When I bought these headphones, I thought they were superior to other earbuds out there. But today, I've opened a pair of the higher-line MDR-E888LP ($79.99 at United Audio Centers on Chicago's Near North Side), and the 848s sound a bit muddy in comparison. IMHO, when it comes to Sony's earbuds, you get what you pay for. I'm giving them a 4-star rating because they are better than most earbuds on the market--but not superb.

Similar Products Used:

Sony MDR-E827G, MDR-E837

Decent sound quality, nothing to have a song and dance about, but not bad.

Fits poorly in my ears. Supplied pads are thin and rough.

For earbuds that cost $30, these earbuds aren't anything special. I believe AIWA makes similar sounding buds for around $15-20 (and their pads are more comfortable). Good thing I stole these, because I would've been pissed off if I had to pay for these things. Next time I'm gonna get the MDR-V700DJ. Those are pretty cool.

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Hoping to get the MDR-E888LP, but Good Guys doesn't carry it.

Decent quality, small, durable

No bass, expensive

I bought these after auditioning 3 lesser Sony models, but had no Sennheiser to compare directly. The highs are clear, the sound stage is good, but there's almost no low-end to speak of.

Three years later (I don't use my Discman very often) I am about to buy a portable MP3 player, and I will definately need to replace these headphones, they are really not good enough for critical listening. But then again, what can you expect from earbuds?

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many earbuds

Gold plated, resonable sound

Won't stay in ears, insensitive

I thought I would be saving some money buying these from a 'fly-by-night' shop but I was wrong. I would love to see the person that these earbuds would fit into. I thought they were designed in Japan - do they they have ears twice the size of what we have in North America? My old Sony's at least fit into my ears. These sound alright and might be tolerable if they stayed, but walking back and forth to work I find myself constantly adjusting the buds.
I talked myself out of getting the Grado SR60 because I didn't want to walk around with these clubs on my head, but you know what? I don't care anymore. Gimme my Grado's - I'd rather live with the ridicule of others than run my ears raw from trying to screw these baby's into my head. Too bad, they seem to sound ok out of the box..

Similar Products Used:

Various, Sony, Koss, JVC..

holds the deep, rich bass output of my Sony minidisc player (R900). good mids as well (could be a little better)

treble a little sharp if you don't have access to treble controls. painful as HELL in my ears.

This was the first pair of decent earbuds I've owned. Their sound- carrying capacity is quite impressive (for their price). At first I wasn't a huge fan of the 'neckchain' design of the cord, but it quickly grew on me, and now I hate using buds with old-style cord design. I bought these guys at the Wiz and couldn't wait to try'em out. Even straight out of the package the bass-handling capabilities were impressive (for a low-end personal listening device). After maybe 3 or 4 days of burn in the bass sounded even better--thick and rich, like choco frosting. Choco frosting bass. Now, i know some crazy audiophiles wouldn't even spit on these phones, but these people are used to using extraordinarily high-end (and high-priced) devices (no beef, guys). I really do think these phones handle bass very, very well. Mid-range frequencies are good, but could be a bit better, i think. Hip-hop gives the phones a good working over the full spectrum of audible frequencies, all at the same time. Most lyricists' voices fall into the mid-ranges. At some points, though, the bass seemed off-balance when compared to the mids and treble. The treble, by the way, is good, but a tiny bit tinny in spots. Some imbalances should be expected, i guess. Overall, though, the sound quality is really great.

Now the crappy part... this probably doesn't hold true for all users of this product, but the buds are SO INCREDIBLY PAINFUL in my ears. They're sometimes so unbearably painful that they put me in a bad mood. The music's the only thing that keeps me from not tearing them to pieces. The supplied foam ear pads are literally of little comfort. They make things worse. The buds are the size of small dinner plates, and unless your ears have very spacious openings, they'll wind up having indigestion after insertion. I've used several other earbuds, which are all pretty comfortable, but these are ridiculous. Even though I'm a definite fan of the sound quality, the poor comfort level these phones afford me destroys their overall quality. I have my minidisc player on me every waking minute (sometimes sleeping too). I can't keep these damn things in my ears for more than a half-hour at a time, and that just doesn't cut it for me. I just ordered a pair of Sony's in-the-ear canal-designed MDR EX70LP's. I live in NYC and work on 42nd st., so outside noise isolation is a concern for me . The 848's don't isolate the sound they produce nearly well enough. If your ears can handle the physical size of the 848's, buy them. If not, run in the opposite direction.

Clear highs, nice bass

Can fall out of larger ears

Once these 848 earbud phones are broken in, their sound is quite good (for earbuds). They lack the "singing in a tin can" sound many smaller driver (i.e.: cheap) headphones have. Vocals are surprisingly smooth and natural sounding, acoustic instruments actually retain some of their resonance. The bass on these are remarkable: with thick foam pads on the earbuds I can hear bass detail from my quartz-drive Walkman WITHOUT turning on the bass-boost(I recommend you buy new thicker foam pads for the 848s. They help them stay in the ear and really improve the bass response.) With bass-boost on, I'd describe these as bass heavy.

Overall, the 848s provide a smooth, natural sound with bass response that will make you smile. Amazing for earbud headphones.

Overexaggerated mid-to-high bass, low bass and high treble are lacking, especially uncomfortable with foam pads on them

This is an update on my review dated 7/16/00:

I finally put foam earpads on these~~but I found that they make an already uncomfortable earbud even more so. Worse, they make the mid-to-high bass stand out even more! The treble isn’t as accurate as it should be for their $30 list price.

The moral of this story is:
Cheaper Sony earbud models than the MDR-E848(LP) sound more accurate and fit better (but unfortunately, there are no longer any low-end models with a gold-plated plug since the only low-end model so equipped~~the MDR-E837~~was discontinued in 1998 and may no longer be available). Otherwise, the MDR-E888LP is a far better choice even if it costs three time as much as the MDR-E848LP. (I haven’t tried any of Sony’s "Groove"-style earbuds but heard that they may boost the mid-bass even more than the MDR-E848LP.)
In this case, you don’t always get what you pay for~~some $30 headphones sound worse than some $20 models. To me, the MDR-E848LP is no better overall than cheaper Sony earbuds.

Rating: 2 stars for value, 3 stars for basic performance.

Similar Products Used:

Sony MDR-E827G, MDR-E837, MDR-E888LP