The Sound Of Music

Please father...oh please father..hear my confession. It has been thirty years since my last confession....but I am so racked with guilt. I can no longer carry the burden of my crime on my own; therefore I turn to you for absolution and sanctification. Please...I will say five hundred Hail Marys; a thousand Our Fathers; a zillion I am sorrys just so I can be forgiven.

And my horrific crime? I am a headphone abuser.

There...Ive said it. I feel so much better now. To call a rose by any other name would still mean that I treat my poor, unfortunate headphones with little or no respect; generally resulting in some sort of tragic accident in which either one of the speaker cups snaps off or even breaks in half.

This is made even worse by the fact that I use headphones a LOT as I live in a barely big enough one bedroom apartment and cant take advantage of my kick butt Yamaha bookshelf speakers and I love to listen to my music LOUD!!! I listen while I attack the World Wide Web with my ramblings; I listen while playing games and doing some serious writing; I listen just for the heck of it. These needs make it necessary to maintain a great sounding pair of headphones and it surprises even me to realize I apparently cannot find a way to keep from destroying them within a few months.

That having been said; the pair I happened to demolish about a week ago were Denons and sounded great. I felt so bad as to what had happened and I have been shivering with guilt for the past few days because I know when I go out and get another pair, the same fate is bound to befall them too. I overcame this resistance tonight and wandered into a local shop of electronic whirlygigs....looking to buy another pair and not spend a ton of money in the process.

I could have bought another pair of Denons but decided..what the heck, lets try something new. With its sleek silver speaker cups, the Sony V300 headphones caught my eye and, once I had a chance to hear them, commanded my entire attention. I had given some thought to spending a hundred bucks or so but these Sonys are only fifty and are capable of going up against the more expensive brethren.

It used to be a fact of life that Sony products had no purpose other than to stink up whatever showroom happened to be present but that claim can no longer be made. Sony has made quite a name for themselves as a middle line electronics producer and these phones deserve their rightful place on the shelf.

The headset is lightweight and comfortable with neat little grooves in the sides so it is easier to position the width of the headset. One really great feature is the hinge on each side which allows the intrepid listener to fold the set up when done and easily set it out of the way...OH MY GOSH...is there hope for me yet? The speaker cups are smallish in size but very comfortable still. Sony employs a closed ear system which I like...I have never been able to get used to the open air concept in headphones...I want to listen to music and not my neighbors fight with each other. The cord is a little longer than most which is nice and seems very heavy duty. Full size and minature plugs are provided so you wont be left out in the cold if you come up against an unusual headphone jack.

So how is the sound? It is incredible. I thought my Denons sounded good but this nugget blows Denon away and is cheaper to boot. In the show room, I pumped the volume and the phones took it as easy as taking candy from a baby. Once home, I performed the same scientific test and, viola, the sound came through loud and clear. There is a great spaciousness in the sound as well as excellent stereo seperation. There is some sort of special speaker driver in use here which is supposed to enhance the bass sounds and I would have to say it works pretty good. It wont make your heart thump but it will let you know of its presence. It is very surprising to find sound this good on a relatively cheap pair of headphones but I am certainly glad to be the recipient of such surprise.

All in all...a fine choice for almost any kind of audiophile. Now...if I can just keep from sending them to headphone heaven. Put em on..lay back in your easy chair..and listen to the sounds of music.