Rich, deep sound. High durability. Quality construction.

Everybody wants to borrow them.

Best headphones I've come across in a long time. That price couldn't be beat either. They were actually having a sale the day I bought them, so there I didn't even have to THINK about it.
These were probably the best audio investment I've made. I do a lot of digital editing, and with these headphones I can hear every detail.
Way to go, Sony!

Sound Quality

Weight

What a fabulous pair of headphones! You can find these for $89 at a professional audio distributor like Rock 'n Rhythm (888-742-ROCK). You're not going to find these in a store, or on a consumer level electroncs distributor- yes, they're Sonys, but they're serious 'phones.

The 7506s have large, 40mm drivers and a sealed, over-ear design. The sound quality is superb- Highs are immaculately detailed, and you will NOT BELIEVE the low end- ruler flat down to 10Hz or something ridiculous like that. The bass is brassy, clear, and STRONG. Forget Bass Boost, you're hearing the real thing straight out of your preamp. The sound is incredibly detailed; you'll listen to recordings you've heard literally hunreds of times and things will pop out that you never knew were there.

The packaging is elegant, and they come with a generous coiled cord and a vinyl carrying bag. These are well designed- they're not bulky at all, and significantly smaller than most over-ear sealed headphones; thus, you can wear them in public and not look like a total freak (as you would wearing some of those AKG monsters or something like that). Also, they do this cool thing where the drivers kind of fold and tuck in to the part that goes over your head, so they store in a very small space. This last part is an incredible design, you have to see it to believe it.

These headphones are well padded, and comforable to wear for hours. My only gripe is that they're a little heavy, and will leave you with a big ridge in the middle of your hairdo after a while. My only other gripe is that they're not incredibly efficient, but with any decent preamp you can drive them to earsplitting levels. If you're using them with a discman or something, you may have to turn them up a little further than with standard headphones. Oh well....

I have to laugh at people that drop big bucks on headphones at an electronics store. These headphones are truly professional sounding- not even in the same league. Spend the extra $20 and you will be amazed.

Similar Products Used:

AKG

Very clear, detailed; designed for rugged usage; will not be met by strange looks if you wear them in the subway

A little heavy in the bass, but not a problem

I am writing this to respond to Bernie below.

I bought the 7506 two months ago after reading the reviews in this site, and I am extremely happy with my purchase. I use it mainly to listen to CD's and DVD's from my DVD player which has a source-direct phones output (beleive me, the sound is AMAZING when heard through source-direct).

However, I also bought my cans for video/film work. Though I am not an audiophile, I record sound for student films and video. In these shoots, the standard pro-headphones used are either the MDR-V6 or the Mdr-7506.

I haven't had the chance to thoroughly audition the AKG 240's when I bought my cans, but I remember that their appreance and design deterred me: they looked fragile, and they are not foldable and therefore less portable than the multipurpose 7506. The AKG are probably better suited in a studio or at home --but not on film sets.

I agree with Bernie that the bass is overemphasized. However, I am willing to accept this shortcoming for the 7506's durable design, portabity, and value (Though less multipurpose in design, the AKG is probably a more accurate and comfortable headphone.)

Since no other headphones at this price has these combination of strengths, I rate the 7506 5 stars for value and overall.

Similar Products Used:

Similarly priced Beyerdynamics, AKG

boomy bass, highly colored sound

I'm surprised at all the rave reviews here. I am a musician, and the primary use I have for headphones is recording. I want an accurate transparent sound, that reflects what I'm trying to record. After buying and using the 7506s, I assumed they were cheap Sony consumer crap geared towards the average rock listener who likes to crank the bass to ear-damaging levels. I can't believe these are considered regular pro gear.

My pair of AKG 240DFs got a short when I loaned them and their cord got yanked, and I needed a new pair to finish recording some vocal tracks in a hurry, so I went down to the local Guitar Center. They were out of the DFs and my second choice, the AKG 240Ms, so the Sony was the best they had in the $100 range. Man, was I disappointed. These things are WAY boomy (hell, I'm a bass player, fer gawd sakes), and my ears haven't yet been destroyed by high volumes, and I'd like to keep it that way. When I went to record the vocal tracks, all the wonderful prescence of my DFs was gone, and the amped up bass response of these phones made it hard to get an accurate sense of how the vocal was going to sound once recorded and mixed with the other tracks.

