So I picked up a pair on Amirm’s recommendation, used his EQ, and was ready to write a negative review based on first impressions. Then I switched to some other headphones I use regularly. My collection is nothing notable, but sound signatures I had become accustomed to over the years and subjectively happy with. Well shit, I have to throw them all out now ;-) honestly, listening to a well balanced headphone basically ruins everything else by comparison. So thanks for the review and recommendation Amirm! Very much appreciated, and now I may be reevaluating my long-held bias against headphones and in favor of speakers. Turns out I was just listening to shit headphones all these years!
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$9 Headphone Review: Sony MDR-ZX110
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ZööZ
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Just had a scary thought.... what if this review is a test to see how many of us are easily fooled to think something sounds good and don't have a glue what anything is supposed to sound like ( I sure know I don't) 
Just crossed my mind... maybe I'm just hating the fact that my speaker setup isn't sounding as great as it used to after trying equalized headphones... oh well guess I'll have to think as a hobby to try to improve the room response by moving the sub around and installing acoustic panels and then trying to measure the right equalization for it. *sigh*
Just crossed my mind... maybe I'm just hating the fact that my speaker setup isn't sounding as great as it used to after trying equalized headphones... oh well guess I'll have to think as a hobby to try to improve the room response by moving the sub around and installing acoustic panels and then trying to measure the right equalization for it. *sigh*
OP
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No joke although the reverse comes to my mind when someone says this headphone with EQ doesn't sound good!Just had a scary thought.... what if this review is a test to see how many of us are easily fooled to think something sounds good and don't have a glue what anything is supposed to sound like ( I sure know I don't)
OP
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This was the point I made in the review. Most of these headphones with EQ outperform vast amount of speakers in tonality. And ability to play loud.
ZööZ
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I have made couple of purchases based on your reviews and they have been more than satisfactory but this one is a real eye opener.
ZööZ
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I bit the bullet and bought a pair of the AP (with remote) arrived this morning. £15 from amazon. First impressions - massive wooly bass. Then I realised I'd left a previous eq active on my phone
UPDATE- even with only a couple of minutes (without the legacy EQ obviously) its pretty obvious @amirm assessment is pretty spot on. They are by no means the worst headphone I have heard without any EQ. But yes, decidedly flattened (not flat) tone to them and a lack of clarity. Im not an on-ear fan but I can handle these as there is soft pads and not too much clamp.
With the suggested EQ they really are very good and I think bossman is right, put them on someone blind (with EQ) and ask them to guess what they were listening to and a fair few might say an expensive pair at least in the $150-$300 bracket.
A worthy spend of £15 to cross reference Amir's opinion IMHO. They will happily be my new Zoom call/ listening to music while home working/ casual gaming set. If anyone has any ideas to potentially get these for such use case, I see no downside in ponying up a handful of $$ more for the mic version (Android but prob not iOS compatible).
For reference , this was playing from my phone via UAPP and a meizu hifi Pro dongle and Toneboosters plugin for the EQ. I set the pre-amp to auto adjust and the hardware vol slider is around 80-85 % for sufficient volume for casual listening in an room where I was the only person and no significant background noises. After about 90% volume they start to get shouty.
So the same eq works for the AP version as well?
Asking because I accidentally purchased the AP version and noticed it from the receipt and was afraid there might be some kind of bass boost or something like that added to their tuning, and went through the trouble to exhange them. It was more trouble for the clerk, to be honest, for I had paid it with a gift card I had won last year (first time winning anything) and she had to call for a supervisor because there was trouble correcting the cards balance, and I felt so damn awkward standing there like an asshole.
But all that hardship was washed away when I equipped the EQ
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Today I had a bit of time to unpack and test my example.
To keep it short, I find it absolutely ok its price, but on the other side also cannot be compared to significantly more expensive headphones. This is imho not due to its frequency response errors which unfortunately most headphones have, but due to quite high distortions especially when there is some bass which also mess up the rest due to intermodulation.
Now about equalisation, it can transform is quite nicely as long as you don't turn the volume too much up. Personally I am afraid to say that I didn't really like Amirs proposed EQ, it sounds too honky to me. On the other side I quite liked @Maiky76's EQ. I also made one partially manually partially automatised by only carefully EQing both frequency spectrum ends and don't trying to fill too much dips which I like a tad even more.
