Sony Mdr-Ex55/Blk Ex Earbuds Headphones with Silicon Housing (Black)
- 9mm EX provides comfort fit and deep bass sound
- Silicon housing for better comfort and soft fitting
- Cord Length of 3.9ft (1.2m)
Product Description
Featuring 9mm driver units for impressive sound quality, these MDR-EX55 earbud headphones make your favorite music truly come alive. And Sony's simple design and precision audio reproduction technology mean these earbuds look as good as they sound.
|
Sony Mdr-Ex55/Blk Ex Earbuds Headphones with Silicon Housing (Black)
- Electronics: 0 pages
- Publisher: Sony
- Label: Sony
- Studio: Sony
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 9 reviews
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat Lacking 2008-11-02
Comment: I purchased these a week ago to use with my Creative Zen 4GB and after almost constant use for that week I returned them last night.
I have two main complaints about these earbuds.
1: Distortion at only medium to low volumes. I turned the bass boost off on my Zen and no amount of twiddling with the EQ provided me any relief from distortions, both low and high end notes, however high end primarily occurred with the left bud.
2: They felt weird in my ears using all the sizes that came with the buds. It was like when I get swimmers ear and it would take me a good 15 or 20 minutes to get used to them being in my ears. This is probably a symptom of any type of ear buds so I didn't take another star off of my rating for this one.
Overall, I found the sound quality to only be marginally better than the stock ear phones that came with my Zen and I will probably look into trying another set from another manufacturer in the near future as I'm not really happy with the sound from the phones I have now.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good sound quality 2008-10-22
Comment: The sound is excellent and it does a great job of blocking out the surrounding noise. I am able to turn the volume down very low and can hear my music clearly.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for what they're made for 2008-07-20
Comment: As the price indicates, these ear buds are certainly not meant for audiophiles. The bass is exaggerated, and the highs sound somewhat tacky and cheap. They're not completely bad, however. They're quite comfortable for skiing and recreational use, and the sound characteristics of these headphones make them good for rap music and some kinds of rock. For all you audio snobs who criticize these headphones, just look at the price tag and shut up. Good sounding headphones cost at least double.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Needs EQ and break-in time 2008-07-09
Comment: The first thing I'll mention is if you don't have an EQ on your MP3 player then you should probably pass on these. Running these flat results in a bass heavy sound with little midrange and treble response.
I bought these as a backup set of IEMs while my Shure SE210s were being repaired under warranty. The first thing I did was adjust the EQ on my Creative Zen Vision:M to flat settings and could tell right away these were going to need some tweaking to get a decent sound. Here are the settings I'm using for these IEMs:
80Hz 0
250Hz -5
1kHz +1
4kHz +3
13kHz +5
These settings took awhile to come to as it was hard keeping the bass from sounding too thin while keeping the midrange and highs balanced. Once I hit the sweet spot these earphones came to life! The bass sounds more balanced, the midrange doesn't sound squashed and muddy, and the highs sound more defined and detailed. Someone else mentioned the highs sound harsh but I don't find that to be the case with proper EQ.
I used these for about 3-4 days and noticed that they started sounding better, so give them some time for break-in. Stereo separation is very wide and there is this kind of downward expansion sound to them, though this may be my use of Smart Volume on the Zen. I like gain riding for a more even sound, and these phones seem to take advantage of it.
One thing about these over the Shure's is that they deliver a more colored sound. The Shure's seem more full-bodied and much more accurate, but the Sony's have deeper bass extension (with proper EQ settings) and a slightly wider soundstage with a bit more airiness. Overall they are very good if you can EQ them properly and probably worth the money.
As for build quality they are not too bad. They do fit nicely and you won't notice the feeling of them in your ears using the right size ear piece. Sound isolation is good with the proper fit (the ones pre-installed fit my ears perfectly). The cord is long enough if you wear your MP3 player on your belt. The carrying pouch is a nice bonus to keep them from getting trashed.
Edit 09/19/08: Having revisted these ear buds recently I made some changes to the EQ settings. The previous settings were slightly off. The new settings add a bit more body to the sound but may be more fatiguing because of the added bass.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: First Impression 2008-06-22
Comment: Just purchased these Sony's for use with my Creative Zen Nano Plus (they're my 1st earbuds). I have a pair of Sony MDR CD380's that I like very much, however those aren't practical for reasons of portability. After using the Zen's built in EQ I have the E55's sounding pretty good. I could not run these "flat" as the bass was overwhelming and the highs too shrill. After some EQ'ing the sound is almost there, however for the price they should sound more balanced. Problem with earbuds is most retailers will not (understandably) let you try them out before purchase.
|
Sony Mdr-Ex55/Blk Ex Earbuds Headphones with Silicon Housing (Black)
Enlarge View