Customer Reviews

Sony MDR710LP Lightweight Stereo Headphones

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I tried these out for a couple of days. I am a professional musician and I am very picky when it comes to sound detail.

Overall, these headphones have a good sound. Clear and well-rounded. However, when I put on the Sennheiser PX200's, I felt like I could hear more detail in the music. The Sennheiser's are a bit more trebly and maybe a bit harsh at first, but I prefer them already to the Sony's. The Sony's felt a little more bland and I didn't feel quite as present with the music.

I also don't like the fact that these headphones seem to want to fold up on themselves. The headband is too spring-loaded. I prefer the Sennheiser in this regard.

I don't care for the fold-up design, nor does it bother me. That said, these headphones are awesome. They are $50 headphones, and for $50, the sound is amazing. I have never personally owned headphones that sounded as good as these do.

I speculated before buying them that the bass wouldn't be that great given their compact size, but i was very wrong. I was surprised at how much bass these headphones reproduced.

These are also the only pair of headphones I've had that were loud enough to make me turn the volume down (as opposed to turning the volume down to avoid distortion). I have a Sansa e260r and they hurt my ears at the highest volume setting!

Maybe it's just been too long since I've bought a pair of headphones, but I am extremely satisfied with my purchase.

Another thing I like about these headphones is that they are light enough that I can hardly feel them, so they stay comfortable. And I like the material that goes on my ears - it's soft.

Definitely recommend these headphones if you are spending less than $60!

Seeking higher quality sound than most headphones and on a budget, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the low bass (>15khz) in my songs that I had not heard before with other headphones. They are comfortable for extended periods (5+ hours) of wear. The case is unique and good for keeping the overly elastic band tight.

This is my only complaint: they fold up quite compactly, but are a pain to get to that position.

Other than that, the extended range and depth meets audiophile demands, and the budget of a student.

I just bought these headphones and I'm very happy with them. I just returned Sennheiser In-Ear Headphones. They were in comparison not very strong on the basses and tended to fall out of the ear! Also I don't like In-Ear not anymore because i always feel totally cut off from my environment which makes me uncomfortable!

My basic requirements for buying new headphones were:
1. Small in size for portable use
2. Good sound with good bass
3. a cable that is not too long like my 6 foot 4 other sony headphones
4. High volume for my not very strongly amplified cell phone mp3 player

All these requirements were matched by the MDR 710L. The sound is very good for listening to electronic music with a lot of bass and trebles. That doesn't mean they are only good for electronic music but i can't tell you for guitar music, sorry ;)
These headphones are comfortable but difficult to wear around your neck when not listeneing to music. this is the only con i found so far. If you don't mind that then go with it!

These little headphones are pretty incredible. I purchased these for $60 in 2006.

Now, the bass and the lows are incredible, and influenced my decision to purchase these when trying a friends pair. The mids and the highs... well they could be better but they are decent all things considered. As a huge electronic music fan, this was absolutely what I was looking for.

Being supra-aural they don't block out too much outside noise. This could be an issue for some, you do have to turn up the volume some in some noisier environments, but it's also good that you can turn them down low and still hear what's going on, like if you're waiting to hear your train coming in (I always bring this pair with me when I ride the train).

Now, the fold up nature of these is awesome. Some people don't like it? I guess they weren't purchasing it for their compactness. But this was a big selling point for me, being able to fold them up and put them in a pocket. The folding mechanism takes some practice, but with use you can fold them up in about 2 seconds if you use both hands.

Also, no one has mentioned one of the best features of these headphones in my opinion. The extremely short 3.9 foot cord. This truly makes these portable headphones. The cord can comfortably reach from a jeans pocket with about 6 inches of hang. You can also slip it in a cargo pocket quite easily with a few inches of hang. This means there is little room for the cord to get tangled on stuff, and you don't have to untangle it when you bring it out of your pocket.

The included hard carrying case makes them fit nicely, and has an area to wrap the cord around. It's a nice touch to include this travel carry case.

One negative is the springy nature of the headband does have them press against your head a bit tight, this makes for a secure fit and they won't fall off easily, but it also will cause some ear pain after about 3 hours of continuous use. A slight re-adjustment is recommended every hour or so to help lessen this effect. It's not a big enough of a con for me to not recommend them though.

Overall this is a great PORTABLE pair of headphones, and the bass heavy nature will satisfy electronic music fans and hip hop fans in a big way. I do listen to some rock music and they sound pretty great with rock too.

I've owned both these and the Sennheiser PX-100 that I often see praised in reviews on Amazon. I disagree. I think the Sony's sound is nearly perfect, rich, clear sound with superb bass, and so far they have held up well. The Sennheisers sounded clear but boring, kind of flat sounding with little bass. Also, I accidentally tugged the cord on one ear of the Sennheisers, as I've done with almost all my headphones when I'm active, and forever after that, that ear made a buzzing noise when I listened to certain artists, rendering them useless and worthless. The Sony's are the best lightweight headphones I have ever had, and I highly recommend them over any others.

