Sony Japan MDR-7506 Headphone Review

[ocinn]

7506s are a decent value for the price, however invest $20 and a half and hour into modifications and they really come into their own.

Opening up a bass port, dampening the driver shield with dynamat, and swapping to deeper and better sealing pads genuinely transforms the headphone.

I love my modded pair. I’ve put them side by side with my friends’ stock examples and it’s night and day. Huge tonality improvement (bass), much lower bass distortion, much smoother and accurate highs, etc.

obviously I’m speaking subjectively here, but I urge all 7506/v6/etc owners to modify them.

The differences are incredible. I’d take them over any closed headphone beneath a DCA Aeon X Closed, with zero hesitation. And for ~$100usd invested total, they are absurdly impressive once modified.

 

[solderdude]

Send them to Amir (if you can miss them for a few months) and you can see what changed and how.

The thing that bothered me most was the comfort (pad depth and material) and the somewhat 'coarse' and elevate treble.

 

[tollph3]

7506s are a decent value for the price, however invest $20 and a half and hour into modifications and they really come into their own.

Opening up a bass port, dampening the driver shield with dynamat, and swapping to deeper and better sealing pads genuinely transforms the headphone.

I love my modded pair. I’ve put them side by side with my friends’ stock examples and it’s night and day. Huge tonality improvement (bass), much lower bass distortion, much smoother and accurate highs, etc.

obviously I’m speaking subjectively here, but I urge all 7506/v6/etc owners to modify them.

The differences are incredible. I’d take them over any closed headphone beneath a DCA Aeon X Closed, with zero hesitation. And for ~$100usd invested total, they are absurdly impressive once modified.


View attachment 374302

Would love to see measurements of yours modded one, right away as i saw review i though about swapping pads in the first place for deeper and better quality i am pretty sure it can be modded into actually pretty decent pair i like design its basic but looks comfy if u change pads and if u can bump up that bass into good level i bet they are pretty good .

 

[teched58]

7506s are a decent value for the price, however invest $20 and a half and hour into modifications and they really come into their own.

Opening up a bass port, dampening the driver shield with dynamat, and swapping to deeper and better sealing pads genuinely transforms the headphone.

I love my modded pair. I’ve put them side by side with my friends’ stock examples and it’s night and day. Huge tonality improvement (bass), much lower bass distortion, much smoother and accurate highs, etc.

obviously I’m speaking subjectively here, but I urge all 7506/v6/etc owners to modify them.

The differences are incredible. I’d take them over any closed headphone beneath a DCA Aeon X Closed, with zero hesitation. And for ~$100usd invested total, they are absurdly impressive once modified.


View attachment 374302

Your efforts are admirable. However, the explanations of what you did (at the link you provided) are not presented in a way that's repeatable. "I looked at this and did some stuff" is not prescriptive. Did you take the dynamat off completely like you threaten to do in the "before photo"? What if anything did that affect (ruin?) as far as the driver being seated and not vibrating? Which holes did you open up for more bass and how many? And what of the fancy rewiring?

And FWIW, I've found the 7506s, of which I am a huge fan, to be a real PITA if you need to work on them. Trying to solder in a new cable (which is the main failure modality for this headphone) is a task which is not always successful.

 

[ocinn]

Did you take the dynamat off completely like you threaten to do in the "before photo"?

What? I didn’t write the post I linked. I never threatened anything nor posted a before photo. I’m not even sure where you are getting this from?

not presented in a way that's repeatable. "I looked at this and did some stuff" is not prescriptive

I never once claimed a hard and fast “rule” to the modifications. These modifications are subjective and infinitely variable. If one bass port being opened up is not enough, you can cut away more. If one little patch of dynamat isn’t enough to tame the driver shield resonance, you can add more.

My point was not “these are the correct mods you need to do” but moreso “these headphones can subjectively be greatly improved via minor modifications - i’m going to share the things I did, in case anyone else is curious”.

And what of the fancy rewiring?

And FWIW, I've found the 7506s, of which I am a huge fan, to be a real PITA if you need to work on them. Trying to solder in a new cable (which is the main failure modality for this headphone) is a task which is not always successful.

I have zero issue. It’s not hard at all - I solder much finer wires all the time.

Perhaps get a better soldering iron and some helping hands? I added my dual entry cable, including the drilling of holes, soldering, export on jacks, and reassembly, in under 30mins, from sitting down at my desk to testing them out, all reassembled.

