Customer Reviews:
Sony MDR-EX71SLA Fontopia Bud-Style Headphones
Awesome earphones. They are the only Bud style phones that fit in my ear with a helmet on! Plus, they sound really good.

This product is great
the earbud is great. in fact it is greater than what i expected, it it even came with a case. I strongly recommend everyone to buy it.

Excellent, but a flimsy cord
Purchased May 2008

Pro:
Sound Quality
Comfort
Cable extension

Con:
flimsy wires

This was my first set of ear buds and what an improvement over any of the headphones that I have ever used previously. The sound quality was wonderful.

The medium tips came already installed and felt pretty good. I used them for a few days then decided to experiment with the other tips and discovered that the small tips were much more comfortable for me. After a few hours wearing the medium tips I started experiencing some ear fatigue. I do not experience any fatigue with the small tips, even after wearing them all day. The the different size tips, even if you think you have found the correct size.

The sound quality is excellent. I can listen at a lower volume and hear more of the music than I could with any conventional headphones.

The sound isolation is excellent. In fact it is a little too good. I used these at work and even when I paused the music I could not hear someone talking to me. I would have to remove them from my ears. The asymmetric cord length took a little while to get used to, but if you route the longer side behind your neck, both sides will hang nicely when not in use without dangling too low. I would often times only put one side in my ear so that I could hear when someone wanted to talk to me.

The extension is a nice feature. When I was using my Creative Zen, it was small enough that I could hang it from my neck and use the ear buds without the extension. Now that I have an iPod, I keep it in my pocket and I need the full length that the extension allows.

Sadly, the plastic piece that covers the junction of the main cord and the two ear piece cords does not provide any strain relief. One day at work, while the ear pieces were dangling from my neck, they snagged on something and the wire for one of the ear pieces broke inside the insulation. They need to use heavier wires and/or provide better strain relief. Now the extension is the only usable piece.

I would give this 5 stars if the wires held up better.

Not Durable At All
These have a good sound, no complaints, for the price range they are easily the best in audio quality I have heard.

I have to rate this one star because in my opinion Sony has definitely implemented too short of a planned obsolence lifecycle for this product.

I only use them in two environments - sitting at my computer and because I am a hobbyist concert taper I will occasionally use them when recording a show just for a sanity check to make sure I am not getting cable static or other artifacts that would not show on my meters.

I do not exercise or jog with them or anything like that. Use while sitting and just carrying around is not exactly a lot of wear and tear. My third pair in less than a year just died. Always the same thing - one of the connections inside the bud construction starts to get static and within hours they are shot. That is not coincidence.

Although I love the sound, sorry I will not buy another Sony earbud product of any kind.

Good Sound but Poor Quality
I've owned three of these headphones over the past two years and I've replaced all three within 5 to 8 months. I do like the sound quality but I am very disappointed in the poor quality of its components. The problems I had with all three sets have to deal with losing sound in one earbud. I went and did some research on the blogs sites and came across numerous complaints about this same issue. Since the manufacturer warranty is only 90 days, Sony wouldn't fix or replace them since my earbuds didn't fail within their warranty period.

As I stated, the sound quality is very good and I was surprised by the rich bass for a moderately priced set of earbuds. I purchased two additional sets after having problems with my first thinking it was a limited product defect but I've come to realize that Sony and their vendors make a very poor quality product. After having my 3rd set fail on me, I invested in getting the SE530 which I'm extremely pleased. The price is significantly higher than what I wanted to pay but after having 3 Sony earbuds crap out on me, it was enough for me to invest in a better quality product.

Related Categories:
>> >>Electronics >>Categories >>Accessories & Supplies >>Headphones >>Earbud Headphones