[turbobb]

Starting a dedicated impressions thread. Literally just got my yellow ones in, immediately noticed box was a little chunkier & heavier than the AAP's and upon opening it, found out the reason. Sony included a nice semi-hard-shell case:

I had purchased a black Sentey one in anticipation of these but looks like I won't be needing them now.
 
Some very initial impressions vs. the AAP (no burn-in yet):

1. a bit heavier with a firmer clamp & stiffer pads
2. sliding mechanism a little smoother but looser
3. both the bass port/vents at the top are slightly larger
4. pads seal better against the cups creating better isolation but also a bit more enclosed sounding feel
5. had a brief listen wired (again w/caveat no burn-in conducted) bass is a little stronger and sounds slightly veiled with a loss of spaciousness but overall SQ is similar
6. cable is round and straight through with no mic/remote
7. can listen wired while charging

 
Charging and burning these in (though again, I'm not a huge believer of significant differences) and will report back later on for wireless & other impressions.
 
Some pics (a bit hard to capture the correct color of this one with my CFL's will try to get better pics later):
 

(note the two-tone color of pads - inner rim is yellow)
 
Other owners, please fee free to chime in w/your impressions!
 
Tim

 

[TonySunshine]

mine are still on their way over from japan, but once they come in I will be sure to post some comparisons to the MDR-1ABT which I have been using for the past year

 

[waynes world]

Very much looking forward to impressions!

 

[waynes world]

P.s. nice pics turbobb! The yellow actually looks pretry cool.

 

[PurplePoop]

I just received mine from Amazon after finally seeing these go on Prime 2 days ago. I ordered the teal ones, and am even more satisfied with the color in person than seeing them online. The 100abn are my first expensive headphones. Before these, I had the wired mdr 950.
 
The square box opens from the bottom as the top flaps are glued, oops I ripped mine. You pull out another box that comes in the color you chose. This colored box opens like a book, revealing the matching, circular, hard case, and a plastic bag containing a matching aux cord, a black usb charging cord, manuals, and warranty for 1 year. After unzipping the hard case, the real pulp of the fruit is exposed; a white cloth bag that you can barely see through, it teases you before you pull out the actual headphones.
 
Once I had mine finally in my hands, I was even happier than when I received the package. These are a hard plastic, but feel heavy duty, heavier than all my other headphones. The teal is darker than all the pictures I have seen online, they are sexy. The padding on the headband and earpads are soft, and give off a very distinct new shoe smell. At first glance, the ear pad's depth had my concerned that they would slightly press against my ears since the padding doesn't look too thick. But the drivers are deeper in and when putting on these headphones, I was very happy that it was very spacious. If anyone has used the mdr 950's, these are just as comfortable.
 
These come charged so I turned them on. A ladies voice announces when these get turned on and off, its not aggressive, its not too loud, its just right. The noise cancelling was already on as well, these made my head feel weird, like it usual does when no music is being played, but the noise cancelling is very good. I used the NFC feature to pair with my Note 1. The volume will probably have to be on max because these start at a very low volume. After picking a song, I was very satisfied with the sound quality. The bass is there, its the right amount for me. For bassheads, these handle a ramp up in bass from an equalizer very well. I could feel the boom shaking the headphones. The noise cancelling can be turned off with a button on the left side, next to the power button. The song can be skipped or rewinded with the sliding switch on the right side, and can be paused by pressing that same switch. The volume button is next to that switch. These headphones can also use noise cancelling while wired. So far, Ive had been listening to spotify for the last hour while wearing glasses, feeling no pain as of yet. Playlists such as drum and breaks, and soultronic sound amazing with these.
 
Im sure the mdr-100abn's will sound even better after some break in, and I am extremely happy that I bit the bullet and chose to go with these after looking at the msr7 and sennheiser momentum 2.0s. The look, functionality, and sound quality have exceeded my expectations so far.

 

[Bern2]

" The padding on the headband and earpads are soft, and give off a very distinct new shoe smell. "
 
If it had been a used shoe...I would have been worried...

 

[sveltegenius]

I know these headphones utilize Sony's LDAC technology, but does anyone know if these are APTX enabled as well? I really want to get a pair....that Teal blue is calling me....

 

[Bern2]

  I know these headphones utilize Sony's LDAC technology, but does anyone know if these are APTX enabled as well? I really want to get a pair....that Teal blue is calling me....

 
Yes.....https://www.sony-asia.com/corporate/resources/en_AP/pdf/AP(06January16)-GOONINExploretheVibrantWorldofHigh-ResolutionAudio.pdf
 
Bern

 

[sveltegenius]

Excellent!!...Thank you for that!!!

 

[andrenb]

I just ordered these and I'm really looking forward to trying them. I'm using the Denon AH-GC20 as my daily driver and the two things I hope this headset improves over them are:
 
- A little bit better ANC, the Denon works okay for the lower rumbling sounds but I don't find the passive isolation that great and my Parrot Zik 2.0's are way better when it comes to ANC. So hoping these are closer to the Zik 2.0's ANC and also deliver better passive isolation.
- Quality when used for bluetooth handsfree calling. The Denon's microphones are rubbish if there's any kind of noise around me and everyone complains that I'm so far away and hard to hear when taking phone calls. 
 
