Apple's In-Ear Headphones and Sony's MDR-EX71SL - Searching for Decent In-Ear Headphones
by Andrew Ku on June 3, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
Final Words
As first, this came off as more of a curious venture because a few of you guys asked. We came back pleasantly surprised and glad that we took the time to look at these two. The primary concern voiced by many was fit, and we have to say that both headphones should have an approximate fit size for just about everyone, though it may not be the exact fit that you desire. In the future, we would love to see companies like Creative, Apple, and others to a lesser extent (like Rio, iRiver, MSI, FIC, etc.) package a good pair of earbud style headphones with their MP3 players.Most of the MP3 players on the market still run in a high enough price range for you to shop around. The problem then is that if a 4GB MP3 player runs $199.99, but has a poor set of headphones, you need to shell out another ~$40 for a good pair. This brings the cost up, whereas you might spend $240 for a similar 4GB MP3 player that already has a good pair of headphones. You might have some savings by going after the more expensive one, but you don't realize it until it is too late.
In our opinion, the Apple In-Ear headphones are much more comfortable, which wasn't too much of a surprise. When it comes to usability, Apple does a ton of market and engineering research to make their products easy to use, comfortable, and aesthetically appealing. Sony's MDR-EX71SL takes a back seat in comfortability, even with the right sized earpiece. This is because the 9mm driver protrudes further away from the earbud and there is less "give" to how much the rubber can shape to your outer ear canal's shape. The Apple In-Ear headphones, on the other hand, have more hollow space to "give up" to your specific shape due to their different approach in earpiece design.
We can best sum it up by saying that after a few hours, you will still be conscious that you have the Sony MDR-EX71SL headphones in your ear. After all, they are more like earplugs than anything else. However, after a few hours with Apple's In-Ear headphones, you feel like you still have nothing in your ear at all. They really seem that comfortable. The difference between the two is based on the different engineering approaches. Sony takes the earplug approach where keeping sound out is the numero uno priority, while Apple takes the road of directing the sound in. This is reflected in use too; you can hear sounds better with the Apple In-Ear headphones better than the Sony MDR-EX71SLs, but both are designed so that the person next to you in a flight won't be able to hear what you are listening to.
If you are concerned with the feel more than the quality, Apple takes the cake and still provides really good pair of In-Ear headphones. We don't want to understate their sound quality or claim otherwise. They are still better than basically the rest of the in-ear and earbud styled headphones that we have seen bundled with MP3 players. The Sony MDR-EX71SLs, though, make a significant impression on us if you are first and foremost concerned with sound quality. It's just a thought, but if Apple paired up with Sony to take their 9mm driver to their In-Ear headphones, it would be the best of both worlds. Currently, neither is cheaper than the other - prices vary from on-line store to on-line store. Our quick net browsing only showed that the Sony MDR-EX71SLs were cheaper than the Apple's at Amazon.com. Normally, the MDR-EX71SLs run at $49.99 and the Apple In-Ears at $39.99, but at Amazon, we found the Sony headphones for $34.99.
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JonB - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link
While I rarely listen with headphones, I do notice one thing. There have been a few articles recently that use a U.S. Quarter as the size comparison. I know that there are a lot of non-US members, so I checked to see how big a Euro coin was compared to a Quarter.And - a US Quarter is just smaller than a 2 Euro coin and just larger than a 1 Euro coin.
Close enough that you could use either coin.
TheAudit - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link
Good article.GokieKS - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link
"How can there be a review that is attempting to find "the best pair of in-ear headphones" without at least mentioning the two most well-known audiophile-quality in-ear headphone manufacturers, Etymotic and Shure?!? I know the article explains why they chose those headphones (they are easy to find)...but this is kind of like reviewing two $50 video cards and not even mentioning the type of performance you might get if you were to spend the money for something like an ATI X800."Well, the article is actually titled searching for "decent" headphones, which these do qualify (though a bit questionable in the case of the Apple pair). And whereas the difference in performance between a GF4 MX and a Radeon X800 can easily be quantified by benchmark numbers, it's MUCH MUCH harder to give a good reason on how one pair of headphones is other than another - audiophiles have the specific terms in which they like to describe certain aspects of sound quality, but for the majority of people, they mean absolutely nothing.
