that came with it is of decent quality with great fit that does not move too much around which, may help with the longevity of the connector.

Despite their glamorous exterior, they do not protrude immensely from my ears and are fairly comfortable to ear, though your mileage may vary because some of the angles around the back of the IEM, the part that nestles inside your ear, are relatively sharp for an IEM and when I first tried them out, they didn't feel very comfortable the first few hours, though now they just fit seemlessly. If you are particularly sensitive to sharper edges, I would recommend you try these before you purchase them.

Once surprising criticism I've heard regarding these Accoustune units is that they do not isolate well though my experience couldn't be further from that. I find that the passive isolation of these earphones is above average, at least compared with everything else I own or have tried.

Sound Quality

Bass - as a single Dynamic Driver earphone, you'd expect these to perform rather well on the bass because, if they don't, what is the point? Thankfully, the 1650CU does not disappoint and while I wouldn't say bass is spectacular, it's no Sony Z1R, it does have a lot of meat to it. It is not particularly fast, nor do I feel like it muddies the tracks, but some tracks do fair a bit worse due to...
Mids - With slightly forward sounding higher bass and slightly recessed lower mid frequencies it envelops most tracks with a warm tint which helps some tracks more than others. Certainly female vocalists and pop music benefits from the tuning in these more than say Frank Sinatra but for most mainstream music, you get a lively, thumpy and balanced sound that is, if nothing else, conducive to some mild thumping and nodding.
Highs - While they don't feel as forward and bright as a more neutral sounding IEM might what is there is pronounced enough to never make me feel like I was missing out on anything, despite this earphone not being the most technical sounding earphone I own. If the 1650CU were a potato crisp, in terms of the sound they make when you bit into it, they would be Pringles rather than Ruffles. Sparkly, but subdued and not as harsh or bright as other IEMs. If you are a treble head, there is nothing of note here for you.

Conclusion

While these do not quite replace the EX800ST which still have a fairly unique sound and broader sence of space and imaging, they do offer me what I was seeking which was a more fun but not unbalanced, warm sounding IEM that I can appreciate and use both indoors and outdoors.

I will of course reach out for the IER-M9 if I want a more balanced and technical sound, and I will gravitate towards my EX-800ST when I want to get lost in afternoon of envolving music but if I just need a quick fun IEM to pick-me up and lift my mood, the 1650CU will probably be my first choice.

At their MSRP I don't think I could, in good conscience, recommend these to most users, but at a price similar to what I got them for, I think these will make for a fun and worthwhile addition to an earphone collection.

They certainly have the character, the build quality and the fun factor to at least be a worthwhile listen and while they're not the sort of IEM that will blow you away with detail, whenever I pick them up for a listen I feel like they're saying:

This is going to be a different type of review, one where I mostly focus on the functionality of these IEMs and what I think about them.

The Good

Sound Quality

There are no shortage of opinions on how the WF-1000XM3 but if you're only interested in how they sound, here's what I think: they have a fun warm tuning that will be appealing to most people, unless you are seeking for something with a more neutral response. They have good tonality and timbre and I'd argue that, in that aspect, they are slightly better than my Galaxy Buds+, which can sometimes have a slightly wonky or nasal tonality, and they have a good amount of detail.

Build Quality

Now, I am no stranger to Sony's excellent build quality, particularly when it comes to audio products. My Sony IER-M9 are built like a tank and the packaging has more thought put into its origami construction than some companies put into their actual products. I expect these earphones to last well past their warranty, should the battery last that long (more on that later). Sony is very good at making you feel like you are getting your money's worth when you purchase one of their premium products.

Battery Life

I have never run into any battery problems with these Sony. I don't expect this to be the case with every one that owns these and my use case may vary, but my work often requires that I drive so I tend to keep them in my ear sometimes throughout most of a morning and I do about an hour's worth, at least, of continuous music listening during my lunch break. I don't remember ever having a time where I wanted to use them and lacked the battery life to do so.

Another great positive about the battery is that, as far as I know, this is one of the very TWS that you can purchase replaceable batteries for. They are readily available even from average hardware stores which is something that is not true for a lot of other competitor products. I am of the opinion that TWS should be built with longevity in mind, with easy battery replacement being a part of that and in that aspect, the Sony stand head and shoulders above most, if not all of their competitors.

The Bad

Fit

There's no two ways about this... you will have fit and isolation issues with these TWS which is ironic because they were one of the first good noise-cancelling TWS but that is a fact that is held back by the fact that unless you choose rubberized tips or have some special ears that just happen to magically fit these perfectly, you will find that these don't isolate or sit nearly as snugly as some other TWS.

Now, I've never had an issue with them falling out of my ear, outside of when I accidentally knock them out of one, and I don't think they are particularly uncomfortable to wear, I don't, but I do think that achieving a comfortable seal with a silicone tip will be a tall order for many people.

Noise Cancelling

I just want to make a small side note about the Sony's NC capabilities because I feel they go hand in hand with the Fit. The Noise Cancelling is mediocre. Admittedly, I did not expect anything as good as the Sony H.Ear On 2 I have, but I did expect something slightly better than barely being noticeable though, admittedly, that is partially due to the fit issues which I previously mentioned.

Connectivity

When the first generation of TWS products came out, many of them were plagued with connectivity issues where it would be frequent for one or both sides to dropout, for the sound to be out of sync or failing to connect altogether. Over time these issues were ironed out and when the second wave of products came along, of which I consider the WF-1000XM3 to be a part of, many of these issues were ironed out. Unfortunately, when it comes to the WF-1000XM3, not all of them were.

