Fantastic headphones! (Sony MDR XD200)

Member Name: Smitty83

Product:	Sony MDR XD200
Date:	09/01/08 (230 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great quality, look good.

Disadvantages: Not very handy for listening to music on your morning jog.

I wouldn't normally think to write a review about something as trivial as a pair of headphones, however, I have a pair of these currently stuck to my ears and they're doing a fantastic job, so I figured there would be nothing better to do than to write about them.

Sony MDR-XD200 Headphones.
They're a favourite for Argos, I believe, probably because they are not too expensive, look good, sound great, they're from a well-known brand, and, well, given the oppurtunity wouldn't you choose huge DJ headphones over little white iPod earphones? I would.


PRICE
For a good pair of headphones, these are not particularly expensive at all. I got mine for around £14 I think, from Argos. They can be bought from some internet and high street shops for anything between a tenner and £20.
As comparison, I have had previous headphones of similar style that have either been much more expensive, or worse quality, so these are a good buy, IMO.


QUALITY OF SOUND
Fantastic!
I used to have a pair of big headphones, in fact I used them for about 10 years, and admittedly, even these headphones can't beat the quality I got out of them, but after they broke, I tried a lot of options and I ended up using these.

There's a fantastic bass sound, so whether you listening to the pounding bass beat of a trance track, or listening for the fast double-kick in a Black Dahlia Murder song, you will simply never be disappointed! High frequencies are just as impressive, as are the all-important mid-frequencies that fill out the song.

The clarity is brilliant, as well. They don't sound even remotely 'tinny' as some headphones can, nor does the bass cause the sound to seem muffled. Whatever you're listening to, you will be able to pick out every instrument with ease, and the fantastic stereo effect (and this isn't me being amazed by modern technology, this is me suggesting that the effect of 'stereo' can be significantly better in some devices than others) makes it seem as though the music truly is surrounding you. It's like having a home-cinema surround sound system strapped to your head.

They also go very loud. If you're the kind of person who the scientists say will be deaf by the time they're forty (like me...) then these are for you!


FEATURES
They're only a pair of headphones, so there's not much to say in 'features' really, but still.
The head-strap is extendable to quite a size, so whether you're deafening you new-born baby cousin, of trying to entertain your mildly amused pet elephant, these will do the job.
The strap is also very comfortable; it has a kind of rubber in-strap inside the outer support which makes it more comfortable to wear.

The whole thing does flex to an extent, but if you happen to have an awkwardly-shaped head, the actual ear pieces (whose padded covers make them fantastically soft by the way...) tilt a bit in both directions to suit everyone's needs.

The cable is about 3m long, so there's plenty of length there for a really tall person to be able to have his iPod in his... shoe pocket.

The headphones have two settings, 'music' and 'movies' which, as you might expect, slightly adjust the sound EQ and frequency-response to maximise performance for what type of audio you want.


ANYTHING ELSE?
Two questions that were asked of the last review in a comment, I feel are worthy of answering.

How good are they at attenuating external noise?
And,
Do they leak sound out? Could you listen to them in bed next to a sleeping partner without disturbing them?

External noise, obviously depends partly on how loud you have the audio. Naturally, if you're listening at full volume, you qon't be able to hear anything, including yourself thinking, and if you have it on so low you can barely hear, they're not mufflers so you will be able to hear external noise.
However, compared to many, especially earphones which are ever-popular, they do cut out a good amount of external noise. If you want to listen at a reasonable level you're not going to be disturbed, that is, you don't have to deafen yourself to cut out the noise of a busy road.

As for stopping sound leaking, they are very good. I always get complaints from family when they can hear my music through earphones, because there's nothing more annoying than the slight, high-pitches noise you get from someones very loud bad taste in music. These are very handy, as the huge padded ear-muff-type-things are great at keeping sound in.

Summary: Great headphones, reasonable price.

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