Tom's Views

I owned the  Sony MDR-V6 Studio Monitor Pro Headphones  for several months in 2006, and in that time, I played them over many evenings with several CD players, headphone amps, mixing boards, computer sound cards, and stereo receivers.  Allow me to   review the MDR-V6s here because I thought them exceptional audio listening devices in lots of ways.  The MDR-V6 headphones look and perform very much like the Sony MDR-V500 and MDR-7506 units I’ve also owned and discussed elsewhere in this blog.  They’re similar in sound, weight, comfort level, style of ear cushions, ease of ear cushion replacement, headband composition, size adjustment, and cabling.  The only real difference I found between the MDR-V6 and MDR-7506 headphones is that the MDR-7506s come with gold-plated 3.5mm connectors.  The MDR-V6s and MDR V500s appear to have either nickel or silver-plated connectors.  However, I found no difference in performance due to the gold connectors.  Otherwise, just about everything I said about these other headphones, also applies to the MDR-V6 headphones.  Thus, the following:

The MDRV6 Sony stereo headphones offer perhaps the best sound of any headphones in their price class.  They replicate the high frequencies with crystal clarity, and spare the heavy bass; especially once you’ve adapted to listening to the Sennheiser HD-650s.  But the bass level can be adjusted through an equalizer.  Actually, the reduced bass output makes these phones quite nice for iPod listening, since iPods are heavy on the bass anyhow.  I’ve used the MDR-V6 headphones with iPods on lots of train trips, and found them relaxing enough to sleep by.  I’ve owned many headphones from Sony, Koss, Grado, Sony, and Apple over the past three plus decades, the Sony MDR V6 units rank right up there among my favorite headphones.  I only sold them because I already had several pairs of the MDR-7506s, and I needed the money besides.

Given how little these cost (less than $100 on eBay currently), I found little to gripe about except that the ear cushions quickly wear out (after less than two years).  I had to replace them on my used set because they begin shedding bits and pieces of the fake leather coating on them.  But replacement ear cushions for the MDR-V6 headphones can be had for roughly $10 a pair on eBay and directly from Sony.  So this drawback is but a minor irritant.

So if $50 to $100 is all you can afford to spend on a quite-adequate pair of earphones, then I’d highly suggest the Sony MDRV6 headphones.  For that money, you get a fairly flat and hard-wearing pair of quality audio head gear, that work well in the studio, in transit, and just about any casual listening environment you’d care to set up.