Over the time I've owned mine I experience with regularity: failing to connect to my phone, connecting but not becoming the default speaker of my device or being detected by my phone. Being connected during a call but with no sound being output. Randomly being disconnected for no discernable reason.

For the record, I do most of my listening of the WF-1000XM3 with a Pixel 6 and I am well aware that this phone has had Bluetooth issues since it launched which is why I'm sad to report that when I tried using my old phone, a One Plus 6 for a day I had exactly the same issues. Also worth noting that I did not experience any such issues with my Galaxy Buds+ or the Google Buds A Series, or whatever they call them.

I gave the Sony the benefit of the doubt and I lost.

The Ugly

Wind Noise

When I read any general review of the WF-1000XM3 and don't see anyone mentioning the wind noise issue I feel that's some degree of deceit with it. I don't know whether it is because of their shape, or where the microphones are positioned but the Sony pick up a lot of wind noise. Yes, before you ask, I am aware that Sony has a setting for noise-cancelling that reduces wind noise and to some degree it works and improves the issue, but it is prevalent enough for me to consider it one of the worst aspects of the device which leads me to voice calls.

Voice Calls

Now, I understand that for some people this is a negligible aspect since they may have bought these mainly to serve as a nice pair of earphones to wear outside so feel free to ignore this point if you wish but I have never had more issues making phonecalls with any bluetooth headset or headphone or whatever than I have with the WF-1000XM3.

The slightest breeze can be enough to make caller wince because of how it is caught by the microphones. The person on the other side will often sound either very very quiet or robotic, despite having perfect cellphone signal and it has a really hard time picking up my voice on the other side of the call if anything more than a gentle breeze brushes the Sony.

I will often have to turn my head or seek "shelter" from the wind just to be able to have a normal conversation with someone which is something that I find absurd and even when I am in ideal conditions, in a room, with perfect reception, they are still prone to sound quality issues and the other connectivity issues I previously mentioned.

In Conclusion

At this point I feel like I've probably alienated most people that shower these TWS with lavish praise and to some degree I understand that praise. Under ideal circumstances the Sony are some of the best sounding TWS with great specs and I love listening to music with them but as an outdoor device and one I hoped and expected to be reliable, with good battery life and good sound quality for when I listen to music, they only really scratch one of those boxes.

I really wish they were as good as other people find them to be. I love the way music sounds on them, but when you add up all the small issues I have with them, they add up what I feel is a below-average product that is only good in a couple of the things that it sets out to do and below average or just outright terrible in some others.

I would not recommend them to almost anyone despite agreeing that they are one of the best sounding TWS on the market. There are just better products on the market.

2024 Update

It's been quite a few years since I wrote these reviews and my general impressions on some of the products I reviewed have changed drastically, as has the budget IEM market since this was written. Please keep that in mind as you read the following paragraphs. I update the rating of the IEMs because I feel that nowadays these are completely obsolete both in terms of sound and build quality.

Introduction

Tennmak is one of the better known Chi-fi brands here on head-fi and they have a few models that have a rather vocal following like the Crazy Cellos, you’ve surely seen name-dropped a few times on the IEM sub-forum, the Piano or the Dulcimer. One of the least talked about Tennmak models though has become and been, for the past few months, a comforting earphone that I find myself picking up, more often than not, over alternatives that by almost all measures sound better. This review is an exploration of why that is the case.

Disclaimer

I purchased two units Tennmak Pro after hearing about them sharing a very similar shape with the Shure SE215 which when I was looking for an earphone that was comfortable to use with a motorcycle helmet or while lying down sideways on my bed. The first of the two units had its cover snap open after I removed my bike helmet and one of the wires inside the unit came off. It was easy enough to fix with a bit of solder, but nonetheless felt a bit disappointing (More on this the Build Quality part of this review). Despite being disappointed with what happened with their shell, I almost immediately ordered a second unit because the few days I spent without them made me miss them terribly in certain situations.

Preamble (about me)

I am 33 year old IT worker/manager who appreciates a wide range of music. Lately, I’ve been more inclined to listen to Soul/Hip Hop/Jazz (basically Nujabes’ work), Jazz (Frank by Amy Winehouse), Michael Jackson, Phill Collins, Florence + the Machine and whatever else catches my interest.

Build / Accessories / Pricing

At the time of writing the Tennmak Pro is priced at 23.05 euros with a basic MMCX cable and is available in dark translucent color or transparent enclosure.


I found the packaging and accessories for this earphone to be rather generous. The box itself they come in is a rather typical cardboard box that features a simple but practical and tasteful presentation. Although I appreciate nice packaging, I prefer when a company’s efforts and budget are put into the product itself and things that might enhance it, and I’m glad to say that is the case with the Pro.

Inside the box you will find that they come with the rather standard array of 3 pairs of different-sized silicon tips, the earphone pieces, a cable and a very nice hard carrying case that can comfortably fit the Tennmak Pro and other accessories within a small net pocket on top side of the case.


The cable for the Tennmak Pro is one of my favourite earphone cables, out of all the ones I own. Unlike, for example, the stock KZ cables they are not springy nor have a lot of memory with a single light stretch usually being enough to straighten them out almost entirely.

The Y-splitter has ample strain relief which is matched by the rather outstanding 45 degrees angled stereo plug that is thin enough, I believe, to fit in most devices even with cases.

The other end of the cable has ear guides which help keep the Pros in place rather securely and don’t provide any sort of discomfort, at least to my ears.

