Samsung SBH500 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones (black)

Reviewed by

Kent German

on 04/17/2008

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Sound good so far? Well, we thought so too. The bad news is this: the SBH500 is extremely uncomfortable, so much so that we couldn't leave it on for more than a few minutes. It has a behind-the-ear neck design so the problem wasn't with the connecting band, but rather with the way the SBH500 rested against our ears. On either side, protruding ridges on the connecting band dug into the backside of our ears so sharply that it was almost painful. Even though its design is flexible enough to accommodate larger heads and the foam padding on the earphone is nice and soft, we had to fiddle with the SBH500 constantly to secure an even remotely comfortable fit. But to be honest, finding such a state was near impossible. Even when we did get it almost right, the connecting band would then rest against the back of our neck. We're not sure what Samsung was thinking when they designed this one.

We also have to mention how you look when you're wearing the headset. Though the earphones are only about 1.75 inches in diameter, the behind-the-ear design makes you look as if you're wearing earmuffs. Either that or just you look like Princess Leia.

On the upside, the SBH500 offered respectable call quality when we tested it with the Motorola Z9 (sorry, but we didn't have a spare Samsung music phone to use). The volume could be louder, but the connection remained strong and the voice quality largely reflected that of the Z9. Music quality wasn't quite as sharp. There was a slight hissing sound at times and some music was rather bass-heavy. On the upside, we liked that the SBH500 makes a sound to reflect when the phone is vibrating for an incoming call. As with most headsets, the music pauses automatically when you get a call.

Other voice dialing, three-way calling, call reject, and last number redial. The Samsung SBH500 stereo Bluetooth headset has a rated battery life of 12 hours talk time, 11 hours music time and 8.5 days standby time.