My recommendation in the same price range is the AKG 240M (about $90). Not as detailed and a little harsher in the mids than its higher priced cousin, the 240DF, which is the best midpriced headphone I've found for my purposes (about $130 at the time, maybe more now?), but good enough. Both don't have loud bottom ends, but the DF bottom is very clear and detailed. Both AKGs are widely used in the recording industry, and been around for ages. I haven't yet tried the Grados (60 and 125) or the high end Sennheisers (580 and 600).

Perhaps the 7506s are good phones for specific functions, like radio DJs who like to hear more bottom on their voices, or ham radio operators or computer gamers, but I can't recommend them for music listeners who want an accurate detailed transparent sound.

Similar Products Used:

AKG 240M, AKG 240DF

Excellent bass extenstion and clearly define mid and hi end, pretty comfortable.

None

After owning the Open designed Grado's i decided to pick up a pair of closed cans and found these after reading all the other reviews on this site. Let me start off by saying the packaging itself is the best i've ever seen for a pair of headphones! The quality of the build is excellent, these things can take a beating from the looks of it, very sturdy construction! Also, i didn't notice this until i got them, the cord is on the left side, which is great! The sound quality? Imagine the Grado's with some pumping bass! Clearly defined highs and the low end is tight, not flabby at all! As for the closed design, at low volumes you can hear just about everything, as you raise the volume, outside noises are muted out. I need to test these out on the train to see how well the design performs. Although the price is great, marsmusic charges ridiculous rates for shipping, i wound up spending an additional 25 bucks with taxes (2nd day air). Any dislikes? Not yet, the cans sound great on the MD player and Discman, so just about anything can run these things, they are abit clunky, but once you put em on, they stay put. Also, i have a big head with big ears and their pretty comfortable.

Similar Products Used:

Grado Sr-60, Yamaha RH5MA, Roland RH-50, some cheapy sony 'phones,

Accurate, wide-range sound; great with portables

A bit too bright out of the box

I bought a pair of Sony MDR-7506 Professional headphones at Sam Ash (to replace a really aging pair of Sony MDR-V6 headphones) after I had demoed a pair of AKG K240DF headphones. And I will have to agree with most of the positive reviews on the MDR-7506 headphones. They are much more "universal" as far as the audio source compared to other headphones that claim to be "for professional studio monitoring". And not surprisingly, the MDR-7506 headphones are based on the vintage (and superior-sounding) MDR-V6 headphones that were introduced in 1985 rather than the crappy MDR-V600 headphones that were intended to replace the MDR-V6 headphones in 1993.

Unlike the AKG K240DF headphones that I demoed, the Sony MDR-7506 headphones work well with a wide variety of audio devices – portables, home audio components and DJ equipment. They are very sensitive – so that even weak portables will produce quite loud output from the MDR-7506 headphones, although they naturally do sound better with a better source. And speaking of sound quality, the MDR-7506 is among the very few headphones that actually extend the deep bass response down into the sub-bass region without also making the mid-bass region boomy (sorry, Koss). The mids are accurate as well, but the highs are a bit bright out of the box (but that may smooth out after several hours of burn-in). (Don’t confuse the "professional" MDR-7506 with the "consumer" MDR-V600 – they’re totally different headphones. As a professional radio/recording engineer told me, the MDR-V600 headphones have way overboosted mid-bass, surprisingly little deep bass extension for such boomy mid-bass, and mids that are as colored and inaccurate as any pair of headphones or speakers. Also, the ringing noises – or resonances – from the MDR-V600 headphones are very annoying.)

The earpads are of a hybrid circumaural/supraural design, so they may press against the user’s ears. And the "pleather" material may induce sweating on the ears. The headband doesn’t self-adjust, but manually adjusting it is easy enough. The headphones fold for easy portability, and both earcups swivel to allow one-sided DJ monitoring. The single-sided cord is coiled – and expands from 1 meter to 3 meters in length. The 3.5mm plug tip is gold-plated, and the plug housing is metal (not plastic as on most other headphones). A gold-plated screw-on 3.5 to 6.3mm adapter and a "pleather" carrying pouch are supplied.