In terms of build quality, the earpieces are built of a darkened semi-translucent plastic and the two shell pieces are held together by attrition of three very thin plastic tips. I know these because one of my units unfortunately opened after I removed my helmet after a relatively short trip. I don’t know exactly what caused them to come apart, whether it was the excessive pressure of the helmet or if I inserted the helmet in a bad way. This is the first earphone I’ve ever had this issue with and I’m not entirely sure if I can blame Tennmak because testing such a thing with other earphones is simply not feasible. My second unit has not ever come separated despite being used in the same manner as the first so perhaps it was just human error on my part.

The MMCX connectors despite not having failed on me yet felt slightly lose from the start and the cable will rotate around the connector without much effort. On Tennmak’s store page they mention that the newest version of the Pro has a tighter connector but that isn’t the case with my units. With that said, I’ve had no sound issues with the MMCX connector, despite having to solder the first unit that broke, the sound exhibits absolutely no issues even when I try to rotate the earphone cable.

Fit / Comfort / Isolation


Although they won’t gain any points for originality, the Tennmak Pro’s design and fit feels very reminiscent of Shure’s SE line of earphones. That is to say that these are by far the most comfortable earphones I have. No other earphones come close to offering the level of comfort these do.

Because of their rounded shape and relatively long nozzle, they reach slightly deeper into my ear canal without any point becoming uncomfortable. It should be noted, for the purpose of this review, that people with slimmer ear-canals might not find these as comfortable as I do.

Because the Pro don’t stick out of your ear immensely and have an almost negative profile when they are being worn you can comfortably using lying down on your bed sideways or with a motorcycle-helmet over them.

Earphone comfort/isolation/tips is a personal matter that will vary on a case by case basis but I am rather confident that most people would have a, more-than-adequate seal and comfort with the Tennmak Pro and I can say that more assuredly than I can for any other earphone I own and use. For anyone curious about which tips I prefer to use, I like to use the KZ “starline” tips which are available on many stores on Aliexpress like ****.

Sound Quality

Not only are the Tennmak unique for their shape and comfort, within my selection of earphones, but they have a signature that is unlike any other earphone or headphone I have.

The Pro have a weak sub-bass to mid-bass response which lends them a cold characteristic to the sound with some tracks. With that said, what little bass response there is can be improved with the usage of Comply foam tip and/or deeper insertion into the ear canal. In bass-heavy tracks, I found that despite the weak response the bass is well controlled and doesn’t bleed into the other frequencies which lends itself well to the crispness of the sound.

Speaking of crispness, the mids and highs have a rather crisp detail that is impressive, though not unprecedented, at this price range. Vocals feel forward and lively, whether they are male or female, whether the voices are high-pitched or deep, strong or weak I’ve found the Tennmak Pro rather nice at resolving vocal details without without being recessed or overbearing.

The soundstage feels rather thin on the Pro but there is a decent instrument separation. Despite others commenting on how they can at times sound congested, particularly with bass, I found it very hard to feel any sort of sound congestion with them.

The highs are fairly bright and sparkly and can at times go near sibilancy, but for the most part they are controlled in their and have never reached a point that made them uncomfortable for me. I can wear and listen to music on the Pro all day long without any sort of hearing fatigue.

To put it in a short sentence, I find that to my ears the Tennmak Pro’s sound is cold, crisp and comfortable.

Conclusion

With everything said and done, the Tennmak Pro are an extremely comfortable and easy-to-listen-to earphone that will please most people that appreciate laid-back sound signatures or just want a good-sealing or very comfortable earphone to use whenever they want.

If you don’t like cold sound signatures perhaps these won’t be the best earphones for you. If you aren’t one of those people, the Tennmak Pro are very easy to recommend within their price range and remain an unique option, in terms of sound signature, among the selection of other affordable chi-fi IEMs I own.

While I pickup and listen to other IEMs on and off for periods of time, I always have a Tennmak Pro at hand even if it's only to listen to music in bed for a few minutes until I fall asleep and there are few earphones I can say that about.

I try not to be an extremist and I try to give most products I review a decent amount of hearing before making any judgments on their quality but when a product reaches with a level of quality I feel very motivated to notify others as soon as possible so that they may avoid what I would consider to be a terrible purchase.
 
This earphone, as far as I can tell, was bundled with a bunch of other Sony hardware and I had heard and read good reviews about some of Sony's bundled earphones for their great quality. This specific model wasn't one of the ones that were praised by those people, including here on Head-fi but they were similar enough in appearance and even shared some products as either these earphones or other near-identical ones were bundled with the same products depending on the market.
 
I have my bias as much other people but Sony is a brand that I have a bit of loyalty towards. Two of the devices I enjoyed owning the most were Sony branded, specifically one of their Walkman and Minidisk Players and they provided me hundreds of hours of enjoyment. Although I usually picked Sony earphones to go with them, at a certain point I started trying out other brands and once I tried a cheap Sennheiser earbud I never went back to Sony earphones again. My recollection of them was that they sounded muffled, they lacked resolution and outside of deep thick bass that spilled over most minute details. This is of course regarding cheap Sony earbuds between the $10/$20. I had hoped that after a couple of decades they would have improved.
 
They didn't.
 
I bought these off of an Aliexpress seller so while there is a chance that these may not be of the same quality as some of the other similar bundled Sony earphones that earned a lot of praise, or just an imitation of them but the sound of them was so familiar to the old Sony earbuds I spent many years listening that I suspect that they may in fact be "the real deal" and just as bad as they actually are. I also ordered another earphone from the seller (the Vivo XE800 if you are curious) that was also very praised here on Head-Fi and that earphone lived up to all the descriptions I have heard about them. In fact when trying both of them out today, going from the other earphone I purchased to these Sony made me assume that I had they were poorly connected or had an issue somewhere because of how they sounded. Speaking of which...
 
