Sony MDR-EX51LP On-Ear

Sony MDR-EX51LP On-Ear 

DESCRIPTION

  • Fontopia® Headphones in-the-ear design: fits snugly, yet comfortably inside the ear; eliminates the headband so you can enjoy music while exercising, skating or dancing
  • Sony's first closed-type Fontopia design: reduces outside noise for high-intensity listening; helps generate powerful, resonant bass response
  • New, super-small 9 mm drivers: ultra-compact drivers produce powerful sound with space left over for the sonic isolation of Sony's newly-designed silicon earbuds
  • Soft, silicon earbuds: reduce outside noise, provide long-lasting comfort, hour after hour; the earbuds are washable, removable and replaceable
  • Two sizes of earbuds: accommodate a full range of ears

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-9 of 9  
[Oct 26, 2020]
stevens


Strength:

Comfort is amazing to me, yes it does cancel noise outside. Price is good for what it puts out. Not bulky and light weight. Nice protective case.

Purchased:
Used  
OVERALL
RATING
3
[Aug 08, 2008]
michaelmissing
Casual Listener

Strength:

Like I wish there were any - oh yeah the buds fit snug in my ear...

Weakness:

Everything and Anything - you name it its a weakness...

I was looking to replace my aging iphone ear buds with something comparable but with one of those in-ear earbuds with a reasonable price.

I bought the Sony MDR-EX51LP's with the hope that I would be getting something comparable in sound but once I tried these I was sadly disappointed. Very tin'ny sounding, virtually no bass, and overall instant dissatification.

I can't actually believe there are people on this board that have given this a + review - what a POS

Customer Service

Not observed

Similar Products Used:

None this poor

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Mar 13, 2008]
Larry G.
AudioPhile

Strength:

Good sound, well balanced over all freqs and the excellent in ear fit. Comes with 3 sizes of earbud soft rubbers. Cable length is on one side for a shirt pocket.

Weakness:

I cannot find anything at this time.

My stock earphones that came with my Creative Zen hurt my ears. I'm a welder and listen to music on my MP3 player all day. I've always had a special place in my heart for Audio. The Sony MDR-EX51LP have a perfect fit. As soon as you put the earbuds in without music they block out the outside noise by a lot. The stock phones did not do that. When I turned on the music and went thru a few songs that had cymbals, vocals and drums I knew they sounded better than the stock phones. No, it wasn't dramatic, but better. What I like most is the soft rubber comfortable and snug fit.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 08, 2007]
innerreflection
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Comfort is amazing to me, yes it does cancel noise outside. Price is good for what it puts out. Not bulky and light weight. Nice protective case.

Weakness:

Bass isn't great for listeners that blast music.

Well i have had these for a few days and am using this with the creative zen vision:m 30gb. I listen to music for about 8 hours straight at work and my ears were killing me. I figured that i would use the big bulky headphones but well that wouldn't go so well at work. I have read all the reviews on the headphones and to be honest im surprised that everyone is saying they suck.

The bass indeed is a little different but its not something that sounds horrible, and the treble to me is perfect. If you are planning on maxing out your eardrum then i wouldn't get these for the quality but i don't use something that is so close to my ear drum to damage it enough. It's probably the ear that is getting more distortion cause by it but ye s i will agree it sounds a little bit struggling.

the treble to me is perfect but the bass is not so hot. the zen has an eq that you can customize and it sounds great that way but not really stock.

I will say that for $30 i think they are great compared to others out there and for bass enthusiasts or if you need more get the $90 ones they are bass enchanced but i think its too much bass for me for these little guys.
If i want bass i will get some big' o dj headphones or some 12" subs in the car.

OH YA and in addition its got this really cool holder but i still don't get how your supposed to use it to wrap up the cord also. does not make sense to me but the hold is a nice protection for your investment.

Make sure you test out all of the rubber cone things because if the bass is not heard correctly or at all rather then you should change it to the other sizes.

Also to describe how it feels when you talk with them in is very simple. If you have ever had your ears popped like in a plane or kind of like water in them. when talking it feels weird but thats because the little rubber piece is blocking out the outside noise. Niice !

otherwise overall i love these especially compared to the stock ones with not only quality but comfort.

Similar Products Used:

stock Creative zen vision:m stubs

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jul 02, 2005]
Kofi
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Small, very portable, and quite comfortable in the ear.

Weakness:

Everything else - the sound is very poor.

