icicleie's Full Review: SONY MDREX71SL EARPHONES Headphones
At the time of buying the Sony MDR-EX71SL’s, I had been meaning to get a pair of in-ear earphones for what seemed like decades. My usual pair was simply incapable of sufficiently concentrating & funnelling sound – the base was leaking, and the treble was fighting an only-just-winning battle against environmental noise. I became more and more frustrated as the phones continually failed to drown out the raucous guffaws of those ‘louder’ people on public transport, for example. You can be sure I felt like having them drowned…
Design
The black MDR-EX71SL’s are adjustable in length, and this is achieved by having two connectible lengths of wire, the upper length predictably splitting into a Y shape to house the ear pieces. Using just the first length of 0.5m wire will only allow you to stick your music player in a shirt pocket or possibly have it attached to some sort of neck band. If you want to put the player on a waist band or into a trouser / coat pocket, however, you’ll need to add on the second length of giant 1.0m wire – this results in problems as it’s a case of all or nothing – you have either too little or far too much lead. There is a recommended (but not perfect) way of combating this which I’ll discuss in a moment. The upper ‘Y’ wire leading to the right ear is also long, so you have to drape it around the back of your neck unless you want to look like an idiot and have it hanging down to your mid-breastbone!
The phones come with a black plastic cylindrical earphone holder. The ear pieces fit snugly into its hollow on each side, and for this function, it’s a novel idea. The holder is also supposed to be used to coil excess wire around it (like that of the extension wire). So, each time you use the phones, in theory, the procedure for use is…
1. Uncoil the mounds of wire & connect the two (required) lengths
2. Unclip the earpieces from the holder
3. Get the holder and wrap the excess wire (and there’s plenty) around & through it
Five minutes have elapsed and you have not yet listened to a note of music! The excess wire is also forced to scrape against the sharp plastic edges of the two holder outlets. Given reports of the wire covering peeling off after months of owning and normal usage of these phones (I have these four months with no problems in this department), I’m not sure this added trauma to the material can be afforded. I’ll be updating the review if there are any such problems. The overall design just doesn’t work. If people want phones of 1.5m length, they should have to buy special ones – for most of us who want ear-to-trouser-pocket length, the added inches are more than a nuisance. Ultimately, for convenience, you will probably end up never using the holder to store the earpieces and just leaving the holder with contained coiled wire – or ignoring the holder altogether, and coiling the lower wire around the music player. The latter method will obviously obstruct controls on smaller music players, though, and the screen on larger players like regular iPods.
The ear pieces come with three attachable silicon buds – small, medium & large. They are quite easy to swap & change, and once you find the right size, there won’t be any more need for changing. Although I originally assumed the largest would logically be the best so as to prevent sound leaking, it ended up that the smallest size was the most comfortable fit, and resulted in the best bass sound. The booklet rightly advises that the incorrect size for your ear may compromise bass sound…
The phones come with a nice little grey carrier bag with drawstring. If you have a smaller music player like one of the Sony shuffles or Creative MuVo’s, then you’ll probably fit that in along with the phones. Nice.
Sound Quality
It should go without saying that by their very nature, in-ear phones tend to have a higher sound quality than those with regular design. I particularly love the bass – it has perfect length & resonance in the ear. Echo effects in the music also ring very nicely in the ear. Unfortunately, I don’t find the treble to be as perfect. It is generally a little weak, and this very subtly compromises the bass-treble balance, probably even leading to some laying the blame with the bass. Even with this fact, however, the treble can be somewhat shrill at times – harsh ‘titch’ sounds in the English language grate on the ear. The sound is always clear, however, and never becomes muffled. Overall, although the MDR-EX71SL’s carry a far more complete and satisfying sound than any regular phones, the sound does not quite reach, for want of a better phrase, ‘whole perfection’. I’m confident there are better in-ear phones out there, even if my view of these edges more towards satisfaction than disappointment.
Conclusion
To conclude, I will say that I am happy if not ecstatic with my buy of the Sony MDR-EX71SL’s. The overall sound quality is good, the bass deserving particular note – and the earbuds are comfortable to wear, even for prolonged periods. The design has marked flaws, though – you’ll be very frustrated with excess wire, and the sharpish edges on the holder will make you hesitant about ‘fixing’ this problem in the recommended fashion. I’ll be upgrading once I have the money.
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