Sound Quality
 
These earphones are every bit as horrible as the old Sony earbuds I listened with a veiled sound that sounds unnatural, a bass that is thick and bleeds over details and cymbals, high notes, instrument separation, decent clarity are nowhere to be seen. 
 
They have these white filters on the tip that unlike other earphones I own hardly seem to have any ventilation, and the sensation I got while listening to them was as if there was a room in my ears with echoing bass emanating, but that room was closed to me and what little sound came out lacked details and any sort of nuance.
 
Because I had no intention of keeping these or even treasure them I decided to remove the filter and I have to say, doing so improved the sound significantly. They went from sounding abismal to sounding like the very type of bassy sound I was used to getting from Sony earphones of old. The sound improved, but it's not impressive. An uneducated listener would perhaps find them decent. Any person who has listened to any decent pair of earphones in their life would not find anything special in them.
 
Construction Quality
 
The cable is as horrible as they come. It's very thin and elastic, it retains its shape and is very hard to wrap without ending up with cable spaghetti. The cable does have nice strain relief at the plug and the earphones themselves but honestly I don't even want to keep these. Not even for a rainy day. I'd rather listen to my cellphone's speakers at close range than to listen to these, and I think that says a lot.
 
After the splitter which has a built-in microphone which, admittedly, I did no test at all, the cable splits in uneven distances with the left hand-split being less than half the length of the cable that runs to the right ear piece. This part of the cable is significantly thinner and flimsy, perhaps the thinnest out of any earphone I currently own. It doesn't inspire much confidence.
 
On each of the earpieces there is a circular textured Sony logo which gives the earphones their characteristic aesthetic which I admit is pleasant but the left ear piece in my model seems to have a small flaw as the fit has a small gap and any movement of it is very audible if you are wearing the earphones. Even with this in mind, there did not appear to any perceptible differences in terms of sound quality.
 
Conclusion
 
I never thought I would ever be reviewing a product as poorly as I'm reviewing this earphone but this is as bad as it gets. Just as some other earphones I owned set the standard for which I based future reviews upon, this one sets the bar at how bad an earphone can sound.
 
It has never been cheaper to acquire high quality earphones than it is currently. I've bought over the last couple of months roughly 10 of them, all at very affordable prices, some even cheaper than this one, and all of them unquestionably surpass it completely in almost every regard. If you want a bassy earphone with good quality, clarity at a sub $10 price point get something like the KZ ATR instead. It sounds like a million dollars compared to the Sony MH-EX300AP.
 
If for some reason you end up with these earphones, grab a small pointy object and carefully remove the filter. In some earphones this is unthinkable because it would make the sound too harsh but these Sony have almost no highs to speak of so removing the filter doesn't actually make the sound harsh, it just makes it sound less like they aren't being choked.
 
Should these happen to sound immensely different from your own, you suspect I may have a counterfeit unit (which is a possibility, though one I am skeptical of because of my experience with Sony earphones/earbuds for many years) please do let me know and provide a link or a means for me to see these differences for myself. For example, tell me to listen to a song, and ask me if I can discern a specific detail about them, and likewise I can also report back to you. By all means I do hope this unit is fake but these earphones, the ones in front of me right now, they are as bad as I described them, fake or not.

Just like my previous review, I will continue to iterate the format and thrive to more accurately describe the sound and listening experience and once again I will be using Spotify links to reference to the tracks I'm testing because that is the most efficient way I'm aware of to allow users of various countries to test the songs and compare their experience in a relatively easy and legal manner.
 

Perspective

 
Before starting the review I'd like to just make a short intro about myself. I am a budget-oriented audiophile and have appreciated and listened to music from before I can even remember it. My taste in music is varied with everything ranging from a bit of jazz, to trip-hop, progressive rock and electronic music. Lately I've been listening to some of Youko Kanno's work and Nujabes. My preferred type of audio signature is neutral, though I don't mind and even appreciate a bit of coloration whether it's on the lows or the highs. I've bought and owned many earbuds and IEMs over the years, I've been burned many times by muddy Sony ones, been occasionally impressed by some cheap Sennheiser buds/IEM. After many years of faithful service, my go-to IEMs, the Sennheiser CX200 (which at the time cost me around $50) were the best sounding and most expensive earphones I had ever purchased started suffering from connection issues near the plug which lead me to search for a new IEM to replace them and the search for great value lead me to read about many Chinese IEMs that were touted for offering great value and the KZ ATE were the first of the ones I decided to order.
 

Music Tests

 

Nujabes feat MINMI - Who's Theme (Spotify song link)

 
At the start of this song, the first two things that stand out to me are the melancholic female chorus that hum as if they were very close by. Behind them, the percussion of the piano is discernible to great detail as is the aerophone instrument but it's when the drums and bass kick in that song gains a blanket of life that seems to tie all of the elements together. The lows of the bass are very comforting without bleeding much into the mids. The singer's melancholic voice sounds very present and it is possible to discern small nuances near the end of her phrases.
 
At around the 1:20 mark, only the beat of a drum/cymbals and a slightly distorted echoing piano accompany the singer. The piano feels as if it's floating behind the singer echoing within a marbled room's corridors. Every single sound is very smooth and while there isn't a lot of instrument separation in the track itself I think it is a good enough one to showcase how well the ATE resolve a varying number of instruments and ranges.
 

