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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want hassle-free wireless listening with long battery life and a foldable, grab-and-go design, choose JBL Tune 500BT; if you need an open-back wired headphone with a wide, airy soundstage and a modular, repairable build, choose Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm.
• JBL Tune 500BT — biggest strength: Wireless Bluetooth freedom with up to 16 hours of playback per charge, plus a foldable lightweight frame and a 1-button remote with mic for calls.
• JBL Tune 500BT — biggest trade-off: No wired jack, no noise control at all, and an on-ear round pad design that relies entirely on battery power.
• Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm — biggest strength: An open-back 40mm dynamic driver with a detachable 0.78mm 2-pin cable and modular earcup/headband design, tuned for a wide, natural stage.
• Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm — biggest trade-off: It's fully wired, so there's no Bluetooth, no built-in mic, and no battery — you're tethered to your source.
• Who JBL is for: Commuters, gym-goers, and anyone who wants cable-free convenience and all-day battery.
• Who Moondrop is for: Desk listeners, wired purists, and tinkerers who value open-back sound and a user-serviceable design.
The JBL Tune 500BT is built around one idea: cut the cord and keep going. It's an on-ear wireless headphone running Bluetooth 5 with a 10-meter range, so you can leave your phone on the counter and walk around the room without losing the signal. JBL calls the tuning "Pure Bass Sound," driven by a dynamic driver spanning 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz — the standard full-range listening window for mainstream music.
Battery is where this headphone makes its case. You get up to 16 hours of average life and a full recharge in as little as 2 hours. In real terms, that's a workweek of commutes or several long listening sessions between charges. There's no jack here, so once the battery's gone, you're waiting for it to top up. That's the trade-off for going wireless.
Buy it if you want wireless convenience, long battery life, and a design that folds flat into a bag. Skip it if you need a wired connection for zero-latency monitoring, want active noise cancellation, or prefer an open-back soundstage — the Tune 500BT has no noise control and no jack at all.
Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm: Who It's For
The Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm is the opposite philosophy in almost every way. It's a wired, open-back on-ear headphone with a retro silver look and a 40mm large dynamic driver using a three-layer rigid-flex composite diaphragm with a high damping coefficient. Moondrop explicitly optimized it for an open-back soundstage, which is the whole point of the design: open earcups let air move freely, which typically produces a wider, more speaker-like presentation than a sealed on-ear can.
The specs back up the tuning intent. Frequency response runs 20 Hz to 32 kHz, with an effective range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Impedance is 32 ohms at 1 kHz, sensitivity is 109 dB/Vrms, and total harmonic distortion is rated at 0.2% or lower at 94 dB and 1 kHz. That combination — moderate impedance and high sensitivity — means it's easy to drive from a phone or a small dongle, though a dedicated source will get more out of it.
The build is genuinely modular, and that's rare at this level. The 0.78mm 2-pin cable is detachable, so you can swap or replace it, and the earcups and headband are designed to come apart. A telescopic headband and multi-axis swivel hinges handle fit and comfort across different head shapes. It ships with a 3.5mm stereo plug, and the model listing also references a 4.4mm jack variant, so check which termination you're getting before you buy.
Buy it if you listen at a desk, care about open-back staging, and like the idea of a headphone you can actually take apart and maintain. Skip it if you need wireless, hands-free calling, or isolation from surrounding noise — none of those are on the menu here.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for wireless freedom → JBL Tune 500BT. Bluetooth 5 with a 10-meter range; the Moondrop has no wireless mode at all.
• Best for calls → JBL Tune 500BT. The 1-button remote includes a microphone. The Moondrop has no mic.
• Best for soundstage → Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm. Open-back design plus a 40mm driver explicitly optimized for staging.
• Best for durability and repair → Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm. Detachable 0.78mm 2-pin cable and a modular earcup/headband design.
• Best for fit adjustment → Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm. Telescopic headband and multi-axis swivel hinges give more tuning room than the JBL's fixed foldable frame.
• Best for travel and commuting → JBL Tune 500BT. Lightweight, foldable, and fully self-contained — no cable to snag or source to carry.
• Best for wired, low-latency listening → Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm. A direct 3.5mm connection with no Bluetooth delay.
If I had to pick one, I'd buy the JBL Tune 500BT — but only because I think most people's daily listening happens on the move, and that's exactly what it's built for. Sixteen hours of wireless playback, a foldable frame, and a mic for calls cover the commute, the gym, and the desk without a cable in sight.
That said, if your listening is stationary and you care more about staging and a build you can open up and repair, the Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm is the more interesting headphone by a wide margin. It's a specialist's pick, not a generalist's. Different jobs, different tools.
It's wireless only. There's no headphone jack on the Tune 500BT — it connects via Bluetooth 5 with a 10-meter range and charges over its included cable.
No. It's a wired headphone with a detachable 0.78mm 2-pin cable and a 3.5mm stereo plug. There's no battery, no Bluetooth, and no microphone.
JBL markets the Tune 500BT around "Pure Bass Sound," while the Moondrop's open-back design trades some low-end weight for a wider, more open stage. If you want punch, lean JBL; if you want air and space, lean Moondrop.
The Moondrop Old Fashioned 40mm. Its cable detaches, and the earcups and headband are designed to come apart, so worn parts can be replaced. The JBL is a sealed, battery-dependent unit.
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