I below include all of them for direct copy and paste to EQ APO for people to find them more easily, would be also interested in some feedback. Please keep in mind though that headphones unfortunately interact differently to different humans due to individual different partially bypassed HRTF and ear geometries so there is no such thing as a unique target and EQ.
Amir EQ:
Maiky76 EQ:
thewas EQ:
To keep it short, I find it absolutely ok its price, but on the other side also cannot be compared to significantly more expensive headphones. This is imho not due to its frequency response errors which unfortunately most headphones have, but due to quite high distortions especially when there is some bass which also mess up the rest due to intermodulation.
Now about equalisation, it can transform is quite nicely as long as you don't turn the volume too much up. Personally I am afraid to say that I didn't really like Amirs proposed EQ, it sounds too honky to me. On the other side I quite liked @Maiky76's EQ. I also made one partially manually partially automatised by only carefully EQing both frequency spectrum ends and don't trying to fill too much dips which I like a tad even more.
I below include all of them for direct copy and paste to EQ APO for people to find them more easily, would be also interested in some feedback. Please keep in mind though that headphones unfortunately interact differently to different humans due to individual different partially bypassed HRTF and ear geometries so there is no such thing as a unique target and EQ.
Amir EQ:
Code:
Preamp: -8.6 dB
Filter 1: ON LS Fc 40 Hz Gain 8.0 dB Q 1.0
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 1000 Hz Gain 5.0 dB Q 3.0
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 2500 Hz Gain 5.0 dB Q 2.0
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 5900 Hz Gain 7.0 dB Q 2.0Maiky76 EQ:
Code:
Preamp: -7.9 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 40 Hz Gain 8 dB Q 0.38
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 157 Hz Gain -3.6 dB Q 1.34
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 1010 Hz Gain 4.7 dB Q 3.4
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 2467 Hz Gain 4.27 dB Q 2.49
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 8818 Hz Gain 5 dB Q 0.48
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 8580 Hz Gain -3 dB Q 6thewas EQ:
Code:
Preamp: -3.0 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 50.00 Hz Gain 3.00 dB Q 1.000
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 123.5 Hz Gain -3.00 dB Q 2.000
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 178.0 Hz Gain -4.30 dB Q 2.000
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 250.0 Hz Gain -2.50 dB Q 1.701
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 397.0 Hz Gain -3.70 dB Q 4.672
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 600.0 Hz Gain -4.80 dB Q 1.897
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 1375 Hz Gain -2.20 dB Q 6.477
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 1615 Hz Gain -4.60 dB Q 5.347
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 4470 Hz Gain -2.50 dB Q 2.007
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 11000 Hz Gain 3.00 dB Q 2.000
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Your thoughts mirror mine except I didnt seek to amend Amir's EQ- but yes , cranking past casual levels either with or without his EQ gets very (I said) shouty/ honky. I will experiment with yours and Malky's too and see which is best for both lower and higher volume listening.
Maiky76
Senior Member
Got them, listened to them straight without EQ - they were okay but nothing special. My only other reference is a set of HE4XXs I got from Drop, with the Oratory1990 EQ applied. I then applied Amir's EQ to these, and yeah, they transformed. Clear, vibrant, full. With the EQ, there now doesn't seem to be much of a difference between them and my planar HE4XXs, they're pretty close. Which is crazy, those cost like 15x what these did.
The main lacking thing I hear, and I'm no expert, but with some of the bass it does lack some of the clarity the HE4XXs have with their EQ. Amir talked about that - bass was lacking without EQ, but distortion resides in that region, so he had to balance instituting some bass without introducing too much distortion. It seems like a good balance, but I can tell the bass isn't quite as clean as my HE4XXs. But it's by no means bad, it's still a nice improvement over the pre-EQ sound.
Overall, the nice sound bump that the EQ provides, and how lightweight and comfortable these are, makes it so I can take my HE4XXs home. I've been using them at work, but then I don't have any nice cans at home. Now I can keep the Sony's at work and bring the HE4XX set home. Very nice.
Thanks for reviewing stuff like this Amir! I like how this site doesn't take itself too seriously, or too snobbishly, and will review low price stuff. Good sound doesn't require $2K IEMs, $5K amps, $10K speakers; there is some good design and engineering work being done out there.