Steven Wilson - Significant Other (Spotify song link)

 
One of the characteristics of the ATE that I appreciate the most is how wide their soundstage can feel and how they resolve some tracks in an airy manner that makes it seem as if sometimes the band or the artist were performing in the same room as you are. Significant Other is a track that showcases this very well.
 
From the very start of the song, it feels as if you are in a studio. Every single stroke of the airy guitar flows to the back of the room and feels as if it's expanding and spilling over the back.
 
The climax that starts around the 1:40 mark adds a lot of distorted highs mixed in with high-pitched vocals. There is hardly any discerning sibilance despite their harsh nature and one thing that stands out during this moment is how smooth and warm the bass guitar feels. Not only do the ATE hold their own against high-pitched distorted sounds but also maintain a detailed laid-back presentation during this song and many others.
 

Darren Korb feat Ashley Barrett - The Spine (Spotify song link)

 
The strident bass hum at the start seems to deliver a grainy texture making the singer's voice seem slightly recessed for a few minutes but when the chorus starts and the strident strings begin the presentation gains a certain lushness and opens up rather than feeling congestioned but for the most part the track still feels like a somewhat intimate experience and most of the instruments feel very close whereas some others only appear briefly and fade smoothly into the background.
 

Sound Quality Conclusions

 
After these three tracks I went on to listen to a few dozen more and while I could describe a few more tracks and the little nuances you can hear in each of them its best to just reach for a conclusion that is and has been a given for me for a long time now:
 
The KZ ATE sound good or great with anything you can throw at them. They are, in my opinion, at their best with melodic music that rely on percussion or string instruments. They handle both female and male vocals quite well. They are not warm or cold sounding nor does their sound get fatiguing.
 
The bass is something about the ATE the first time I received them but ever since trying them with different tips that seal better I've gotten a deeper appreciation for them. Does that mean they are good for bassheads? Absolutely not, but for those, read the sound comparisons.
 

Sound Comparisons (between similarly priced earphones)

 
Sennheiser CX200 - the Sennheiser have an overall warmer presentation that sounds warm but lacks a bit of clarity compared to the ATE which is particularly noticed in the vocals and the highs which sound more refined on the KZ ATE.
 
Xiaomi Hybrid - the highs on the Xiaomi seem more forward than the ATE. Similarly to the ATE they benefit immensely from better earphone tips. Their low end is also more pronounced but not as articulate as the ATE and vocals, particularly female ones have a presentation that sounds a bit more metalic or echoing. While on first impression they have a slightly warmer presentation that is soothing to the ears if you appreciate that kind of signature, upon closer listening they fall a bit short of the way the ATE render certain details and are much less comfortable to wear and less easy to get a good seal/fit with because they are considerably heavy for an earphone and can't be worn over the ear due to their shape.
 
KZ ZS3 - These don't share the same type of signature as the ATE. Whereas the ATE are neutral sounding the ZS3 are distinctly V-shaped, have a higher emphasis on bass that does slightly bleed into the mids but still maintain good clarity. The details in the sound aren't as well defined as with the ATE but are still enough to give the Sennheisers, which are similarly warm-sounding earphones, a run for their money. In terms of ergonomics and features these also present some advantages over the ATE. The cable is better than the ATE's, feature ear-guides and are replaceable. The design of the shell is also more rounded which to my ears lends them a more comfortable fit than the ATE even after long sessions. If you appreciate strong bass these may be more to your liking.
 

Physical Attributes

 The KZ ATE are an around-the-ear style earphone. The inner part of them is rounded smoothly and sit fairly comfortable within my ear. The outside part of the shell has smoothed edges but is hardly rounded at all. This sometimes leads a slight discomfort as the edges of it may sometimes press against your ear. It's not a deal breaker, but certainly worth considering.
 
The cable has an odd copper and brown finish that together with the golden details near the shell give them a look that is peculiar and, while it isn't to my personal taste, what I'd consider a beautiful set of IEMs, their sound certainly is, and I have no qualms about sacrificing a bit of aesthetic for earphones that sound as good as these.
 

(KZ ATE 5th edition with Comply-sized T400 ear tips)
 
Unlike their KZ brothers the more lively ZS3 the cable is not replaceable which is a bit of a shame but completely understandable for their price. This is however a slightly bigger concern on the ATE because unlike the Sennheiser CX200 which lasted me many years the ATE barely have any cable strain relief at all. They have a nice bit of strain relief where the cables split but outside of that, the rest of the ends have very little if any cable relief at all. The only two places where you'll find reasonable cable relief are on angled plug and on the cable splitter.
 

(the microphone has a single button remote and the cable has two gold-colored weights to help keep the earphones from coming off from around your ears)
 

Conclusion

 
If you appreciate a neutral sound signature and decent soundstage I think you will find the KZ ATE a pleasant surprise and one that I can recommend without any reservations regardless of what you listen to.

This is my fourth review here on head-fi and unlike my previous reviews I've decided to put a lot more effort into this one, which may sound odd considering that these are the cheapest headphones I currently own but I found that my previous reviews hardly gave any information that I'd consider useful to other head-fiers or just any consumers. With that said, during this review I plan to test songs that most community members be able to access more easily in order to gauge my opinions.
 
What this means in practical terms is that I won't be testing these headphones with the highest-bitrate tracks, instead I will use normal-quality Spotify streams as a reference (160 kbps files in Org Vorbis format). I will also try to focus on testing these headphones with gear that a beginner or budget-oriented audiophile should, or can, have and compare them with the headphones I currently have available to me.
 
