Sony’s unique MDR-7506 mannequin might as properly be etched onto the Mount Rushmore of wired studio headphones. The straightforward black cans with the blue sticker are comparatively impartial sounding, constructed to take a beating, they usually’re shockingly reasonably priced at solely $100 retail. This stuff have mixed to make them a staple of studios around the globe for many years. I’ve been rocking the identical pair for about eight years and, aside from having to exchange the earpads a few years again, they’re nonetheless going robust.
What the 7506s will not be, nevertheless, are premium studio screens. They’re a bang-for-your-buck proposition. Adequate for many conditions however usually outclassed by costlier {hardware}. With the brand new, $250 MDR-M1, Sony is trying to play on the larger finish of the market.
These are pro-grade studio headphones by means of and thru, however they borrow closely from what has made the 7506s so enduring. In the event you’re a musician, audio skilled, or simply somebody trying to get extra out of your music, the brand new mannequin take every part we love in regards to the cheaper mannequin up a notch.
Correct Studio Headphones
a frequency response chart of the MDR-M1s subsequent to the MDR-7506s doesn’t instantly reveal a lot; they each have barely boosted low finish with a dip round 4K within the midrange. In the event you’re conversant in the nice and cozy however nonetheless shiny sound signature of the unique mannequin, these try this factor however with much more readability.
{Photograph}: Terrence O’Brien
The most important distinction is that the M1s have a a lot larger general vary than the 7506s. The M1s will share much more audio at each the excessive and low ends; The place the 7506s have a frequency response of 10 Hz to twenty kHz, the M1s declare a spread of 5 Hz to 80 kHz, which is properly past the vary of human listening to in each instructions.
This prolonged vary interprets into higher sound at both finish of the spectrum. A port helps management bass and maintain issues from getting too muddy within the low finish. I discover transients on devices within the decrease register a contact sharper with M1s, and on the excessive finish issues are crisp with out ever getting overly shiny—a criticism I’ve heard lodged towards the 7506s once in a while.
{Photograph}: Terrence O’Brien
