Sony MDR-V6: Adding a new set to the collection.

[reydelaplaya]

EDIT: I was under the assumption that this first pair I received was counterfeit. It has come to light through other members' experiences, that that might not actually be the case. Below is the discovery post.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/in...to-the-collection.760609/page-2#post-10472557

I've been eyeing these Sony MDR-V6 headphones for a while now in my Amazon 'list' alongside their MDR-7506 kin. Since Amazon put the V6 on sale last week, I decided to go ahead and get them. I've wanted a nice set of traveling headphones since all of mine are more suited for at-home listening being mostly orthodynamics and those Grado RS-1s I'd prefer not to subject to the perils at school.

These Sonys looked like they'd be the perfect fit for isolation while I'm working on school stuff in the student lounge or whatever. Both models have great reviews around the net and on Amazon, but I decided on these because a large portion of the reviews and articles suggests that these V6 are more pleasing for just fun casual listening, whereas the 7506 are more significantly boosted and detailed in mids and highs and really are more geared for professional studio monitor use. I want something fun and easy to drive to zone-out in while I'm pounding out projects and papers, not something that's going to distract me with its accuracy. Furthermore, both are said to be pretty durable - a nice bonus since the others I have are not ones I'd like to bang around too much. I do have a nice hard clamshell case that I'll use with them, though.

They are finally just now on their way (Amazon being a bit slow to get these out the door since I ordered over a week ago. LOL). Just got the text message. Only a couple days more to wait now.

Hopefully they'll be as nice sounding as the internet suggests... we'll see!

In the mean time, for some eye-candy while I wait, here's a pic of the stable they'll be joining.



Clockwise from bottom left: Yamaha YH-3, Yamaha HP-1, Yamaha HP-2, Concept CE-H, Pioneer SE-L40, big 70s chrome things I don't remember the number of right now, and Grado RS-1e.

I'll be unboxing in this thread in a couple days - awesome!!

 

[atarione]

I do like the Sony V6's and hopefully you do also... pretty balanced headphone.. hard to really fault them for what they cost..

however...and I hate to be "that guy" ... these especially stock are not super travel headphones / on the go headphones... they do fold up into a little ball and fit in their carry bag well enough... but the ear cups don't rotate which say the ATH M40's or M50's do... this is a hassle (imho) as you can't lay them flat on a desk and if you are wearing them around your neck when going to where ever the lack of folding and my size (6'2" 250~ish lbs) makes them awkward vs the m50's with the ear cups rotate when around my neck on my way to someplace.. The bigger issue stock is that long coiled cable.. which makes sooo much sense for a studio headphone makes for a nuisance when using them on the go, the cable is prone to tangle on itself and is something of a tripping hazard..

It is frustrating because the headphones are super light and comfortable (imho) but the cable and non rotating earcups really hamper on the go use (imho).

in my case I finally got sick of the stock cable and modded mine to a removable 3.5mm cable..




don't misunderstand I'm not dumping on the V6 because I really like these headphones.... but if I am honest the ATH-M50X/M40X or Samson Z55/45 are much more friendly for on the go use ... I think you will enjoy them.. but if you use them on the go.. you may find yourself tempted to mod the cable at some point.. the mod I did for 3.5mm isn't for the faint of heart and is pretty irreversible you have to drill out the cable exit hole to make room for the 3.5mm jack and clip some plastic in the earcup..

some have modded this with a fixed shorter straight cable... if I'm honest I might have gone that route on 2nd thought but I managed the removable mod successfully and I'm pretty pleased with it.

 

[reydelaplaya]

I do like the Sony V6's and hopefully you do also... pretty balanced headphone.. hard to really fault them for what they cost..

however...and I hate to be "that guy" ... these especially stock are not super travel headphones / on the go headphones... they do fold up into a little ball and fit in their carry bag well enough... but the ear cups don't rotate which say the ATH M40's or M50's do... this is a hassle (imho) as you can't lay them flat on a desk and if you are wearing them around your neck when going to where ever the lack of folding and my size (6'2" 250~ish lbs) makes them awkward vs the m50's with the ear cups rotate when around my neck on my way to someplace.. The bigger issue stock is that long coiled cable.. which makes sooo much sense for a studio headphone makes for a nuisance when using them on the go, the cable is prone to tangle on itself and is something of a tripping hazard..

It is frustrating because the headphones are super light and comfortable (imho) but the cable and non rotating earcups really hamper on the go use (imho).

in my case I finally got sick of the stock cable and modded mine to a removable 3.5mm cable..

