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Reviews For: YAMAHA CM500 HEADSET W/BOOM MICROPHONE

Category: Headphones & Boom-microphone Headsets

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Review Summary For : YAMAHA CM500 HEADSET W/BOOM MICROPHONE
Reviews: 61MSRP: 60.
Description:
Double side headphones with boom microphone
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00614.5
W9CPI Rating: 2011-06-16
Great match to the K3 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I like this headset better than my usual Heil BM-10. Although the Yamaha is heavier, it feels lighter and is easier to wear for a whole contest. It mates to the Elecraft K3 perfectly: the 1/8" stereo plug for the mike plugs in to the K3 rear panel mike jack -- turn on the bias in the menu, and it is ready to rock. The set comes with a 1/4" stereo adapter for the phones and works fine with the K3. This one is a keeper, and the price is right!
QRPNEW Rating: 2011-05-03
Highly overrated Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After reading all the reviews and recommendations, I went ahead and bought this CM500 headset.

I must say for the price its highly overrated. The build quality is cheap and its performance is no different from any other good quality gaming computer headset.

I have several computer gaming headsets which I compared with the Yamaha with. In every case when monitoring my signal on a SDR receiver I got equal or better results with the other headsets.

Electret microphones are much of a muchness, and depending on the brand of headset you will need to use a EQ to get rid of the excessive bass response. I am strictly a DX person so no need for ESSB excessive bass rubbish audio.

I bought some very cheap headsets at the computer show with much better quality headphones and booms. These performed very well, I got a better "communications" quality audio with the cheaper units. The more expensive the headset the more I had to use the EQ because of excessive bass response on these headsets.

Dont rush and get caught up in the Yamaha headset product hype. Try some good quality gaming headsets from the computer shop it will provide equal or better performance for a lot less money.

I tested the headset on a K3, K2 and a FT5000.
The FT5000 produced the best quality DX audio because if its excellent EQ and RF SPEECH processor.

K6RIM Rating: 2011-04-19
A Real Bargain! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Have owned the Heil Pro Set Plus for a long time; mostly used for SSB contesting. (Use Bose Quiet Comfort headphones for CW DXing and contesting).

The Heil audio is excellent, but the headset becomes uncomfortable over the course of a long contest. Fellow contesters unanimously recommended the Yamaha CM500. I was skeptical of the Yamaha because it was so inexpensive. It just had to be junk! Well, I ordered one anyway (from B&H). For $44, including shipping, if it was junk, it could go into the trash can.

To my surprise, I far prefer the Yamaha over the Heil, which costs around 5X as much. The Yamaha is much lighter than the Heil, and far more comfortable.

The Yamaha RX audio is excellent. So is TX audio. Here again I was pleasantly surprised: received many unsolicited reports of great audio.

(The Yamaha mic is more sensitive than the Heil; simply reduce the mic gain).

The Yamaha CM500 appears to be well constructed, but time will tell.

This is an excellent headset and quite a bargain, IMHO.
K8IA Rating: 2011-03-30
First 5 months seem great! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Thru the past 9 years, I have had five different Heil headsets here at our Multi-Two contest station (N7AT/K8IA/N7RQ). I've always looked askance at how cheaply made they really are, and cussed when when of them malfunctioned. Real junk for the money, in my opinion, once you take a serious look at the insides.

Settling on two Heil ProSet Plus models a few years ago, I thought I had finally found one that we could rely on. Wrong I was.

Nevermind how heavy and uncomfy the Pro Set's are and how one can never really place the mic boom where they want it, just give me something reliable and I'll work around all the other minuses.

During last years CQWW DX SSB Contest, one Pro Set Plus developed a xmit intermittent that kept our ops at one station upset the entire last half of the contest. That was the last straw.

Upon advice from a fellow active contester, I purchased a Yamaha CM-500. I figured, at the price I paid ($46), I could just throw them away if they werent up to snuff. Besides, the price that Heil wanted to fix my one Pro Set Plus was nearly double that!

The CM-500 works great with my setup. For contest reasons (N1MM wav files etc), I take my mic thru my soundcard and then into the radio via a interface. It works superb with my Orion II, in this configuration, and with the FT-1000MP as well.

Plus the CM-500 is light, fits over the ears and can be worn for long periods of time, one of our contest requirements. Its boom can moved to place the mic element within 1/4" of anywhere you want it.

