Customer Reviews

Sony MDREX85LP/BLK Soft Earbud w/ Soft Clip & Case

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Unfortunately, the only real way to test different brand earbuds is to buy them and hope you like them. If you don't, then return them. Fortunately, larger companies let you return open packaged items such as earbuds for a full refund (without a reason), so this is what I did.
I tried similarly priced ($100) Shure earbuds, and also the popular Bose ($100) earbuds. Both are quality products, but not as quality as the Sony MDR EX 85lp (which you have to find at an actual Sony store, if not Amazon, which is about half price.)
The Shure brand has a sound disparate towards Treble. Way too much treble. And the Bose have much too much bass for my taste. So much that it overpowers the music itself. If this is what you're looking for then your good to go, but this is not what the music was recorded to sound like. That is a matter of fact.

And then there is the MDR EX90 lp, the slightly older brother of the MDR EX85. The slight difference is that the MDR EX 85 case is made of plastic and the MDR EX90 of metal. The metal housing is supposed to cut vibration, but it is so negligible as to stump a hummingbird. Ok, exaggeration, but I actually tried both and went with the EX85 (with plastic housing) because I thought the sound was a touch touch nicer, but I'm sure it was imagination or the fact that I'd compared them so many times side by side as to not know the difference anymore.



The EX85 and EX90 are nearly identical earbuds, much better than anything else I've heard in the way of earbuds. The sound is so great!

Not a bad product! Overall, a very good effort by sony. The buds are probably best suited for users who do not like "canal-phones" that reach deep into the ear canal. These sit just inside the canal and do not have a suction fit. Because of this, the outside noise blockage is only "fair". But it is nice that you can wear them outside and not worry about getting run over by a bus that you don't hear coming. This year, the cord is also lighter and pulls on the ear less. As for the sound, I would describe it as a detailed and bright sound, with a relatively solid amount of bass. There seems to be an overemphasis on the 3-6K hertz range, which makes each song sound very clear and "open". The bass is solid, but lacks mid-bass impact. Snare drums sound weak and you can't hear the impact on the skin of the drums. But heck, for 50-60 bucks, who can complain. I would say that for the money and for the user who hates earplugs, these are awesome. I wish sony would create a model that costs a little more and has a slightly better sound signature. The EX90s are supposed to be that bud, but most say it is indistinguishable from the EX85s! Either way, I would buy them again.

I was wandering around the Apple store (which has a funny way of making money feel like it is burning a hole in your pocket) and rationalized ::cough:: realized I needed a headset upgrade (as well as one that worked with the iPhone without an adapter). I went to the audio section and looked at a number of headphones. This headphone looked reasonably priced and was the last one in stock (wisdom of crowds at work?) so I went with it. I didn't think the extra expense of noise cancellation on other headsets was worth it as I already preferred in-ear headphones (which do a pretty good attenuation job already).

Well I have to say it was a great purchase. Excellent response across the entire frequency spectrum. Fits comfortably in the ear for a long time. Treble is not too trebley and bass is FULL but not overpowering nor muddled/cheap-sounding (perhaps due to the bottom frequency response spec of 5hz!). Nifty carry case. Can't go wrong with these, as long as they fit comfortably in your non-mutant ears...

Excellent value for the price, but only if you understand how to work with quality ear buds. Decent bass response is achieved by a combination of the quality of the ear bud AND the way you fit them to your ear - tightly. Those who complain about poor bass response probably did what I did the first time, before I learned better. You see, your ear canal helps serve as a chamber of sorts that allows low frequencies to resonate. A good ear bud will take advantage of this effect to produce better balanced sound. The reason floor speaker cabinets are as large as they are - is to allow the bass to resonate in a chamber, too.

Here's how to make them work for you. First, put the buds into your ear the way you would normally wear them and listen to the bass and lower mid-range response - it probably is not too impressive the first time. Then, take both hands and press them deeper and tighter into both ears - and hear better bass and low mid-range response! It's a BIG difference. That's because you used your hands to create a tighter seal. Now your goal is to create this same effect without needing to manually press the buds into your ears all day long.