I keep a set of headphones in my backpack all the time, sometimes for work and sometimes for pleasure. Unfortunately my backpack is sometimes a rather harsh environment and I generally expect to loose a pair every 3 to 8 months. What I love about these headphones is that they come with a small hard plastic case that you can throw in your backpack and never have to worry about them getting broken, or the contacts getting loose. If you keep them in their case they will last a loong time. They are very compact and the case is as well, leaving you lots of other room in your backpack for other necessities (laptop, book, camera). These are not noise canceling, which I like, because trying to ride a bike thorugh a city with noise cancelling headphones is a recipe for disaster. Instead these keep you present in your environment but fill it prominently with whatever sound you choose to send into them. This is also great if you are playing music with other musicians and want to hear what you are playing clearly, while still being able to hear what the direction the rest of the players are going in. The closed earcups on the headphones keeps your sound enclosed very well, so you don't bother other people when you have them cranked up on the subway (train/bus/u-bahn/etc). They are also very low profile and feel pretty great for long periods of time.

In terms of sound quality I will say that these sound fantastic. I think I may have head a big dopey studio pair of headphones at some point that might have sounded a little better in the highs, but they weren't portable, didn't last long, and weren't nearly as comfortable to wear. I have probably gone through about 30 pairs of headphones in the last 20 years, these are far and away my favorite. And though I have lost a couple sets of them to my backpack by not putting them away properly in the case, they generally last 2-3 times longer than any other pair has under similar usage, and I would never hesitate to buy another set.

All around, for my purposes I couldn't think of a better pair of headphones.

When I first put these on, I was pleasantly shocked by the depth of the bass these headphones obtained. I was listening to the movie score to the Transformers Movie by Steve Jablonsky, where much of the rich bass is lost to the tiny ear buds. But with these, that is not the case! Suddenly the richness of the drums and other bass-rich instruments became alive. So much so that I had to turn off the Bass Boost on my Creative Zen V because it was overwhelming the mids and highs. I'm not too thrilled that the mids and highs don't seem to punch through as powerfully as the bass does, so it takes some adjustments on my Zen V equalizers to get it to where I'm more satisfied with what I'm hearing. I haven't found the perfect setting yet, but I'm still working on it...I've only started using the headphones today.

(If you think about it, I think the sound for many of our MP3 players are adjusted for ear buds which don't carry the bass like larger earphones like these do.)

I like that these headphones fold up nicely and have a nice protective hard case to store them in. Compactness is good thing for me - easier storage, less clutter.

Are they comfortable? Eh, somewhat. The ear pads are not very large, so there are pressure points on the ears that do get uncomfortable over time. I'm not fully happy with the headband portion, it tends to put pressure on the top of my head when I wear them. I'm hoping that it will get a bit more flexible over time.

What I'm really enjoying about these headphones, especially as a mom, I like that I can put these on and my music immediately whisks me away because it just sounds so darn good compared to my small ear buds. I'm surprised on how much of the outside world is blocked out. I never knew that experience was possible without paying mega-money on sophisticated equipment. Ok, so these Sony headphones may not be the best, but they are surely doing the trick for me.

I was fortunate enough to purchase a set of this particular headphones by Sony for a fraction of the price offered here at Amazon. I normally would not have considered paying so much for headphones of any kind unless they are wireless. So for the price, I'm not regretting my purchase.

I listen to a lot of "New Grass" with guitar and banjo. Now I don't know if I got a bad unit but there is a band of frequencies centered around 3kz that is so peaky that I have to turn the volume down to keep from being blasted by it. The result is that I have to music at a lower level than I want just to keep from having pins stuck in my ears when certain notes are played. The MP3 equalizer settings don't help.

Guess I was expecting a lot more that what I got. The music image is very flat and dull sounding. Instruments don't separate well.

I'm comparing the sound from these with a set of Sony MDR-W20s that I've had for almost twenty years! There's no comparison. The W20S blow these away in every respect. Deeper bass. Crisper highs. Balanced midrange.

The only good thing I can say about these is that they're LOUD. They produce a lot of volume per milliwatt. That makes them good with the tiny little MP3 players. If you're just looking for a boombox equivalent for the Gym they might fill the bill.

The folding arrangement is clever but the complexity of the moves needed to get them ready to use is sufficient that most people will never put them back in their case once they get them unfolded.

I'm giving mine away - they're worthless to me. Really glad I got them on sale for $10.

Lightweight, they stay in place, and they have great sound.
I stock for a living.
This is my second pair and I haven't found anything else that comes close.