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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2017
First of all the sound quality and features on the headphones is great. I use them mainly paired to an iphone 6 plus and sound quality is great. Noice cancelling is also very good and the touch controls take a bit to get used to but are otherwise ok once you learn to use them.
Comfort wise they are ok, I have a big head so they get a bit uncomfortable after long periods of use.
* Build quality
When I got them they seemed very plasticy. The headband is metal but the inside of the headband is plastic as well as the drivers housing. This is where things start to go downhill for me. Just after a month and a half of regular use, I got a stress fracture on the plastic on the inside of the headband, right at the hinge of the left speaker. Again, this happend just by me using them regularly at work for a month and a half. I cared very well for the headset, always put them away on the case, never dropped, etc. but still the plastic broke right at the hinge.
*Horrible Sony customer support
Seeing that my headphones are covered by the waranty (I bought them new) and my return period on Amazon had expired I had to deal with Sony directly to try to get my headphones replaced or fixed. So I called their support line and after arguing back and forth with their representative they told me that they would not replace or repair my headset since physical damage is not covered under waranty.
My argument was very clear as this happened from regular, non abusive use but they didn't care. So now I'm stuck with a set of 400 dollar headphones that broke in a little of over a month. Just for comparison, I have a pair of ATH-M50s that I bought a while ago, they are made of mostly plastic and I had no build quality problems with those, again with the same type of use I had with the Sony's.
* TL;DR
They sound great, have good features but are badly made and Sony customer support is horrible. My headset broke in a month and a half of regular use and Sony refused to replace them under warranty.
* 04/05/2017 Update
After the bad first experience I had with Sony support I got a second one. Earlier this week I got an email from Sony support USA regarding the warranty case for my headphones. They asked for pictures of the damage and they concluded the same: no physical damage is covered by their warranty. So even if the damage happens through regular non-abusive use, their warranty will not cover it. Even after escalating my case, I got the same answer from their escalation team. So please beware, Sony will not stand behind this product and consider spending your money elsewhere. In hindsight I would've rather bought the Bose QC35s or the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless. So once again, think twice before buying this product.
* 04/27/2017 Update; Updated rating to 3 stars from 1.
The warranty saga on my MDR-1000x headphones continue. A week after my 04/05 review update I got yet another call from Sony support. This time they asked for more pictures of the headphones. I had originally sent pictures mainly of the damage but this time they wanted pictures of the entire headset to make sure the damage wasn't accidental. I sent them the pictures and after a couple of days they called me back and said that they were going replace them. This came as a surprise after being told several times that they would not replace them, so I asked them why? The answer was that the refusals came from other departments but their department said yes to the replacement. So finally after almost 2 months I will get my headphones replaced. So they sent me a shipping label to return the damaged headphones and after almost a week of transit/processing the replacement headphones are in transit now, I should be getting them sometime this week. I have updated my rating from 1 star to 3, after all I'm getting a replacement; but still the customer support experience is horrible. I had to jump through so many hoops to get my headphones replaced. Sony sells these headphones as a "premium" product but the customer support experience is not even close to being "premium".
Now that I'm getting a replacement I am genuinely curious to hear from long term users. Has anyone else who have used this for a long time seen build quality issues? Can I safely assume that I got a defective unit? I just hope I don't see the same thing on the replacement. In conclusion I would still be cautious about buying this product because of the possible build quality problems and the horrible customer support.
* Sound quality and features.
First of all the sound quality and features on the headphones is great. I use them mainly paired to an iphone 6 plus and sound quality is great. Noice cancelling is also very good and the touch controls take a bit to get used to but are otherwise ok once you learn to use them.
Comfort wise they are ok, I have a big head so they get a bit uncomfortable after long periods of use.
* Build quality
When I got them they seemed very plasticy. The headband is metal but the inside of the headband is plastic as well as the drivers housing. This is where things start to go downhill for me. Just after a month and a half of regular use, I got a stress fracture on the plastic on the inside of the headband, right at the hinge of the left speaker. Again, this happend just by me using them regularly at work for a month and a half. I cared very well for the headset, always put them away on the case, never dropped, etc. but still the plastic broke right at the hinge.
*Horrible Sony customer support
Seeing that my headphones are covered by the waranty (I bought them new) and my return period on Amazon had expired I had to deal with Sony directly to try to get my headphones replaced or fixed. So I called their support line and after arguing back and forth with their representative they told me that they would not replace or repair my headset since physical damage is not covered under waranty.
