Sony MDR1AM2 Wired High Resolution Headphones

First off lets start with how they fit around your ears. If you have small ears you can position these however you like, but for bigger ears I would try this way instead. When I was looking inside the headphone cushions I saw that they had a bit more space hidden which should fit bigger ears because when I tuck in my ears which are small I still have a lot more space inside the headphones pads. Now lets talk sound quality. These headphones have bass ports which I will show where with photos, kind of like a subwoofer or speakers. Do not try to cover them the bass will sound weird because the air flows through them to produce such great bass that these headphones have. When you put on some songs with a lot of bass you will be amazed by the bass these small headphones. If you EQ the bass it will be a bassheads dream with those songs if you set the bass a bit higher. The bass is excellent on these.

Now for the midrange (Vocals) I like it a lot especially when I watch videos or want to monitor my voice. For songs the vocals are clear and you will know they are there. These headphones are very fun to listen to.

Now for the high range. This is mostly what makes the headphones sound clearer. When I have these on a lower volume I could fall asleep with these on. The high range on a lower volume the headphone has a warm sound signature but when I turn up the volume some of that treble range can break through but instead of being able to sleep with them on they act more excited like most other headphones but much more explosive bass with these. Obviously you should never use headphones on high volume it will seriously damage your hearing.

For soundstage, these are closed back headphones first off, so nothing like an open-back heqdphone but some soundstage is there if you really focus and relax, not a whole lot though. I would say the soundstage is there but not wide, it still feels like its near your ear but these headphones primarily should be for listening to music, videos, and perhaps movies not for soundstage and all that but for voices or narrative for documentaries, and for big explosions for that bass.

For the build quality these are the lightest headphones that I have bought, I was amazed. You could wear these for hours and you might forget that they are on your head. I would be very afraid for these to fall off my head because of how light weight they are. The build is plastic, some of it is a bit rough feeling. The headband may look flat but actually its just a bit of flexible material with a crease and the rest of it is cushion, and whatever material thats inside the headband is 1mm thick compared to the rest of the soft cushioning it’s very comfortable. The pads itself on the inside is great I don’t remember the material but it’s soft. The adjustment part of the headphone I would think is some sort of metal. For the aux port you will need an auxillary cable with the same locking mechanism as the stock cables. Also, this headphone comes with a 3.5mm to 3.5mm auxillary with a mic attached. The mic on this is fantastic for what it is. This headphone also comes with a soft carrying case and a balanced 3.5mm to 4.4mm auxillary cable which I haven’t tried yet but heard that it makes these headphones sound even better than what they already are without it. They also come in a nice cardboard after you take out the cheap paper box it comes with outside of that cardboard and when you open it the headphones are laying in a nice smooth attached cloth on some plastic material which looks nice to be presented with.

Portablity, yes they could be used outside but they are not sweatproof or anything of that sort, I found that the bass ports are sensitive to wind so you will hear the wind when wearing these. I really enjoy using these at home I would buy some iem, wireless earbuds, or earbuds with an ipx rating for outside especially for the summer, not that its okay to wear any headphones in cold weather anyways. These are great, bass way better beyond what the xm3 or xm4 can produce, they say it can do 3hz beyond human hearing which these sound like a mini subwoofer, clean high range, and I love the midrange so far. If you can buy these for $300 Canadian dollars I would do it. I have no idea when Sony will release the MDR 1Am3 or whatever is next for them that is an upgrade to this. All said, try these. I hope you like them, give it time. I’ve had them for a few months and they keep getting better. (Will update if needed.)

Comodidad

Los he usado por periodos largos de reproducción musical (máximo 4.5 horas continuas), y lo normal, de vez en cuando los abres para ventilar, pero solo eso, la comodidad de estos es lo esperado en un producto de este precio, o sea, sí, son cómodos y no cansan.

Estética

El diseño a pesar de ser sencillo cuenta con la sensación de que se trata de un producto de calidad, nuevamente lo menciono, es lo esperado en un producto de este precio.

Conexiones

Jack 3.5 y cable balanceado 4.4mm, este último te da un aumento en la calidad y potencia de sonido, eso sí, dependiendo el reproductor de música que se utilice y si este cuenta con salida balanceada, de preferencia de 4.4mm aunque también puedes usar adaptador de 2.5mm para ese tipo de salidas balanceadas.

Sonido

A ver, voy a ser claro en este punto, ya tocará a los que les encantan las pruebas especificas con medidores de frecuencias o cualquier otra herramienta.

Graves

Los sonidos graves son suficientes, no son los bajos potentes que algunos mencionan, quizás oídos “audiófilos” tengan un problema con los bajos potentes o con “mucha” presencia y estos audifonos puedan considerarlos como un poco elevados en ese tipo de sonido, pero no se hagan una falsa idea, no es como que el vecino de enfrente está estrenando los nuevos buffers de su automóvil, repito, tiene bajos suficientes para la gente que escucha música con la presencia de este sonido como base de su ritmo (electrónica, rap, R&B, etc…) pero jamás son unos Mega Bass o Extra Bass.

Medios

Para mí, se sienten con cuerpo, ligeramente robustos, muy bien definidos. Este tipo de sonido me parece que es el que más valoro, la fidelidad en estos medios es muy buena.

