Sony DR-V150 Headphone quick-review

I'd been looking for replacement headphones to use with my iPhone, and I don't really like the in-ear headphones that are all the rage...then I saw Sony's new DR-V150 headphones, that had an in-line remote control and microphone for iPod and iPhone, and was only $30, and I thought ahhhh!

Unfortunately, $30 doesn't buy you much in the way of headphones these days; that should have been my first warning. The other mistake I made is that I was imagining these headphones would be like the Sony MDR-7506's I've used, which are very cool (but almost three times the price, and have no remote control or mic.)

Anyway, I've had the DR-V150's for a few days, and this is what I think of them:

The Good News
The mic seems to be okay; people understand me, and no one has said "what's the matter with your phone?" The audio quality is reasonable too, though not amazing; it's fuller than the $20 headphones I have (everything is relative!)

Unfortunately, there's a bunch of minor annoyances:

The Bad News
  • The remote control doesn't work properly; the plus and minus controls don't work at all on my iPhone 3G. Clicking in the center does work to pause and continue, so that's something.
  • The mic/control unit is really close to your face; much closer than on the Apple headphones. This makes it awkward to find when you want to use it.
  • The cable is four feet; five feet is more useful
  • The plastic headband isn't padded; an annoyance for those with less hair than we might have hoped for.
  • I didn't realize that the cups are actually small; so that the headphones are pressing much harder against my ears than - for example - the MDR-7506's.
I think I'd be okay with the control/mic placement, the lack of other controls, the sound quality and even the short cable if they were comfortable to wear, but they just aren't. Put the whole thing together, and it's just disappointing.

Amazon: Sony DRV150iP Headphones ~$30 [not recommended]
Amazon: Sony MDR-7506 Professional Large Diaphragm Headphone $85.00 [recommended as great headphones, but they don't have a mic or controls for your iPhone]

Comments

Henk-Jan said…
The normal Apple headphones controls doesn't work either on a iphone 3G. It has nothing to do with the headphones but with the phone.
May 25, 2011, 9:46:00 AM
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