View attachment 883121


don't misunderstand I'm not dumping on the V6 because I really like these headphones.... but if I am honest the ATH-M50X/M40X or Samson Z55/45 are much more friendly for on the go use ... I think you will enjoy them.. but if you use them on the go.. you may find yourself tempted to mod the cable at some point.. the mod I did for 3.5mm isn't for the faint of heart and is pretty irreversible you have to drill out the cable exit hole to make room for the 3.5mm jack and clip some plastic in the earcup..

some have modded this with a fixed shorter straight cable... if I'm honest I might have gone that route on 2nd thought but I managed the removable mod successfully and I'm pretty pleased with it.

I appreciate your recommendation and suggestion. I've already become a little used to non-rotating and a long coily cable since I usually use my CE-H headphones there at school. My biggest issue with these is just that, being orthodynamics, they demand so much power to run them at a decent volume, and I'm just not in the market for a heftier headphone amp than the Creative X-Fi HD that I already have. Besides that, they're kinda rare (not in an expensive type way, but more like if they get broken, there aren't extras out there to cannibalize), so I'd prefer to keep them here for home use.



Truth be told, I really, really wanted the Yamaha Pro 500 in gloss black, but there was just no way to justify that expense at the moment. They may still be a future purchase since I have a strong loyalty to Yamaha - and dammit, I can tell by just looking they sound awesome!! But on my limited student budget, they're just not in the cards right now. Maybe once I graduate.

The Sonys, OTOH, are reasonably inexpensive and plentiful enough that should something happen, it's not the end of the world - there are plenty more. And since they're pretty efficient, they would be a piece of cake for the X-Fi to run since its power is limited to whatever voltage a USB port runs at ~5V? I think.

I can, however, see myself at some point after their warranty has expired, maybe adding that jack to the cup for the ease of interchanging cables - that would be cool, and I'm no stranger to a soldering iron.

So yeah, dude, thanks for the advice and the tips on modding the V6s. I'm glad to hear yet another good review of how they sound.

 

[boza]

Those v6 look like they will be perfect for what you need.
You have a nice collection there love the look of those pioneer very cool.

 

[reydelaplaya]

Those v6 look like they will be perfect for what you need.
You have a nice collection there love the look of those pioneer very cool.

Thank you. And yeah, those Pioneer SE-L40s are quite the lookers, aren't they?



It's too bad they don't sound as stunning as they look - a little muffled and lifeless to be honest. Maybe it's because they have 8 ohm drivers in them - I really don't know. There are pages around the net that offer solutions to fix that. Some suggest creating a separate headphone jack that's tapped off the speaker output does the trick. Others say pulling the shorting resistor out of them makes all the difference. To me, they're probably a candidate for a driver upgrade. http://www.parts-express.com/40mm-neodymium-headphone-element--279-090 But that's a future project if I even mess with them at all.


Yeah, I agree. Those Sonys are known to be a great sound for a great price, and that's exactly what I wanted for their intended purpose. Once they get here, and I've just received a message from Amazon about them which I'll complain about in the next post, I'm sure they'll be great.

Cheers!

 

[reydelaplaya]

On today, the ninth day since my Prime account ordered these headphones, I have received an email from Amazon stating that they were sent to the wrong shipping service, and will be delayed even more. <bangs head on desk>

Since Amazon customer service has just been very cool with a couple issues regarding some recent purchases earlier this year, I've decided to let this slide.

But I do think (in my capacity as someone who has worked in customer service for decades) that the appropriate action would have been that once they recognized the mix-up, instead of waiting the extra time for that original shipment to return to the warehouse to be re-shipped, they should have boxed up another and sent it out since it's already been 9 days since I ordered an item that was in stock and sold/fulfilled by Amazon. Instead, we wait for the original to make its way back (which as of this post, still hasn't returned), so it can then be shipped out with the correct carrier.

They dropped the ball this time.

 

[boza]

you dont expect such problems with a company such as amazon. i hope they sort it quckly for you 9 days is unexceptable. they should now be sorting a new pair with a 24 hour courier.
I don't buy off amazon but I expected better.

 

[reydelaplaya]

Well, it's still stagnant at the moment. It says it'll be here tomorrow, customer service rep confirmed that*, but I have my doubts.



* Yes I gave in and called, but it was not to complain, just to ask if they could explain what it meant by "delayed/arriving tomorrow".

