$9 Headphone Review: Sony MDR-ZX110

[JohnBooty]

31 bands is pretty large. I can't say I've compared one of those but I have switched in dozens of lesser band EQs like ADC, Technics, Yamaha, JVC and even the cheap Fishers of the mid 1980's where not all that bad. I've AB'd the ON/OFF states and have not heard any change in sound quality when they are flat or EQ'd and the improvement with EQ is so large I am surprised you dislike them. I've met and talked with many people who believe a EQ/tone control ruins the sound but they can't explain why but they heard rumours and reacted. I'm a EQer for sure but not with cheap stuff that does induce hum/buzz/fuzz and I've never heard a decent EQ cause that too.

I don't have experience with vintage equalizers, but I have this 15-band dbx 215s ($189ish) in my music room.

I was paranoid about adding a ton of distortion -- because that's the first thing everybody says about analogue EQ -- so first thing I did out of the box was spend some time A/B'ing it by setting it to flat and engaging/disengaging it, with and without music playing.

My conclusion was that it was inoffensive to my untalented ears. I don't doubt it has some impact on THD though. If I wasn't a selfish jerk I'd offer it up for measurement... @amirm, any interest in measuring it?

https://www.guitarcenter.com/dbx/215s-Dual-Channel-15-Band-Graphic-Equalizer-1294516231293.gc

You cannot cascade 10-31 opamps without a serious noise penalty.

Obviously not a product for Mr. Restorer John, but on that note, when I had the Schiit Loki I thought it was neat. Only 4 bands of EQ, so "theoretically" not a major distortion machine. 4 bands sounds restrictive but it was pretty useful: 20Hz, 400Hz, 2kHz, 8kHz.

I basically used it for loudness compensation, to dial up some more bass at low listening levels, or to cut the bass so as not to piss off the wife at night. Sometimes an analogue dial is just 100x more convenient than digital.

My only real gripe was the price ($149USD, yowch...$38 per band!) and sometimes I felt that that a 60hz adjustment would have been a lot more useful than 20hz.

JDS Labs has a similar model, with only 3 bands instead of 4 for those who feel Loki simply offers too much functionality hahaha.

 

[JohnBooty]

Actually, the whole EQ affair is to show how much one can improve <2-digit$ gear with a bit of processing...

Amen. For legitimately good hi-fi gear, yeah, it's a shame to introduce a bunch of crap and complexity into the signal chain.

But improving shit gear with EQ was actually my gateway into this wacky hobby. I ran the "Micca Voltron" setup for a few years -- scroll down past the initial COVO-S review, to where he uses a MiniDSP to cross them over to a pair of Micca Club 3 "subwoofers" (lol) for a tiny active 3-way setup.

http://noaudiophile.com/Micca_COVO-S/

The combined "Voltron" setup he described actually sounded damn good for nearfield desktop use.

 

[Feelas]

Amen. For legitimately good hi-fi gear, yeah, it's a shame to introduce a bunch of crap and complexity into the signal chain.

Yes, but there's SOTA DSP that'll bring even more juice out of mostly anything, thus why bother avoiding the processing? Circuit purity & simplicity is one of the most important snake-oils of the whole industry!

 

[JohnBooty]

Yes, but there's SOTA DSP that'll bring even more juice out of mostly anything, thus why bother avoiding the processing?

I run a bunch of EQ in various forms in various places. It's a win for sure. Especially for bass management. But, I do also like a simple 2-channel setup! Life is complex; sometimes the simplicity of a bare-bones 2-channel setup is refreshing. I guess that probably is snake oil in a way.

 

[jaco61]

10,99 Euros from mediamarkt.at

Nice phone but without EQ a bit mehh .. EQ helps a lot .. quite nice BUT nothing to freak out, seriously! My HE400i 2020 is dancing circles around even without EQ. The sony plays fundamentally better EQ`d but lacking in separation, room, impact and so on in comparison.
For the price a very good phone for smartphones with armins Eq settings or e.g. wavelet app with EQ presettings.

 

[julian_hughes]

Sure, any tip change could change frequency response, but a huge change in bore length and geometry like that will likely have an unpredictably larger effect than a normal 3rd party tip. If you can send your IEMs with these custom tips to get measured on industry standard gear you might be able to correct for this with EQ, but you might not, due to changes in bore geometry possibly introducing acoustic reflections and cancellations and so non-minimum phase behaviour that cannot be effectively EQed out. CIEM tuning is very difficult to get right due to these issues, so you can't expect an IEM to necessarily sound fine or even be easily correctable with EQ if you just slap it onto an ear mold.

