Rating: 
Summary: Clean on strings, acoustic instruments, & Classical music.
Review: I read several reviews on the MX-500's and thought not to buy them initially. I'm using them with the Sangean DT-210V radio, which a great unit, with great selectivity and PLL tuning. Not to mention it also has a built in speaker that sounds great for "in bed" listening. In any event, I purchased the Sennheisers for the notable name, and am very happy that I did. I will say that without any "bass boost" they tend to be too flat initially, but not at all with acoustical string instruments or Classical music. I think some of the negative reviews previously are due to the fact that so many people now adays think that if your sound doesn't go "boom", that there's something missing. Well there isn't. Many audiophiles will tell you, that in order to properly test any speaker "objectively", that it's best to hear a jazz or string quartet on a quality recording only. This way, their instruments will either sound "natural" or not, and there is no room for "colorization" and the ambiguity in sound created by electronic sounds. Suite yourself, but for $17, these are much cleaner that the stock headphones with the Sangean DT-210V, and also any cheap Sony models. For a good, albeit "unusual" reference recording, I recommend "Book of Roses" by Andreas Vollenweider. He's a harp player from Switzerland, and this album sounds like something out of the Hobbit. But it's chock full of acoustic instruments and very involved natural "sound stages". I've used it as my reference for years. To summarize, if you have a "mature" ear, love natural strings, and classical music. I think you'll be very happy with the MX-500's. Not to mention, that talk radio never sounded so good as well. I say go for it.
It's quite a fair shake, and easy to wear for "pillow" listening at night. I also very highly recommend the Sangean DT-210V, as a great "headset" radio, that just happens to have a handy build in speaker, that's clean. P.S. I also have a Drake R-8. Nice to see another "radio head" out here. I'm also into amateur radio, so I speak from a slightly advantaged experience. So.. "humbly" I recommend the MX-500's, yet specifically for the above mentioned listening preferences to be most accurate of my review. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Just what I needed
Review: I use these headphones on a cd player when I walk or jog. It is so handy to have the volume control right at my fingertips since my MP3's do not have volume leveling. The audio quality is a big step up from the cheap pair of earbuds I had been using. The buds themselves are a little larger than I'm used to but it bothers me a little less with each use and I'm sure that with time, I won't even notice. Cord length is fine. Overall, a highly recommended purchase.
Rating:
Summary: not terribly impressed
Review: i wanted the best earbuds to go with my new muvo. it was either gonna be sony or sennheiser. i own the senn hd575 and love them. so i bought the mx500 thinking they would give the best bang-for-the-buck, considering the sonys go as high as $$$.
the bass is definately there but not as powerful as i expected. i tested them with a thx bass soundclip. i can barely hear anything below 100hz (possibly due to my bad hearing).
a friend got the sony 828 for under $$$ a couple days ago. seriously, neither of us could tell the difference between the two. so he's happy and i'm not too thrilled. go for the senns if you like the volume control and color.
Rating:
Summary: Great for live music, but bass isn't terribly powerful.
Review: I'm using the Sennheiser MX-500's exclusively with my new 4G 20GB iPod. I purchased these because I've repeatedly heard that the Apple earbuds were pretty underwhelming. I have not tried the Apple earbuds, and they're still in the anti-static sealed bag.
Before I had these I was using an older pair of Sony MDR-A34 headphones. Those are the buds that enter the ear perpendicular to the side of your head, mounted on a foldable above-the-head band. As a reference, I considered the Sony's to not be so great.
The first thing that you'll notice is that the Sennheiser's give you fantastic detail. With the Sony headphones, I wasn't able to hear as much detail... I also couldn't tell the difference between the AAC files and MP3 files on my iPod. While the MP3 files sound better than before, I can clearly tell that the AAC files are higher quality (yes, they are the same bitrate as MP3).
However, with the increased clarity and detail, I have noticed that the bass isn't great. I can still hear the bass, but it isn't so powerful. This isn't a real problem unless you listen to hip-hop or classical jazz. I listen to a pretty good variety of music, and haven't been bothered by this on a lot of other genres. I particularly like the sound of live music, classic rock, and vocal-intensive music with these earbuds.
