ajfisher
05-20-2005, 07:08 PM
I just received the Sony Fontopia MDR-EX81/SL in white, from audiocubes.com -- as far as I know the white SL version is not yet available retail in North America. A couple of impressions:
-- The more I listen to the Sonys, the worse the Apple earbuds sound - the sound on the latter seems "flatter" and more compressed by comparison. The isolation of the Sony earbuds certainly is a great help, with a deeper bass and more detailed midrange. However, with EQ set to "off," the treble on the Sonys is too aggressive (especially for Classical music; I've even noticed some distortion listening to high soprano voices, for example) and the sound seems too polarized between treble and bass. I've found that I get the best, most natural sound with EQ set to "Treble Reducer".
-- At the same volume level set on the iPod, the Sonys are somewhat *softer* than the Apple earbuds. This means that for many tracks I have to push the volume up to around 80% to get a moderate volume level. I figure I will need to adjust everything in my library to compensate.
-- The uneven cord is hard to get used to. The left earphone takes most of the cord's weight, resulting in a light downward "tugging" which is a little annoying. Is the cord supposed to hang down *behind* the shoulder and under the arm? Or over the shoulder and straight down? I find that the short cord is a little *too* short, while adding the extension makes it a little too long. I've also tried rigging the cord as a "Y" by using a twist tie, which seems to work OK, but looks a little strange.
I'd be interested to hear others' impressions of these headphones...
-- The more I listen to the Sonys, the worse the Apple earbuds sound - the sound on the latter seems "flatter" and more compressed by comparison. The isolation of the Sony earbuds certainly is a great help, with a deeper bass and more detailed midrange. However, with EQ set to "off," the treble on the Sonys is too aggressive (especially for Classical music; I've even noticed some distortion listening to high soprano voices, for example) and the sound seems too polarized between treble and bass. I've found that I get the best, most natural sound with EQ set to "Treble Reducer".
-- At the same volume level set on the iPod, the Sonys are somewhat *softer* than the Apple earbuds. This means that for many tracks I have to push the volume up to around 80% to get a moderate volume level. I figure I will need to adjust everything in my library to compensate.
-- The uneven cord is hard to get used to. The left earphone takes most of the cord's weight, resulting in a light downward "tugging" which is a little annoying. Is the cord supposed to hang down *behind* the shoulder and under the arm? Or over the shoulder and straight down? I find that the short cord is a little *too* short, while adding the extension makes it a little too long. I've also tried rigging the cord as a "Y" by using a twist tie, which seems to work OK, but looks a little strange.
I'd be interested to hear others' impressions of these headphones...