About The MDR-EX71SL

[Syrius]

Ok. I got myself a replacement set of these things. I had a pair of EX70's that I ordered off minidisco.com back when they first came out. Imported straight from Japan. I loved them. They sealed off the external noise, had wonderful bass, etc. Until my stupid brother crushed them with the glove compartment box. ($#@*! )

One of the first things I noticed was that the bass seemed to be muffled on the right channel. I even made mono recordings of orchestral tracks just to make sure, and sometimes it seemed it was muffled, sometimes it didn't. (No it's not clogged or dirty. I made sure of that)

I thought it was just one of my ears giving me trouble since I had a kid drop a firecracker 3 feet away from me and setting it off. It gave me horrible tinnitus and an earwax clog for about 2 months. Hasn't come back, thank God.

But I switched the position of the earphones today, and YES, the right channel is muffled. For real. How or why? I recall reading about some people experiencing their right earphone going mute after a while. It seems that my phones didn't get broken in properly.

So as not to make this a waste of webspace, I ask if anybody has experienced this? I'm kinda sick of having to pull out the left one out of my ear a little so as to balance out the sound. This happened with a previous pair of the same model, and I don't have problems hearing people with my right ear.

I guess I should have gone for the Etymotic 6RP or whatever they are. *sigh*

[aeriyn]

The ex71s really do have a workmanship issue most of the time. My pair is shit, but the pair I gave to my best friend are still working beautifully even after two years of hard use. It's confusing actually. :S

and btw, the ety ER-6 are great. I think the ER-4 sounds a good deal better but the ER-6s are just so much better designed for portability.

[Damage]

I've used three thus far, and none of them has issues like that. I guess I did luck out on mine, I suppose.

Curious as to what color you got for your replacements. The white cord EX71s looks tad more rugged/sturdier because of the slightly thicker cord on the white vs. the black EX71s.

Finally,

Aeriyn, what happened to your Shure E3s, and would you recommend the ER6is over the E3s?

[Kaotic]

I have ER6i, love it. haha, nice to see Aeriyn finally came around to use er6i.

Edited April 25, 2005 by Kaotic

[arias]

Hey guys. I just got my pair of EX71SL today..

Now, first let me say that I am a total idiot. >_> It happened like this; I first bought a MDR SQ55 (?) for 68 (yes, SIXTY EIGHT) Canadian bucks from a chinese store -- I know I should have done my research. Yes, it was an impulse buy. And I seriously don't know any stores around Toronto that specialise in earphones, and offer the good-but-under-100 range. I was totally pissed when I discovered the MDR55 was retailing for US20+ online. I wanted to ask for a refund, but it's a chinese store. So, no.

So I could only try to minimise my losses by exchanging it for the EX71SL, but I had to pay 30 dollars extra since it was selling for 99CAD. So. Yes, I know I'm totally screwed. I know I was stupid. But it was the only way I could minimise my "cheated money" ratio.

And I find I actually like it less than the MDR55. Ack. So, anyways, for those who own a pair, can you tell me whether that piece of paper-thingy on the earphone is to be removed? The circular grey-spotted one right on the earpiece. I was just wondering.

Meh. I'm still really angry over this whole affair. Hopefully I can get a credit card sometime and start purchasing stuff online.. :*(

Edited April 27, 2005 by arias

[Damage]

And I find I actually like it less than the MDR55. Ack. So, anyways, for those who own a pair, can you tell me whether that piece of paper-thingy on the earphone is to be removed? The circular grey-spotted one right on the earpiece. I was just wondering.

Meh. I'm still really angry over this whole affair. Hopefully I can get a credit card sometime and start purchasing stuff online.. :*(

←

1. Give it some time to work itself. Burn ins are a must with the EX71s.

2. No, you're not supposed to remove the paper diaphgram, but one of the mods do involve such and replacing the said piece of paper with duct tape. I never liked the results of that mod. The best thing you can do at the moment to improve the sound somewhat (other than burn-in) is to use some duct-tape to cover up the three holes on each of the driver housing.