So, if you want "professional" sound quality even on equipment that is less than "professional"-grade, you can’t go wrong with the Sony MDR-7506 headphones. There are better headphones out there, but they cost much more than the $110 street price tag of the MDR-7506 headphones.

*Note that my overall rating is judged against other closed headphones selling for about the same price as these headphones.

Great mids and highs and tight deep bass. Accurate and revealing. Design and cost.

Haven't found any yet.

Sound: Tight accurate bass, great mids and highs. Very responsive and revealing. Hearing things in mixes for the first time. As other reviews have stated - if it is in the recording you will hear it. Excellent isolation.

Comfort: Not as comfortable as the Senn HD 580/600's but then nothing I have found is. For closed cans these are very comfortable. More comfortable than most expensive headphones.

Build Quality: They appear to be very well built. Although I haven't had them long they seem very durable.

Design: One cord is nice. The cups rotate for DJ style use and they FOLD UP! That is cool. Low impedance makes for great convenience as there is no need for an amp. The cord is coiled...and many people don't like that...it has not been a problem for me but I would prefer an uncoiled cord.

Value: Awesome! My friends are a bunch of phonenauts and they were all very impressed by the 7506. Most of them play instruments/record/mix and dj and had never heard this model from Sony. One remarked that it restored his faith in the company (mine too btw...I had a hard time ordering because of the name...) At around $100...you cannot go wrong. They easily compete with the multi-hundred dollar phones I have listened to lately.

All in all, these headphones are a bargain. Now I see why many studios use 7506's as they are more accurate than great sounding. Which means if the mix sucks...you will know immediately. Some high end headphones tend to make everything sound nice, but I was looking for accuracy and believe I have found it...cheaply...which made the purhase ever so sweet. If you are reading these reviews thinking that you need to spend $200 plus a few more hundreds on an amp...let me say this, you don't need to. Order the Sony 7506. I find it unimaginable that Sony isn't pushing these into stores everywhere...but then I guess no one would buy their other headphones...

$100...order them.

Similar Products Used:

Sennheiser HD 580/Beyerdynamic DT 831/Sony MDR-V700DJ/Sony MDR-V600

great sound

weaknesses?

i bought these new in 1991(92?) and am still using them.

i use them for:
listening to music
playing pc games
producing electronic music

they still work and sound great!
i'm actually shocked to see they are still around and still sell for what i paid for them.

i usually use my cheap mdr-g52's for playing games, but when i put the 7506's on its amazing how much more you hear. in quake3 i can hear people in other rooms and tel where they are and tell which weapon they are using if its one that makes noise when not firing like the railgun or lightning gun.

the only thing to happen to mine so far is the padding has started to detach from the inside so its not really a big deal.

i must say i'm stoked on the headphones
i use the bag they came with for my sony discman

super purchase! buy with confidence!

Similar Products Used:

sony mdr-g52 ; other random walkman style headphones

Deep and uncolored bass, excellent clarity across the range, easily powered, comfy, folding design makes packable.

Hybrid circum/supra aural design does not isolate as much as I would like. Coiled cord is a mixed blessing.

These blow away everything I have listened to. On a high quality recording, you will pick out details that you've never heard before. On a recording of poor quality, you will quickly see why these are called studio monitors-they reproduce everything that is in the signal, good or bad! When I bought these, I was worried I would have to shell out extra for a headphone amp. I power them from a Panasonic SL-CT 470 cd portable, and these cans will get loud enough to hurt my ears. Very efficient. Try them, they truly are a professional quality product.

Similar Products Used:

various consumer sonys

As a follow-up to my below review: I also have the Grado SR60s that I use at work. For me, there is not a perfect headphone. I love the light, comfortable feeling of the Grados (the Sony's are heavier), which make the Grados perfect for me to leave at work. They don't provide as much isolation as the Sonys so I can still hear the phone at work, etc... I leave the Sony's at home for where I like the good isolation they provide. I also bring the Sony's on trips-they block out noise on airplanes fairly well.

This 2 headphone solution is really what works best for me. Now I don't have to transport my headphones to work with me everyday, just the portable CD player. At work I use the Grados, at home I use the Sony's. And I have great music quality from my portable CD player at both places...