When Music Matters, Trust Sony’s Water Resistant MDR-A30G’s To Deliver Exceptional Sound
Written: Jul 09 '05
Product Rating:
Pros: Compact design, water resistant, great sound, one year warranty, inexpensive.
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Looking for a great pair of headphones for the gym or working out? These will fare better than others but don’t mistake “water resistant” for “water proof”.
Freak369's Full Review: Sony MDR-A35G Consumer Headphones
Music is something that truly means a lot to me. If I am cleaning, cooking, running or just relaxing, some form of music is on - if for nothing more than background noise. When it comes to headphones I am hard on them, an average pair lasts me about six months. Sure I could spend more for them and get a pair that might last longer than that but I’m too cheap to experiment with headphones that cost more then fifteen dollars. Most of them time the headphones are used when I am at the gym so they get bumped, tossed around, dropped and shoved in my gym back - not to mention the sound levels they have to endure, sweat and humidity. I also wear them when I go running so they have to be able to stand up to the elements - rain and snow being the two biggest killers. That is a lot of stress to put on a pair of headphones so I usually go with something from the Sony family because I know I am going to get something that delivers good sound, enriches the bass and will last about six months.
Sony MDR A30G Vertical Headphones
The one thing that I really like about these is that they are water resistant - that does not mean that they are water proof but they do hold up to sweat and high humidity better than standard headphones. Since I run and hit the gym almost every day I need headphones that are going to be able to keep up with my lifestyle. Most of the time I replace my headphones every six months after I fry them from excessive sweat or high volume and while it is a little too early to tell if these are going to last longer than six months I can say that so far they are extremely comfortable to wear, have a great sound to them and have a fold up feature so they can be slipped into my waist pack when I am done using them. These are ultra light weight but are well made; the headband will flex and has a good bit of give to it but no matter how you bend them, they go back to their original shape.
These are vertical “in ear” headphones so the pods rest right inside your ear to deliver the best sound possible while allowing you to still hear other noises. This is a necessity if you wear headphone while running or jogging so you can hear traffic, sirens or if someone needs to get your attention. I’ve tried these out with my Sony Psyc and my Philips and they worked great with both portable units. The only time I had any real trouble was when I used these with Annabelle’s Emerson Hello Kitty CD player, for whatever reason I got a lot of crackling and hissing when I plugged these into the port. I cleaned the tip of the jack and checked inside the headphone jack to see if there was something in there but it is a relatively new item so I can’t see it being anything to do with dirt. I think it was some kind of conflict with the metal inside the CD player and the gold plating on the headphones but who knows, it could have been anything.
The True Test
Headphones can look great, fit nicely in or over the ear and have a good price but the ultimate test is what they sound like and how they perform over time. I haven’t had these for that long a time but so far they have held up nicely. Since I listen to a wide variety of music I tried these out with my portable CD players using several different types of music. These aren’t absolute and definitive examples of how these will work with all types of music and please keep in mind, I do play my music louder than most people so you might pick these up and get better results than I did. Even so, I am really pleased with how these worked in most cases and when I was a little disappointed I couldn’t really blame the headphones - my taste in music isn’t exactly normal.
Goth: It handled Type O Negative well but had some trouble with the heavy bass tones and the harder songs from “Slow, Deep & Hard”
Metal: Overall they worked nicely but the faster paced songs and those in the thrash genre did break up a little when I cranked the volume.
Pop: These worked perfectly for all the pop songs, they even made Jessica Simpson’s stuff sound slightly appealing.
Classical / Opera: The only trouble with these was when the music recessed or the vocals tapered off then exploded, there was a little bit of muffled sound but they recovered quickly.
Techno / House: For the most part these were adequate when they were used for most house, techno and trance but when I cranked the volume on the heavy bass parts they couldn’t handle it.
Price
I picked these up at Target for $13.99 which seems liked a fair price for the sound that these deliver, the water resistant design and overall appeal. I usually stick with places like Wal-Mart and Target for headphones because i know that if there is a problem with then I can return them for an exchange or refund without getting hassled. Even though Sony backs these with a one year warranty, I like knowing that I can take them back and exchange them or get a refund if need be. Almost all of the Sony MDR headphones are a great value for people that love to listen to a wide variety of music; these will be able to handle everything from rock to metal, classical to spoken word without any distortion, crackling or hissing. That added to the fact that they are water resistant makes them a great deal in my book.
Warranty
These headphones come with a one year warranty against manufacturer defects and workmanship. This doesn’t cover normal wear and tear or if the cord is bent excessively. Considering that these cost anywhere from ten to fifteen dollars it isn’t really worth it to pay to ship them back to Sony for them to inspect them; you will have to pay the postage there plus the fee for signature confirmation. Chances are that if these are defective in some way you will notice it within the first few weeks of use, in that case all you have to do is return them to the store where you purchased them for an exchange or refund. Some places will try to zap you with a restocking fee but if the item is defective then they won’t be restocking it so make sure you fight them on this.
The Bottom Line
For less than fifteen dollars I picked up a nice pair of compact, water resistant headphones from the Sony MDR line. So far they sound great, are holding up nicely and are seeing a lot of use. I’ll have to wait and see if these last a little longer than six months before I say I’ll buy them again or not; since that is the average amount of time I get from a pair of headphones I usually use that as a chance to try out another brand or style to see if there’s something out there in the “under fifteen dollar range” that will last longer or have better sound. That’s not to say that these have poor sound quality but you never know when you are going to come across something better. If you work out, run or do any type of exercise and want a pair of headphones that will stand up to the elements and sweat, these are a great pair of headphones to invest in!
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