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Enochrome
10-03-2010, 09:12 PM
Never contributed to the portable site before.

Let me preface that I am a prefered Grado SR fan, and the SR-80i are my home
headphones.

I hate buying portable cans. I have owned a couple of Sennheisers,Skull Candy's and Sony, and they all have their limitations and THEY ALL BREAK QUICK. I do not like canal headphones, so I exclude them from my shopping and ratings.

I have come to the conclusion that if my annual pay does not increase by $30,0000 in the next year I will not spend a lot on portable headphones, because they will break regardless of care.

In that, I decided to just get some "whatever" headphones with a giftcard from Sears.
So, I bought the Sony MDR-ED12LP for $14.99.

I will keep this short: the soundstage is great, the imaging is pretty good, the detail extraction is unparalleled at this price (maybe as good as the Koss K-75 something or other); the level of information extracted from these cheap phones pisses me off everyday that I had wasted my money on other more expensive gear. The 16mm drivers probably have to do with all my accolades. I won't tell you that Sony put "all this research, care, and unique material" that gives it this great sound, because you and I know that that is BULLSH*T.

I think Sony and I just stumbled onto one of those budget gear anomalies that gives out way more than their price point for some weird reason (they bought it from the right Chinese dealer/factory?).

Did I mention, that the best thing about these headphones is the channel separation?
Here's where it gets sticky: I think the channel separation is better than my Grados.
Bring on the crucifixion.

Good job Sony: ordered from the right Chinese dealer and passed on an unbelievable performing product, mind you not "giant killer", but pretty damn close for ....$14.99.

People, buy some and find out. Return some crappy khakis or some panty hose (yes girls are into gear as well) to Sears and pick some up and tell me what you think.

Keep in mind that average portable headphones last 6 months, and at Sears I paid $2.00 for a 2 year warranty (as long as I do not cut the cord with scissors). $16.99 for 2 years!!? I paid more in coffee sometimes in a week for that much.

evilspoons
12-28-2010, 12:36 PM
Interesting!

I will have to try these out when I eventually ruin my iPod's earbuds and don't want to fork out $50 for the damn things as a replacement.

I have previously used Sony's other cheapie buds (MDR-E818LP maybe?) for this purpose but their sound as of late has really gotten crappy, or perhaps I've gotten more critical. They also get full of ear wax, ugh. (My iPod ones don't seem to.)

When I'm not forced to use the iPod's earbuds for portability, I use Grado SR60s.