clear tight bass, fantastic isolation

It seems that a lot of people are confusing the MDR-V6's with the MDR-V600's. These are completey different headphones that go for about the same price. Most people will tell you that the V6's are far superior. I 've had mine for several months and have absolutely no complaints, for the price you, can not beat the V6's when it comes to a closed headphone.

fold up and easy to store. best phones i could

price, comfort, quality of sound, lack of bass

im an x broadcaster and audio enthusiast. im kind of picky about sound quality. 25 years ago i bought a pair of stanton 60 headphones. these babys were expensive for their time, but they were the best headphones i had ever owned. after owning them for 10 years, my sound technition buddy asked to borrow them to record a movie sound track in the studio. after asking him to return them several times he offered to buy them for 3 times what i paid for them since they no longer made them. i said sure, now, 15 years later i have yet to find a decent pair of headphones that even compare to those bulky blue headphones i bought 25 years ago. come on sony cant you do better than to charge me 100 dollars for this sorry excuse for sound. flat, no detail, bass? where is it? i find myself cupping my hands over the cans to insulate the outside of the phones for more bass. you may be wondering if i tested them out before it bought them. yes, i did along with 20 other headphones. i couldnt tell much difference between a 300 dollar pair and a 20 dollar pair. but these sounded the best. the truth is that all of them were poor. lighter is cheaper to make and everyone is convinced that compfort means lightness. not so. those old stanton 60 cans that must have weighed 5 pounds were compfortable enough to sleep in. with these sonys i am constantly ajusting them. not for long term use. still they sound better than most. not worth the money though, but ive got news for you, most headphones arent worth the money in my opinion, so just forget about quality sound untill everone in the house is awake and you can take your headphones off. havent tested sonys mdrvs5000 5.1 digital phones yet but i will. for $500 dollars they better sound better than a live concert though.

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all kinds

Rugged construction, comfortable, great sound

None

The wildly varying opinions of these headphones merely point out how subjective headphones are. Since you literally "wear" headphones, like shoes, you'll rarely find two people who'll say the same things about a pair of headphones.

Put me down as being another big fan of the MDR-V600s. Mine are eight years old and still sound and look practically brand new. Everything about them is perfect...for me, that is.

When I DJ, they can't be beat. When I travel, I never have to worry about them getting crushed to pieces in my carry on baggage (credit the folding design.) And when I use them as monitors behind my drum kit, they have just the right amount of isolation and can crank out high SPLs for hours.

Here's a useful tweak for folks with sweaty ears AND/OR who think the V600s are a bit too bright: take a pair of white, cotton, athletic socks. Cut the elastic ankle part off. Remove your V600's earpads and stencil the shape of the unpadded earpiece onto the softest, seamless part of the sock. Cut to fit and place BETWEEN the earpiece and the earpad with the smooth side facing the driver. Voila! Instant sweat- and treble- absorber. *Warning: repeat regularly depending on frequency of use.

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AKG 240M, Sennheiser HD320, Optimus Pro-25, Sony MDR-V200, Koss TD/80, Yamaha YHD-2, AKG 141.

Nicely constructed, closed-cup, headphones. However they suffer from muddy andoverboosted bass and and a somewhat harsh high end. They will play loudly. In
my mind for rock and rollers only.

These are fine phones, for the money. They are more efficient than most, which is a plus for portable use. They block out alot of outside sounds. they sound better than the Beyer phones, more open, and detailed. Top of the line sennheisers sound better, but are more fragile, especially the cords. These Sonys have a full, natural bass, a competent, though not stellar, midrange, and a sweet forgiving high end that make them very listenable for long periods of time. They're built like tanks, solid and enduring, but are very comfortable, and not too heavy. Since I have heard nothing in there price range that can come close to the big dynamic sound these deliver, I will give them 5 speakers.

Comfort

Lack of treble

I bought MDR-V6's 10 years ago after they topped Consumer Reports tests. They worked great, and I recently planned to replace them with the successor model, the MDR-V600. The cushions were bigger, leaving more room for my ears. However, one was pressed against my ear more than the other - they felt odd that way. While the bass was better than my 10 year old headphones, the V600's lacked clear treble reproduction. They went back to the store and I recently bought new MDR-V6's from ebay.