Agudos

Vas a leer en algunas reseñas que en comparación con “x” o “y” audífonos le falta un poco de brillo a este sonido en especifico, así como también leerás que no se ponen de acuerdo en si suenan apagados y sin brillo o si son sibilantes y muy echados para adelante. A ver, estos agudos son los que necesito, me gustan mucho los agudos, no me interesan los sonidos apagados y sin brillo, y con esto tengo el brillo que quiero, y dependiendo del reproductor pueden ser aún más marcados y brillantes. En resumen y para que se entienda, si escuchas la grabación de un alfiler caer al piso lo vas a percibir de forma correcta, el brillo que necesita ese sonido, no va a sonar como que tiraste una corcholata o una goma de borrar. Y sí, pueden haber audífonos que tengan agudos más brillantes, pero no por eso mejores, sino que al gusto de las personas que priman el uso de este tipo de sonido pues serán mejores.

Encontrarás opiniones que analizan estos audífonos con detalles técnicos que al final pueden significar mucho o poco según la apreciación de cada usuario. No los voy a comparar con otros audífonos, no tiene sentido, si quieres que suenen igual o similar a otros no tendría sentido comprarte estos o cualquiera.

Espero que si alguien está por decidirse esto le haya facilitado su decisión.

P.D. No solo son los audífonos, el reproductor de música que se utilice puede tener más peso en la calidad del sonido que los propios audífonos, pero si encuentras un buen reproductor, estos audífonos los vas a apreciar más aún.

Let’s start with what I can say for sure: the are the best sounding and most comfortable headphones I’ve ever used, full stop. If you want the best possible sound quality and the most comfort these are the top of the heap. I’m using these with an Xperia 10 and FLAC music, HiRes end to end, and these headphones do the high quality audio justice. I’ve been a music fan all my life and have lived through record, tape, CD, compressed audio, etc and nothing has ever sounded as good as these with HiRes music. These headphones are also extremely comfortable. The pads are a super soft fake leather that is as soft as skin or a flower petal or velvet, it is extremely soft. The head piece is also coated in soft fabric. And the headphones are so light that it is shocking when you first hold them. You can listen to these for hours without fatigue.

Now, let’s get to what only time can clarify: I don’t know how durable these are. As I mentioned they are so light that it is shocking, but that lightness makes them feel cheap. On closer inspection they are made with high quality materials. What feels in places like an all 0lastic body is in fact metal in many places. The metal is simply so thin and light it feels lime plastic. That said coming from a pair of Master & Dynamics these feel very light and brittle. Only time will tell. At first I thought they were cheaply made but like I said over time I’ve realized that they are actually very well made, just with an emphasis on lightness. That said, I know I’ll have those master and dynamics in 10 or even 20 years. How these will fare we can only wait and see.

Ultimately I recommend these highly. My priorities are comfort and sound quality and these do the trick. These don’t have features that reduce quality like Bluetooth or noise cancelation so what you are paying for here is premium audio quality, not xoensive extras that make your music sound worse. These paired with HiRes music and a player are as good as it gets and the first true improvement I’ve heard in audio quality I’ve heard in my adult life.

These headphones are among the purest you will find. Keep in mind they are not made for Audiophiles, but for Audio Professionals.

If you intend on using these for audio recording, whether music based, film/video production.. these headphones will provide a genuinely pure representation of the entire range of frequencies on offer… IF you have the ear for that kind of thing as well. If you understand what that all means, pre-EQíng and pre-mastering, you will appreciate exactly what these headphones have to offer.

If you are after a specific type of sound or “soundstage” or whatever other buzzwords are popular with self professed Audiophiles, stay away from these unless you are serious about tweaking your EQ settings and being exposed to some hard truths. If you are one of these lazy “experts” that demnds more bass, or midrange, or sense of space or whatever… you’re really just describing a closed range of frequency responses and effects that you prefer. The MDR1AM2 does not cater to you… they will expose the flaws in some of the music you like so much in terms of mixing and mastering that you thought were great with other headphones that “boosted” the bass/treble/etc.. Boosting = Fake/Inaccurate/Unbalanced sound.

The sound is brutally honest.

I have gone through a variety of headphones over the years. I have accepted the minor flaws in a variety of very good headphones for the purposes of gaming, mobile music listening, etc…. but my go to was always my old Sony MDR7506. And I have been reluctant to get another pair of MDR7506’s because of the one structural flaw in its design… the ultra heavy duty, and heavy weighted wire that inevitably loosens its connectivity at the point directly inside the headphone.

These MDR1AM2’s are better than the MDR7506 in every possible way.
More comfortble to wear, a light and detachable cable. Frequency range is so much broader while requiring a fraction of the ohms (16 vs 63) so no need for amp boosting.

Have tried this with normal MP3s… and it demonstrates more of the subtle trash that occurs from MP3 compression that you can usually ignore with most other headphones.

I have also tried it with both recordings in uncompressed 24 bit, 96khz WAV file form and 24 bit 44khz VST instruments (EastWest Hollywood Opus to be specific).

PERFECTION! I have found the headphones I will use for at least the next 10 years, probably longer considering these already cover a frequency range that is beyond realistic human hearing.

Keep in mind that Sony’s audio department does not have a track record of promoting lifestyle headphones, as you may struggle to find proper reviews online. It is obvious by the background of many of the psuedo influencers “reviewing” audio gear these days that they do not truly understand audio at a professional level, and/or are motivated by the occasional endorsements and kickbacks which heavily skew how they approach their appraisals . Sony is known for making hardcore pro studio equipment, and that is the kind of tech you are getting here…. at a disturbingly low price considering what many other high end brands are demanding for their flagship headphones