24 out of 26 people found this review helpful.
A Sonic Abomination
Date of Review: May 19, 2000
To tell you the truth, I was extremely confused when I first visited the epinions product page for the MDR-V600. I had purchased a pair of these 7 years ago and returned them within the same week. Wanting to see what all the fuss was about, I purchased another pair just last week in an effort to reevaluate and possibly change my opinions about them. After doing some background research, I noticed that 7 years ago, I had purchased the MDR-V6, NOT the MDR-V600. The V600 were intended as an "improvement" and a replacement for the V6, but for some reason, Sony still sells the V6. This leads me to suspect some of the epinions listed under this category are of the V6. The pair I bought just last week were the V600, as stated on the packaging. So, without further ado, a review of the V600, NOT the V6.
Out of the Package
The first thing I noticed was the sturdy construction of these phones. They seemed like they would hold up for a while; I also enjoyed the fact that they folded up for easy storage and travel. The main reason I wanted to try them is the fact than my Koss R/100, my only decent pair of closed headphones, had broke, and after reading the reviews on epinions of the V600, I wanted to try them, deciphering that the V600 was hopefully an improvement over the V6, which I remember I was not at all impressed by. But then again, looks are nothing if the the sound is horrible. On the the tests....
Source 1: Aiwa XP-V70 Portable CD Player
I was glad that the V600 were efficient enough to be powered by my Aiwa, as I didn't bother to look at the impedance or sensitivity yet. That was the only thing I liked with this test. I used my self-created test CD, containing techno, classical, pop, ska, hip-hop, rap, reggae, dance, and opera, which I believe covers a wide range of music types. On basically every song, the sound was defined by a thick, muddy bass that had absolutely no clarity whatsoever. The treble had no transparency either, making the classical and opera tracks sound flat and extremely dull. Disgusted, I moved on in search of better things.
Source 2: SB Live Sound Card
My SB is naturally bright; the output hurts my ears on the already bright HD580s, so I was hoping it could help out the V600. No luck. The sound was still very "closed", cluttered, and muddy. Nothing is very audible, and it seems that all the sounds are blending together. Out of a flash of genius (or me hitting the wrong shortcut key), I loaded up Sonique, which began playing an mp3. This was the first time I'd heard anything decent out of the V600. Lo and behold, I had the equalizer on the "Rock" setting. After turning off the equalizer, the same horrid sound quality returned. Because the V600 needs equalization to sound anywhere near adequate, this test disappointed me also.
Source 3: Sony Receiver, $300
The sound marginally improved here. A little more openness and clarity. Stress on the marginally. I supposed that with better sources, the sound from the V600 will improve, but using the following table:
If I had to grade on a scale from one to ten:
Source--Quality (1-10)
1--1
2--2, 3 with equalization.
3--4
I was led to believe that you'd need a $2000+ plus source + amplifier to get anywhere close to the professional studio monitoring cans that these headphones claim to be. I hopped down the radio station on campus and plugged it into the DJ equipment. Only then did I receive decent output. But for such a ridiculous price, I was expecting much better from Sony.
Conclusion
Again, the majority of reviews here may be for the V6 and not the V600, which now, after testing both, I agree that the V6 which was supposed to be replaced by the V600 actually beats the V600 at all levels. For $100, think about the Koss A/200, Koss R/100, Grado SR60, Koss Sportapro, and Sennheiser HD495; for the money, you can do much better than these sonic abominations.
Still, headphones are subjective...please demo a pair before spending major amount of money on them. One man's trash may be another man's treasure.
EDIT, 5/22: Just got the X-Cans amplifier in the mail, and the sound with the V600 improved. It's a good thing I didn't return them yet, as the sound improvement was clearly evident. Still, if I had to spend so much money on just the V600 + Amp to make it sound better, I wouldn't. Still Not Recommended.
