New ‘cans
And here I thought I was done handing Sony money. Fat chance.
While I do dislike Sony for their PS3 fuckups, and their proprietary bullshit (UMD’s, Memory Sticks, etc), they *do* make some pretty solid audio products. (My stereo receiver is Sony, and my car stereo is also Sony)
Having subsisted for the last few months on a set of aging Koss PortaPros (don’t get me wrong, these things pack a ton of bang for the buck), I’ve been wanting a good set of closed headphones that have great sound. Thus far, my friend’s AKG’s (unsure of the exact model, but they’re *really* good) have been the best I’ve tried. And while those have possibly the best sound quality I’ve heard out of headphones in my life, they were a bit lacking on the bass. No problem though, just adjust the equalizer to compensate.
Slight problem though. They retail for $300, and I don’t have that much to just drop on a pair of cans.
That’s when my awesome friend brought over his (relatively new) Sony MDR-V500dj’s. These were not really the headphones I was looking for, but I figured I’d give them a shot anyway. Needless to say, I was immensely impressed. Impressed to the point that I drove to Fry’s and bought a pair.
But wait, what’s this? There are MDR-V6’s, and they look a lot more comfortable, are similarly specced, and close completely over your ears. (As opposed to the V500s, which don’t.) Not only that, they were the exact same price. I went with the V6’s, and I think that was an excellent choice. They feel way more comfortable, and have garnered more favorable reviews than the V500’s.
After trying them for a few days, I think they sound pretty close to the AKG’s in sound quality. And they do so in a way that’s superior to the AKG’s. Why? Allow me to explain:
The AKG’s sound phenominal. I’m not going to deny that. However, listening to them is like someone offering you a bottle of really fine wine, with the caveat that you can only have one bottle and not one more. After that, you must drink low-grade, sub-$10 wine. And it will taste like shit because you are used to the good wine.
That is to say, when you’re done with the AKG’s, *everything else* sounds muddled by comparison. The MDR-V6’s. The PortaPros. Anything that isn’t those AKGs automatically sounds like shit. And it’s bad because you can’t exactly wear them in the car. Or in public. (At least, not without looking like a giant tool.)
I’m not going to really go over much more than that, because these headphones have been around forever and ever, and every little facet of the V6 has already been covered. So if you want a full-on review, then go hit up Google.
There is only one drawback to the V6’s. I notice on some of the highs, I get some noticable noise in the audio. This is most noticeable in “Be Near” by Ryan Farish. It could be just the way the track is encoded (it’s 256kbps AAC), but it is there. It has happened in a few other tracks, though it’s nowhere near as noticeable.
Nonetheless, I think if you’re looking for a decent set of closed headphones at the $50-100 price point, you can’t go wrong with the V6 (or V500, if that’s more your cup of tea, since they’re the same price MSRP).
