Sony MDR 7506

wushuliu · « **on:** 23 Dec 2014, 05:16 am »

Ugh. I am not a hardcore can man by any means so I hope I'm not stepping on any toes but I've been trying out this much lauded model from Sony and I am not impressed at all. I know burn-in is important but the core characteristic of components don't change. The 7506's presentation is flat with a weird peaky midrange that sounds far from the 'neutral' 'studio' presentation that it's supposedly known for. The midrange peak makes for tin can vocals and grating guitar; on the flipside drums have striking dynamism and percussiveness, I'm guessing because of the midrange peak. Now I'm not exactly using primo gear; I've compared direct from my macbook, with hifimediy 9023 dac, and with the dac and cmoy amp. All using Tidal for playback. So I'm sure I'm missing out on improved fidelity but regardless the tonal characteristics remain the same across all three methods.

The 7506 is light and comfy however.

On the other hand my $35 JVC HARX-700s have a spacious presentation, great separation. The upper treble ever so slightly sharp but not egregious. In fact the 700s sound very similar to my MTM speakers designed by Jeff Bagby that have a flat response with just the slightest dip at the crossover. So in terms of perceived accuracy I'm going with the 700s.

The Sonys are going back to Amazon.

EDIT: actually tracking down the FR of the 700s shows they are in deed pretty flat out to 2khz with a spike around the 5k mark.

ajzepp · « **Reply #1 on:** 26 Dec 2014, 01:27 am »

JVC gets tons of performance out of their cheapos...I have a couple pairs of their nanotube model and it's really an enjoyable headphone. I won't be giving up my better phones for them anytime soon, but they are better than I ever expected.

If anyone wants a super cheapo that sounds pretty good, the Amazon Basics headphones are also surprisingly fun to listen to.

bregez · « **Reply #2 on:** 26 Dec 2014, 02:02 am »

That's strange. I have the MDR-V6 version and they are very nice paired with a CMoy amp. For the price point I rate them highly. Maybe you got a bad set. I do know that they are manufactured in two factories, one located in China and the other in Thailand. The Thailand version is supposed to be the better of the two if I remember correctly.

santacore · « **Reply #3 on:** 26 Dec 2014, 06:10 am »

Like bregez, I have the V6's(they were out of 7506's) and think they sound great, especially considering the price I got them for. I find them fairly neutral and very musical. Sound isolation is also pretty good for the price. I was happily impressed with this version of the phones.

eclein · « **Reply #4 on:** 28 Dec 2014, 09:10 am »

I really like the JVC Sound myself...tremendous bang for the buck. I have the on ear model that was like $15 and we found if you add some padding under the ear pads they sound even better. I just took like Kleenex and rolled up a sheet like a straw sort of and then stuffed it under the pads. Most folks heard a nice change and kept the mod,
Nanotubes do whatever they do very nicely and super cost effective.....

wushuliu · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Dec 2014, 03:27 pm »

Quote from: santacore on 26 Dec 2014, 06:10 am

Like bregez, I have the V6's(they were out of 7506's) and think they sound great, especially considering the price I got them for. I find them fairly neutral and very musical. Sound isolation is also pretty good for the price. I was happily impressed with this version of the phones.

The V6's have a flatter response than the 7506 but really sharp treble. My friend has V6s and the treble immediately turned me off to them.

bregez · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Dec 2014, 09:39 pm »

Quote from: wushuliu on 28 Dec 2014, 03:27 pm

The V6's have a flatter response than the 7506 but really sharp treble. My friend has V6s and the treble immediately turned me off to them.

Must be a manufacturing glitch. Sony's quality control has been bad the last 10+ years. The headphones are identical except the 7506's have a gold plated plug and better warranty, hence the price difference. They did switch the type of magnets used at some point so maybe that is where the difference is. As a side note I did buy two sets of MDR-NC60s and they sounded slightly different.

ltr317 · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 Jan 2015, 12:49 am »

Maybe you received a "bad" unit as some others have said. I have the MDR 7506 and they sound close to neutral, and agree with you that they sound flat for that reason. I used the MDR 7506 as comparison in my formal review of the KEF M500 which are certainly more exciting sounding, which I ultimately prefer.