TS101 iron, leaded solder, helping hands, tinned contacts, not an issue at all.

 

[teched58]

What? I didn’t write the post I linked. I never threatened anything nor posted a before photo. I’m not even sure where you are getting this from?


I never once claimed a hard and fast “rule” to the modifications. These modifications are subjective and infinitely variable. If one bass port being opened up is not enough, you can cut away more. If one little patch of dynamat isn’t enough to tame the driver shield resonance, you can add more.

My point was not “these are the correct mods you need to do” but moreso “these headphones can subjectively be greatly improved via minor modifications - i’m going to share the things I did, in case anyone else is curious”.


I have zero issue. It’s not hard at all - I solder much finer wires all the time.

Perhaps get a better soldering iron and some helping hands? I added my dual entry cable, including the drilling of holes, soldering, export on jacks, and reassembly, in under 30mins, from sitting down at my desk to testing them out, all reassembled.

TS101 iron, leaded solder, helping hands, tinned contacts, not an issue at all.

Just FWIW, when I used the word "threatened," it wasn't meant literally. It was used ironically. I'm sorry that my overly dry humor appears to have come across as an insult; not my intention.

My point was that you presented a very interesting end result, but that there's no way for any of us reading your post to try out what you've done. When you say that "These modifications are subjective and infinitely variable" that says to me that it was my bad in assuming you have a proven method of upgrading these headphones. It seems to be (again, not trying to be mean, but just factual) that you are less an engineering type who's developed a new mod than a hobbyist who's trying different things.

I do applaud your soldering skills. Mine have always sucked and it's always annoyed me.

 

[ocinn]

It seems to be (again, not trying to be mean, but just factual) that you are less an engineering type who's developed a new mod than a hobbyist who's trying different things.

I am not just a hobbyist who is experimenting. Professionally, I am actually a systems engineer & designer (live sound). Objectivity is practically my middle name at this point, and is something I have built my career around.

That being said, I bought the 7506s for a cheap, beater pair of headphones for use at my office, for travel, etc… I also use tend to use them where my CIEM/IEMs are impractical (I.e at office, where they are annoying to pull out of my ears if I need to speak to someone quickly).

Out of the box, the 7506s sounded okay, and to my very well trained ear, line up to measured performance shown in the independent measurements.

However, the thing that originally prompted me to pull them apart, was the horrible, coiled single exit cable, which would get tangled and knotted constantly.

While I waited for the jacks and cabling to arrive from overseas, I looked into any documented modifications, and found the forum post which I previously linked.

The dynamat on CD driver shield, and bass port mods were easy, and specifically targeted the two main weaknesses of the headphone which I immediately identified thru listening (lack of bass, and 3.1-3.6khz ish resonance of the driver shield), which are both corroborated via independent measurements.

Post modification, the differences were astounding. I directly A/B’d against a stock pair and it went from “good value at $80” to “this is a really nice headphone - regardless of price”

I’m not using the Sonys to mix an album or use as a consistent tonal reference - I have a Dirac corrected studio monitoring system and a plethora of EQ corrected low distortion headphones for that. But for $0 dollars invested (go to a car audio shop and ask them for their dynamat cutoff waste), and 20mins of time you can seriously transform this pair of headphones.

After demoing my pair against a stock example to my friends, I have since been paid to perform these mods on 8 pairs in only 6 months. It is truly transformative.

I don’t have a headphone measurement rig, so you’ll have to take my professionally trained ear + 8 of my friend’s word for it. For $0 it’s worth doing. 7506’s are tanks and even un-modded they are nice to own just as a beater.

 

[teched58]

However, the thing that originally prompted me to pull them apart, was the horrible, coiled single exit cable, which would get tangled and knotted constantly.

100%. That coiled cable, in addition to being unpleasant to use with getting tangled and knotted like you say, is the first point of failure in the 7506 cause the cable always develops intermittencies near the 1/4" (and then unscrew to get an 3.5 mm) jack.

I forgot to add: one thing where you and I are in complete agreement is about the 7506s being tanks. They've always been my favorites, cause they just work and they will take a licking and keep on ticking. And if they break or get trashed, you can just get another one for $100.

I'm much more aligned with pro sound people like yourself than I am with audiophiles, most of whom will never be happy with a set of cans that only cost $100.