JBL Tune 500BT: Review, price and specification – Headphones

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The Tune 500BT is the gateway to the world of JBL brand portable Bluetooth headsets. This model, launched at a very low price of € 50, follows in the footsteps of the E45 BT that we had the opportunity to welcome at the start of 2018 in our labs.

In a logic of economy, the manufacturer contented himself with the bare minimum. There is therefore no advanced functionality in this headset, no way to use it wired and its finish is very basic. The Tune 500BT is available in 4 colors: black, white, pink and bright blue. That said, JBL still highlights certain qualities: solid autonomy, great ease of use and, of course, the sound "JBL Pure Bass".

The Tune 500BT is almost entirely made up and protected by plastic shells. The assembly and the finishes are simplistic to say the least. We have seen worse … but we have clearly seen better. Failing to make us dream, this model stands out for its very lightness. It is also particularly compact: the earpieces pivot completely flat for comfortable wearing around the neck, and fold inwards for easy storage. The relatively flexible arch can withstand a few small twists. The manufacture of the helmet still quickly shows its limits when you put it on your head. You can quickly feel the breaking point, so it is better to handle it with care to maximize its lifespan.

Helmet in place, its ultra light design plays in its favor. The hinges of the earpieces pivot generously horizontally and vertically, which nevertheless allows correct positioning, especially for those who wear glasses. The hoop draws a shape too rounded to perfectly fit the head and give a homogeneous shape: a point of contact at the top of the skull is felt, but it is still acceptable over time.

Given the design and manufacture of the helmet, the deployment of the headband can only be done with two hands once the helmet in place, which is not always very practical. What is more, this one does not reach a sufficient size for larger heads; 1 or 2 cm more would have been welcome. There is also a particularly marked pincer effect on the pavilion of the ears, which com facto limits the duration of use. In the end, the comfort is correct, but the "cheap" aspect of the helmet is felt even on the head: the plastic chassis is far from silent (little crackling noises when you move your head and jaw), everything like the integrated buttons elsewhere (their trigger "click" resonates in the chassis).

The Tune 500BT is a headset that communicates exclusively wirelessly via Bluetooth 4.1 with a latency that we could not measure in the lab but which seems very good, including on applications that do not apply any latency compensation in their protocol. of transmission.

It is not possible to use this wired headset. It will therefore be necessary to ensure that it is recharged before setting off on a trip, on pain of a breakdown, without a backup plan. By presenting this choice as an asset (avoid annoying cables), JBL commits to an autonomy of 16 h and a fast recharge time. Unfortunately, this promise of autonomy is not verified since an audible indication is triggered after 11 hours of listening and the headphones turn off 30 minutes later. It's a bit short … The charging time is about 2 hours, but it is impossible to use the headset during charging.

The Tune 500BT nevertheless offers all the expected commands (management of music playback, calls, listening volume, navigation between tracks and Bluetooth pairing), with the added bonus of being able to pair two devices simultaneously (multipoint connection), which is also rarely the case with direct competitors. Four control buttons arranged on the right atrium are present, but their positioning is not very intuitive. We grope very often to find the right button. A LED indicates its Bluetooth charging and pairing status by its color and its flashing. Numerous audible indicators are also present to warn and guide the user when switching on, pairing and managing the listening volume (more precisely when the maximum listening level is reached, with unfortunately music interruption for more than a second).

The microphone integrated in the headset for the hands-free kit function offers a poor quality of capture. The voice is very muffled in a calm environment. In a particularly noisy environment (street under construction with a karcher nearby in our second example below), the timbre of the voice is not respected at all. Its garish and sharp appearance has at least the advantage of making it more intelligible than ambient noise.

The Tune 500BT is a closed helmet with good passive insulation and significant sensitivity: even at low levels, it already covers discussions around in relatively calm environments. And when you push it hard, it sends very, very hard.

As our frequency response measurement clearly demonstrates, the Tune 500BT is a resolutely flattering headset and particularly worn on the bass. The border region between low and low extremes (between 80 and 100 Hz) is the most forward, while the second part of the spectrum is behind. We perceive above all the impactful aspect and the feeling of pressure coming from the bass. The lower frequencies are a little imprecise and bring some mask effects. On the other hand, the precision remains correct over the rest of the spectrum. We also find a lot of sound coloring on the side of the mids / highs, as evidenced by the troughs at 400, 2000 and 5000 Hz. The treatment reserved for treble is not the most faithful either. They lack scale and naturalness.

All of this translates into more than average respect for timbre, particularly noticeable on acoustic music, plucked voices and a fairly harsh overall sound. On certain styles and mixes, this coloring can sometimes become less annoying and can even reinforce the energy and the impression of percussion. The feeling of space is very small, with a narrow stereo image and a sound stage that folds in the foreground. We recommend that you give your favorite music a try before purchasing, because these headphones sound good on certain musical styles, but not on others.

The harmonic distortion is properly controlled, no complaints in particular on this point.

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