Philips SHL 5002

These circum-aural headphones are bright teal in colour, and the first thing that will come to mind for any ‘red blooded’ male that sees this set of headphones is that it’s meant for the ladies. Well, pardon me if I sound sexually ambiguous, but I think they look pretty cool. I’ve been roaming all over the place with these all day, and they don’t make me feel any less of a man. Sure, I probably wouldn’t buy them as I prefer in-ear phones, but I have no qualms about sporting them.

Design and Features
Like I mentioned earlier, these headphones are bright and colourful; just something that would cheer you up on your way to work or college. Well, it’s actually the padding on the inner part of the headband and the wire that are an eye-popping teal. The rest of the body is off-white, but the teal more than makes up for the latter colour's dullness.  

Brighten your day up with the Philips SHL 5002 headphones

The Philips SHL 5002 headphones are pretty flexible, and look like they’ve been made from some pretty good material. The headphone cups are adjustable not only length wise, but can also be folded around in case you need a little extra adjustment. The folding mechanism also helps if you want to tuck them into your bag. The one thing I did not like about this headset is that the 1.2m cable is a little short. So if you wanted to use it while on your PC, you may just need to get an extension cable.

Here are some specifications:

• Frequency response: 10 - 28 000 Hz
• Connector: 3.5 mm stereo, gold plated
• Magnet type: Neodymium
• Speaker diameter: 40 mm
• Weight – 123.1 gm
• Impedance: 32 Ohm
• Maximum power input: 50 mW
• Sensitivity: 106 dB

Performance
I think these headphones sound really good. I tried them out with a bunch of genres of music, and each of them sounded great. The bass is nice and deep, the mids just right, and the treble is crisp. In fact, I’m typing this while listening to John Mayer’s ‘Gravity’, and I can’t help but smile as I notice every little detail - right from the breath in his voice, to the tightness of the snare drum.

Great to look at and great sound too

My only problem with the performance is that the sound distorts a little when music is played at maximum output. But if you turn it down a notch, it goes back to being simply awesome!

These headphones are quite comfortable, but the covers for the headphone cups are made from a synthetic material, and might make your ears a little sweaty (mine were). Then again, not everyone is built like me.

I spoke to a few people in my office to see what they had to say about these headphones, and this is what they had to say:
Sujata Chakrabarti, Senior Correspondent and Copy Editor said, “I really liked this pair of headphones as they look really nice with their eye popping colour, and they sound great too."

Letty Mariam, Content Editor said, “I like the way it looks and it’s comfortable with good sound. but it’s not something I would use while I’m traveling."

Rajesh D’souza, Lab Manager said, “I like the sound and the way it looks, but thought they could be more comfortable.”

Verdict
These headphones cost just Rs. 1099, and I think that makes them a steal. They sound great, look fabulous and feel quite comfortable. And what’s more, they make me feel strangely happy every time I put them on and listen to some music. So I give these headphones 4 1/2 stars. I’ve cut half a star for the minor things such as the mild distortion at maximum output and the length of the cable (is that even a valid point?). To sum it up, these headphones are totally worth buying, and your gender should not matter.