If You Take Music Seriously, Get The Best In The Sony MDR Series Sony W20G
Written: Dec 28 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Waterproof, great for use at the gym, inexpensive, excellent sound.
Cons: Larger headphone pieces, band is not collapsible.
The Bottom Line: Need a set of headphones that will keep up with you during your workout? For under $15.00, the Sony MDR W20G is a great pick.
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| Freak369's Full Review: Sony MDR-W20G Consumer Headphones |
I’m not going to lie about this, I am tough on headphones. The average life of a set is about six months if I am lucky. They see a lot of use when I am at the gym, running on the beach or just wearing them around the house. Most of the time I tend to go with Sony products since they last the longest but there have been a few times when Sony products weren’t available or I simply wasn’t willing to pay more than $20.00 for a pair. I’d had a few of the other Sony Sport styled headphones in the past but this was the first time I’d had this specific model – the W20G in the MDR series. So far this pair has delivered a great sound under most conditions but there are some types of music that just weren’t meant to be played on these.
The Basics
The yellow color of the headphones is an almost dead giveaway that these are part of the Sony Sport series, waterproof to a certain degree and built to put up with a lot of use without breaking or warping. The cord length of almost 39 inches allows you to wear this under clothing, clipped to a belt or when riding a bike without feeling like you are going to choke yourself. One of the nicest things about the Sony headphones is that most of them have an angled jack; meaning that it doesn’t plug straight into the headphone jack – to me this helps extend the life of the wire and jack by reducing the stress on it. There’s less of a chance of it getting bent or pinched and helps when you store the headphones and the CD player or portable unit together. These will fit almost all portable audio units, feature an adjustable head band and are great replacement headphones for portable CD players.
These are "in ear" headphones so they slide into the outer part of your ear canal. If you’ve never used these types of headphone it might take you a little while to get used to the feel of them verses the ones that simply cup your ear. Some people don’t like the sound that these types of headphone deliver but I prefer them to the larger and bulkier styles. You have to be careful with any style of in ear headphone, especially if they block out a lot of surrounding noise. Speaking from personal experience, you can really ruin your hearing when wearing headphones for extended periods of time and listening to music extremely loud. I heard all the warnings, read the reports and chose to ignore them, please don’t make the same mistake that I did. If you want more control over the sound level you can opt to purchase a unit that comes with a volume control on the cord – this usually tacks on an extra $5.00 - $10.00 but is worth it if you don’t want to have to fumble around with the CD player to turn the volume up or down. This pair doesn’t have this feature and it wasn’t something that I was looking for when I was shopping but it is a great feature for people who wear their headphone all day long, need to adjust the volume quickly or simply want to tune out the rest of the world.
Sound
I’m a music junkie and when I am in the gym, I want my music loud, clear and without any distortion, crackling or breakdown. These will handle almost all types of music without any major issues but a lot of the sound depends on your unit. The Philips CD player that I have [and amazingly is still working] has extended bass so this does a real number on the cheaper headphones over a period of time. If you do have an extended bass system or “mega bass” chances are that this will do the headphones in a little quicker. If you play your music loud, listen to anything “hard-core” [anything with a fast hard beat] or use them for extended periods of time, you can look at knocking a few weeks off the life of these. I tried these out with a variety of different CD’s and got the best sounds from classical, rock and metal but they didn’t handle techno or thrash / death metal very well – even with the extended bass turned off.
I’ve been using these on the computer to listen to music and the sound isn’t all that great when listening to MP’s that I downloaded but when I listen to CD’s the sound is above average. These sound a little better than the behind the neck headphones that I have and are a lot more comfortable for extended periods of use. If I had to voice a single complaint it would be that the pods that house the ‘in ear’ portion of the headphone are a little larger than others. While this isn’t something that affects the sound quality, the size takes a little while to get used to if you are used to the other Sony MDR varieties. On a positive note, the flow through design of the ear bud allows you to get the most from music but allows a little outside noise to bleed through – an essential if you are going to be wearing these for out door activities like bike riding or rollerblading.
Comfort
If there’s one thing that I really love about most of the Sony headphones is that you can wear them for hours without getting sore lobes. Over the past few months I’ve really grown to hate the “behind the neck” styles of headphones even though they give you a richer sound and can be pushed a little further in the sound level department – after twenty minutes your ears hurt and you want to throw them on the ground and jump on them. These slide off and on easily, can be positioned within the ear for the best fit as well as the best sound and the neck band can be adjusted to fit almost any sized head. One of the brood borrowed these a few times and had no trouble making them a little smaller – and one you set the size, it doesn’t release from the position until you want it to.
Price
These have a suggested retail price of $14.99 to $16.99 but I found them on sale at Target for $12.99 – a great price for a sturdy pair of headphones. Given that these are waterproof and a bit more flexible than standard headphones, even at the regular price I’d still purchase them again. If you are looking for a replacement pair or just want to listen to music through headphones, these are a great pair to pick up in the “under $20.00” price range but if you want a little more portability, spend the extra couple of dollars for the collapsible Sony headphones. This comes with a 90 day warranty against defects so if you make a purchase and there is something wrong with it you can contact Sony about it or take it back to the place of purchase for a refund or exchange. I’ve never had any major issues with Sony headphones being defective, most of the time I fry out the headphones from listening to powerful music or shred the cord. For the price, these are sturdy and rugged and chances are they’ll keep up with you no matter how rough you are on them.
The Bottom Line
These were well worth the purchase price and now that I’ve had these and had a chance to really test them out, I wouldn’t pass them up again even if they weren’t on sale. I’d suggest these for anyone that considers music an essential but doesn’t want to move into the higher priced headphones. In a lot of ways these are a lot like the others in the MDR series except they are “waterproof”. That is a tricky term – when most people hear it they think they can withstand being dunked in water or used in the jacuzzi or hot tub … while I’m sure that these will hold up to a good bit of moisture they aren’t designed to be used under water the can be used in the gym – great news for those who sweat a lot and don’t want to have to deal with headphones that have foam covered that can get pretty stinky after a few weeks.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2003 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
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