ZööZ
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Out of curiosity how do you like the HE4XX with Oratory1990 Eq? I also have HE4XX and already created the eq files on my pc (haven't tried it yet) and was just about to input it to tonebooster on my phone so that they're ready to go when I feel like trying it out.
I like it. The EQ situation is different with the HE4XX - I liked them as-is, pre-EQ, but the EQ did fill in some of the bass that was missing, and cleaned up the midrange a little. A more subtle improvement than what EQ does for these Sony's, but still an improvement. I'll turn the EQ off/on/off/on during songs I know well, and it's a more subtle but still present difference with the HE4XX. With the Sony's, it's a night and day difference, more drastic.
Now that I've listened a little more with Amir's EQ on these Sony's, there is something fatiguing about it. Might have to try some of the other EQs that have been mentioned above.
ishouldbeking
Active Member
Seeing all the amazed replies here at the post-EQ transformation makes me wonder how everyone will respond once we see reviews of the tried and true budget kings like the Koss KSC75, PortaPro, and KPH30i, which are obviously not perfect but sound much more pleasing to the ear in stock form than the Sony or really anything else in this price range. (Besides, of course, the Sony MH755 and MH750, which are IEMs but even better tuned). Lots to look forward to.
Haint
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All 3 can sound radically different depending on the track/content. I prefer Amirm's the least and thewas' the most. Amirm and Maiky's both sound much more muffled (Maiky's less than Amirm's) in an A/B comparison with thewas', which sounds much more detailed by comparison (some might say brighter).
michaelahess
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I liked these after eq, but the bass was still lacking. I compared to my HD 598's and they weren't as open or clear. The 598's don't have strong bass either, but it seemed cleaner. I was using Wavelet but not sure it's the same model as it has NC behind the model. And I don't know how to get Amir's settings into Wavelet.
ehabheikal
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This is a review of Sony MDRZX110 to figure out if a US $9.99 headphone on Amazon including Prime shipping has good performance. There are over 45,000 reviews on Amazon averaging 4.5 stars saying it has that. But let's find out!
I must say, as cheaply as the Sony is made, it doesn't look like kids toys as some do in this price range:
View attachment 106982
The pad kind of feels luxurious if you lower your standard somewhat:
View attachment 106983
Due to very low eight (about 4 ounces) and rather soft pads, I found the MDR-ZX110 quite comfortable to wear. After just a few minutes you forget about it. It is certainly more comfortable than much larger headphones. There is a bit of sound isolation which was enough to get rid some of the high-pitch whine from my PC's fan. This obviously will different depending on your ears.
Naturally this is an on-ear headphone which should make it "fun" to measure.
Note 1: The measurements you are about to see are preformed using standardized GRAS 45CA headphone measurement fixture. Headphone measurements require more interpretation than speaker tests and have more of a requirement for subjective testing as a result. In addition, comparison of measurements between different people doing it using different configurations requires fair bit of skill. So don't look for matching results. Focus on high level picture.
Note 2: I worked for Sony back in 1990s for good number of years. So while I like to see them do well in these reviews, I have no attachment to the company or its products.
Sony MDR-ZX110 Measurements
The flexible artificial ear on my Gras fixture was a big help in getting something close to how a human would wear it, compressing under the load. Even with that help, I was getting measurements of each cup that was 4 to 5 dB different from each other and skewed in time (different path length to the microphone). I played around for a good while and right before giving up, I landed on one placement where both channels locked on top of each other. Figuring this was a good omen, I ran with it:
View attachment 106984
Due to fitment issues, I would not trust the order magnitude of shortfall in lower bass frequencies but for sure, there is insufficient energy there. Actually, there is insufficient energy in multiple areas. This may be the reason behind the success of this headphone: by not having too much energy in lower and upper treble, it is NOT going to sound bright. Then again it will sound dull because a lot of the sparkle, soundstage, etc. comes from those regions. We see the shortfalls if you subtract the response from our target preference curve:
View attachment 106985
Distortion graph looks simultaneously excellent and horrible depending on which part of the frequency range you look at:
View attachment 106986
I don't know how much to trust the low frequency distortions but above 500 Hz, the response is actually excellent at 94 dBSPL and even 104 dBSPL, beating even state of the art speakers in this regard! Compare this to our recently reviewed, $3000 Abyss Diana V2:
See how much more distortion Diana V2 has in mid frequencies where our hearing is most sensitive? This $9 headphone runs circles around it there.