Sony provides 3 different sized rubber tips with these buds so you can experiment and approximate a good seal. I thought the smaller tips would allow me to shove the buds deeper into my ear canal and get better sound, but wrong again! These aren't designed as deep ear canal buds. Surprisingly, it turned out to be the largest tips that sealed best for me and, wow, the bass and low-end came through nicely. When you put them on, press them in your ears tightly, and maybe give them a wiggle and a twist to make sure the rubber tips are sealing well.

If you try all the different tip sizes and you still can't get nearly as good a response as manually pressing them into your ears, then continue searching for a better-fitting bud. But when you consider the unique shape and design of these Sony MDREX-85LP ear buds and, especially, the low $40.00 price, you probably will NOT find a better value for the money, and I give credence to the other reviewers that say they may well outperform more expensive ear buds.

Update:
Someone told me that when you want to insert something deeply into your ear, reach over your head with the opposite arm and pull your ear up. This straightens out your ear canal and allows you to drop them in more easily. For me, there's a "sweet spot" of ear depth that balances the base with the mids and highs - not too deep, but deeper than I would put my bluetooth earbud for my cell phone. Hope this helps.

i just got my ex-75. let me make it very simple but clear, informative, unbiased for next-time buyers!

EX-71
pros: cheaper thatn ex-75,85. much less irritating for a lonng-time wearing than ex-75.
cons: a sound quality is affordable, but the worst in the group.

EX-75
pros: got much better (clearer sound) than ex-71. A new design makes ex-75 fit better in your ears(providing a better isolation). it's got slimmer than ex-71.
cons: an exaggerated bass disturbs a balance of music. treble is somewhere!(hard to find) the overwhelming bass in the situation of the good isolation could be harmful for the long-time wearing and make your ears get tired easily.

EX-85
pros: the best sound quality among the group. lots of sound's details. u can actually differentiate treble, midrange, bass. well-balanced.
cons: a hideous look. less sound isolation than ex-75. u have to turn up the volume a bit more due to a leak of sound.

OVERALL

EX-71 is out-dated, obsoleted. EX-75 made the improvements but faild to harmonize the sound. a hidden treble and the crazy bass. it might be good for some people who like dance and hip-hop music but could be annoying in general. the bass deteriorates the overall peformance. at last, EX-85 produces the best sound quality( well-balanced sound could be bad for those who love freaking bass but it's still enough to enjoy). it makes u hear the hidden sounds that u couldn't hear from the EX-75. Sometimes, i can even hear the noise that i couldn't hear from others due to the rich details. Moreover, u can really find differences between 128kbps songs and 192,256,or 320kbps songs. i guess EX-85's strange design works as two drivers.
SONY put the label on the box of EX-85 and it says "studio sould quality".
SONY didn't lie and i believe that there is a positive correlation between prices and quality. money doesn't lie. Actually, u can get EX-85 almost as same price as EX-75 from Amazon.

I've had really good headphones, you really can't beat these for the price. I've been wearing them daily for a little over a month now. The bass isn't tremendous but it is good enough. I listen to a lot of music in that low spectrum of sound and without headphones that can emit sound in that range I miss a lot in my music. Like I said, these do not disappoint there.

The only major complaint I had was the chord (see the comment to this review). I found out that the chord is meant to wrap around the back of your neck so you can take one ear bud out easily. The right side just dangles from your shoulder about the level of your chest instead of flailing about or needing to be held. It is a great design!

I live in the city and take a lot of public transportation so I'm constantly wearing these things. I initially had a problem keeping these in my ear, but I switched to the middle sized ear bud and that problem is no longer. They fiot so snugly that you can jog in these things. I find them very comfortable.

In summary you get really good sound for the price, especially if you aren't worried about the deep bass (low hz) end. The headphones are very (I stress very) comfortable with three different earpiece sizes. The headphones also stay in very well no matter what you are doing.

First off I listen to a wide variety of music and have a high end home system that I tend to compare everything to. I have always stayed away from MP3 players as the quality of sound always seemed sub par to the original cd's played on my high end equipment. That is until recently when I purchased an Ipod touch and set of Shure E3cn headphones for my son. Ripping the CD's at 320kbps the sound quality was much better than I had expected. So I picked up a used Ipod 30 gig and ripped my entire cd collection and loaded it up. While the Shur E3Cn's are super nice I wasn't "sure" I wanted to spend the money to get a set for myself and decided to try the Sony EX85LP's. I was extremely surprised at the great sound quality from these mid priced earphones, major improvement over the stock apple headphones. The highs for voice reproduction are very smooth and controlled, the mid range is nice and the bass response is controlled and accurate which is very important. There are no tinty fatiguing highs or boomy uncontrolled cheap sounding bass, just clean smooth accurate music. Wether listening to the latest 3 Days Grace CD or The Eagles Greatest Hits you can listen for hours using these earphones without getting tired or fatigued from them.