UPS still shows no record of it in their possession, so I don't know.

 

[Chris Brown]

I like the MDR-V6 and i've had them for a very long time. It's amazing in how many cases, even in various movies, where you see these headphones being used. The only "problem" with them is the rather pronounced bump in the upper-mid/treble, around the vocal frequencies. I'm sure this is a side effect of their heritage as being a very popular headphone for studio/broadcast use. Always helps to be able to hear others talking. Not really the best for music due to that reason but of course preference comes into play. When I used them I simply "fixed" the problem using EQ, after which they were great for music. It got a bit annoying because I didn't have EQ in all situations, like using them with my phone, etc.

Another thing is that due to how popular and common these are around the world, they get counterfeited a LOT. Years ago I compared a known counterfeit pair with a known legit pair and posted the comparison pictures over on head-fi. Always worth it to compare to yours to make sure you didn't get a counterfeit pair also:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/510110/sony-mdr-v6-counterfeit-comparison-thread-w-pics

 

[reydelaplaya]

I like the MDR-V6 and i've had them for a very long time. It's amazing in how many cases, even in various movies, where you see these headphones being used. The only "problem" with them is the rather pronounced bump in the upper-mid/treble, around the vocal frequencies. I'm sure this is a side effect of their heritage as being a very popular headphone for studio/broadcast use. Always helps to be able to hear others talking. Not really the best for music due to that reason but of course preference comes into play. When I used them I simply "fixed" the problem using EQ, after which they were great for music. It got a bit annoying because I didn't have EQ in all situations, like using them with my phone, etc.

Another thing is that due to how popular and common these are around the world, they get counterfeited a LOT. Years ago I compared a known counterfeit pair with a known legit pair and posted the comparison pictures over on head-fi. Always worth it to compare to yours to make sure you didn't get a counterfeit pair also:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/510110/sony-mdr-v6-counterfeit-comparison-thread-w-pics

I appreciate the heads-up and the link to the thread on head-fi.

I see in the thread that someone verified that the ones Amazon directly sells are legit.

I just double-checked my order, and they are sold/fulfilled by Amazon LLC.

I'll still check the box, packing quality, and clampiness for anything unusual similar to your pics, but I at least feel like they're going to be legit.

If they finally get here.... LOL

Thanks, dude!

 

[reydelaplaya]

And I just checked the UPS site, they now show them in their possession and are due to be delivered tomorrow!!

Awesome!!

 

[atarione]

I appreciate the heads-up and the link to the thread on head-fi.

I see in the thread that someone verified that the ones Amazon directly sells are legit.

I just double-checked my order, and they are sold/fulfilled by Amazon LLC.

I'll still check the box, packing quality, and clampiness for anything unusual similar to your pics, but I at least feel like they're going to be legit.

If they finally get here.... LOL

Thanks, dude!

If they are sold by amazon your should be fine.. but AFAIK sony changed the box these come in awhile ago... mine are legit I got them for xmas 2015.. the came in a box that looks like this:

so don't be alarmed if it comes in this black box (it is honestly probably better if it does as it it more likely to be legit).

 

[reydelaplaya]

If they are sold by amazon your should be fine.. but AFAIK sony changed the box these come in awhile ago... mine are legit I got them for xmas 2015.. the came in a box that looks like this:

View attachment 883726


so don't be alarmed if it comes in this black box (it is honestly probably better if it does as it it more likely to be legit).

Wait! What!!?

I'm not getting a gold box?

That's the reason I bought them.

I didn't want the headphones, I just wanted a gold box to display on my audio cabinet.

Amazon shows them in a gold box*. And that'd better be what they're sending me, otherwise they're going straight back 'not as described'.

*actually, they don't.

Ok, now that I got that little bit of BS humor out of my system.

Thanks for the vid and the pic. Now at least when I pull a black box out of the Amazon box I'll know that there's still a high likelihood that they're the real deal. I would've expected a gold box like I've seen on most of the other photos.

That vid gave me a good idea of what to expect packaging wise so I'll notice if anything's significantly off.

It never really dawned on me before this thread that there'd be counterfeit versions of this headphone simply because it seems so inexpensive and plentiful that it wouldn't be profitable.

Insert 'the more you know' gif.

I'll post some pics hopefully tomorrow.

 

[reydelaplaya]

And I just checked the UPS site, they now show them in their possession and are due to be delivered tomorrow!!

Awesome!!

