$9 Headphone Review: Sony MDR-ZX110

[noobie1]

My unit (microphone version) distorts at modest listening levels. IMO, my AKG Q460 ($15 refurbished) EQ’d sounds more convincing as high end gear.

 

[solderdude]

Chances are the 'common' return wire is not going through ground but through the mic/remote when connected to a TRS socket or when it is used on a not suited device (i-Stuff differs from the rest of the devices)
That could cause distortion at moderate levels already.

 

[LTig]

Me too yesterday. Using the RME ADI-2 PRO'S EQ I'm also curious about the stated improvements.

Got it today, these are my subjective opinions, using the RME's dual phone mode (separate volume and EQ for each headphone):

1. Comparison ZX110 EQed (Amirm) against my HD800 EQed (mix of HD800S Amirm EQ and Solderdudes FR measurements):
   Astonishing what one gets for € 10. Nice deep bass, mid bass like a closed headphone, neutral sound, mids and highs kind of rough, sometimes quite sharp (Pascal Gaigne - el olivio). Putting on the HD800 however shows that FR is not everything. Great soundstage, very clean and relaxing sound, bass not closed sounding - far from it.
   EDIT2: playing Terje Isungset - Fading Sun the ZX110 shows hefty distortion in the bass. It's not sounding bad as the overtones seem to belong to the recording but the HD800 reveals that this is not the case at all. I'm wondering whether those overtones are euphonic and people prefer this over more accurate bass.
2. Comparison ZX110 EQed (Amirm) and not EQed:
   I could live without EQ - which says a lot. Mids and highs are not that "rough", and deep bass is weak while mid bass is OK.

EDIT1: short side note: played with enabling/disabling the EQ of the HD800 and clearly felt that the EQ reduces brightness a bit - until I realized that I had switched the EQ of the ZX110 . So just take what I wrote above with a bucket of salt.

 

[brimble]

TL;DR: I agree.

Disclaimer: I've listened to a few other headphones at around this price, but not many.

They look really good for such cheap headphones.

The cable is horribly microphonic.

The sound, even without EQ, seems to me to be incredibly good for the price. It's better than I'd expected even after seeing all the praise in this thread.

I judge things largely by their ability to keep instruments separate, and these headphones do way better at that than any of the other (admittedly few) things I've heard for the same price.

With Amir's EQ: Yep, even better. I'm very happily listening to them, which would not be the case with anything else I've ever tried that cost less than $100.

I haven't tried the other EQ suggestions yet.

Not remotely in the same ballpark as what you can get for a few hundred dollars, though. I say these are merely very very good for the price, not miraculous.

I'm very happy to have these. Thank you, Amir!

 

[uwotm8]

Well, mine pair arrived today. To say it shortly: YES.

They sound like true audiophile headphones...
If you record them on a mobile phone.
Then make a YouTube video.
Then listen to it with a pooping bluetooh speaker.

Imagine such "sound check" of, say, HD 600s and you become pretty familiar with ZX110 sound.

That said, I started 'testing" these amazing Sonies with RHCP - Dani California... and ended in a minute. EQd or not, you guys can't be serious. The sound is a typical $10ish "grocery store sale phones". With EQ applied, it's a strangled $10ish phones. However, there's some positive sides. There's no lack of detail - as far there's no details at all. There's no sharp treble as far as there's almost no treble (at least normal treble I'd like to hear). There's also no soundstage issues because... yep, right

For example, AKG K361 is a few lightyears ahead while being just a begginer-level cans.
Then we have Sennheiser HD 206 which I got for $12 - same as ZX110 after some hype just 4 lulz - and was surprised by their simple and straight but RIGHT sound. Lightyears again.

Cheers

P.S. Then I switched to my main Verum 1 and - a miracle! - lacking 90% of sound returned.

 

[Jimster480]

How do you figure out what is a good EQ target for any headphone though? This is what I have always struggled with. I have used some EQ in the past with Equalify but I am not sure how to actually figure out an EQ target other than just guessing and listening.

 

[amirm]

How do you figure out what is a good EQ target for any headphone though? This is what I have always struggled with. I have used some EQ in the past with Equalify but I am not sure how to actually figure out an EQ target other than just guessing and listening.

Who are you asking? If me, I use measurements as a guide. Without I don't see how it is possible. Deviations are in the graph. Their nature though requires interpretation. And that is what is reflected in the EQ that I develop.

 

[GWolfman]

No, I meant speakers. This is the kind of sound I wish speakers would produce but very few do. I am trying to get diehard speaker guys to give headphones a try.

It's often hard for me to listen to headphones for too long. My external/outer ears sometimes hurts, but most often, and worst of all, I get big headaches. I had to give up using a pair of headphones I liked because the clamping pressure was too great, buy my new ones feel soft/light/gentle. Any thoughts as to what causes the headaches with headphone use?