My argument was very clear as this happened from regular, non abusive use but they didn't care. So now I'm stuck with a set of 400 dollar headphones that broke in a little of over a month. Just for comparison, I have a pair of ATH-M50s that I bought a while ago, they are made of mostly plastic and I had no build quality problems with those, again with the same type of use I had with the Sony's.
* TL;DR
They sound great, have good features but are badly made and Sony customer support is horrible. My headset broke in a month and a half of regular use and Sony refused to replace them under warranty.
* 04/05/2017 Update
After the bad first experience I had with Sony support I got a second one. Earlier this week I got an email from Sony support USA regarding the warranty case for my headphones. They asked for pictures of the damage and they concluded the same: no physical damage is covered by their warranty. So even if the damage happens through regular non-abusive use, their warranty will not cover it. Even after escalating my case, I got the same answer from their escalation team. So please beware, Sony will not stand behind this product and consider spending your money elsewhere. In hindsight I would've rather bought the Bose QC35s or the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless. So once again, think twice before buying this product.
* 04/27/2017 Update; Updated rating to 3 stars from 1.
The warranty saga on my MDR-1000x headphones continue. A week after my 04/05 review update I got yet another call from Sony support. This time they asked for more pictures of the headphones. I had originally sent pictures mainly of the damage but this time they wanted pictures of the entire headset to make sure the damage wasn't accidental. I sent them the pictures and after a couple of days they called me back and said that they were going replace them. This came as a surprise after being told several times that they would not replace them, so I asked them why? The answer was that the refusals came from other departments but their department said yes to the replacement. So finally after almost 2 months I will get my headphones replaced. So they sent me a shipping label to return the damaged headphones and after almost a week of transit/processing the replacement headphones are in transit now, I should be getting them sometime this week. I have updated my rating from 1 star to 3, after all I'm getting a replacement; but still the customer support experience is horrible. I had to jump through so many hoops to get my headphones replaced. Sony sells these headphones as a "premium" product but the customer support experience is not even close to being "premium".
Now that I'm getting a replacement I am genuinely curious to hear from long term users. Has anyone else who have used this for a long time seen build quality issues? Can I safely assume that I got a defective unit? I just hope I don't see the same thing on the replacement. In conclusion I would still be cautious about buying this product because of the possible build quality problems and the horrible customer support.
First of all the sound quality and features on the headphones is great. I use them mainly paired to an iphone 6 plus and sound quality is great. Noice cancelling is also very good and the touch controls take a bit to get used to but are otherwise ok once you learn to use them.
Comfort wise they are ok, I have a big head so they get a bit uncomfortable after long periods of use.
* Build quality
When I got them they seemed very plasticy. The headband is metal but the inside of the headband is plastic as well as the drivers housing. This is where things start to go downhill for me. Just after a month and a half of regular use, I got a stress fracture on the plastic on the inside of the headband, right at the hinge of the left speaker. Again, this happend just by me using them regularly at work for a month and a half. I cared very well for the headset, always put them away on the case, never dropped, etc. but still the plastic broke right at the hinge.
*Horrible Sony customer support
Seeing that my headphones are covered by the waranty (I bought them new) and my return period on Amazon had expired I had to deal with Sony directly to try to get my headphones replaced or fixed. So I called their support line and after arguing back and forth with their representative they told me that they would not replace or repair my headset since physical damage is not covered under waranty.
My argument was very clear as this happened from regular, non abusive use but they didn't care. So now I'm stuck with a set of 400 dollar headphones that broke in a little of over a month. Just for comparison, I have a pair of ATH-M50s that I bought a while ago, they are made of mostly plastic and I had no build quality problems with those, again with the same type of use I had with the Sony's.
* TL;DR
They sound great, have good features but are badly made and Sony customer support is horrible. My headset broke in a month and a half of regular use and Sony refused to replace them under warranty.
* 04/05/2017 Update
After the bad first experience I had with Sony support I got a second one. Earlier this week I got an email from Sony support USA regarding the warranty case for my headphones. They asked for pictures of the damage and they concluded the same: no physical damage is covered by their warranty. So even if the damage happens through regular non-abusive use, their warranty will not cover it. Even after escalating my case, I got the same answer from their escalation team. So please beware, Sony will not stand behind this product and consider spending your money elsewhere. In hindsight I would've rather bought the Bose QC35s or the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless. So once again, think twice before buying this product.
* 04/27/2017 Update; Updated rating to 3 stars from 1.
