[ch28kid]

I got my EX90 at Sony Store outlet. I knew it wasn't fake!

Anyways the JP EX90 look so much nicer than the US box. The box said my specific mode was made in 2006. I guess in 2007 they change the letter back to gray.

 

[wolfgang_fener]

Sent yesterday to Han yu electronic contact through DIYTrade - Trading Platform with China Suppliers.

I would be interested to know how your copy of the Sony MDR-ex90LP compare to the original sold directly by Sony.

What are the differences ? Is this something easy to identify ?

Could you send me actual close up pictures of the product ?


Mr Chen's answer was simply : "The quality is very good,inclosed please find the photos,thanks "

The close up pictures are of course exactly what I got from the ebay seller and to my knowledge, it is the only availlable model on ebay. Another ebay seller who confirmed the autenticity of his audio-technica earphones also told me it is impossible to sell brand new and real Sony earphones on ebay because sony keep a monopoly of the sales through its own website. I'm still waiting for an answer from Sony about this.

Here's two exemples of Mr Chen's pictures. Note the strange french translation (which is also weird for something you buy in the US).

Here's the copy :

And the original from Sony website :

I'm getting my pair from Sony this afternoon. I'm very curious to see what it will look like.

 

[wolfgang_fener]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euphoric /img/forum/go_quote.gif Mine looks different from the ones on the Sony site as well..

Your's are EX90SL, On sony website they sell the EX90LP. Maybe LP is the new version they made to differenciate from the fakes. If you got your pair directly from sony or one of their "sony style" stores (and not just a small outlet selling sony stuff), it should be a real one, maybe just from an older generation.

ps.: According to someone on Ilonge forum, SL and LP only refer to different lenght of wire. SL being shorter.

 

[wolfgang_fener]

Ok guys, this is confirmed, the MDR-EX90LP sold on ebay by good_shepherd_closeouts is a fake (probably coming from Han yu electronic. Chances are ALL EX90 sold on ebay are fake.

Difference number 1 : Impedance is not the same. Measured using a Fluke 73 multimeter (I'm an electronic engineering technician), The Fake measure about 33 Ohm and the original measure 17 Ohm (this is a DC measurement, hence the small difference with Sony's spec of 16 Ohm at 1KHz). Any cheap multimeter will allow you to do this test, just measure on the connector between the metalic part close to the wire and the tip. If you read above 20 Ohm, for sure you got a fake.

Sound:
The fake plays louder but of course the sound is very cheap. The real sony is not full of thumpy bass and the highs are clear. I'll wait at least 24 hours before writing a full review of the real MDR-EX90LP, allowing some burn-in time but right out of the box, it already sound way better than the fake. I paid 150 can$ + taxes for this, a bit too expensive compared to other availlable offerings in this price range but I'll gladly keep this EX90 in my collection. It is a good pair of earphone.

Smell:
Open the original box and you can smell the leather. The fake uses a good faux leather which doesn't smell liek the real thing. The fake pouch is also softer and doesn't feal the same.

Touch:
The wires are rubberish on the fake, almost elastic. The original use quality, supple and non tangly wires. The ear tips are also thiner on the original and a little bit harder to put on the earphone.

Look:
The aluminum is machined on the original. The fake is probably casted into a mould. On the fake, there's tiny lines in the metal only on the side of the cylinder. On the real one, there's tiny lines everywhere. On the real original plastic case there's a mould marking and a "2". Not on the fake.

On my original, the Sony trademark is black but the print quality is better. I'll try to capture this detail on my macro photos later. There's also a few other visual details I'll show side by side on the pictures like the marking on the connector and the small gray band of plastic from which protrudes the golden metalic part of the connector (thicker on the fake) but for now, I said enough so you will be able to authenticate your pair. The original earphones I got directly from Sony doesn't exactly look like the Sony website picture but it is the real deal for sure.

Now who got a fake ?

 

[Cool_Torpedo]

Great heads up mate, I hope this is helpful to people considering buying those phones on Ebay. By all means post the pics, they will be very helpful too.