I was looking for some headphones for my used ipod (4th gen) I bought on ebay, and the guy at the Sony store pushed these down my throat - maybe they are trying to clear the stock and I can understand why. Overall I am very disappointed with these headphones. It is not the comfort or the wires (both are fine for me) but they sound like they are "trying too hard". The bass is overpowering, and not precise at all, and the treble starts to shriek with a higher volume. The "balance" is way off, and no amount of repositioning in the ears seems to fix it. Believe me, I have tried classical, jazz, rock, lounge music etc, but nothing seems to work on these headphones. For a while I though it was the ipod - so I tried listening to some tracks that were burnt on the Apple Lossless format, and with many different EQ settings, but to no avail. Then I tried them with my Denon bookshelf system, and also with my B&O CD player.. no better. I'm going out to buy what I should have bought in the first place - Bang and Olufsen A8's.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
2
[Feb 01, 2005]
vchu7105
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Good but not great design, good sound. good fitting.

Weakness:

Thin wires, Terrible shielding! Can hear intefernece when moving the wires

I needed something that I can use to fall asleep with. I have Grado's SR-60 to compare with and Grado's do sound great. The sound is clear from the buds but there is a noticible diffrence from the Grado's. I bought buds cause Goodcans.com gave a good recommendation. They are pretty comfortable in the ears. I've never used buds before so I cant compare them to others. Sound is good, expecially for the price, but my main beef is with the wires. They are not thick enough. When you move the wires around, you can almost hear the interference. Thats a Joke. Secondly, they should have made the wires equal. I dont like using them around my neck all the time. The wires are way too cheap and just cheapens the product. There is no shielding.

Similar Products Used:

Grado SR-60. Various sony ear phones. Sony digital reference phones.

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
4
[Dec 11, 2004]
AEinc.
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

In my opinion NONE

Weakness:

Lots, very limited soundstage, Silicone plugging give an underwater feel, treble freqs are to enhanced, lots of bass which enhances the underwater effect, so you have this bass booming is your ears, these are just terrible, i'm sorry. I prefer to continue using my cheaper Sony MDR-E829V buds.

I have to say that I regret getting these ear buds, they are TERRIBLE, I am usually a big fan of Sony products, but these they can keep.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Dec 11, 2004]
WizeMuzik
AudioPhile

Strength:

Bass, reproduction in general. My best friends while biking! In contrast to buds that cost 10-20 dollars, there is a significant difference. I feel like I standard issue earbuds defile music because of such poor audio reproduction.

Weakness:

I have to agree about the treble. It does sound okay until you realize that it'd being over reproduced, and starts to hurt your ears a bit :) I still use them all the time, however, the highs are metallic and flat sounding. Its not BAD sound; these headphones simply reproduce at their own equalization, essentially. Lots of bass, and a LOT of treble. This is where a Graphic equalizer comes in handy on a CPU, or EAX software, or through a sound card.

These headphones have quite a few advantages and a few setbacks. First of, they really can go anywhere...they're so frikn light! Bass is close to outstanding for the mere size of these things and the price.

Similar Products Used:

standard issue earbuds from creative. (POS's)

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
4
[Mar 22, 2004]
levisj125
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Strong and clear bass, crisp treble, minimal outside noise.

Weakness:

Top end can be harsh, even unnatural. Slightly compressed sound, narrow soundstage.

I bought some of these to replace a pair of aging MDRE-848s that I regularly use with an older MZ-R70 Minidisc. (MD only has 2-level bass boost, no EQ. Earbuds have foam covers, improves bass and reduces treble harshness.) Read all the reviews around and decided they would be worth trying over the MDRE-888s that were a natural upgrade to my existing ones. Gee do I regret that choice. Not only are they a (sonic) step backwards from the 848s, but I can't stand to listen to them at all. The low bass is great, but the treble is really harsh and sounds unnatural in some cases. (Exaggerated vocal "s" and harsh drum symbals.) Lower midrange is quite lacking, but vocals seem to be ok in most recordings. Compared to the open-design 848s, the sound is quite compressed and the soundstage is much narrower, almost like listening to a mono recording. (Yes, I spent ages fiddling around to make sure they were fitted correctly.) I don't know whether it's the smaller driver or just the different design, but I just don't think they are up to the sonic standard of the 848s. Maybe they would be fine if you have user-defined EQ, but certainly no good with fixed EQ, especially the treble. I can't wait to upgrade to the 888s, but it will be a while as I just blew the money on these over-rated monkeys. :(

Similar Products Used:

Sony MDRE-848

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
2
Showing 1-9 of 9  

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