Phiaton Bridge MS 500 Headphones Sound Good But Don’t Feel Good

We’re not fans of over the ear headphones, but the Phiaton Bridge MS 500 Headphones almost won us over when we first plugged them into the jack on the phone and started listening to some music. They sound great and felt comfortable thanks to the nicely padded cans. However, like almost every pair of mid to low price cans we’ve tested, they began to get uncomfortable after about half an album.

People with smaller heads might not experience discomfort, but those of us with big heads will. The headphones started to press on our ears and hurt after a while. If you don’t mind taking them off to rest your ears every 30 minutes it’s not an issue.

https://youtu.be/yclklGoAOso

AT $269 the Phiaton Bridge MS 500 headphones deliver good sound. We liked the rich lows, clear mid range and accurate high-end audio. Everything from rock to classical to spoken word sounded good.

Cheap low-end headphones bleed sound to neighbors who hear nearly everything, even at lower volumes. That’s not an issue here since they don’t bleed too much sound till the user turns them up. At about 75% the volume gets too loud for most ears and they don’t bleed sound till just before that level. At high volume there’s little to no distortion.

A unique design decision put two audio ports, one on each side. Users can plug into the left or right side. Phiaton provides two cables too, one for straight stereo sound and one with a mic built into the cable in-line to use with a phone. It’s not a feature we’d beg for, but we like it.

The mic on the MS 500s won’t win any prizes, thanks to muddy sound quality. It’s okay for talking on a phone. The answer button only pauses audio when a call comes in. We’d like to have it pause audio all the time. We’d also like volume buttons. The second cable doesn’t include the mic.

The headphones fold up and fit in a nice carrying case with a drawstring. The cables won’t tangle thanks to the material used to make them. The aluminum frame will hold up for a long time.

Can we recommend the Phiaton Bridge MS 500 Headphones for $270 at Amazon? People who love music, but don’t listen for more than 30 minutes at a time, will love the Phiaton Bridge MS 500 headphones. Those with a smaller head or tiny ears probably won’t experience the discomfort we felt. Still, we think buyers should steer clear and look for a more comfortable set of headphones, like the Bose QuietComfort 15, which adds noise canceling and more comfortable ear cushions for $30 more. For Bluetooth ear buds take a look at the Phiation PS 210 BTNC Bluetooth ear buds which sound awesome and feel good.