I wish you enjoy the originals way more than the fakes hehehehe. Hopefully you won't feel the need to tweak them

Regards

 

[wolfgang_fener]

No I won't modify such an expensive pair of earphone. These are millions of years ahead of the fakes.

The isolation is also better (but of course it doesn't compare with a true in ear earphone like the etymotic ER6).

Bass are not exagerated, just all right. Actually with those earphone I can just turn off the equaliser on my Iaudio7 player. If I need an extra push of bass and add some crispness to the highs I just need to turn on the BBE option and Mach3bass effect. Actually The true EX90 is already pretty good and doesn't need much digital gimmic to reach its peak performance. It is sometimes better to just turn every sound options off.

 

[ch28kid]

Just do the wax mod. I think that made a huge difference. The wax mod doesn't really void the warranty. Taking the wax is takes 2 second.

I think now my EX90 with Shure olives made a HUGE difference in terms of seal and comfort!

 

[Navyblue]

I have the EX70, and found it too muddy and really bassy. I am looking for a better IEM.

I recently acquired a new Sony DAP and it comes with the EX82. So far it is still in it's original wire tire and I was initially thinking of selling it off as new and go straight to a higher end IEM. After reading this thread I started to wonder if I should give the EX82 a try.

Google tells me that the EX85 (presumably identical to EX82) has identical specification with the EX90 except power handling which is 0.2W vs 0.1W.

I am looking for a natural and realistic sound, the kind of sound which is like the singer is singing in front of you, and not the super bright and cold or muddy and bassy found in some phones. Does EX82 stand a chance instead of selling it? I know it seems weird to ask how does a phone I own sounds like?

Also should I also plug out the foam in the EX70?

 

[BIGHMW]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euphoric /img/forum/go_quote.gif Mine looks different from the ones on the Sony site as well.. I bought mine in Japan (Akihabara) at Yodobashi.. price was 9980 Yen and they came in a retail black box.. i had to throw the box away for transporting, but it said "Made in Thailand". Mine looks like this: The writing on the metal is grey. The fake ones look pretty real to me.. the chinese are good at copying...

Those are actually genuine Sony Japan product, they are the Japan-only (and remote friendly at that fellow MiniDisc heads!) EX90SL IEM's. The Fontopia EX series is known in Japan (and most parts of Asia) as the N.U.D.E EX Series, and they are available from both Audio Cubes and from "buyfromjapan" on eBay (see Sony MDR-EX90SL Headphones / Ships from Japan - eBay (item 360045002990 end time Apr-30-08 19:23:46 PDT) for details). Both of my EX90's are SL series to go with my RM-MC40ELK remotes (also genuine and in retail box) and MZ-NH700 Hi-MD Walkman (I am currently listening to Triumph's "Ordinary Man" off of Allied Forces on MD as I am writing this). and yes, I agree, if you paid less than $50.00 USD for a pair of EX90s, then you probably got some fakes, and I don't buy fakes, as I am aware of what is out there, but not everything on eBay is fake, you just have to do your research.

As for the EX90 mod, I did half of it by removing the foam from the inside of it, as well as the screen, and it really brought out the presence that was missinf with the foam in place, then proceded to doing the same mod to my (more-sealed) NC22 IEM's and also removing the filters from the EX71SL's and genuine EX85SL's as well (there was no foam in either of them), and it made a huge difference, the mids and lower highs seemed to jump out at me as I put them in.

I also bought several pairs of double flange eabuds for my lineup of IEM's (see Double Flange Earbuds for Sony NC11 NC22 EX90 Headphone - eBay (item 380015549629 end time Apr-14-08 20:06:12 PDT) for details).

EDIT/UPDATE:

I put the foam back in my EX90's after noticing a lack of bass after the mod, and the bass is back, but the mod did bring out the mids but somewhat killed the bass to the point of me going back and finding the foam in order to put it back.

