Sony headphones suck
Oct. 7th, 2006 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fingertroubleSo with the demise of my (not so) old* Sennheiser in the ear headphones last night I went headphone shopping, in of all places, Kingston. Big mistake, Sony, JVC, Phillips headphones everywhere but no Sennheisers.
So in fit of desperation I buy a pair of those expensive Sony earbud phones. BIG mistake - I bought some of those years ago, when hi-fi was not so fi and off a cassette walkman with no bass to call of, they were fine. But the audiomulching and headache-inspiring effect off an iPod made me not want to listen to music. They're great at blocking out noise, but sadly the fidelity of the mid-range is frankly not there, but you do get fuckloads of bass you don't want - even if you turn on Bass Reduction. Ouch.
I've found this with Sony gear - highly priced but apart from a few products really bad quality, or in the case of all their headphones a painful bias towards bass that I notice cos at home I use my mastering Sennheiser headphones so I KNOW how it's going to sound. What surprises me is people buy this shit - and more depressingly it's getting so that it's the only product you can buy in many places, along with Phillips or JVC. I wonder what sort of kickback deal they've done to get that. I used to buy the cheap Sony MDRs which are not so bad but still have some bass bias, so I used to be a customer of theirs until their headphone cables started giving in after a few months (!).
So I immediately went to HMV in Piccadilly and managed to find some MX550 Sennheisers....bliss. So I wasted 35 quid on a crap pair of phones....grr. Don't buy Sony headphones if you like music, unless all your music has no bass frequency...
* I tend to get through headphones quite quickly, they have a hard life...something the Sonys are not great at either.
So in fit of desperation I buy a pair of those expensive Sony earbud phones. BIG mistake - I bought some of those years ago, when hi-fi was not so fi and off a cassette walkman with no bass to call of, they were fine. But the audiomulching and headache-inspiring effect off an iPod made me not want to listen to music. They're great at blocking out noise, but sadly the fidelity of the mid-range is frankly not there, but you do get fuckloads of bass you don't want - even if you turn on Bass Reduction. Ouch.
I've found this with Sony gear - highly priced but apart from a few products really bad quality, or in the case of all their headphones a painful bias towards bass that I notice cos at home I use my mastering Sennheiser headphones so I KNOW how it's going to sound. What surprises me is people buy this shit - and more depressingly it's getting so that it's the only product you can buy in many places, along with Phillips or JVC. I wonder what sort of kickback deal they've done to get that. I used to buy the cheap Sony MDRs which are not so bad but still have some bass bias, so I used to be a customer of theirs until their headphone cables started giving in after a few months (!).
So I immediately went to HMV in Piccadilly and managed to find some MX550 Sennheisers....bliss. So I wasted 35 quid on a crap pair of phones....grr. Don't buy Sony headphones if you like music, unless all your music has no bass frequency...
* I tend to get through headphones quite quickly, they have a hard life...something the Sonys are not great at either.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-07 09:44 pm (UTC)Oh, wait - you mean the one in Rhode Island, don't you? ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-08 10:19 am (UTC)Accept no substitutes...