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MDR-V6

If you can get them for less than 90 bucks, they are a decent set of headphones. However, you *can* find better, for slightly more. If you aren't a serious headphone listener, or just need background noise to drown out your neighbor's rap, they work. Yes, they are harsh and undetailed, but that could be your stereo too - I once exchanged my sony minisystem for a Scott tube amp (from the 60's!), and there was a *difference* I heard things I never heard before in my music, unfortunetly, that included a hum as the power supply started dying :( But until then, the headphones worked well, they no longer made my ears ring (my #1 complaint of these)

Comfortable, isolates from exterior sound, good value.

May notice sweating after long wearing.

I've used headphones in radio broadcasting and video production for 30 years. The MDR-V600 phone is a consumer version of the Sony phones which are probably the most-used units in the history of video production. I bought the V600's because they have a decent full range of sound, they isolate well from exterior noise so you don't get distratec, and they are VERY comfortable. Many phones press on the ear - these have shells big enough to completely surround the ear without pressing on it. Very comfortable!

The phones do have a little bass emphasis. I notice it especially in production situations in which there is air conditioning noise in the background or a truck drives by. When taping under these conditions where very low-Hz noise is present, I find that the background noise consistently sounded a bit lounder when I monitored the recording in the field than when I play it back in the studio.

However, this very slight bass emphasis is attractive to me, and I disagree with others in this set of reviews who call them "boomy" or say they grosly over-emphasize the bass. The emphasis is moderate and pleasant, and I do not find that it fatigues my ears (physically or aurally) to wear them for hours! Above the bass register, I find these phones to be very well-balanced, offering good full range sound and a great listening experience. I highly recommend them to friends. For the price, I consider them a best buy.

I am not given to listening to head-banger music or high volumes, but I do listen to a range of music including rock and I find these phones to handle all my listening needs well.

Since there is an obvious difference between my opinion and that of others who have reviewed these, I suggest you try them in a demo situation before buying.

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other Sony phones, Sennheiser phones.

good sound reproduction at a good price

at this level, none

I find these to be exceptional headphones for their price. Many people have said they're not as good as the V6s, but I can't really tell that much of a difference. I have noticed that the two use the same drivers so any difference is design. The V600s fit around your ears, with the drivers being tilted towards the ears. The V6s sit on top of your ear. Maybe it's the shape of my ear that leans towards the V600s--they seem to have a better range and slightly deeper bass. I find they are best as a general headphone that I'm happy to use as a portable. They really shine on a Sony Discman with DSP. A previous review said that they wouldn't be able to handle ESP2, but that has nothing to do with sound quality! Sony has completely done away with DSP and is producing under powered Discmans now (in an effort to save battery life). That said and done, while the headphones are great at reproducing sound they can seem to get a bit flat with an amplifier (such as my Hardan Kardon). For that, I use my Sennheisers. The Sennheisers are more then just headphones--adding a perceived space and acoustics that bring out instrumental music. But then the Sennheisers retail for over twice as much. But as a reference series headphone, the Sony MDR-V600 is hard to beat....period.

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Sony MDR-V6, Sennheiser HD 580

Good at cutting out external noise.
Good sound quality on a portable system.
Good at keeping sound in.
Comfortable enough to wear all day long.

Yes, your ears can get a bit sweaty in a hot room.
The plastic construction appears a bit cheesy, but in actuality the headphones are quite sturdy.
The plastic earpads are not quite as comfortable as cloth ones, though they are comfortable enough as long as the temperature isn't too high.

I highly recommend these headphones for use in a noisy environment, such as at work. My set has lasted for 5 years of daily use. After this much use the earpads are history and the cable is starting to go. The sound quality is comparable to the Sennheisers I have owned, which makes them a very good value for the price. Actually I haven't done side by side comparison, but they seem fairly equivalent. The higher frequencies come through quite well on the 600s which I appreciate when listening to newer recordings. The Koss 4AA aren't anywhere near as good as these. I've been using my Sennheiser's at work for the past few weeks but they leak enough sound to disturb my coworkers, which the Sonys don't. Another feature I like about the Sonys is that when you take them off the muffs clamp up against each other which also limits the amount of sound coming out. The Sennheisers don't clamp together which has also generated noise complaints from coworkers. The Sonys also fold up into a more compact shape than some of my other headphones, which makes them a bit easier to store. Finally, the Sonys come with a coiled cord, which I find a bit easier to deal with when moving around at my desk. The straight cable on my Sennheisers is constantly getting caught under the wheels of my chair, which I find a bit annoying, not to mention I'm sure its not doing the cables any good. If anyone knows of a better work headphone I'd like to know about them. Right now I'm looking at the MDR-V900, which appears to have most of the same qualities as the 600.

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Sennheiser HD 535
Older 70's vintage Sennheisers
Koss Pro 4AA