For the sake of this review I will be testing these headphones with a Fiio E7 portable DAC/AMP at it's default setting (which delivers a rather flat response and I feel is ideal for reviewing purposes compared to my other DAC/AMP which is slightly more colorful-sounding).
 

Context

 
At the time I purchased these phones I was looking for a portable closed on-ear headphone that would be less-jarring to transition to than what I felt going from the Fischer Audio FA-003 (aka Brainwavz HM5) to my then go-to portable headphones, the AKG K450. I was looking for something around the same price as the AKG (which at the time cost me roughly twice as much as the JVC) and these headphones showed up on my radar when browsing head-fi and proved to be priced more affordably and had a better form-factor for my needs than the other alternatives at the time.
 

Audio Quality

I'd like to apologise beforehand if I get any of the technical terms for what I'm describing wrong. Since my last reviews I've gotten a better understanding on how to describe sound and sound qualities but I'm still not at a level where I'm able to discern them as some of the more experienced reviewers. If you find any such mistakes in the following paragraphs please do let me know.
 

Florence + The Machine - Cosmic Love (Spotify link)

 
At the start of the song the piano seems to be a bit recessed specially when compared to the high notes that are sprinkled as the singer begins her chant. At the chorus once again the drums, or lows, seem to be more distant than the mids and highs compared to what the higher-end FA-003 sound like (it's not a jarring difference, but it is noticeable). After the first chorus and the song fills up with more instruments the recessed lows are less noticeable. The important thing to note however is that despite my observation all parts of the sound are clear-sounding and only the lows feel slightly distant, but in terms of clarity I find these headphones rather good.
 
Compared to the AKG K450: From the offset the AKG K450's seem to have an airiness to them. The lows don't seem to be as recessed but the singer's voice doesn't sound as good either. The differences between these two headphones become more clear on the first chorus when the drums appear, and in the second chorus when there are many more instruments involved the drums feel completely buried as does the singer's voice. It's clear that the AKG doesn't have as much clarity and doesn't perform particularly well with this track.
 

Pure Reason Revolution - Goshen's Remains (Spotify link)

 
First of all, let me just say that this track is meant to be heard continuously after the introductory track of the album which is called Aeropause.
 
The guitar riffs and accompanying piano sound very clear but I can only distinguish the piano when it reaches the high notes. The singer's voice steals nothing from the clarity of the other instruments even when the drums kick in. The chorus of this song is the point that makes or breaks most headphones I own. Out of all the headphones I own only three of them I feel can feel pleasant during the thunderous chorus that inundates your ears, the JVCs are one of them, and the other two cost me at the very least upwards of thrice their price. Around halfway through the track there is a violin/drums part accompanied by an airy guitar and I find it hard to find any faults in the sound during that part. Even the FA-003 don't sound significantly better during that part.
 
Compared to the AKG K450: The loud sound at the start of the track does not feel as present as it did on the JVC but the guitar riff that follows it feels pleasant. Once the singer joins her voice feels more distant and muddled, while the high notes sound pleasant enough, the lows are muddled underneath the recessed singer's voice and the chorus just feels like a mess, all the sounds feel like they were bound together and spat out. The male singer's vocals feel distinctly better sounding than the female ones. The same part I mentioned in the last phrase of the previous paragraph feels pleasant when the violin is playing, though it feels a bit more distanced. Once the drums kick in the snares and cymbals sound adequately distinct, overall the AKG perform reasonably in this part but overall feel more distant across the entire song and just fall apart during the chorus.
 

Artic Monkeys - Do I wanna know (Spotify link)

 
When the guitars kick in there's an immediate distinction between the left and right channels with low/high sounds and the singer's vocals feel very present above them as if there's almost a semblance of dimension. When the chorus kicks in almost everything feels distinguished. The hardest sounds to discern from others are what seems to be highly distorted electric guitar but the claps and the bass guitar, drums and cymbals and vocals are very clear. I'm struggling to find faults or further interesting things to say about how this track on the JVCs, nothing feels missing and this track feels like it was very well produced for headphones.
 
Compared to the AKG K450: The snare immediately feels present than the JVCs. The guitar riffs feel more or less the same, but that sense of dimension the JVCs gave off is simply not there. The track feels flat in comparison in the start. The vocals sound great but outside of the drum and guitar the rest of the sounds feel more distant. When the chorus kicks the cymbals are barely audible, the distorted guitar is of a hiss and the accompanying vocals feel distorted. It's hard to appreciate this song without the strong beat in the lows, while the vocals are clear enough everything else feels either distant or muffled.
 

The Cinematic Orchestra - Burn Out (Spotify link)

 
I wanted to get an impression on how the two headphones would compare on a mostly-accoustic track and this particular one is one I found most headphones can handle rather well and provide an enjoyable experience so I'm curious to see if the AKG suffer considerably in comparison, as they did on the other tracks.
 
The bass feels very detailed and raw with even the slight distortion at the end of some of its strings being very audible. When the brass kicks in and a metal-ringing instrument accompanies them they are perfectly distinguishable from each other and no detail seems to be lost from the other instruments with the bass and that wooden-sounding beat still very evident. When the vocal chorus begins it is are overpowered by the highs, though to be fair, the vocals are meant to sound a bit recessed. At around the 3 minute mark, a bass solo/keyboard (organ?) solo begins with a percussion sound in the background and the track gains a new dimension and feels very involving during this part with these headphones, overall very pleasant with noticeable flaws to point out. At around the 6 minute mark the percussion and a guitar solo begins which is then accompanied by a second one that feels very distinct and balanced with emphasis on the opposing ear channel which helps give a sense of spacial awareness. The organ which joins at around the 7 minute mark is honestly is the only instrument which feels slightly recessed compared to the Grado SR125 which I quickly switched to just to make sure if what I was feeling was accurate, though I have to say I felt like the JVC presented a better sense of separation and dimension which is odd for a closed headphone, when compared to an open one.
 
