Hello everyone!
I,m from India and this is my first ever post on Head-Fi. I absolutely love this site and it has guided and helped me immensely.
 
Now onto topic. I purchased a pair of these Sony's four months back for around INR 4500. I'm in college and I had to save up for these for 5 months. Them being expensive, I only use them at home so as to avoid damage and coil them well and always place them in their case. I use my SoundMagic ES-18's for running and outdoor use.
 
The problem I'm having is that these Sony's , in spite of them being used very rarely and carefully, have suddenly began losing color on the ear-bud metallic coating. It peeled off somehow in flakes(refer pictures). One ear-bud has this prominent while the other ear-bud is showing microscopic black dots. It looks rather ugly. I know it's not cool to be so picky about color coming off but when i paid so much for these I expect a little more durability. I called Sony and they HANG up every time i mention the color issues. Extremely bad service.
 
 
So could anyone give their comments regarding this phenomenon?
 
(I just realized I cant insert an image here [So I'm gonna try linking them]
 
 
Link(Imgur):
 
 
http://imgur.com/a/IzeF7?gallery
 
 
 
P.S. Sorry for the bad quality my Digital Camera died so this is from a phone. Also I'm new to HF and I apologize if I broke any rules regarding threads. Cheers guys.

Umm. I mean. I don't really see the problem here. Chips, scratches, nicks, etc. are practically inevitable on headphones. They affect headphones far more expensive than yours, the Hifiman HE-6 come to mind immediately.
 
If it really bothers you, you can try anything that would be used to repair scratches in automobiles, such as automotive paint samples. But to be honest, this is a non-issue.

Thanks for replying! Yeah I guess you're right. I just thought the color and finish should last at least more than 4 months haha. Weird part is the color came off suddenly, just peeled off right in my hand , not gradually. maybe it reacted with something...oh well
 
On another note what are your thoughts on the durability of these?

tousledhead said:

  Thanks for replying! Yeah I guess you're right. I just thought the color and finish should last at least more than 4 months haha. Weird part is the color came off suddenly, just peeled off right in my hand , not gradually. maybe it reacted with something...oh well

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Could be your sweat. In other headphones it's something different - for example some Sennheiser headband paint "flakes" because it's paint, and the headband stretches out whenever it's used, and you can see the same paintjob not flaking on other parts of the same headphone for example. IEMs with clear shells turn yellowish. Best really if the finish is mixed into the plastic, but you should buy them for the sound anyway.

Yeah I agree. Maybe I'm just a little OCD. I wish I could hear what an HD 800 or a high end Shure sounds like, the XB90 is the best I've heard, and I'm crazy curious to see what high end audio is like...sadly there's no friend of mine who owns any such, and those aren't popular in India. 
 
Is the MDR XB90EX even a little high-fidelity? What did you think of these? They actually blew my pants off

protegemaniac said:

   
Could be your sweat. In other headphones it's something different - for example some Sennheiser headband paint "flakes" because it's paint, and the headband stretches out whenever it's used, and you can see the same paintjob not flaking on other parts of the same headphone for example. IEMs with clear shells turn yellowish. Best really if the finish is mixed into the plastic, but you should buy them for the sound anyway.

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Yeah I agree. Maybe I'm just a little OCD. I wish I could hear what an HD 800 or a high end Shure sounds like, the XB90 is the best I've heard, and I'm crazy curious to see what high end audio is like...sadly there's no friend of mine who owns any such, and those aren't popular in India. 
 
Is the MDR XB90EX even a little high-fidelity? What did you think of these? They actually blew my pants off

tousledhead said:

  Yeah I agree. Maybe I'm just a little OCD. I wish I could hear what an HD 800 or a high end Shure sounds like, the XB90 is the best I've heard, and I'm crazy curious to see what high end audio is like...sadly there's no friend of mine who owns any such, and those aren't popular in India. 
 
