SONY MDRZX330BT/B Sony MDR ZX330BT - Headset - on-ear - wireless - Bluetooth - NFC

      
 
 
 I must first and foremost give a large and heartfelt thank you to secondipity for reaching out to me and asking if I would be interested in reviewing some products offered by them. This is both a great honor me and a great opportunity to provide an insight into a company that budget minded audio enthusiasts who don’t mind purchasing refurbished products may find interesting. On a short side note before the review they’re having a special website relaunch event from 01-15MAY2016 that will be further explained in the “Disclaimer & Coupon Code” section.
    Alright, now that all of the pleasantries are aside how about we jump into the meat and potatoes of this review shall we? Actually on another side note. Never jump into a tub of meat and potatoes; something tells me it wouldn’t be an enjoyable experience.
 
  
 
    
The Opening Experience
 
    *Disclaimer: These were shipped to me outside of the original packaging & instead in a normal shipping box. For this reason I can’t give an accurate unboxing experience.
    Now, I will say that this were shipped to me with great care and protection of the product. They look as good as if they were brand new from Sony themselves. They had protective paper stuck to the outside earcups and headband and everything was and still is completely operational.
    So, my impression of a product from a company that only deals with refurbished products is quite good.
 
Construction
 
                                                                                         
 
 
    The build quality of the Sony MDR-ZX330BT is about what you’d expect from a headphone of this price. It’s built almost solely of plastic that does feel on the cheaper side. With that, one does have to be conscious minded about how they handle these for there isn’t much give to them.
    The only padding this is present in the MDR-ZX330BT is on the supra aural ear cups, which is made of the standard ear padding material that I just can’t think of the name of. But I’ll touch more on this in the comfort section.
    The 300BT doesn’t have any foldability whereas instead the ear cups rotate on a 90 degree axis. This may potentially cause issues for people in who want to travel with these but with them being so flat I personally don’t think too many problems would arise.
    All the operational buttons are located on the right side ear cup. Their responsiveness is adequate once you get used to the positioning. A major downside to these however and also a rather annoying one is that the 330BT’s are bluetooth only! NO option for equipping an aux cable, so when your battery dies (which granted is decent at around 8 hours) you’re S.O.L.
 
Comfort
 
                                                                                       
 
    One of the most overlooked aspect of an audio product that I’ve began to realize after the last few years is how comfortable a pair of headphones are to wear. It seems that headphones that lay within the mainstream consumer market are putting a lot of the focus on the physical appearance of the product, often even over sound quality.
    So how does the MDR-ZX330BT hold up? It should go without saying that this section is very subjective and that your experience may vary, but for me personally I found these a little below average. Nothing completely unacceptable but my time is shortened with these, the main issue lies in it being supra aural (on ear). While instead of using your actual head as a caveat for the clamping force, it is all placed on one's ears which, at least for me, grows tiring (and often painful) pretty quickly.
    The padding has a good amount of firmness in them which is great because as mentioned above is ONLY on the ear cups. The headband has nothing but the plastic which isn’t, the best in terms of comfort. The clamping force at first feels a bit much but then I began to ease into them and found it to be just fine. Overall the comfort was meh, but it did stay on the head pretty well. Believe it or not, I actually found these one of the most comfortable on ear headphones I’ve ever listened to.
 
Sound
 
                                                                                             
 
    Alright so here we is, the important part of an audio piece. How well does it portray the sound to the listener? In relation to the Sony MDR-ZX330BT, it’s good for working out. What I mean by this is it has a very small soundstage with very little space and depth. In fact the best way I can explain the depth is it’s very wall like, as in everything sounds like it’s directly next to each other, no separation at all. Even at this pricepoint (rather 99.99 new or 39.99 refurb’d) I have heard better in both regards. But all's not lost in the sound just yet. Let’s dive into the individual aspects to hopefully revive this some.
 
Treble
 
    I was very impressed by the highs on the ZX330BT. Not just for the price point they’re located at but in general they had great extension and a really nice sparkle. I feel great energy when the violin peaks at its highest notes and even during my workout I could get the adrenaline from the music from the higher notes I would be listening to, so at least in the treble I was quite impressed.
 
Mids
 
    My personal favorite aspect of music. For to me the mids portray the artist's feelings and emotions to me. So I’m particularly finicky about this section and right off my impressions with the MDR-ZX330BT is a bit of disappointment. I was expecting this to have a very sharp V-shape sound curve for it appeals to the broadest of audience, which is what most headphones in this price point do. But these are super recessed to the point of sounding hollow. Though I could still enjoy the vocals of what I was listening to I never got the fulfilling sound or feeling that I so search for.
 
Bass
 
    Alright now to what the fan favorite aspect of sound seems to be, the punch. And when it comes to the 330BT these have the punch. One of my favorite songs to listen to to test bass is “When the Beat Drops” Naruto amv on youtube. I’m unsure if it’s a remix of the original but there’s so many of them that I honestly don’t know what the original sounds like but whatever that one is I like it. But when listening to this song I most certainly get to pop my head when I feel beat drop (hehe see what I did there) and though it hits hard and is very fun, it’s decay is horrible. It feels like it just wobbles on way past the next note which makes it very hard (at times) to discern one note or instrument from the next.
 
Conclucion
 
    So to sum up my thoughts on the Sony MDR-ZX330BT (and btw typing that out each time was as annoying as you’d think) is that of it’s certainly not a headphone I’d use as my daily listener because for what I enjoy in audio, these just fall way way short. But when I go from my run these actually do a really good job and hold their own. For when I’m in the midst of my workout (especially on my run [I really dislike running]) I honestly don’t pay too much attention to the fine details of the audio whereas the beat is my main focus and that’s precisely what these highlight on. The do a great job of staying on my head even after I begin pouring the sweat (which on a side note these ARE NOT sweat resistant to working out in these is not recommended) these stay on nicely. I do feel the need to be delicate with them because of their lesser quality construction but not to the degree that I’m afraid of a drop or two.
    Also I will say that despite these being a refurbished product I couldn’t even tell. They performed just as if I got them brand new from Sony so Secondipity did a fine job and has delivered a great product at an in all honesty great price.
 
 
                                                                                                                            
 
Also make sure to check out my unboxing and review videos. They’re pretty awesome AND you getta put a face to the Army-Firedawg name. If this review helped you out at all please hit that thumbs up button for it really helps me out as well. Till next time my friends, stay safe.