I've read a lot of other reviews, and will comment on other features:
- cord length is sufficient but could be longer.
- the volume slider is very small, and very convenient. Another reviewer made the comment that it's a "linear" volume switch. To clarify, the switch slides along a linear axis; it is not a knob or dial, which helps keep the size small. However, the volume is controlled by a logarithmic potentiometer, not a linear potentiometer... This is good, because humans hear on a logarithmic scale. Just a friendly clarification for any other EE's out there who might care.
- the buds seem to fit my ears, but I probably have big ears.... I definitely have a big melon.
- the protective case works well, but isn't a special feature.
At the end of the day, I'm very happy with the ~$16 I spent on these. I highly recommend these to anyone who wants something inexpensive and highly portable.
Rating:
Summary: Great Sounding Earbuds!
Review: I'm very pleased with these earbuds, their sound is very good, pleasing and smooth... almost as good as my more expensive headphones. It's not tinny or overly heavy on the bass, though the bass is definitely there. It is by far the best of the earbuds that I own, and definitely better then anything packaged with your MiniDisc or CD or MP3 or Ipod players. The price is great too. The foam pads are very thin, but these can be easily replaced. The ear buds are on the larger side, but I find they fit quite well. The case is very convenient and the small size makes it very portable (I can take them with me everywhere). This is definitely a best buy.
Rating:
Summary: Great sounding earbuds, and a great value
Review: I've tried any number of earbuds, and these are the best I've heard by a wide margin. I think the bass is quite decent for an earbud -- but since bass response depends quite heavily on fit, I suppose some others might have a different experience. Overall, I find the MX500's sound to be clear and warm compared to other earbuds I've listened to. I disagree with the reviewer who said these are the same as the MX300. I have both and I can hear a moderate but definite difference in sound quality. On the other hand the MX300 is quite decent and at about half the price of the MX500 might be a good choice for some. It should be noted, however, that the MX400 and MX500 *are* the same, differing only in that the former doesn't have a built-in volume control.Everybody hears headphones and earphones slightly differently, but the MX500 is consistently rated as the top value in its category in headphone chat rooms and is probably the place to start if you're looking for a pair of earbuds.
Rating:
Summary: These are great!
Review: It is exactly as advertised, "Full bodied". It's way better than any Sony earphones I have owned which all have sounded thin. The MX-500 definitely has good bass when it's needed but the response is superb and the bass won't drown out everything else. It fits better than the Sony earphones also.
Rating:
Summary: great sound on the cheap!
Review: Love the sound from these little earbuds. The volume control isn't that useful - good only for muting the sound so you can have a conversation. The bass is deep, highs are crisp. Can't beat the price for what they are, and at this cheap I wouldn't mind loosing them.
Rating: 
Summary: Sennheiser MX500, ouch
Review: Nice sound. Padding on the buds is a little lacking. Hurt your ears after awhile.
Rating:
Summary: Great sound! Figured out how to get them to stay on.
Review: OK, this is my second review for these earbuds. I deleted my first review and upgraded my rating for these earbuds, because after looking around and trying to figure out some ways to get these earbuds to stay on better, I saw that a number of other ear buds come with these wire or plastic loops attached to the earbuds. Instead of attaching a loop to the earbuds, I wondered, why not just put these MX-500's on upside down and loop the wires over and behind the ears?
And it works! I can twist my head all around now and jump up and down and these buds won't come out. I'm sure other people have already figured this out also, but then I've never seen anybody wearing earbuds upside down.
The MX-500 has that classic Sennheiser sound - a gorgeous, rich clarity in the mid-range and highs, without an excessive boost in the bass. The bass tends to be somewhat variable, and depends on how closely coupled the earbuds are to the earhole. The more tightly fitting these buds are shoved into place, the louder the bass. This is true for all earbuds that are not designed to completely seal the earhole like an earplug. The big advantage of these open earhole buds, of course, is that you don't have to deal with issues like ear wax on the sealing plug, etc.
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