Compared to the AKG K450: At the start of the track the wooden percussion feels as present as it did on the JVC but the bass and cymbals feel recessed in comparison. The strings feel slightly more airy and the vocals feel slightly colder overall. At the 3 minute mark, as I kind of guessed, the AKG doesn't seem to have the same type of separation but was still enjoyable over all. Surprisingly the organ at the 7 minute mark does not sound recessed though the bass and percussions do suffer a bit in comparison to the JVG. Overall though, the AKG performed better than I expected.
 

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy 2012 Mix (Spotify link)

 
To finish things off on audio comparison I figured it would be good to use the music track I've listened to the most to for many years with many devices and many different headphones.
 
The bass beat at the start feels a bit recessed and that recessed feeling seems to continue once the other instruments join. The percussion feels pleasant and not-strident which is very important as headphones that perform highs or mid-highs poorly can make it harder to appreciate this track. Shara Nelson's vocals are as smooth as a baby's bottom and feel very present but not overwhelming. Every single string instrument is rendered beautifully and nothing feels like its ever subtracted either from them or the other instruments as they play. I may be wrong but I think these are currently my best headphones for listening to this particular track.
 
Compared to the Grado SR125 (with coin mod): The highs feel harsher which makes it harder to appreciate this particular track and overall the lows and strings are in comparison recessed. While the vocals still feel very pleasant the high percussions feel more aggressive and don't have the warmness of the lows to sooth it.
 
Compared to the AKG k450: While the lows are much more present and the overall sound signature is more similar to the JVC it overall feels more airy and less present. The vocals seem to lack the extra dimension that they seemed to gain on the JVC and the string instruments, while distinguishable, feel more recessed. If I was grading how the three headphones compare in how pleasant this track sounds on them though, the AKG would be my second choice.
 

Comfort

Alas most headphones have an Achilles heel and comfort is the JVC's. When I first received these headphones, roughly three years ago, their clamping force was so great that using them for upwards of 15 minutes was uncomfortable. To try to resolve this issue, I left them over-night around a group of stacked books and this diminished the problem somewhat, however, given the fact that the ear pieces only swivel in one direction you might find these headphones uncomfortable unless you have ears that sit very flush against your head, unfortunately mine don't.
 

Design

While I feel that how comfortable a headphone feels is part of it's design since comfort is a category that the headphones here are specifically rated-on I will focus more on the aesthetic, function and build-quality of the device on the following paragraphs.
 

Ease of drive

These headphones are among the most efficient I own. Compared to the Grado SR125, the AKG K450 and the Fischer Audio FA-003 they are the easiest to drive and one of the best sounding. While they do benefit significantly from headphone amps it is not required to have one in order to appreciate it's sound quality.
 

Aesthetic and build

 
The HA-S500 are an almost-entirely plastic set of headphones. Outside of some painted screws and a metal hinge that sits in the middle-portion of the headband there are no other visible metal parts. The headband, along with most of the headphone have a matte-black finish. The ear-cups are an exception as they are a glossy and shinny metal in the case of my unit:
 

(I apologise for the mediocre image quality as I didn't feel like getting my mirrorless camera and also wanted to test out the image quality and editing capabilities of my new phone)
 
These headphones are also available in a few other finishes as you can see in the following image:

 
You will have difficulty finding these headphones in all of the finishes above. At the time I purchased them I was unable to find the finish I wanted at a reasonable price so I settled for the ones I got but your mileage may vary. Do note that on the version I have with the glossy plastic ear-cups, they are finger-print magnets as you'll be able to see on a picture further on.
 
Regardless of which finish or model you end up getting I find them attractive headphones, mostly due to the ear-cup aesthetic which is simple but elegant.
 
There is a split cable for each driver (there had to be due to the way the middle of the headband folds) but a nice design detail is that on the headband there is braille for "L" and "R" respectively along with embossed "left" "right" below them. If you have any friends or acquaintances that are non-sighted, this is a small characteristic which they would appreciate.
 

Ear-cups, Ear-pads and comfort

 
The ear-cups can swivel 360 degrees vertically, but they can only do so in one direction: inwards, which does nothing to alleviate the pressure that you may start to feel at the top part of your ear after a period of use. They can also fall flat however, they only fold slightly less than 90 degrees. While this improves their portability they do not feel comfortable if you are wearing them around your neck. I find it more comfortable to not fold the earcups if I want to have them around my neck. Like the vertical swivel, these headphones only fold in one direction which also puts pressure on the top part of your ears. The AKG K450, which share similar portability and form-factor allow the ear-cups to be slightly diagonal but the JVC can only be worn with the ear-cups completely perpendicular to each other, at least horizontally.
 
In terms of comfort the ear-pads are also far from being the most comfortable I've used. Although I think that on their own they are of decent quality and haven't shown significant signs of tear or use after three years, they are quite harder than the AKG and aren't particular thick. If they were slightly softer in terms of cushioning and perhaps a bit thicker I think the headphone would be a lot more significant. Although the ear-pads are replaceable I'm not certain which others would fit these and if they would alleviate the comfort issues significantly.
 
The cable is a non-removable 1.2meter cable that ends in an angled mini-plug. The plastic surrounding the plug is rather thin so they should fit most devices with any type of protective casing.
 