I'm not talking about the extra weight of the ear mold, I'm talking about the weight distribution shifting to outside the ear canal entrance from the weight of the IEM (which is often not insignificant, sometimes made of metal) protruding out of the ear that I'd imagine would cause pressure points in the canal from the mold and so affect comfort, which is one of the major reasons to get custom-molded IEMs in the first place. I doubt they would just disappear into the ear and be almost unnoticeable like purpose-built CIEMs do. Of course, all these reservations could be confirmed or denied if you get some of these custom-fit eartips, try them out and report back

+1
Another thing about custom fit IEMs or tips that is often forgotten is that our ears, both internally and externally, do not remain the same size and shape as we age. Beautifully fitting custom IEMs today may be no better than a universal fit in a few years. It's worth considering because it's usually an awful lot of money to get high quality custom fit IEMs made. I think custom tips look good enough value to try for lots of people though. I'll stick with regular purchases of memory foam and high density foam tips, and anyway my Massdrop Plus IEMs actually feel like they were made for just me! Great design.

 

[jaguone]

custom fit IEMs

I have custom JH 13Pros and, indeed, I now have to put some tape on for them to seal properly.

custom tips

I also have custom silicon tips with changeable filters for my other IEMs. I have strange ear canals so custom tips was a good investment to get a proper seal.

 

[PuX]

can headphones be measured with EQ applied?

 

[bobbooo]

+1
Another thing about custom fit IEMs or tips that is often forgotten is that our ears, both internally and externally, do not remain the same size and shape as we age. Beautifully fitting custom IEMs today may be no better than a universal fit in a few years. It's worth considering because it's usually an awful lot of money to get high quality custom fit IEMs made. I think custom tips look good enough value to try for lots of people though. I'll stick with regular purchases of memory foam and high density foam tips, and anyway my Massdrop Plus IEMs actually feel like they were made for just me! Great design.

The outer ear may grow with age, but for most people (adults) there won't be significant changes in their ear canal, unless they go through a dramatic change in weight. I've had mine for over 6 years and they still fit just as perfectly as when I first got them (these are acrylic molds, silicone may wear down slightly over time).

 

[Serpent]

The outer ear may grow with age, but for most people (adults), unless they go through a dramatic change in weight. I've had mine for over 6 years and they still fit just as perfectly as when I first got them (these are acrylic molds, silicone may wear down slightly over time).

First time hear about something like that.

 

[restorer-john]

The outer ear may grow with age, but for most people (adults) there won't be significant changes in their ear canal, unless they go through a dramatic change in weight. I've had mine for over 6 years and they still fit just as perfectly as when I first got them

Glad to hear (haha) your ears transplant 6 years ago was a success.

 

[solderdude]

can headphones be measured with EQ applied?

Sure, Oratory as well as I do that all the time.

 

[DarrylG]

Are the pads removeable?

 

[garbulky]

Ok I'll bite. How do you eq a headphone? I can use Foobar.

 

[highpurityusbcable]

Ok I'll bite. How do you eq a headphone? I can use Foobar.

Install MathAudio headphone eq component and put all those numbers in it.

 

[garbulky]

Install MathAudio headphone eq component and put all those numbers in it.

Thank you

 

[stalepie2]

So, all in all, the PEQed Sony MDR-ZX110 make a nice, knock-around pair of cans that are as ready for pumping your skull with melodies while your adrenaline-filled guns pump iron, as they are for meticulous media work where well-to-do tonality and vanishing midrange to treble distortion is a must. I'd say their non-EQed sound is still cozy, if a bit muffled, for those who I don't want to know who disagree that EQ can improve any pair of headphones.

How do they compare to the DT 770 in your sig? I was thinking of getting those (not yours, but like from amazon

 

[Alexander Gödde]

Has anyone tried with EQ of Usb Audio Player Pro?

The PEQ of the Toneboosters Morphit plugin works well.

 

[Cahudson42]

One data point with Motorola motu g6: I dislike IEMs, so never had a light, portable HP solution. This seems it.

Using Wavelet with it's MDR-ZX 110NC preset is, however, terrible. The autoEQ process must have gone amuck.. Simply used the GEQ to boost bass a bit. That's it.

Female vocals nice (Amber Rubarth). Surprisingly, I really don't seem to notice bass distortion.

Not something you might pick first for Bach Organ Toccatas (listenable, sort of), but for, say, a walkabout or in-car, IMO, it's well worth $10.

In the glove box it goes..

 

[stalepie2]

I think the ZX 110 sounds better without the EQ. It's fuller and more fun sounding (though bloomy). it sounds harsh and empty with the EQ on. Neither way sounds even half as intense as an HD 25 though, which in turn sounds about half as good as DT 1350? Not sure. It is a quieter headphone too and the EQ profile makes it even quieter.

HD 25 and DT 1350 are meant for loud environments though, so they sound more intense. I don't know the correct language, but it can be kind of headache inducing, and the Sony doesn't cause headaches. It's not just the caliper pressure of the on-ear design but the intensity of the sound.