Sony and Monoprice Headphones: Unscientific Thoughts

In which I talk about headphones I have

Headphones are important to me. Some of the reasons:

I like listening to music (and I’ve been known to create music on occasion)
I watch youtube videos
Sometimes I make videos (which I post to my youtube channel), and editing requires listening to the audio
I’m on Zoom quite a bit for office hours and meetings, and it’s nice to be able to hear what people are saying

Bluetooth and I don’t get along, so that means I use wired headphones exclusively.

So…this blog post is about wired headphones that I own, and what I think about them.

Disclaimers:

I’m not an audiophile
Nothing I’m about to say is supported by any kind of experiments or empirical measurements

Having said that, I do find that there are significant qualitative differences between headphones, and I have some opinions.

The contenders

Here are the headphones that I own and that I have significant experience with:

Without further ado, here are my thoughts!

Sony MDR-ZX110

So, these are super-cheap, but basically decent. It’s not unknown for Best Buy to have them for $10 or so.

Good points: Sound quality is acceptable. They’re comfortable. They fold up for compact storage.

Bad points: Even though they’re nominally low impedance (around 25Ω), they’re not very loud, and I find that I need to crank the volume fairly high on my laptop to produce reasonable sound volume.

Conclusions: These are ok. Get yourself a case for them so that they’re protected when you throw them in your laptop bag.

Sony MDR-ZX310

To me, these sound exactly the same as the MDR-ZX110 headphones, and the form factor is exactly the same. Their list price is slightly higher, but I routinely find used ones in good condition for about $13 shipped on EBay. Importantly, they come in colors, so they look cool. The blue ones are my favorite, but I also have red ones (as you can see above.)

So, let’s consider them as equivalent to the MDR-ZX110.

Monoprice 8323

I bought these a few years ago because I read reviews indicating that they were the best-sounding headphones for less than $50. (At the time of writing, you can get them for about $17.)

Good points: They do sound great. It has a 3.5mm TRS jack rather than a permanently attached cable, so you can use any standard aux cable.

Bad points: They’re fairly heavy and somewhat uncomfortable for extended use. Most significantly, the clamping pressure they exert makes wearing them while also wearing glasses painful. This is a deal-breaker for me, unfortunately.

Conclusions: If you don’t wear glasses, these are worth a look.

Sony MDR-7502

These were the first decent set of headphones I ever owned. I currently have two pairs that I bought from B&H and Amazon.

Good points: These might still be my overall favorite headphones for sound quality. They’re quite efficient, so no problem driving them from a laptop or music player (unlike the MDR-ZX110s and MDR-ZX310s.) They’re lightweight and comfortable for extended use. They are “on-ear” rather than “over-ear”, which I generally prefer.

Bad points: They have a “Y”-type cable rather than a cable that feeds into one ear cup only. The cable is quite long, arguably too long for most of my uses (where I am typically quite close to the device the headphones are connected to.) Worst of all, any movement of the cable translates into mechanically-induced sound, to a much greater degree than any other headphones I’ve used. If you’re standing or sitting still, it’s not a huge deal, but it is still a bit irritating.

Conclusions: These are worth considering if you’re going to use them in a context where you’re not moving around much. They’ve been discontinued for a long time, but used ones aren’t too hard to find. I wouldn’t spend more than $30 or so.

Note: the earpads on many Sony headphones degrade and eventually will need to be replaced. The good news is that replacement pads are cheap, easy to find, and easy to install. For the MDR-7502, I think that most 70mm ear pads should work. I have used these ones on a set of MDR-V4s, but they should work on the MDR-7502s as well.

See also: Sony MDR-V2 headphones are similar.

Sony MDR-7506

Apparently these are widely used by professional audio engineers due to their flat response across the range of audible frequencies.

Good points: Even though they’re “over-ear” headphones, they’re lightweight and very comfortable for extended use, even while wearing glasses. Sound quality is (to my ears) excellent: detailed mids and highs with with adequate bass. They’re also very repairable! Unless you are replacing the drivers (which are not economical to source), pretty much any other part could be serviced or replaced. They fold to a fairly compact form for storage. (I’d recommend getting a hard case if you’re going to travel with them.)

Bad points: The long, coiled cable is a bit annoying. The 3.5mm plug on the pair I bought from EBay was damaged and didn’t make a consistent connection, so I replaced the cable with one that I adapted from a 3.5mm aux cable, which makes them a lot easier to use with a computer or audio device.

Conclusions: I like these. There are a couple things to note, however. The ear pads degrade over time, but are easily replaceable. My research also suggests that they are somewhat prone to having the drivers go bad, either by failing outright, or by the low-end response degrading. I was fortunate in that the ones I bought on EBay sound good. Overall, I could see these being my main headphones.

See also: My impression is that the Sony MDR-V6 is basically the same as the MDR-7506.

Sony MDR-V4

These are kind of a hybrid between the MDR-7502 and MDR-7506. Like the MDR-7502, it’s on-ear. Like the MDR-7506, they fold for compact storage, and the cable attaches on one side only.

Good points: Sound quality is excellent. I like the on-ear form factor. They fold up. They don’t have the issue with the cable vibrations inducing sound that the MDR-7502s have.

Bad points: They have coiled cable similar to the MDR-7506. On mine, the cable is in good shape, so I don’t mind it too much.

Note: The odds of you getting a pair with intact ear pads are close to nonexistent. As mentioned above, these replacements work well.

Conclusions: I like these headphones! It seems they’re not particularly well-regarded among headphone enthusiasts, and they’re still relatively easy to find used. (I bought mine on EBay for about $25.)

See also: I think Sony MDR-V202 and MDR-7504 are similar or identical. (Update: the MDR-V202 is actually more similar to the MDR-7502 than the MDR-V4. I do still believe the MDR-7504 is essentially the same as the MDR-V4.)

The Verdict

I think the MDR-V4 are my favorites, followed closely by the MDR-7506. Both have excellent sound quality and are comfortable.