I recently purchased Sony EX71 earbuds, since I was weary
of the unbearable no-name buds that I happened to use once
before while listening to MP3 from my Compaq 3850 PDA.

I was confused by the many discordant opinions about these
buds; except all agreed that the buds were comfortable.
Shure e2c earbuds have been described in much less polite
terms as to comfort, which was my main discriminant in
purchasing the EX71. I'd be curious to try the Shure, though.
Yet, I decided to try a pair of EX71 and do a little subjective
testing of my own. The results may be of general interest, so I
am posting them here.

As to the comfort, I subscribe to the general opinion. Sony
EX71 are positively very comfortable. I tried and sit under
them at work for 5 or 6 hours with no more discomfort than
that of reasonable over-the-ear phones. That's not bad for
a device in close contact with my ear canal.

As to the sound, the issue is thorny. By way of summary I
can say this: I think the EX71 are not that bad, but I also
think they are difficult to drive--not an easy load from my
experience, and if poorly driven they sound truly terrible.

Here is my setup 1)
Winamp with MAD MP3 decoder
Delta 2496 Audiophile card
META42 phone amp with AD8610 (mildly bright amp)

Here is my setup 2)
Compaq 3850
PocketMusic 1.2 MP3 player (www.pocketmind.com)
Cans driven directly from phone plug

Here is my setup 3)
Compaq 3850
PocketMusic 1.2 MP3 player (www.pocketmind.com)
META42 with Burr-Brown OPA2132 (bit dark amp)

Comparison headphones: Sennheiser HD580

Let me premise that I cannot hear anything above
16,000 Hz, as tested with a tone generator and the
HD580. On the low end I can hear down to 16-18Hz.

Impression on setup 1: The Senn are clearly superior
but the EX71 put up a fight: EX71 buds are pleasant
to listen to. In more detail:

(a) The bass lacks the depth and precision of
the HD580, but as long as you don't push the buds too
deep in your ears the bass is acceptable. The "as long
as" is a very important conditional clause, and, to me, it's
an advantage because I find it uncomfortable to have
objects deep-seated in my ears. I understand this can be a
serious drawback for those using the buds in very noisy
environments or while jogging or sporting. On the other hand,
bass is there in reasonable quantity and quality. I also
missed the phone ringing a few time Not bad, not
bad at all. (b) Mids are a bit rough and a bit muddy on the
EX71. The Senns are smooth as velvet, clear as drinking
water. EX71 are cotton, but not burlap. The difference is
easily audible, and tolerable. The EX71 are acceptably well
defined and selective, different components can still be picked
up easily. (c) Mid-hi and high end in the EX71
is somewhat too exuberant; the EX71 pull out hiss from the
darkest corner of a recording, and tend to exacerbate the
harshness of mediocre remasterings of '70s or older tracks.
In these cases, a good DSP is just about mandatory. On good
tracks, the EX71 are pretty good, more brilliant, even if less
defined than the HD580. Still easy to listen to.

Impression on setup 2: The Senns are merciless, MP3
artifact in the opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra at
128Kbps are truly annoying. However, the 3850 does a
reasonable job of driving these cans both when the digital
volume control is half way and when it is full way up.
The sound level is OK at full volume. The EX71 at half
volume are unpleasant, at full volume they are
unaudible--not because the sound level is too high, but
because the sound quality is insufferably poor. Apparently,
the 3850 has a hard time delivering current (EX71 are
rated at 16 Ohms I believe), an attribute probably shared by
much portable electronic equipment. EX71, it seems, easily
provoke bad electronic behavior and are very intolerant
of it, too. This seems to me as an alarming mix. I could
not test the EX71 any further, just too terrible .


Impression on setup 3:
Since I bought the buds for portable use, I tried a 3rd
setup hooking up a second META42 with a Burr-Brown OPA2132
(a more mellow, darker-sounding amp) and plugged the EX71
into the META42. This worked MUCH better; the general tenure
of the result was still hissy (not much, but audibly so,
probably from the PDA as the amp is as quiet as a church
mouse). The sound quality improved remarkably, and I never
drove the PDA volume tab past halfway. By way of example,
on one occasion when I took the setup outdoors I thought I
heard a bell tolling in the distance in the real world, while
I was listening. Repeatedly I took off the buds, only to
realize that the sound was actually part of the reproduced
musical program. I believe the EX71 did to the 3850 all
justice it could have; no point in wasting money on better
earphones for that audio source.

In sum, I will keep my EX71. They are comfortable, very
small, and if properly driven their sound is adequate to my
portable source. People that hear
past 16,000 Hz, or have different priorities or better
portable sources may certainly think otherwise,
but I'm pretty happy with my pair of EX71 when adequately
driven, and the latter conditional clause is very significant.
I'd give them, oh, a 4/10 perhaps; say, a C+ school grade.

Welcome to Head-Fi alsq welcome to the mad-house

The EX71s aren't really favoured around these parts - but one thing I can say for definite is that they sound great out of the SRF-M10 radio that I have

Thanks for such a great first post! - keep 'em coming!

Wow, nice review I think the EX71's depend ALOT on the fit you get, luckily the EX71's fit me perfectly with the medium sized gaskets so it doesn't sound to bad.

Welcome.

I have a pair of EX70s also. I found their bass to be too much so I've done the 'tape mod' mentioned around here. You basically cover the holes in the rear and that tames the bass a bit.

i love my ex71.