EDIT/UPDATE II:

I did BOTH mods so far, I just did both the cling wrap mod as well as the filter mod, and I noticed a huge difference not only in bass (cling wrap mod), but also in presence (the filter mod), so you may want to try any or both of these mods and you will notice a huge difference in SQ compared to stock EX90's.

BTW, I do own two pairs of EX90SL's so I was able to compare them back to back, first the modded ones and then the stock ones and back and forth between the two, indeed a huge difference, and WOW, the isolation with the clingwap mod makes these even better then my NC22 IEMs let alone the stock EX90s. (photo soon)

 

[Veggie_Musician]

Sad news - My EX90's have been stollen! Im gutted as I was using them more than my UM2's ... think many hours of burn-in and tweeking here and there have made them sound better than the westone...

 

[padam]

What do you think, which is more value for money: an MDR-EX75 or and MDR-EX85? How big is the difference between these two?

 

[DJ Fusion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfgang_fener /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi, I recently got a pair of EX90 out of curiosity. I found a good deal on ebay )about 50$ delivered) and I'm now testing it for the third day. On the first day, I did a little 8 hours (out of ear) burn-in at normal volume with various kind of music in the playlist. My quick review is these are just a tiny bit above "piece of crap" status. The sound is muffled, it is extremely colored in the muddy/thumpy bass heavy department and there's absolutely no precision above 5kHz. Cymbals are boring, all harmonics gets cutoff. I

I bought some full-price EX90s from David Jones today and their sound characteristics are pretty much the exact opposite of what you just described.

My box looks like this:

But without the N.U.D.E branding. It just says EX Monitor in that spot instead.

edit -it also says Stereo Headphones on mine, not Stereo Ear Receivers.

edit - Ooh! Surprisingly these really come to life with my Meta 42 headphone amp, I didn't notice hardly any difference between amped and unamped with my Vibes but these really tighten up nicely when amped.

edit - okay, both mods done now, candle-wax to block the 2 kidney shaped vents and removed the port stuffing and about 15 hours of burn-in and these are beautiful headphones.. for a quiet environment. Awesome top-end detail and rich bass, but on the train the bass just bleeds out and loses impact, I was kind of hoping they'd isolate just a tiny bit more. I'll be keeping these for home at any rate.

 

[Pikachoa]

I just modded my EX082 that came with my A728. I did it a little differently, but it still made a huge difference. Btw, regarding the popping sound, I never got any. On the back side under the cable area, there's a hole. Is this for relieving stress on the drivers?

 

[Moontan13]

I got my $32 Ebay EX90LP fakes today.
The first clue was the sound. Notice I didn't say SQ? Thats cuz the Q was absent. It reminded me of my juvenile obession of turning the mids and trebs all the way down, and turning the bass all the way up.

There was no mids or highs at all. I have several lowbie <$15 earbuds, and all of them sound superior to these. Dollar store Maxells are better. Compared to these, my JVC FX33 Marshmallows are a slice 'o heaven.

FWIW, they came with the case. I can't say if it's leather or not. It smells like it could be leather. The small metal part looks turned, but the wider part doesn't. There are no seams in the metallic parts. The cord was flimsier than I thought it should be. The end of the small metal part is turned flat, while the pic of the genuine item appears to have a raised ring of sorts.

Sony is printed in black. It came in a sealed blister pack similar to the one already shown. The difference is that mine has an additional white box at the bottom, captioned: "Leather Carrying Case- Etui en cuir". Both the large sheet multilanguage instructions and outer packaging have 2006 on them.

I will proceed with reporting this seller to ebay and filing the appropriate complaints. I checked my sellers feedback, and there weren't any complaints about counterfeit items. I guess I'll stick my neck out there.

 

[Moontan13]

I decided to contact my seller first and give him a chance to make it right. I sent him this message via Ebay messaging:


I recieved my Sony MDR EX90LP earphones today and am very disappointed. They look to be genuine, but the very bad sound tells me these are fakes. I see that your feedback is very good. I would not have bought from you if it hadn't been so good. I trust you know how to make this situation right without involving Ebay or PayPal.
Regards,