Spent some time compairing them to my son's Shure EC3n's I will have to say the Shure's are better, I like the thicker cables and small footprint of the earbuds themselves and they do isolate outside sound better than the Sony's. The Shure seems to be a bit better on the highs the bass is not as prounced as the Sony's but I think the Shure's bass is tighter and more accurate. Overall listening to both sets on different music selections for several hours I found it very hard to justify spending double the money to get the Shure EC3n's over the Sony MDR-EX85LP. Another note is that the Shure EC3n's appear to be more efficient, didn't check the specs but at the same volume the Shure's are lounder than the Sony EX85's. Overall I would say the EC3n's are better but not that much better to justify spending double the money. However if I break the Sony's I may spend the bucks and get a set of Shure's next time.

Overall for the money I would say you would be hard pressed to beat the Sony EX85LP's!

I would be embarrassed to say how many headphones I have purchased over the last 3-4 years. Given my actual income it's unconscionable. But I am very happy to have found these, because my search is done.
I've found pretty good sound (Shure) but poor fit and great fit (JVC and others) with poor sound. These Sony headphones have both great sound and great fit. However, fit is even more personal than sound. Generally, it's impossible to try either in stores, so the purchase of headphones you'll really love is a challenge.
Regarding the sound - there is outstanding clarity. I listen, primarily, to classical music and really appreciate the open precision of the sound of these. I should also say that I have been particularly disappointed with Sony headphones I have previously purchased. They tend to sound tinny and with base (which is often a function of fit). But these are really different. They have great base - not muddy, but sill quite powerful. I can't recommend them strongly enough.

Above average product. I decided to purchase these as the stock headphones that came with my Sony 4gb nwzs6 blew out after about half a year. Having these earphones for about a month here are some thoughts:

Pros:
-Great sound. Rich sounding headphones with a wide range and deep,thunk-thunk bass.
-Asymmetrical chord design. For all those people complaining that the asymetrical cord design makes them look weird or that its a design flaw...its not, the longer side (the chord with the earpiece labeled with a 'R' for right) is meant to go behind your neck. I complained about it too when I first tried on the stock headphones but I got used to it and now I cant live without it.
-Noise cancelling due to the earpiece fully going inside the ear canal.
-Doesnt slip out of my ear when I yawn or make weird facial expressions at people, unlike the Skullcandy ink'd headphones (all three earpiece sizes kept slipping out of my ear with the Skullcandy).

Cons
-Due to the noise cancelling design, having the headphones in your ear can seem like you have a stethoscope and any slight movement causes loud sounds that can ruin your listening pleasure.
-Tilting your head left to right or from right to left (for instance when walking on the street to look for potential traffic hazards) causes some weird squeaking noise, but its not that loud and i've gotten used to it.
-L-shaped output jack IS a design flaw, especially if you have the mp3 player in your pocket it will bend the wire unnecessarily.
-Slightly expensive because you shouldnt be paying 60 bucks for high quality headphones but for the money you cant find a better deal.
-Gets tangled easily.

I've used many premium Sony earphones over the years starting with the MDR-EX70LP. I have the MDR-EX75, MDR-EX85, MDR-EX90, MDR-EX500, MDR-EX700. These rate very good -- especially for the price. Tone-wise these are very similar to the EX90s -- very balanced and suitable for all kinds of music: Want bass? These have it. Want decent midrange? These have it. Want clear highs? These have it. Nothing is over-emphasized or conspicuously missing. The EX-75 tend to be clear sounding becuase of a somewhat emphasized treble but they're missing midrange, the EX-500 have solid midrange and treble but are somewhat lacking in bass. Even the mighty and expensive MDR-EX700 suffer from an overemphasis in the midrange. The MDR-EX85 provides solid, balanced, neutral performance. The connector is iPhone/iPod Touch friendly. At the discounted price, the MDR-EX85LP are a bargain.