Aaannnd... they're still in California as of 8 this morning. Which means they're not going to be here today - I'm certain of it. They still need to be shipped to KY, and then to San Juan(Carolina), before they make it out to my side of the island.

I'm almost at the point of telling Amazon to cancel the order and refund the money.

Should've bought them from Crutchfield. They would've been here Wednesday a week ago. Still with free shipping.

 

[reydelaplaya]

Oh wow!



What a great presentation. The packaging exactly matches the video above. No doubt these are the real thing. Everything about the packaging and presentation is top-notch. The carry pouch isn't vinyl like I thought it would be. It's a very nicely finished nylon outside/felt inside, drawstring bag with Sony embossed into it on the front. The quality and squareness of the stitching suggests, once again, this is not a counterfeit.



The headband has a nice secure clamp and the cable is nicely coiled.



And they fit great in my headphone hard case.



But now for the real test...

Connected to the headphone output on my Teac CD-P650, and for the first song, Jerry Rivera's No Hieras Mi Vida - a song I've mentioned before that I know every last detail of.

Oh man!

These sound amazing!

Straight out of the box, they sound fantastic. I'm really impressed. A different sound signature than my Grados and my Orthos - a very unique sound, really full and lively - more bass than I'm used to with those, but not to the point of being annoying.

Now to stream some Electrónica from a playlist I have on Prime Music. First up, one of my faves, and a real sonic test, DMT by Tectum.

(Be very careful with that song, it builds up as a normal EDM to about 5:53, but at about 5:55 it drops, and the next 30 seconds or so will destroy subs if cranked! LOL Great EDM though.)

Dude, these headphones do an excellent job of pretending they're big speakers! This is exactly what I wanted and was hoping for. I feel like I'm in a club!

Hell yeah!!!! F'n awesome!!!!!!!

 

[cratz2]

They do a whole lot right!

 

[reydelaplaya]

They do a whole lot right!

Oh yeah! Indeed they do...

I've been putting them through the paces of streaming and the music library from my computer - they play nicely with my Creative X-Fi sound card, which was an important aspect in this purchase. They even do pretty nicely straight from the headphone jack on my phone. If I decide to put a jack on the cup like @atarione suggested, I might consider getting a cable like the Yamaha Pro 500 has, with an inline-mic built in.

I considered hooking them up to my receiver and putting a record on the TT to see how they play with that old CR-1020, but then I caught myself. To think I almost soiled my 'Made For Digital' headphones... with analog.

I'm absolutely amazed that these sound as good as they do for as reasonably priced as they were. Now that I've heard them, I can totally see their regular retail price at $100, and would even consider that to be a great deal. So at the $78 sale price Amazon had them for - jeez dude, that's just fantastic!

A bonus feature that I really like is the cable only on one side. Of all the other headphones I have, only the Pioneer and those big 70s things do that.The rest have a Y-cable up to the drivers. That gets a little annoying sometimes.

So yeah, I'm totally pleased with this purchase. These Sony headphones have completely surpassed my expectations.

Anyone in the market for sub-$100 cans, these should definitely be in your short list. Especially if you can still snag a set for 78.

Cheers, folks! I appreciate all the info, suggestions, and chat while I waited for these to get here.

 

[dr*audio]

The MDR-V6 are really good sounding headphones. I still have the pair I bought new in 1988. I use them for on location recording when I need good isolation. I replaced the ear pads with leather ones I bought on Amazon. They are really nice and comfortable. I also use these for travel.

 

[reydelaplaya]

Dude! Did I just find an old Sony Easter Egg?

These headphones supposedly haven't changed design since they were first introduced in 1985, one year after one of the most famous, cult-classic, movies about music. With that in mind, check this out! LOL

While familiarizing myself with them, I extended the headband out on both sides as far as it would go and this is what I found hidden up there:



These go to eleven!

That's really where they stop.

Did Sony pay homage to the quote from This is Spinal Tap?

You decide!

 

[atarione]

funny I never noticed the band adjustment does indeed go to 11... ha.. glad they arrived and all finally..

At some point I may have to break down and get the V6/7506's sort of cousin that is still made in Japan (and not actually technically for sale elsewhere ) the CD900ST

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-Mdr-cd9...e=UTF8&qid=1489211633&sr=8-1&keywords=cd900st




but $180~ish and I hear that the earpads are shallower vs the V6's which might not really work for me.. I'm a big guy and my ears are kinda pressing on the earpad inner foam as it is w/ the V6's