the different sounds of SONY MDR-EX71SL

[oluv]

i bought the sony mdr-ex71sl some time ago, because i was looking for some earphones that don't fall out of my ears, and as i am used to ear-muffs because i sometimes sleep with them when in loud enviroment, i liked the fit of the sonys quite a lot.
i had a short listen in the store where i bought it and was satisfied with the sound so i bought them.

but now after some time i realized that they sound very different depending on the source. i mean these are not only nuances, the sound changes very radically from one source to the other.

listening to them on my hifi-stereo the sound seems most neutral with nice bass and nice heights, but without mids. the volume is much softer compared to other headphones though.

if i listen to them on my laptop-output there is nearly no bass, only heights and mids, they sound very shrill, but the volume is louder compared to other headphones.

then i tried them with the headphone-output of my girl-friend's smartphone, where i put some ogg-tracks, and here the sound is again different. there is way too much bass, but no heights and the volume is again louder than other headphones,... very funny ineed!

i couldn't test it out with any portable player, as my panasonic-walkman is dead, and i will buy my HD-DAP not until christmas.

i am quite worried that the sonys will sound again different with my portable rig and it seems to me like a gamble to get the right sound from them.

instead i would be interested in buying some more "advanced" in-ear phones like shure or etymotics, but i can not have a listen to them, as they are not very popular in austria and you cannot buy them anywhere i know. and to tell the truth i won't buy anything before having had a listen, because i don't want to spend 100 bucks or more on something to be not satisfied then.

etymotics er6i come to my mind, as they seem to have an enhanced bass over the er6 and i like bass a lot, but i am a bit afraid of a "blind" or better "deaf" purchase...

 

[mariowar]

Oluv, I agree. See, it is just about finding sinergy between amps, headpones and source. I recall that the Sonys out of my ipod sounded a little flat, no bass and no highs, so I always had to turn the loudness on. The problem doing this was that with some recordings the bass was distorting.
With the Iriver, the Sonys sound wonderful. It is no audiophile because the highs are not as airy as with my Sennheiser HD590 and my Emmeline Xp7 , however is pretty good.

 

[einolu]

for me, the ex71 with the ipod works ok for portable use, the sound is very gentle and nice. nothing amazing, but they fit in my pocket.

 

[Gundam]

The EX71's do a good job of boosting the bass from the iPod. Sometimes the highs can get a bit spitty/spalshy though, even with high quality, 256kbps, recordings.

... and they're both (the iPod and the EX71's) are compact enough to fit into any pocket...