Let's look at the distortion using absolute level (rather than percentage above):
View attachment 106988
Other than a blip or two, the MDR-ZX110 easily beats our 40 dB threshold for distortion.
Group delay is more or less clean which somewhat explains why distortion is so low in mid to high frequencies:
View attachment 106989
sensitivity is on the high side:
View attachment 106990
However, the impedance is low which means you need a headphone amplifier that does well in my 33 ohm measurements:
View attachment 106991
This is probably easier had on portable devices than headphones needing voltage.
Sony MDR-ZX110 Headphone Listening Tests and Optimization
My quick listen resulted in impression of somewhat muffled sound and slight over-presence of upper bass. Both of these are reflected in the frequency response. The main area of output is in 100 to 400 Hz so that dominates. Result is inoffensive sound but we can do so much better with EQ:
View attachment 106992
I went conservative with sub-bass enhancement as even with this amount, any track with that kind of content produced distorted notes. Without it, the distortion was not very audible but then again the notes where not that present either. In vast amount of music however, this bass enhancement was needed to balance the overall spectrum and benefits far outweighed the negatives.
The three other peaking filters were as the frequency response instructed (eyeballed by me and optimized by ear).
I must say, I was not prepared for the transformation that these four filters made. The result was an extremely accurate and audiophile headphone! If I performed a blind test, I am pretty sure many people would think this is a high-end headphone. It certainly beats out majority of speakers out there. I was most impressed with detail, clarity and spatial effects. The latter was also a surprise. Maybe the drivers sit an angle and provide for better results there. While you don't have a huge soundstage, the instrument separation is quite good and satisfying.
This thing sounded so good and was so comfortable that I kept listening to it last night and still doing it this morning! Here are a couple of example tracks that make your jaw drop with this headphone and EQ: Mercedes Sosa - Misa Criolla (track: Kyrie)
Mercedes' voice soars in this album. After a slow start the choir and instruments kick in and the result is a fantastic experience making you forget you are listening to a dirt cheap headphone. Even the deep bass is reproduced excellently at around 3:20. FYI the real track sounds better than this youtube version.
Deen Peer's Mars track sounds good on just about any system but there, I love the balance and clarity:
Conclusions
When I picked up this headphone randomly to test last night, I did not have high hopes for it at all. Cheap price and cheap feeling headphone. Can't be a good combination. Without equalization, it may be better than other junk headphones but otherwise, nothing I would use or recommend. But EQ this headphone and it produces reference quality sound! Yes, I know there will be riots in streets over this statement. But try it: it costs the same as a fast food meal.
What's that? You don't use EQ? Well, I don't want to hear. Actually, I don't even want to know you! You are wasting away your audiophile life without it. For zero cost you can transform a $9 headphone to a reference quality reproduction engine and you still don't want to go there? If so, I have nothing for you!
If you are not into headphones but want to know what the fuss is about for no money, buy this $9 headphone and put in my EQ. If you don't fall off your chair with excitement and get your pants wet with drool, I will come over and cancel out your audiophile credentials myself!
Needless to say, I highly recommend the Sony MDR-ZX110 headphone. Without EQ, it is acceptable but nothing I would rave about.
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Got these and did eq with a free android app called wavelet that has them in its database and wow, with eq they are better than my hifiman 4xx
Wait...Are you saying that the developer added Amir's PEQ filters to the Wavelet's database?
ehabheikal
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No that is the whole point of wavelet, or rather half of it. It also had my hifiman and it seems like it has a big database of its own.
actually it is a no brainer to use and is free for this functionality. I tried it with qobuz on android and it works with it but has to be started before it or any other app to work for it.
Oh, gotcha. I thought since you replied to Amir's post that you somehow managed to use Amir's PEQ profile using Wavelet.
In your case, by opening 'Wavelet' and selecting 'Sony MDR-ZX110' from the dropdown, you actually loaded jaakkopasanen's Graphic Equalizer file that's hosted on github here.
There's no way (that I know of) to import Amir's PEQ profile into Wavelet, since Wavelet only accepts graphic EQ (and not parametric EQ that Amir provides).
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