So if the Sony has comparable sound quality to the Denon's combined with a good ANC and a bluetooth handsfree function that I'm actually able to use, then I'll be a happy camper.
 
To those who already own this headset; Does the headset make a lot of noise when you enable ANC and don't play any music? The Denon's are really quiet even with ANC on while the Parrot Zik's sounds like my head is in a small waterfall with the ANC active and no music playing.

 

[turbobb]

@andrenb - they're not completely silent like with ZX770BN, there is some white noise akin to distant falling rain which is much better than say the hissing noise with some BT IEM's/cans.

 

[andrenb]

@turbobb Thank you for the quick reply, I´m looking forward to receiving them and see how they compare to my other headphones. I can live with som noise from the ANC, I listen to a lot of audio books which means I´ll be hearing hiss 90% of the time if the ANC is noisy. So this sounds promising!

 

[sveltegenius]

I ordered a a pair via Amazon...but the estimated shipping isn't until early May, which sucks. Hopefully that will change to an earlier date, it usually does......

 

[TonySunshine]

my MDR-100ABNs came in today. Here are some initial impressions. The other bluetooth over ears I own are the MDR-1ABT and the Definitive Technology Symphony 1
 
sound - the 100s are definitely thinner sounding than the 1A's, though by no means shrill or even neutral. The treble sounds a lot better than the MDR-1ABTs, and I think its because there isn't any DSEE. The thing I hated about the 1abt is that DSEE was on all the time and you couldn't turn it off. DSEE seemed to make the treble metallic and synthetic sounding. the Treble on the 100ABN is much more natural, though imho a bit on the bright side still. But overall very clear sounding. Mids are similar to the 1A, though may appear to be more recessed due to the lack of bass bleed from the 200hz boom. Lows are clean, though lack a bit of impact/life. I EQed up the 20-60hz region by 3dB and the 100's sounded a lot more lively. The 100s do have a tendency to sound more congested compared to the 1A. instrument separation isn't quite as good. But overall the sound is enjoyable and good enough. They have a similar sound to the Def Tech, just not as spacious sounding. But I would say the overall characteristic is clear with a bit of low bass boost.
 
controls - the buttons are meh. functional enough but nothing to call home about. The slider for play/pause/fwd/rew is okay, I thought I would hate it but it works just fine. buttons are clicky enough and laid out logically enough that I it didn't take me very long to start using them while the headphones were on my head. Thank you Sony for bringing back the tactile buttons instead of the terrible touch controls on the MDR-1ABT. Also much better than the buttons on the Def Tech, which I have tons of problems with(accidentally turning it off, buttons getting stuck, one press registering as 2). Media controls worked with my Xperia Z3 phone and Surface Pro tablet without any trouble. Oh and I really like how Sony added voice prompts when you press the controls now instead of the random R2D2 beeps from the MDR-1A. 
 
comfort - these are indeed very comfortable. I've been wearing them in 4 hour stints today and have had no problems. The pads are a similar diameter to the MDR-1ABT, but I think they are slightly deeper. On the 1A I had problems wearing them for more than an hour as the tips of my ears would get sore(indicating the pads were too shallow I think), so I ended up having to swap on a set of pads from the Senn HD280 which were slightly thicker. No such problem on the MDR-100ABN. Headband is very comfortable, no hotspots to speak of. The headphones are fairly light so no fatigue in that sense either. I find them more comfortable than the Symphony 1s, largely because they are lighter and the headband is wider. The Def Tech have significantly larger pads so in that sense the area round my ears feel better, but because they are heavy and the headband is thin I can't wear them for more than an hour at a time. 
 
ANC - never owned any bose so can't compare, but the ANC works just as well as the Def Tech Symph 1. Cuts out the low frequencies below 200hz very very well, but the higher frequencies like female voices not so much. The passive noise isolation on the MDR-100ABN are similar to the MDR-1A, and thats to say about average. The pads on the 100 are slightly squishier and also because they are thicker do isolate a slightly better than the 1ABT.  Overall very happy with the noise cancellation and isolation on the MDR-100ABN. 
 
Worth it? I would say that it was money well spent. Not the most wow sounding, but the ANC, portability, comfort, and battery life make it worth it.
I guess a proper comparison of the MDR-100ABN's would be to the Sennheiser Momentum 2's, as these two are the only premium portable bluetooth+ANC over ears I know of, but the Momentums have always been a bit too expensive for me to seriously consider purchasing.

 

[turbobb]

@TonySunshine - thanks for the impressions! I borrowed my friend's M2 AEBT's for about two weeks and I honestly don't care for the sound. If you're old enough to recall cassettes you'll likely remember Dolby B or C and the sound from the M2's felt like that was applied and a little unnatural. I personally like the 100ABN's much better. In terms of ANC though, the M2's are definitely better (better passive noise isolation as well).