Portability

 
One of the better aspects of this phone's design is its portability. Thanks to its swivelling mechanisms it is able to fold itself into a flat and relatively compact form that is able to fit on any kind of carrying case effortlessly, even my thin laptop bag that only has a thin sleeve at the front.
 
Here is a size comparison between them folded and an iPhone 5 (also note the fingerprints on one of the ear cups):
 

 

Accessories

None. Not even a small paper tissue to wipe your tears of joy when you hear how nice these sound.
 

Value and overall conclusion

 
At the time of writing this, these headphones cost roughly half of what I paid for them three years ago on Amazon, even less on some Chinese exporting websites. They cost me, when I purchased them, roughly half of what I paid for the AKG K450 and about a third of the Fischer Audio FA-003. While they don't reach the level of quality of the Fischer Audio, they are significantly better, in audio quality, than the AKG K450 and many other headphones I've tried over the years around the $100 price point.
 
I feel that if these headphones had better construction quality and their comfort issues solved, with better ear-cup swivelling and softer pads, that they could easily compete in the $100/$150 price range in terms of sound-quality. I have compared these to various other headphones at differing price points and just like the Fischer Audio FA-003 (aka Brainwavz HM5) I strongly feel that the JVC HA-S500 definitely punch above their selling price.
 
If you are looking for a headphone for long comfortable hearing sessions there are better options on the market, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a $32 headphone with better sound than this one.

Edit: See the last paragraphs for updated impressions regarding build quality
 
When I unpackaged these headphones today I was expecting find a nice closed-headphone alternative for my Grado SR125i, but I got more than I bargained for.
 
From percussions, to strings to vocals, it seems that almost every single music track I listen to has a new breath of life. This is similar to the experience I felt when I bought my first Sennheiser earbuds, back when I had a Minidisk, and is something I haven't felt for years. Rather than feeling like I got a small sound upgrade, I feel like I've broken into a new sound-quality threshold that will be hard to match or surpass, unless I invest a considerably larger amount of money.
 
These headphones come with two replaceable ear cushions, one pair being faux-leather and the other being almost velvet-like (feel free to correct me on the type of materials), a HUGE carrying case that I highly doubt I'll ever use (almost as big as a shoe box in terms of dimensions).
 
After I discovered the Koss PortaPro I thought I would never discover another pair of headphones that would offer as great value as they did in terms of sound quality, but I was completely wrong. If these headphones had cost me twice or thrice as much I would still have felt very happy with them. Unless you already own a high-end headphone, I highly highly recommend these.
 
Two years and a few months after the initial purchase the plastic on the headband on part where it splits into an arch started cracking until it almost completely broke. I tried repairing it with various means but alas, none worked for more than a few days and I also considered purchasing a newer headband which has metal construction rather than plastic, meaning that the issue should not occur with them. However due to the price of the headband which was roughly... 70% of the price of a brand new FA-003 I decided instead to look for alternatives and bought a Fostex T50RP Mk3.
 
I would advise anyone interested in the FA-003 to make sure they are getting the newer version of the headphone with the metal headband and to avoid Brainwavz's HM5 because it uses the same band as the Fischer Audio and will likely end up having the same issue. It's worth spending the extra dollars getting the newer Fischer Audio FA-003 because the band alone is over $100 to replace.

I bought these headphones as a replacement for my (still working) PortaPro, because I needed a nice portable headphone that folded into a neat flat shape. After a bit of reading, I decided to pickup these headphones, and while I wasn't expecting much from them in terms of sound quality, there were other aspects of this headphone that made it worth the purchase for me.
 
I cannot overstate how much I love the portability aspect of the AKG K450. When moving around, I'm usually carrying with me a Knomo sleeve bag made for the 13" Macbook Air, and with the way these headphones fold, they are about as thick as a notebook.
 
They are also packaged with a nice carrying case, that is considerably thicker than what the headphones occupy without it, but help it very secured even during long-distance travels, and they come with two cables, a longer and a shorter one, both of which are very thin, but seem sturdy enough to withstand some degree of "punishment". Even though the cables have a proprietary plastic hook that helps keep the cable secured to the headphone, if they happen to break, you can replace them with any 2.5mm to 3.5mm as long as the 2.5mm is thin enough to fit in, and they hold on well enough.
 
The isolation is fairly good, giving you most of the musical detail you expect from a closed-headphone without completely omitting the sounds of your surroundings, good for commuting or working in coffee shops.
 
Although I find the sound a bit more dull and less fun than the PortaPro, whatever I think these may lack in sound quality, they make up for in features design and comfort, making them my go-to portable headphone for the time being.

I picked these up when I was living in Belgium when I was looking for a cheap and durable portable headphone, that wasn't in-ear, and I was certainly not disappointed.
 
These headphones have almost the same level of clarity as my Grado SR125i but have a considerably more pronounced bass and are, quite simply, a lot of fun to listen to.
 
The form factor is quite interesting, because rather folding as most portable headphones, the PortaPro bend into a circular shape, around the size of a tennis ball, which makes them a bit inconvenient to carry if you intend on carrying them inside a laptop case.
 
I've used these headphones while riding a bicycle to work, I've used them while running, while working in public places, and although they are not ideal for all of those situations, they are certainly more than passable, and give you very enjoyable listening experience. Just remember that these headphones do leak sound, so they might not be ideal for commuting.
 
When I want to go for a walk, and I don't feel like putting the "rubber band" and the DAC around my iPhone, these are the headphones I'll usually grab because I'm certain they'll sound great, regardless of what I plug them to, even though their sound does improve noticeably when you plug them to a DAC.