Sony MDR-V150 Professional Headphones

These do not provide complete noise abatement but they certainly keep it down to a dull roar. The main reason we decided on the Sony MDR-V150 was because we were beyond through with those darn ear buds. The hard ones that come with products today are just brutal. They are too large to fit my ear canal and keep falling out. Then we went for the soft, insert type plugs, which were fine for a while but grew quickly uncomfortable jammed into your ear canal.

The Sony MDR-V150 offers closed headphones that are both comfortable and have good sound quality. Wearing them on the airplane I could still hear when they dinged the bell, alerting you to an announcement, but I could not hear the announcement or the banal chatter all around me. They do not, however, completely cover the sound of an ear-piercing child screaming.

The ear cups are nicely padded and cover the entire ear which helps to cancel out sounds. The cord is so long, over 6 feet, that we didn’t even have to undo the thing but kept it bundled like it came out of the package. This helped keep it out of the way. Let’s face it, a six foot cord is sizeable. I would assume the extra length is because the adapter is a UniMatch plug. With the larger plug installed, you can use the headphones on larger pieces of audio/video equipment. Slip the larger plug off, they are perfect for smaller, transportable equipment.

Features
30mm diameter driver
Fixed stereo miniplug
Detachable phone plug for studio and home equipment
Wide molded headband
Reversible ear cups
24 ohms nominal impedance
98 dB/mW sensitivity
18 to 22,000 Hz frequency response
500 mW power handling
Ferrite magnet
90 day warranty, parts and labor

Things I liked
The comfort was the first thing I noticed immediately. The headband is adjustable to fit most adult sized heads. Even after 6 hours of continuous use, they did not feel heavy or irritating and my ears didn’t suffer from having something jammed into them.

Sound was another factor. Good quality and clear sound; good highs and deep lows. I noticed no distortion of sound and the range was exceptional. I really appreciated the closed phone concept as it blocked out nearly all sounds around me. In fact, I slept quite well in the airport on our 5 hour forced lay over - sigh.

What I didn’t like
It took a while to get used to the headband and to get the earphones adjusted so they didn’t move around once I snuggled down into my seat and put my neck pillow on. Can’t really blame the unit since I was forcing a lot of stuff into a limited area, the neck pillow is so puffy it goes clear up to my ears.

Overall impression
If you are looking for an affordable headphone system that offers high quality sound and decent abatement, this is the unit for you. The ear cups are very comfortable, padded well. The headband has a large adjustment range. The unit can be used on home equipment with the additional plug provided. These give a wide dynamic rage, lower distortion, and deeper bass than any phones I’ve owned for many years. I think you would be both surprised and pleased with your purchase.

Thanks,
Susi