Sony MDR-V6 headphones, unchanged for 20 years and still kickin' a
Reply #6 – 2007-03-11 02:42:01
I couldn't be happier with the sound of my MDR-7506's plugged into my 1G 2GB Nano (playing LAME-encoded -V2 --vbr-new MP3's, of course ). I also have a 4G 20GB iPod which does produce noticeably less bass when driving both the 7506's and my Audio-Technica ATH-M40's. A couple things to note: 1) Sony moved the manufacturing of 7506's from Japan to China a few years ago. I have a pair of both the Japanese and Chinese manufactured models, and there are differences. The cord on the Chinese made model is not as flexible, and is a matte dark gray instead of the semi-gloss black of the Japanese model. More importantly, the Chinese model is physically lighter, and sounds like it: there is a slightly "cupped" quality to the sound, as if the earcups are creating a resonance in the lower-midrange...the Japanese model is completely free of this artifact. Also, the Chinese model seems slightly harsher (elevated upper-midrange/treble) on some material, although this is not nearly as pronounced as the lower-midrange resonance. 2) Overall, the 7506's are very neutral cans, which not everyone likes. They do have a well-known, documented dip around 250 Hz, which will indeed make them sound somewhat bright and at times harsh with material which is already bright/thin-sounding to begin with. However, with even decently-recorded material, they have an incredibly clear, uncolored, punchy sound - very "in-your-face," yet with *very* strong low end when the material calls for it. A lot of people don't like this "honesty" in their headphones/loudspeakers, and will instead prefer something like Sennheisers, which in my experience have either an upper-bass/lower-midrange bump that makes things sound "fuller" (a few of their lower-end models) but that I find very annoying, or a somewhat recessed midrange combined with a *very* "airy" treble (HD-580's) that can sound very pleasant and "refined," but with the rock/pop/electronica I listen to (Aimee Mann, Beck, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Massive Attack, etc.), just makes the music sound like it's floating in a nebulous cloud.... Note that I have not heard either the MD-280's or MD-555's (I think both of these are newer models, and the last time I heard Sennheisers was probably three years ago), so I can't say whether or not they possess either of those Sennheiser "family traits," although I suspect they do to some degree. A related comment regarding earbuds/in-ear monitors: Several months ago, I was shopping around for in-ear monitors for my Nano, and after reading through several dozen posts on both HA and a few of the headphone-specific forums, I came across someone who had bought a set of Etymotic ER-6i's, and also owned 7506's. He claimed that the ER-6i's "sounded exactly like my 7506's", and I thought, "Great! That's exactly what I want in an IEM." Not to put too fine a point on it, but there was something wrong with that guy's hearing... The only thing they had remotely in common was a clear, uncolored midrange, although the ER-6i's seemed a bit more forward. Outside of that, they differed dramatically: the ER-6i's had a very shelved-down top end, making sounds like high-hats and sibiliants sound very squashed and "spitty". They were also quite lightweight in the low end, even when pressing them into my ears. Long story short, I guess I'm just reiterating what LanJackal said about spending considerably more on in-ear monitors to get the same quality as conventional headphones.