Sony MDR-V600

The Sony MDR-V600 has a very good sound quality and comfort, but terrible quality of vinyl covering head strap. It has completely disintegrated. I have used them only about once a week in the past three years, do not use any kind of hair gel. I've never seen this happen before on any headphones.

The poorly designed ear pads are a real annoyance for a headphone of this quality and price.

I've had my MDR-V600's since at least 1994. That makes them over 10 years old. So right off the bat, I can't complain much. The sound quality is excellent from bass to high treble, and they muffle out sound around you like no other headphones I've tried, though after buying these, I haven't tried many others... :)

One complaint. The "ear-muff" part is a fairly large foam material covered in some non-descript thin rubber-like film. That thin rubber film can tear somewhat easily if you're not careful, and now that mine are 10 years old, that film from one ear has become stuck to the other, and even by carefully pulling them apart, the film is destroyed. Now I've got a set of headphones that sound great but I'm afraid to use due to the ear pieces being this sort of sticky foam mess. The repair cost for any repair to these as reported by Sony's website is $139. This is 40% higher than MSRP on a new pair, and nearly 3 times higher than the lowest price you can find them for these days. What is up with that?

Great sound, never fatiguing to listen to. You will be happy.

I live in a crowded apartment, and intended on using these Sony MDR-V600 instead of my expensive speaker setup so that I would not disturb my neighbors. I am very impressed with the sound quality. Generally I am far more disappointed by the source audio quality rather than of what my earphones are capable. These earphones were damned expensive ($200 US) at the time, but they are worth it. Even 2 years later, the quality amazes me. My old earphones sounded well enough, but when wearing them for over an hour, my ears hurt... Not due to sound, but rather to do with the poor physical design that pressed on my head in an undesirable fashion.

The Sony MDR-V600 headphones are too damn cool. Good bass, clear sound and they come with a leather carry case.