Comfortable inexpensive headphones from Sony that don't sound bad and stay in place in the gym.
Sony is a company on a mission. It is trying very hard to
regain the powerful position that it once held. Something foul took hold of the
electronics giant and distracted it from its core; designing the best and most
innovative audio/video products in the world. For many people, the Sony brand
always represented the best of the best. You were “somebody” if you could
afford the top television or stereo component from the “one and only”. That
really has not been the case for many years. Sony has been pummeled by Samsung,
Panasonic, and Pioneer in the world of home video. It has been beaten to a pulp
by Apple and other portable media device makers, and the importance of that
should not be lost on people. Sony invented the world of portable audio and has
been struggling to catch up ever since. As a kid, I owned more than my fair
share of headphones. My family worked in radio for almost three decades, so
more than a few pairs of studio cans were liberated and brought home. AKG and
Koss were my brands as a kid, and I still really enjoy my AKG K 601s. Sony made
decent headphones, but they were never really my preferred brand.
To its credit, Sony has not sat on its hands during the
iPod-era and has expanded its headphone line-up to over 70 models, many of which
are very listenable. They do face some rather stiff competition from
Sennheiser, Grado, AKG, Bose, and others, but the number of Sony headphones
being sold is rather substantial. At the entry-level, Sony has a number of good
models such as the MDR-J20 that serve their purpose quite well; Easy to wear
for extended periods of time, well-made, and easy to travel with.
Sonically, the MDR-J20 are a tad bright on top, but not
enough to kill a recommendation. The midrange is rather warm, almost pleasantly
so. Sam Cooke’s voice on “Lost and Looking” was full of the soul that made Sam
the great singer that he was, and I could handle the sound for long durations.
I did not find these headphones to be fatiguing at all. The bass was somewhat thin
while listening to the Who, which was disappointing, but I will take thin over
bloated any day of the week. My recent favorites, the JVC HA-F120, were more to
my liking on almost every track, which only reinforces my feelings towards
them. The Sony are decent for $20, but no giant killers.
