[Sp12er3]

Nobody's really looking for an out and out performance here, the MA900 is basically Sony's (admiteddly mostly unknown) latest attempt at an Open back fullsize, Sony fans just gonna be curious no matter what you say to them
I do have tried many open backs from the same range ie R70, hd600, 702.etc i just feel the MA900 Fill my niche the best still. Only clear upgrade from it is only HD800S for me.

 

[Tony51]

Nobody's really looking for an out and out performance here, the MA900 is basically Sony's (admiteddly mostly unknown) latest attempt at an Open back fullsize, Sony fans just gonna be curious no matter what you say to them
I do have tried many open backs from the same range ie R70, hd600, 702.etc i just feel the MA900 Fill my niche the best still. Only clear upgrade from it is only HD800S for me.

And that is what counts. You're own personal taste.

 

[Sp12er3]

Aye, it was, and so does yours.

 

[chrismercurio]

Hi,

I had MDR-F1s for a very long time (over a decade) and am looking for a replacement. What are the options? This is for general use including music, movies, and maybe gaming. Comfort is the most important thing and the MDR-F1 did that better than anything else I've encountered. Soundstage was/is sort of otherworldly too. The only time I heard better staging was through K1000s but those aren't very comfy.

I'm looking at either

- MDR-F1 used
- MDR-MA900 used or NOS
- or ...

any recommendations are appreciated.

Kindest regards,

Chris

 

[racebit]

Hi,

I had MDR-F1s for a very long time (over a decade) and am looking for a replacement. What are the options? This is for general use including music, movies, and maybe gaming. Comfort is the most important thing and the MDR-F1 did that better than anything else I've encountered. Soundstage was/is sort of otherworldly too. The only time I heard better staging was through K1000s but those aren't very comfy.

I'm looking at either

- MDR-F1 used
- MDR-MA900 used or NOS
- or ...

any recommendations are appreciated.

Kindest regards,

Chris

I have 9 headphones, of which one is F1 and five are MA900 (two are factory sealed as backups). I think that tells how much important this headphone is to me. I could not live without it now.

Because the MA900 has a significant opening on the side (although much smaller than F1), it allows me to use it the whole day without heating my ears. The F1 is even better in that respect, but the MA900 sound is much better than the F1, so I use the F1 only on extremely hot summer days/nights.
Unlike the F1 which has very weak bass (level wise), the MA900 has a very good bass, although much lower in level than the Philips X2 or Meze Empyrean.
Independently of that, I love the overall MA900 sound. It may not be technically perfect, but it is so enjoyable to listen. Airy and engaging. I just love it. BTW I use it always with Mojo.

The MA900 weights only 192 gr, so it is a feather.
However I usually mod it slightly, I insert some padding below the earpads, to make the original pads higher, so that my ears do not touch the drivers. Several materials can be used, but lately I have been using windows isolation tapes (foam or rubber). I use the same on the F1, same earpad design.

So, the best to put it is, grab one while you can.

 

[racebit]

I can only see them at 500 and up on that link, tho the pads are there... Is that the same as the OG tho?

Right now there 4 used for sale from €265 to €277: https://buyee.jp/item/search/yahoo/shopping?query=mdr-ma900

There is also 1 used on amazon.co.jp: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B007R99S14/

 

[Sp12er3]

Yeah they're all at premium eh? Way pricier than what i paid for new 2 years ago.

 

[chrismercurio]

Thank you very much for posting the info along with the links for how to find them in Japan. I'm in the US and the pickings are pretty slim on eBay.

 

[StevenD0106]

Has anyone used Buyee to purchase their Sony MDR-MA900 Headphone? Is it a safe website to purchase headphones on? If you've used the website to purchase the headphone, how did everything go for you? Here in Canada, this headphone is EXTREMELY hard to find. I've also found listings on eBay, but they're ridiculously expensive. I'm just dreaming about being in possession of this headphone.

 

[Sp12er3]

Check on the market's return policy, take as many precaution as you can, other than that, good luck
the MA900 is unique enough that I don't plan to let go of it even now with MDR Z7 in the house, how small and light it is make the MA as the best headphone for on bed listening, so comfortable and how the headband hug close to the head make it less cumbersome when wearing it.

 

[Tony51]

Has anyone used Buyee to purchase their Sony MDR-MA900 Headphone? Is it a safe website to purchase headphones on? If you've used the website to purchase the headphone, how did everything go for you? Here in Canada, this headphone is EXTREMELY hard to find. I've also found listings on eBay, but they're ridiculously expensive. I'm just dreaming about being in possession of this headphone.

Amazon has them used between 245-375 dollars. It varies as they come in. They are used and ship directly from a seller in japan. I almost scored one at 242.00 but i asked the seller a question regarding the detail conditions and he didnt respond me. Waiting for a response that never arrived, it sold and now they were back up to 375.00. The fact the seller sells these ma900 but doesnt repond made me mad.
Tony

 

[Sp12er3]

I bought them 2 1/2 years ago, last stock saved in local sony distributor, an acquaintance that do retail store has connection to get them for me, I'm quite thankful for the guy.

 

[Maxx134]

Amazon has them used between 245-375 dollars. It varies as they come in. They are used and ship directly from a seller in japan. I almost scored one at 242.00 but i asked the seller a question regarding the detail conditions and he didnt respond me. Waiting for a response that never arrived, it sold and now they were back up to 375.00. The fact the seller sells these ma900 but doesnt repond made me mad.
Tony

Just put one up for sale here

Edit:
I just read this last page and tried them.
:0
They are shockingly good.
I bought these long ago for my mom but she never bothered so they stayed put away but the dam pads still wore and I replaced them with leather pads & put them in an actual case.
They really are impressive model Sony should have kept these in production..

 

[Sp12er3]

it wasn't exactly a good year for sony making headphones those days, they're company making iteration of a product and the MA900 seems to just happen to be an experiment of puting the 70mm driver on a fully open enclosure.
Sony doesn't seem to plan to make any new open headphone for now, but when they does its probably also gonna be a 70mm thus hopefully it's gonna be a proper MA900 successor.

 

[Maxx134]

I decided to keep these headphones as they seem like a great Headphones project.

The resistor elimination, and the rewiring to eliminate built in cross-feed, are the two obvious goals to enhance the unit's phase coherency, localization accuracy, and micro detailing.

The obvious advantage of this Headphones is it's soundstage potential.

Currently, with wide opening leather pads, it sounds better than I remember with thin stock pads.
More details and impact.
I believe I am currently using some ZMF pads, but will update soon with some pad rolling next.

I also will perfom before and after measurements once I modify the driver as well.
My driver modification process basically diverts the energy more narrowly into the voicecoil area.

Edit: these were my mom's I gave her so after so many years she not use them, so I am years late to this thread here.

I hope to add some info with pad rolling as I have many.