This is a review, listening tests, Equalization and detailed measurements of the Sony MDRV6 headphone with aftermarket Brainwavz suede pads. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $495 plus $19 for the pad.
No, you are not seeing double. After testing the MDRV6 from the member (right), I went to look up its cost on Amazon and it tells me I already purchased one back in 2017 (left)! It was sitting in a box with a bunch of other headphones I bought initially as I was getting into headphone testing. Other than being used a few times, it is in as new condition. So I went back and measured it as well listening to it.
As you will see noted in the measurements I could not get a proper seal on the member headphone on the right channel. I thought that was bad until I tested my stock one. That was *much* worse in both channels with the right channel also delivering significantly lower volume no matter what I did on my Gras 45CA testing rig. Ah, the fun of testing headphones....
Sony MDRV6 Headphone Measurement
Let's start with the MDRV6 with upgraded Brainwavz suede pad:
We see both good and bad news. Good news is a lot of bass combined with good compliance to about 3 kHz. There is a dip at 200 Hz which is also there in other measurements including my own MDR-7506 headphone measurements. But the depth here is much worse which is likely due to higher level of bass I managed to achieve in this test. Switching to my stock MDRV6 we see that combination effect:
I tried many techniques and simply could not get better measurements. The headband is not round and it forces the cups to sit in a certain manner that causes good bit of leakage impacting bass measurements. As I noted though, there is good bit of channel differential which lasts well into the measurement bandwidth. This has to be a driver mismatch. We see a bit of it in the member sample indicating a common issue that is much worse in my sample. That factor aside, is this an issue of measurement on the fixture and would disappear on one's head? I take a shot at answering that in the listening test section.
Here is the relative frequency response for EQ development using member MDRV6:
Should not be too difficult to compensate assuming we ignore the channel differential in bass.
Distortion was sadly quite high in mid frequencies in addition to bass:
The inset shows the same for the stock pads indicating a lot of similarity outside of bass region (which in the stock version seems worse due to lower measured amplitude).
Absolutely level of distortion shows the same issue:
That distortion area corresponds to a dip in frequency response and also a discontinuity in phase response at 3.2 kHz:
Impedance is flattish and low:
Combined with above average sensitivity should make the MDRV6 easy to drive:
Sony MDRV-6 Headphone Listening Test and Equalization
I started my testing with the member MDV6 with suede pads. First listen was not bad at all, with just some brightness. It was not until I equalized it that I realized one could do better:
Once there (with levels of filters adjusted by ear), the sound was enjoyable across large set of reference tracks. I then turned off EQ and switched to stock pads. I was shocked that the response seemed dull and nothing like the member headphone! Turning on the EQ made some difference but didn't transform the sound like it did with the member MDRV-6. The sound was also closed in which could be due to one channel being weaker where such information existed. The difference is likely due to both pad difference and driver mismatch issues in my new stock sample. No question I preferred the member headphone and by a good bit.
Conclusions
Sometimes a mistake leads to new discoveries and such is the case here. By not remembering I already had an MDRV6, I managed to test both it and the member unit with upgraded pad. Neither objective response is what we like to see but the upgraded unit was closer to the mark there, and subjectively in listening tests. In my book, this is a fail for Sony at the prices they are charging. Yes, this is an iconic headphone (I am pretty sure I had bought another years ago which is buried some place). But time has come and gone and clearly the headphone is flawed both technically (distortion and tonality) and as far as production quality.
I can't recommend the stock Sony MDRV-6. The upgraded sample from the member with Brainwavz pad gets the nod from me especially with EQ.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
No, you are not seeing double. After testing the MDRV6 from the member (right), I went to look up its cost on Amazon and it tells me I already purchased one back in 2017 (left)! It was sitting in a box with a bunch of other headphones I bought initially as I was getting into headphone testing. Other than being used a few times, it is in as new condition. So I went back and measured it as well listening to it.
As you will see noted in the measurements I could not get a proper seal on the member headphone on the right channel. I thought that was bad until I tested my stock one. That was *much* worse in both channels with the right channel also delivering significantly lower volume no matter what I did on my Gras 45CA testing rig. Ah, the fun of testing headphones....
Sony MDRV6 Headphone Measurement
Let's start with the MDRV6 with upgraded Brainwavz suede pad:
We see both good and bad news. Good news is a lot of bass combined with good compliance to about 3 kHz. There is a dip at 200 Hz which is also there in other measurements including my own MDR-7506 headphone measurements. But the depth here is much worse which is likely due to higher level of bass I managed to achieve in this test. Switching to my stock MDRV6 we see that combination effect:
I tried many techniques and simply could not get better measurements. The headband is not round and it forces the cups to sit in a certain manner that causes good bit of leakage impacting bass measurements. As I noted though, there is good bit of channel differential which lasts well into the measurement bandwidth. This has to be a driver mismatch. We see a bit of it in the member sample indicating a common issue that is much worse in my sample. That factor aside, is this an issue of measurement on the fixture and would disappear on one's head? I take a shot at answering that in the listening test section.
Here is the relative frequency response for EQ development using member MDRV6:
Should not be too difficult to compensate assuming we ignore the channel differential in bass.
Distortion was sadly quite high in mid frequencies in addition to bass:
The inset shows the same for the stock pads indicating a lot of similarity outside of bass region (which in the stock version seems worse due to lower measured amplitude).
Absolutely level of distortion shows the same issue:
That distortion area corresponds to a dip in frequency response and also a discontinuity in phase response at 3.2 kHz:
Impedance is flattish and low:
Combined with above average sensitivity should make the MDRV6 easy to drive:
Sony MDRV-6 Headphone Listening Test and Equalization
I started my testing with the member MDV6 with suede pads. First listen was not bad at all, with just some brightness. It was not until I equalized it that I realized one could do better:
Once there (with levels of filters adjusted by ear), the sound was enjoyable across large set of reference tracks. I then turned off EQ and switched to stock pads. I was shocked that the response seemed dull and nothing like the member headphone! Turning on the EQ made some difference but didn't transform the sound like it did with the member MDRV-6. The sound was also closed in which could be due to one channel being weaker where such information existed. The difference is likely due to both pad difference and driver mismatch issues in my new stock sample. No question I preferred the member headphone and by a good bit.
Conclusions
Sometimes a mistake leads to new discoveries and such is the case here. By not remembering I already had an MDRV6, I managed to test both it and the member unit with upgraded pad. Neither objective response is what we like to see but the upgraded unit was closer to the mark there, and subjectively in listening tests. In my book, this is a fail for Sony at the prices they are charging. Yes, this is an iconic headphone (I am pretty sure I had bought another years ago which is buried some place). But time has come and gone and clearly the headphone is flawed both technically (distortion and tonality) and as far as production quality.
I can't recommend the stock Sony MDRV-6. The upgraded sample from the member with Brainwavz pad gets the nod from me especially with EQ.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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. We definitely see the difference between your V6 from 2017 and your 7506 from 2020! Both should be neodymium magnets.
