Price Paid:  $57.00

Summary:
I had high expectations for these headphones since they were pretty much top of the line in Sony's line-up. I was replacing the Sony earbuds that came with my Minidisc player. To make a long story short, the mids and high on the 888's are GREAT, but the bass is REALLY lacking. On the other hand, the bass from the headphones that came with my Minidisc player had MUCH better bass. I know a lot of people say you have to work in the headphones, so I setup a Winamp play list with a variety of songs and played them through the headphones 11 hours straight. When I came back in the morning, it sounded the same as before. SORELY lacking in bass. Definitely not the right headphones for my purposes.

Strengths:
Mids and Highs

Weaknesses:
Bass

Similar Products Used:
Aiwa headphones with 2 gold colour pipes on the back. Many other ones over the years. Don't know the model numbers though. I found Aiwa headphones are usually much better than Sony's priced much highe

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I bought the MDR-E888LP as a replacement for the poor quality ones which came with my Sony MZ-N1 NetMD player. I'm completely disappointted with the E888LPs also, as I had expected top quality headphones for $80 MSRP (Paid $40). The bass is lacking, and the mid-range is a bit bright, but the treble sounds pretty smooth. I usually listen to my music without any tonal adjustments, but even through adjusting the treble and bass, I could not find a setting I was completely happy with. I had bought these to use while jogging, so I can live with the Mid-Fi level performance.

Strengths:
Appearance, Build Quality

Weaknesses:
Sound (Bass and Mid-Range), Price.

Similar Products Used:
Aiwa, MDR-NC11 (Sounds ALOT worse), MDR-Q55

Price Paid:  $56.00 from millionbuy.com

Summary:
I've had terrible experiences with Sony's other offerings (MDR-x00 series) and wasn't really expecting much from these earbuds. But after breaking them in for a couple of weeks, I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised. To me, the audible range (the frequency specs are quite inflated and useless) is reproduced naturally and without a huge midbass hump or grating high-end harshness. The sound is smooth and listenable for long periods of time.

But the devil's in the details and this is where the earbud falls a bit short. It lacks the resolution of other headphones in its price class (such as the Grado SR60). And even though I find the headphone 'soundstage' a dubious quality, I have to say that it didn't sound as full as a Grado or Sennheiser headphone at comparable volumes. But it's an earbud after all.

That being said, when worn, they're inconspicuous and don't leak sound like the other headphones mentioned so they're a perfect fit for the sound quality conscious consumer who scrapes out a living in a beige maze.

Strengths:
Surprisingly solid sound from an earbud. 'Silent cap' feature keeps the music from bothering neighbors.

Weaknesses:
Rather pricey.

Similar Products Used:
Grado SR60, Alessandro Music Series One, Sennheiser HD580

Price Paid:  $75.00 from www.micmic.com

Summary:
Got sony minidisc mzr-750 and required quality phones
got 888-sp from micmic.com which i highly recommend. sound far superier to anything else ever heard this size. very comfy and rarely fall out. i listen only 2 drum and bass and this combo is superb. I burned them in for 6 hours before listening but am gonna give em 24 hours of rigerous use before i use a digital recording to demo em to any one as this is what others say. Overall worth the money if using digital source and require something special

Strengths:
overall sound is very subtle and treble the best i ever heard from ear phones. worth the money 4 sure. very comfy as i can keep em in all day if i want unlike any others i ever used

Weaknesses:
bass not as strong as some might expect but other sony models are available for bass peeps

Similar Products Used:
10's of ear phones over the years

Price Paid:  $60.00 from Etronics

Summary:
Fairly excellent all around. Sub-Bass doesnt seem to reach to advertised 8Hz, Bass is good a bit flat, Midrange is right on if perhaps a little forward, Treble very clear and clean, maybe not crisp enough.

Once again, these are very good! and I'm only expressing my personal tastes. A perfect Earbud/Headphone would have that sub-bass presence while maintaining the bass fairly set back and flat. With soft midrange while having crisp, high energy treble. These meet that goal about 75%

I'm comparing them to SONY Earbuds (MODEL?) I used to own (94-98), and these are a close equal to the those, which were the best earphones/headphones I've ever heard. The were stolen from me!!! I have not seen them sold anywhere since. Had twin Gold Plated Bass Tubes, with rubberized housing and a silver fine mesh diaphram grille. If anyone has these, dont think of upgrading!

Strengths:
Good Looking - Clear Smooth Sounding

Weaknesses:
Expensive

Similar Products Used:
Sone Earbuds (?), Sennheiser MX4, SONY MDR-V600, Aiwa,Panasonic,Sony Headphones