 

[Vaskis]

~11:00 do you hear background resonances or those are my new headphones after equalizer? By the way great band

 

[Ralferator]

Try the MH750 instead - similar to the MH755 but actually with a usefully-lengthed cable (plus a handy remote/mic). I got mine from this eBay seller. Looks like they've doubled in price since I bought mine, but still at around $10 they're incredible value (they also used to come free with Xperia smartphones, think they might still do now Sony have brought back the headphone jack on their latest models, thank fudge).

Frequency response of the MH750 is quite close to the Harman target as measured by Oratory:

View attachment 107074

With his EQ settings to take out the touch of bass thickness they're brilliant, with very low distortion to boot (at 94dBSPL @500Hz as measured by Speakerphone/ClarityFidelity, complying with IEC/ITU standards):

Far lower than the simply awful bass/mids distortion of the MDR-ZX110 reviewed here, the distortion products of which could also creep into the treble. And that's not even considering their mediocre, bumpy stock frequency response and poor treble channel matching which makes effective EQing more difficult.

The MH755 has even cleaner mids/treble distortion than the MH750, some of the lowest I've seen (both likely entirely inaudible though):

Quite incredible, approaching the 0.01% @1kHz distortion of the $60,000 Sennheiser HE-1. Not bad for a $5 earphone!

These bargain Sony in-ears put 'high-end' IEM companies like Campfire Audio and their $1,000 'TOTL' Andromeda model's very wonky tonality to shame, and even supposedly better value offerings from Chinese Hi-Fi IEM companies like Moondrop and their multi-hundred dollar models.

But where to find real ones? Seems like the Aliexpress offers are usually fakes.

 

[bobbooo]

But where to find real ones? Seems like the Aliexpress offers are usually fakes.

See the eBay link in my post above.

 

[tim0chen]

1. Comparison ZX110 EQed (Amirm) against my HD800 EQed (mix of HD800S Amirm EQ and Solderdudes FR measurements):
   Astonishing what one gets for € 10.

Mind sharing the HD800 EQ you ended up with?

 

[brimble]

My partner has stolen my MDR-ZX110s.

This is a good thing.

 

[richard12511]

Most of us older guys gave away EQ in the 80s.

Why though? I agree about the mobile aspect of EQ and not wanting to carry around other devices around. For that reason I wanted a headphone with good performance out of the box, since I only ever use headphones on the go.

For loudspeakers though, EQ is absolutely required to fix the room. Even the best loudspeaker in the world will be average at best without some form of EQ. Why would you limit yourself to subpar sound when you don't have to? Was EQ that bad in the 80s? Regardless, something like Audiolense is far better than whatever you were using back then .

 

[richard12511]

IMHO you are living in the past.

This.

I definitely enjoy reading about @restorer-john's vintage speakers and gear. I've learned from him, for sure, but it's (imo) a bit silly to think they're comparable to the SOTA today. I'm sure the same will be true 40 years from now. D&D 8C and Audiolense will be far from SOTA. Just the way it is.

Nostalgia blinds us. I definitely have this problem in some of my other hobbies, and I have to actively fight it.

If you're not using EQ in the modal region, you're hearing bad sound, unfortunately.

 

[Robin L]

Was EQ that bad in the 80s?

Yes.

 

[Doodski]

Yes.

I used a late 70s ADC Soundshaper EQ that added some slight buzz/fuzz but the others like the Fisher, JVC, Sony, Yamaha, Panasonic, Technics and others sounded fine and that was in the mid 80s.

 

[Robin L]

I used a late 70s ADC Soundshaper EQ that added some slight buzz/fuzz but the others like the Fisher, JVC, Sony, Yamaha, Panasonic, Technics and others sounded fine and that was in the mid 80s.

Every eq I heard/used back then had noise/distortion. Didn't find clean eq until the nineties with digital parametric eq. The eq available today is so much better, it's silly.

 

[thewas]

I used a late 70s ADC Soundshaper EQ that added some slight buzz/fuzz but the others like the Fisher, JVC, Sony, Yamaha, Panasonic, Technics and others sounded fine and that was in the mid 80s.

So do I, as I had written here.

I think the biggest problem of EQ(ing) isn't the hardware, but their wrong use based on the illusion that they can correct anything, which is wrong, as they can optimally only cope with minimum phase peaks.
https://support.genelec.com/hc/en-u...-does-GLM-not-fix-dips-on-frequency-response-

 

[Feelas]

So do I, as I had written here.

I think the biggest problem of EQ(ing) isn't the hardware, but their wrong use based on the illusion that they can correct anything, which is wrong, as they can optimally only cope with minimum phase peaks.
https://support.genelec.com/hc/en-u...-does-GLM-not-fix-dips-on-frequency-response-

And the biggest force of EQ is that if you have to engineer around excess phase, then you can always apply a wideband shelf filter and reap at least some benefits.