Five months later, I can happily report no change. It has worked flawlessly during this period and I'm looking forward to many years out of the CM-500, cheerfully knowing I can buy 4 of these before I get near the price of a Pro Set Plus. ;-)

73, Bob K8IA
Arizona Outlaws Contest Club
JG1VGX Rating: 2011-01-13
A plasticky PC headset Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Although YAMAHA is a Japan-based company, this product is not available in Japan so I have ordered it directly from US. Was $43 + shipping.

I have expected more rugged one, however, this is a very plasticky, price comparable, toy-quality product. I was a bit disappointed.

Yahama usually makes good quality, fine studio products, but this is not one of them.

Regarding the durability, it will soon fall apart if you throw it around or put it roughly in your bag.

In short, it is not a heavy-duty studio headset but simply a disposable, PC headset for Skype and gaming.

Although I haven't tested it yet in contests, on listening to music, the audio is not impressive. My Sony $100 studio headphones is much, much better. I hope it will get better after aging.
I won't use this headphone when I want to listen to weak signals.

If without it's Yamaha tag, street price should be less than $20.

In short, this is an OK headset which is slightly overpriced by the Yamaha tag.
KD5VHF Rating: 2011-01-10
Great for the $$ Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
"Honeymoon Review"
I can wear these for hours with no discomfort.
Nice receive sound and isolation from background noises.
I use this with a 1/8" phono to RCA adaptor into a W2IHY EQ that Provides 5VDC to the Mic element with no problems at this voltage.
I use a home brew foot switch made from a old sewing machine switch or I'll use VOX.
I've received many good TX audio reports.
Check around for the best price. I ordered mine last week from B&H for $38 shipped but see this week they are $48.99.
I would still be happy with them even at that price.
W6JMF Rating: 2010-12-24
Good Headset and a great value Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Summary: Would buy again. Great headset for the money. Construction may not stand up to hard use.

More like a 4.5 because I don't think you can touch anything as good for double the money, but they're not perfect. Got them through B&H.

Condenser mic needs a pwr supply which is included (small battery case). I power mine off the TS-940 mic connector (8v plus a dropping resistor).

Very good voice reproduction, basic acoustic isolation, light weight, very comfortable. Good on air audio reports from the mic. Mic has a fairly "dead" sound which I suspect is the noise canceling feature. Does not seem to pickup cord or other movement nor my computer/PA fans which were only a few feet away. Also doubles as a very nice VoIP headset.

The only cons are that the plugs are opposite color coded from PC headsets and there's a fair bit of plastic in the construction. Not sure how they'd hold up in rough use. Less plastic might have made them heavier and less comfortable so thats a trade off you need to decide on.
K2MK Rating: 2010-12-24
Greater headphone volume then Heil Proset K2 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am using the CM500 with my K3. I had purchased the Heil Proset from Elecraft when I bought my K3 but I was not pleased with the headphone volume when working weak CW signals especially on 15 and 10 meters. The work-around for me was to plug the headphones into the rear speaker jack of the K3 which has more output then the headphone jack. But this has its negatives.

The CM500 has greater headphone volume such that I was able to plug them into the headphone jack and had plenty of audio level during the recent 10 meter contest.

The microphone has greater output than the Heil but when set carefully using the ALC meter on the K3 it is possible to drive the K3 fully without the problem of acoustic coupling experienced by some users. Too much mic level can cause the vox to trip from the received signal in the headphones.

This is a direct plug-in to the K3 rear headphone and microphone jacks. The CM500 is supplied with a small battery box to provide microphone bias. The K3 has bias available so the battery box is not needed.

The headset is quite comfortable and overall is a keeper.
W5WAA Rating: 2010-12-01
Can't beat it Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've been using this headset on my TS850S for about 2 years. Always get great audio reports. It's very comfortable, easy to adjust. You'll have to do some work on converting it for use on your particular radio, change plugs, etc. It has been my main mic, I have quit using all of the others. Can't figure out how they can sell it for this low price.
AF5U Rating: 2010-10-31
Almost perfect Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The mic is perfect for my Elecraft K2. The headphones are good but I do get feedback from the headphones into the mic. This maybe because there is no adjustment for this on the K2. So the adjustment is very critical on how sensitive you set the mic input level. However, more isolation between the headphones and mic would surely fix this issue. I just need a little more padding around the headphones!