Is the MDR XB90EX even a little high-fidelity? What did you think of these? They actually blew my pants off

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protegemaniac said:

   

The flaking headbands are actually more of of a problem on the HD580(J)/6x0 headphones; AFAIK the HD800 finish is mixed into the plastic, so no flaking when stressed.

 

I wouldn't know about those Sonys' sound though, haven't heard them yet, nor read any detailed reviews.

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Aye. Thanks for your input man.

From my brief experience with them, those Sony's are quite good for the price, and you got them for a good price. But trust me, audio gets a lot better.
 
I recommend going to the "Meets, Get-togethers" section of this forum and see if there is one in India, or if you could organize one. I've heard most of the high end gear there is at meets like these, but near Chicago, IL, USA. It was an amazing experience to be able to chat with fellow audiophiles and try out so many different amazing headphones.

pwn3r4life said:

  From my brief experience with them, those Sony's are quite good for the price, and you got them for a good price. But trust me, audio gets a lot better.
 
I recommend going to the "Meets, Get-togethers" section of this forum and see if there is one in India, or if you could organize one. I've heard most of the high end gear there is at meets like these, but near Chicago, IL, USA. It was an amazing experience to be able to chat with fellow audiophiles and try out so many different amazing headphones.

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Good to hear that...they are selling for INR 3500 in India currently officially which I think is like, 60 USD, how is there such a huge difference between pricing here and in the States? Also I picked up a pair of XB30s for 18 dollars and I saw they're selling on amazon.com for 60 :O
 
I did try what you suggested but I can't seem to find any in India...I'll keep trying then. Maybe some big Sennheiser showroom somewhere might keep demos. 
 
I know man, I hope I can try some soon. Maybe I'll pick up some ATH-M50s as the reviews are reasonably good, and they are rated to be somewhat High-Fi(I think)..
 
 
Thanks for your time!

Are you sure you aren't purchasing knock offs? I don't mean to be rude, but that is the only thing I can think of.
In my opinion, the ATH-50s didn't live up to the hype. They are good. They are among the best headphones in their price range. Their soundstage, isolation, and everything else is pretty good, but their detail is not at all where I expected it to be. They just sounded so muddy to me.

pwn3r4life said:

Are you sure you aren't purchasing knock offs? I don't mean to be rude, but that is the only thing I can think of.
In my opinion, the ATH-50s didn't live up to the hype. They are good. They are among the best headphones in their price range. Their soundstage, isolation, and everything else is pretty good, but their detail is not at all where I expected it to be. They just sounded so muddy to me.

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I think I'm not...cause even the Sony store prices them lower than the US.
Do these seem like knock offs to you? This is the link for the 30's I bought. They're slightly more expensive now. I got em for 1000 INR.
 
http://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B00B3R299Y?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
 
I'm reasonably sure they're the real deal because the bass in insanepants.

bass is* insanepants

pwn3r4life said:

Are you sure you aren't purchasing knock offs? I don't mean to be rude, but that is the only thing I can think of.
In my opinion, the ATH-50s didn't live up to the hype. They are good. They are among the best headphones in their price range. Their soundstage, isolation, and everything else is pretty good, but their detail is not at all where I expected it to be. They just sounded so muddy to me.

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hehe....could that be because you're used to the better, more awesome stuff?

If they are priced much lower in  Sony stores, it is almost impossible for them to be knock-offs. The only thing I can think of, for pricing, is that Sony has wide margins and prices them lower in India, where the GDP per capita is less, in order to make more sales. In America, they can charge higher amounts and people will be more ready and willing to pay for it.

In regards to the ATH-M50s, maybe. I do most of my listening on V-MODA M-80's. They are in the same price bracket as the ATH-M50x. Also, I tend to care more about the detail, clarity, transparency, quickness, and extension of the bass more than anything in a headphone. The M-80's do a phenomenal job in this department, outperforming headphones, in this specific category, that are 3-4 times more expensive. The ATH-M50 does not shine here, their bass is rather boomy and muddy to my ears. But I'm a bass snob. I don't like boom, but I love a good slam.