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AKG Acoustics is among the oldest manufacturers within the headphone enterprise, having been established within the 1940s in Vienna, Austria. Whereas the corporate has retained a few of that character even now, AKG has gone via some huge modifications because of its mother or father firm Harman Worldwide Industries being acquired by Samsung. At present, the AKG model has taken on a extra fashionable, new-age id underneath Samsung, and has launched numerous new merchandise together with the AKG Y500 that we have now on assessment right here.
Priced at Rs. 9,999, the AKG Y500 wi-fi headphones include the promise of top of the range in all facets, from bodily building to sound efficiency. Does this pair of headphones have what it takes to grow to be our favorite wi-fi headset priced underneath Rs. 10,000? We have had an opportunity to make use of it, and this is our assessment.
AKG Y500 design and specs
Not loads of manufacturers pay shut consideration to headphone styling, so AKG’s merchandise have a tendency to face out on this division. The corporate’s Y-series headphones are typically forward of the curve, with very good construct high quality and fashionable, eye-catching appears to be like. The AKG Y500 is unquestionably among the many firm’s better-looking choices, and is constructed impressively as effectively.
The headphones have an on-ear match fashion, and the ear pads are flat on the outer floor moderately than ring-shaped. We do not often like the way in which on-ear headphones really feel when worn, however the AKG Y500 felt fairly snug due to this flat foam padding, though we did want a break each couple of hours. There may be additionally extra cushioning on the underside of the scarf, which is itself a bit versatile to make sure a agency clamp when the headphones are worn. The on-ear match and dimension of the ear cups do not make for superb noise isolation, although.
Whereas a lot of the scarf is manufactured from dull-looking plastic, the outer elements of the ear casings are stable steel, giving the AKG Y500 a contemporary, industrial look. The headset has a folding mechanism that makes it simpler to retailer when not in use. There may be additionally a good quantity of swivel to the ear casings, which ensures a cushty match.
On the suitable facet, the AKG Y500 has a sliding energy swap that doubles up for Bluetooth pairing; an ambient sound swap; and a Micro-USB port, which we discovered a bit disappointing to see at this value. Urgent the ambient sound swap as soon as reduces the amount of no matter’s enjoying so you may hear sounds outdoors, and a long-press mutes the headset until you press the button once more. This performance appeared helpful at first, however we did not actually discover ourselves utilizing it a lot; we discovered it simpler to only pause our music or slip the headphones off our ears once we wanted to hearken to somebody or pay attention to our environment.
The left facet has a slider swap which controls quantity with fast motions, and allows you to skip to the following or earlier observe by sliding and holding for 2 seconds, which we fairly appreciated. There may be additionally a button to play or pause music, and you’ll set off the voice assistant in your smartphone with a double-tap. Lastly, there is a 2.5mm socket to attach the included 2.5mm-to-3.5mm cable, letting you employ the headphones with a non-Bluetooth supply gadget or after its battery runs out.
An attention-grabbing operate of the AKG Y500 is the flexibility to pause music robotically when the headphones are taken off, and resume when they’re positioned again in your head. This did not work on a regular basis, and we discovered that the headset must be taken off and positioned again with a springing motion to set off the sensor that controls this operate; it thus got here throughout as gimmicky and awkward.
The AKG Y500 headphones assist being paired with two gadgets without delay. Whereas we did have simultaneous connections lively utilizing a smartphone and laptop computer, we could not really swap seamlessly between the 2. On swapping sources, any audio observe we tried enjoying on the second gadget labored for lower than a second earlier than each gadgets had been forcibly paused. The one approach to repair this was to disconnect from one of many gadgets.
The AKG Y500 has 40mm dynamic drivers on all sides, a frequency response vary of 16-22,000Hz, and Bluetooth 4.2 for connectivity. Solely the SBC Bluetooth codec is supported, which is a bit disappointing contemplating that we have seen loads of choices priced effectively under Rs. 10,000 with assist for the AAC and/or aptX Bluetooth codecs.
Throughout our assessment, the 900mAh battery on the AKG Y500 headphones ran for about 28 hours on a full cost, which is near the claimed determine of 33 hours. That is wonderful for headphones on this value bracket and with this way issue. This gadget would make sense for anybody if battery life is a precedence.
AKG Y500 efficiency
We used the AKG Y500 headphones with a OnePlus 7T Pro (Review) for a lot of this assessment, listening to music utilizing streaming providers comparable to Spotify and YouTube Music. Whereas we did not dislike what we heard with the AKG Y500, the general expertise was underwhelming, given the worth and what else is on supply available in the market.
We have heard some moderately spectacular AKG headphones up to now, together with the completely incredible AKG K52 which captured the essence of the corporate’s signature sound fantastically. Whereas the Y500 is a totally completely different product from a distinct vary with a distinct strategy, we did miss that typical AKG sound. What we received was a really typical sonic signature that sounded very similar to what we’re used to with most merchandise on this value vary.
Listening to Basement Jaxx’s Summer time Dem, the sound was punchy, bass-heavy, and pleasantly reverberating, with a good quantity of element to be heard as effectively. The mid-range was considerably boring in comparison with the lows and highs, however we had been capable of get an excellent sense of the vocals regardless of the highly effective bass. Nonetheless, poor noise isolation meant that loads of outdoors sound snuck in, and the headphones weren’t notably immersive because of this. There was additionally some sound leakage at excessive volumes, however this wasn’t greater than what we have heard on different on-ear headphones.
Switching to the catchy One other One Bites The Mud by Queen, we loved the soundstage and imaging of the AKG Y500, which made for a definite sense of route. The bass-and-treble-favouring sonic signature did not do justice to Mercury’s sturdy vocals, however did seize the essence of John Deacon’s iconic bass guitar riff. The headphones are thus greatest used for instrumentals and synthesised parts; we loved how they sounded with most digital tracks, however rock music and different extra conventional genres did not sound fairly pretty much as good.
Lastly, we used the headphones for voice calls. Efficiency was common at greatest, giving us acceptable however not distinctive efficiency more often than not. Turning the amount up, whether or not on voice calls or music, improved element and audibility, but in addition made the sound a bit shrill and fatiguing.
Verdict
The AKG Y500 headphones definitely aren’t dangerous, however we’ll cease in need of calling them superb. We like how they appear and feel for essentially the most half, and the sound is first rate when you like your bass punchy. Nonetheless, we did not discover something distinctive about these headphones; that is a median pair that does not fairly stay as much as the AKG model title, in our opinion.
Whereas battery life is first rate and there are some neat options, they solely look good on paper and do not fairly assist us recover from the worth. At Rs. 9,999, the AKG Y500 is simply too costly for what’s on supply, and we had been left feeling underwhelmed after our time with this pair of headphones. Choices such because the Marshall Main III Wi-fi or LSTN Troubadour could be value trying out over the AKG Y500.
Worth: Rs. 9,999
Professionals
- Attractiveness, snug
- Wonderful battery life
- Punchy, reverberating bass
Cons
- Poor noise isolation
- Underwhelming general sound
- Solely SBC Bluetooth codec supported
Scores (out of 5)
- Design/ consolation: 4
- Audio high quality: 3
- Battery life: 4.5
- Worth for cash: 2.5
- General: 3.5
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