‘Not for everyone’: Sony announces its most premium wired headphones yet, but their ideal use case is nothing more than niche.

Sony announces the new Sony IER-M500
Its most premium wired headphones yet
Designed for aspiring musicians more than average listeners

Sony: Big name in the wireless audio space, with the WH-1000XM6 and WF-1000XM6 getting very good reviews, but not really a player in the wired headphone game. It’s not mentioned in our list of the best wired headphones, and to be fair, the company’s most recent wireless headphones and open deals haven’t gone straight to the top of the pile either.

Given that the company is single-handedly maintaining the headphone jack in smartphones, it makes sense that this could change. Enter the Sony IER-M500, the company’s new wired headphones.

These are the most premium wired headphones Sony currently sells, priced at £99 (around $130, AU$200), which is at least twice the cost of the few other wired headphones it sells. This will be a small deal for audiophiles, where IEMs can cost thousands of dollars, but it’s still a lot of money for Sony in this particular area. Their main competitor could be the Shure SE215.

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Three pairs of Sony IER-M500 on a black background.

(Image credit: Sony)

Like most other IEMs, the IER-M500 consists of a small in-ear earphone that connects to a 1.6m cable, and this ends in a 3.5mm jack.

The earpiece is clearly designed to fit (while your guitar cries softly, etc.). Each bud has a “fitted holder” to keep it seated in the ear, and they have a “thin polyurethane wall” to block out some background noise. In Sony’s press release, the fit improvements were described before any sound specifications.

They come in clear, black, or red-blue, choices that Sony says are designed to “complement your on-stage outfit,” which is one reason (along with their still affordable price) why I’d say they’re aimed at new musicians, rather than seasoned professionals.

Sony also makes a point of describing how they will survive prolonged use, without the constant plugging and unplugging of the headphones wearing them out.

In terms of the audio itself, the headphones feature a 5mm driver, with an acoustic chamber designed to create controlled bass. The frequency response is 10 Hz to 40 kHz and the impedance is 16 ohms.

Sony has made IEMs before, some of which, like the IER-M9, cost more than ten times as much. But with the return of wired headphones, it seems the company has decided that now is the perfect time to offer affordable ones.