Benefits Of The Sony MDR-V6 Headphones

• The MDR-V6 headphones are quite light.  In fact, they’re light enough, and offer a wide enough range of headband adjustment, that they do not press too hard against my eyeglasses. Thus, I never have to remove the eyeglasses while listening.
• The headband itself on the MDR-V6 headphones includes spongy padding as well that further enhances overall comfort level, and matches the sheen and texture of the ear cushions.  These phones in fact, feel as comfortable as they sound good.
• The MDR-V6 headphones look as good as they sound, yes.  They’re black with silver trim with a red and gold “For Digital” sticker on the back of each phone.  This gives them a simple yet sleek and modern hi-tech veneer.
• The MDR-V6 headphones offer fold-able ear pieces, which withdraw up inside the headband.  This shrinks the bulk of the overall unit down to a small enough size, that it fits in the included black pouch for protection from dust and other forces, hostile to headphones.
• The MDRV6 headphones can play loud enough, with the wide dynamic range over most of the audio frequency band.  This suits them particularly for widely-varying musical volume levels, such as those encountered in classical music.
• For listing to the more “always-loud” pop style music, the MDR-V6 headphones can play sufficiently loud to sting my ears without any noticeable gain in distortion or fidelity loss.
• While the connecting audio cable cannot be unplugged from the unit, replacement is easy with a screwdriver, cutters, and a soldering iron.
• I found the MDRV6 headphones tremendously light; especially after having adapted to wearing the Koss Tech 2 headphones for more than ten years prior. They’re even lighter than my Sennheiser HD-650 phones, and I thought those were light.
• Thus, I could wear the MDR-V6 headphones for hours at an occasion without any irritation whatsoever.  The music you’re listening to come to irritate you out way before these headphones fatigue your ears.
• New cables can easily be found from numerous Internet vendors including eBay.
• The MDR-V6 headphones can be worn with equal comfort either way (left earphone on left ear, or left earphone on right ear).  The angle adjustment on each earpiece probably accounts for this good aspect that I utilize when hearing those cheaper hit compilation CDs, where the stereo left and right channels are mastered backwards from the original LP or single versions.
• The MDRV6s reduce surrounding noise adequately for somewhat quiet environments, which is a useful feature of their closed-air design. A metal back plate boxes in the driver speaker in each earpiece, and this helps keep sound both in and out.
• Thus, there’s not much audio leakage with the MDR-V6s.  So, these are a good choice to listen to when other people are near and wish to be uninterrupted by your musing listening.
• The MDR-V6 headphones, despite their lightness, seem quite forgiving of abuse.  I’ve often dropped these earphones on the table or floor when done listening, with no resulting defects.  They’re not easily broken, and thus, hold up well in rough listening locations such as studios, DJ gigs, and travel settings.
• An iPod drives the MDR-V6 headphones quite well.
• You need no equalizer to tone down the bass response of the MDRV6 headphones.  They sound pretty nice with “flat” music sources. While a trifle strong on the high mid-range audio, they’re not so bad that they require an equalizer; though an equalizer does make them sound really spectacular when you lower the mid-range just a bit.  Be careful of how much bass you apply, as this can make the drivers rattle, and potentially blow them out.
• These headphones sport foamy, soft ear cushions, coated with a thin, resilient black film that gives them a soft, shiny leathery texture.  This further enhances the comfort of the MDRV6 headphones.
• The ear cushions have oval-shaped openings that allow them to work nicely as an ear-surrounding design.  However, these openings are rather small, such that my ears just barely fit inside.  Therefore, the inner edges of the cushion rims always touch my ears when wearing.  This might be a problem with other phones, whose ear cushions are not as soft as those in these MDR-V6s.  But this causes little discomfort with this studio monitor pro grade headset.
• These silky soft ear pads are medium sized in circumference, but not terribly deep.  Thus, the front of the driver speaker touches my ear.  But again with the overall softness of the ear cushions and the cloth that covers the driver, this does not detract from long periods of comfortable listening for me.

What I Dislike About The Sony MDR-V6 Headphones

As I mentioned earlier, given how cheaply priced these headphones are, I found none too much to lawfully complain about in them.  But here are several gripes I managed to scratch out after considerable effort:

• These phones are not equipped with gold connectors; which provide the most reliably connection to the audio source.  But I never had problems with corrosion or other forces to which a gold connector is immune.
• The cables are not as easy to replace as they would have been if made detachable.
• The MDRV6 ear cushions begin flaking and pealing less than a year after purchase.  They’ve left little black specks in my hair and ears.
• As mentioned, the MDR-V6 headphones seem to favor the mid-range frequencies somewhat, and this can make my ears ring after prolonged listening.

In sum: I thought the   Sony MDRV6 headphones   a fine purchase for the money as well as my particular listening preferences and applications. The MDR-V6 unit lacks only a small number of the features that I like to find in a truly great pair of headphones.  But this does not disqualify them from the truly great stature.  So I would eagerly buy them again if needed.

I’ll add any new information I discover to this post as it comes in, about these earphones.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Other Stereo Headphones Reviews
• Sony MDR-7509 (MDR7509) Headphones Review
• Sony MDR-V500 (MDRV500) Headphones Review

References

• Sony MDR-V6 (MDRV6) Studio Monitor Pro Headphones   review on CNET 

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