Not to mention 99% of the population would be unwilling to spend $100 or more on earplugs.
~KS
Scrith - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link
This is very strange (especially for Anandtech). How can there be a review that is attempting to find "the best pair of in-ear headphones" without at least mentioning the two most well-known audiophile-quality in-ear headphone manufacturers, Etymotic and Shure?!? I know the article explains why they chose those headphones (they are easy to find)...but this is kind of like reviewing two $50 video cards and not even mentioning the type of performance you might get if you were to spend the money for something like an ATI X800.I suggest that those interested in the best in-ear headphones (or standard headphones, for that matter) check out a store such as www.headphone.com or do some research at the headphone forum at www.head-fi.org.
Still, it's good to see a review with an emphasis on audio here at Anandtech.
wassup4u2 - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link
How does the sound quality of these compare with larger, "headband" headphones with 30mm drivers? I have a pair of Sony MDR-G54LP and was wondering how their sound quality would compare.GokieKS - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link
"Does anyone have an idea how these headphones compare to Sony's MDR-E888's?"In terms of comfort, they're leagues ahead. In terms of sound quality...well, depends on the kind of music, really. They're better rock 'n roll headphones, but if you're into say, classical or jazz, I'd say the E888s are probably the better choice.
~KS
quorm - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link
Does anyone have an idea how these headphones compare to Sony's MDR-E888's?GokieKS - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link
As a semi-audiophile, let me start off by saying that, IMO, the Apple earbuds are completely not worth the money. They look nice, yeah, and allows the wearer to retain the "I've got an iPod and I want everyone to know about it" aspect of the stock (even crappier) earbuds while getting somewhat better sound, but that's about as far as their pros go. Sound quality is average at best, but it's a horrible value, but hey, it's an Apple product. =P (I'd like to mention that I'm actually a very big fan of most of Apple's hardware, but I'm under no illusion that they're the best bang for the buck.)The EX71s, on the other hand, are altogether more intersting. I've had two pairs of it - the first of which I imported from Japan about a year and a half ago, when they were sold here. I wanted a short-cord set of earbuds (my PCDP has a LCD corded remote), which meant I basically had to import. The EX71s were just introduced and coming off the usually-positive reviews of its predecessor, the EX70s, I figured it'd be a good choice. The Japanese models come in two colors, and I picked white, as at that point in time, I was fully expecting to get an iPod in the future, and I did want the color to match if possible (I've ended up getting an iRiver iHP-120, but that's a story for another time). With shipping, it costed nearly $60, but I felt they were worth the money - they sounded better than any earbuds I've ever used up until that point does, and the next step up would've been the Shure E2Cs, which cost quite a bit more.
After that, as the EX71s were introduced in the US, I read more and more discussions about them on various forums, and the common issues many people (OK, audiophiles/headphone junkies) have with them is the bloated bass and muddy treble, and many saying the Sennheiser MX400/MX500s were better. I was a bit surprised, as though the bass response is indeed a lot stronger than one would expect, I felt they were much better than the Sennheisers (though quite a bit more expensive as well).
Anyway, about a month ago, my pair failed on me - no sound from the right channel at all. I was disappointed, but not terribly surprised (in my rather expansive experience, Sony products have been paragons of excellence in design, but not reliability). I needed a pair of easily put-in/taken-out earbuds, which ruled out high-end offerings like those by Etymotic (though the sound quality on those are, by all indication, amazing and absolutely worth the cost). So what did I do? Order another pair of the EX71s, this time black and off Amazon ($30 at the time). Other than the color and the fact it comes with a plastic box to hold the extension cord/whatever else instead of the small (MD sized) pouch like the Japanese version, it looks identical.
How they sounded, on the other hand, was a wholely different story. The bass/treble complaint that others had became clear as day. I tried breaking them in, to no avail - the bass, especially, is still overwhelming, to the point where it actually hurts my ears at times (my music repertoire doesn't include much in the way of heavy bass).
I have no good explanation for this, but I will say that whereas I once recommended the EX71s without reservation, I can no longer do the same - only to those who like/can stand the bass.
~KS