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Headphone Review - Sony MDR-A110LP and MDR-E828LP

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aethyrmaster

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This is my first product review, so if it seems stumbling or if i leave something out, let me know and I'll see if I can fix it.

I have been looking for a new pair of headphones for about 2 weeks, and have been disappointed in what I found in my available price range - under $30 US. Granted, I know that that isn't going to lend itself readily to great headphones, but I think I found the closest thing I could.

Sony sells a combo pack that contains both earbuds and headphones, MDR-RSPKG. On sale at Radio Shack for 9.99 instead of 24.99, I picked one up.

Specifications:

MDR-A110LP (over the ear)

Open air, dynamic, 30 mm dome type neodymium drivers; 24 Ohm impedance at 1kHz; 100mW power handling capacity; 103 dB/mW sensitivity; 16-20,000 Hz response

Placing these on was a nice experience. They are foldable for storage travel, but do not have the feeling of being made cheaply or easily broken. The foam earpads aren't scratchy like some headphones I've had, but are decent quality. The cord is split between the left and right ears, meaning you have to worry about both sides of the headphones; a single entry point would be nice.

Sound quality was astounding! Just quickly plugging them into my crappy MP3 CD player, I noticed a clarity that my other headphones didn't have. I could turn the volume down to almost nothing and still the highs were crystal clear and strong, the lows punchy with no distortion. High volumes did not produce any degradation of sound quality, only a louder reproduction of my CD. The units are light, but not flimsy feeling, 65 g without cord. Adjusting the size of the headphones was sturdy, there was a define solid 'click' when the snapped into a new position. Latches were sturdy and did not fall out of their adjustment without force; although this could be due to them being new.

For the price paid, the only thing lacking is a single point entry cord; a higher power handling capacity would be nice too.

MDR-E828LP (earbuds)

Open air, dynamic 16mm dome type drivers; 50 mW power handling capacity; 16 Ohm resistance at 1 kHz; 108 dB/mW sensitivity' 12-22,000 HZ frequency response.

These were more of a disappointment than the headphones.

the housing on the drivers is not perfectly round, but is slighy "D" shaped with a point so as to seemingly fit the ear more naturally. I found them to be slightly large in my ears, a a little bit painful unless precisely placed (which isn't something we all take the time to do every time, I'm sure). The buds are shipped in a wind up case, with the pads stored underneath the buds - to be used at the buyer's discretion as to whether they want to put them on or not. The easiest way I found to put them on was to place them against the speaker and roll them inside out over the earbud.

Sound quality was almost as good as the over-ears. Even less volume was needed to power the earbuds, due to their higher sensitivity and to the fact that they are piping the sound directly into the ear canal. To me, they sounded a bit lacking in oomph on low frequencies, and slightly overpowering in the highs, giving a feeling of music being very brassy and not as bassy as it should be at low volumes. Midrange normal volumes drastically reduced this problem with the bass lacking, but the treble still seemed slightly overboosted(not as bad as before, though). Again, a low power handling capacity was a disappointment, but the price was right, and I certainly didn't intend to be pumping too much power out through them.

Overall, the MDR-A110LP Over-the-Head headphones I would give a 4.5 out of 5, and the MDR-E828LP's would get a 4 out of 5. I haven't used them long enough to give them a good burn-in yet, I'll post again in 2 or 3 days after I've warmed them up pretty good.

For 10 bucks, though, they are both more than what I expected to get!

I hope someone with a near-zero spending budget finds this useful, and hopefully eventually I'll be able to review more expensive and neather things!

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  • 2 weeks later...

:cool: After 50 hour burn-ins for both the phones and the buds, and two six hour bus rides, I can give you a follow up to the original review.

Once they were properly burned in, both pairs seemed even more ready to please. The earbuds were crisper and much cleaner in the high range, but the bass was still a little bit on the empty side. I turned up the bass on my N707, and it more than compensated for what the headphones lacked. The high sensitivity of the buds was clearly evident; it took very little volume at all to drive them at a comfortable level of sound. I did find them slightly uncomfortable after extended listening, but that happens to me no matter what earbuds I seem to be using

The headphones took a little more power, but then also they have a lower sensitivity and do not sit directly at the opening of the ear canal. Bass was almost a little too powerful, and I ended up cranking it back a little bit compared to where I set it for the earbuds. Again, the phones were quite crisp across all ranges, but seemed a little bit muffled at extremely high frequencies - not enough to turn up the treble, but just barely enough to be noticable.

Overall, I am quite pleased with both the 828's and the 110's. Hving them well used (over 5 hours of active listening plus burn in time), I would rate the 828's as a 4.2 out of 5, and the 110's a 4.6 out of 5.

Thanks for your advice, so that I could give good advice!! :grin:

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