The warranty saga on my MDR-1000x headphones continue. A week after my 04/05 review update I got yet another call from Sony support. This time they asked for more pictures of the headphones. I had originally sent pictures mainly of the damage but this time they wanted pictures of the entire headset to make sure the damage wasn't accidental. I sent them the pictures and after a couple of days they called me back and said that they were going replace them. This came as a surprise after being told several times that they would not replace them, so I asked them why? The answer was that the refusals came from other departments but their department said yes to the replacement. So finally after almost 2 months I will get my headphones replaced. So they sent me a shipping label to return the damaged headphones and after almost a week of transit/processing the replacement headphones are in transit now, I should be getting them sometime this week. I have updated my rating from 1 star to 3, after all I'm getting a replacement; but still the customer support experience is horrible. I had to jump through so many hoops to get my headphones replaced. Sony sells these headphones as a "premium" product but the customer support experience is not even close to being "premium".
Now that I'm getting a replacement I am genuinely curious to hear from long term users. Has anyone else who have used this for a long time seen build quality issues? Can I safely assume that I got a defective unit? I just hope I don't see the same thing on the replacement. In conclusion I would still be cautious about buying this product because of the possible build quality problems and the horrible customer support.
Great sound quality and features; bad build quality; horrible Sony customer support
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2017
* Sound quality and features.Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2017
First of all the sound quality and features on the headphones is great. I use them mainly paired to an iphone 6 plus and sound quality is great. Noice cancelling is also very good and the touch controls take a bit to get used to but are otherwise ok once you learn to use them.
Comfort wise they are ok, I have a big head so they get a bit uncomfortable after long periods of use.
* Build quality
When I got them they seemed very plasticy. The headband is metal but the inside of the headband is plastic as well as the drivers housing. This is where things start to go downhill for me. Just after a month and a half of regular use, I got a stress fracture on the plastic on the inside of the headband, right at the hinge of the left speaker. Again, this happend just by me using them regularly at work for a month and a half. I cared very well for the headset, always put them away on the case, never dropped, etc. but still the plastic broke right at the hinge.
*Horrible Sony customer support
Seeing that my headphones are covered by the waranty (I bought them new) and my return period on Amazon had expired I had to deal with Sony directly to try to get my headphones replaced or fixed. So I called their support line and after arguing back and forth with their representative they told me that they would not replace or repair my headset since physical damage is not covered under waranty.
My argument was very clear as this happened from regular, non abusive use but they didn't care. So now I'm stuck with a set of 400 dollar headphones that broke in a little of over a month. Just for comparison, I have a pair of ATH-M50s that I bought a while ago, they are made of mostly plastic and I had no build quality problems with those, again with the same type of use I had with the Sony's.
* TL;DR
They sound great, have good features but are badly made and Sony customer support is horrible. My headset broke in a month and a half of regular use and Sony refused to replace them under warranty.
* 04/05/2017 Update
After the bad first experience I had with Sony support I got a second one. Earlier this week I got an email from Sony support USA regarding the warranty case for my headphones. They asked for pictures of the damage and they concluded the same: no physical damage is covered by their warranty. So even if the damage happens through regular non-abusive use, their warranty will not cover it. Even after escalating my case, I got the same answer from their escalation team. So please beware, Sony will not stand behind this product and consider spending your money elsewhere. In hindsight I would've rather bought the Bose QC35s or the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless. So once again, think twice before buying this product.
* 04/27/2017 Update; Updated rating to 3 stars from 1.
The warranty saga on my MDR-1000x headphones continue. A week after my 04/05 review update I got yet another call from Sony support. This time they asked for more pictures of the headphones. I had originally sent pictures mainly of the damage but this time they wanted pictures of the entire headset to make sure the damage wasn't accidental. I sent them the pictures and after a couple of days they called me back and said that they were going replace them. This came as a surprise after being told several times that they would not replace them, so I asked them why? The answer was that the refusals came from other departments but their department said yes to the replacement. So finally after almost 2 months I will get my headphones replaced. So they sent me a shipping label to return the damaged headphones and after almost a week of transit/processing the replacement headphones are in transit now, I should be getting them sometime this week. I have updated my rating from 1 star to 3, after all I'm getting a replacement; but still the customer support experience is horrible. I had to jump through so many hoops to get my headphones replaced. Sony sells these headphones as a "premium" product but the customer support experience is not even close to being "premium".
Now that I'm getting a replacement I am genuinely curious to hear from long term users. Has anyone else who have used this for a long time seen build quality issues? Can I safely assume that I got a defective unit? I just hope I don't see the same thing on the replacement. In conclusion I would still be cautious about buying this product because of the possible build quality problems and the horrible customer support.
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