Sony MDR-Q22LP W.EAR Clip-On Earphones: A Tragedic Saga of Failures, Part 1
Written: Jun 15 '03 (Updated Oct 26 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The speakers DO deliver quality sound--
Cons: --you just can't hear it when wearing them normally. Loose fit, tend to fall off.
The Bottom Line: The loose fit ruins what would otherwise be pretty good sound. Likely to fall off during workouts.
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| tesseract's Full Review: Sony MDR-Q330LP Consumer Headphones |
Preface
I have small ears set close to my head, and I’ve had a devil of a time finding the right earphones to wear with my MP3 player. You can’t beat an earbud’s ability to deliver soundwaves directly to your eardrum, but most earbud speakers are uncomfortably large for me, and many of them have inferior sound. I don’t like the over-the-head style, and my very limited experience with street style phones was horrid. I was willing to spend up to $30 to try to find something better than what I currently have. So I made an experimental purchase of two different alternatives- the Sony clip-ons and Koss earbuds known as “The Plug.” I figured I would decide which ones to keep and which to return. I’ve also included comments on another pair of Koss ear clip phones that I previously tried and rejected. I originally wrote these as one review, but due to posting requirements, I’ve broken them up into three separate reviews with the same preface.
I tested all of these 'phones using my Diva MP3 player with all the equalizer settings on the player flat. I did not tweak the EQ settings while trying them— I like the sound on the flat setting with the phones that came with the Diva, and if the new phones can’t do at least as well, back to the store they go, says I. I shouldn’t have to pay more so I can tweak it to get it to sound as good. At the time, the Diva happened to have mostly classical and new age music loaded on it.
I’ll also make my standard disclaimer when it comes to audio equipment— I’m no audiophile and my comments are made from the point of view of an average and not particularly finicky listener. If you consider yourself a real audiophile, you may think my comments are way off base, but I doubt there’s a pair of $20 earphones out there that will satisfy you anyway.
None of these earphones come with any kind of carry case— no wind-up, no pouch, nothing. So they WILL get tangled. They all have average length cords—I didn’t make a note of the measurements, but they seem neither unusually short nor long.
Sony MDR-Q22LP W.EAR Clip-Ons
The model I bought is slightly different from the Q33 in that the earpieces look more like sunglass legs. It comes with the same blue and silver covers. I'm not sure which is the newer/older model.
I’m sorry to say, I should have heeded all the negative comments contained in the other reviews for these. But noooooo, I had to go and find out for myself! These earphones have a spring-loaded earclip that lifts up (not out) so you can slide it over your ear kind of like putting on a pair of wraparound sunglasses. I was able to get these on without too much trouble, but the fit is loose and feels insecure. As a brief test of their ability to stay put during strenuous activity, I tried shaking my head violently for about 15 seconds, and sure enough, one fell off, followed closely by the other. I put them back on and wore them for a few more minutes, and found that they're just as uncomfortable as my too-big earbuds, just in a different way. They made the tops of my ears hurt instead of the inside.
The primary problem with the sound derives from the loose fit, and I think this is the source of the many comments that they sound too “bright” and don’t have adequate bass response. They are so loose that I had to turn the volume up to roughly twice what I normally keep it at to get the same level of sound to my brain. They sound great if you mash them hard against your ears, but who’s going to walk around like that? The bass is there, but it suffers more attenuation than the other frequencies when you stop mashing, and the net result is that it does sound a bit weak and tinny. I blame the fit and not the speaker itself, but that doesn’t help the net result.
These also look a little weird to me and too obvious. I’m used to earbuds, which are usually quite unobtrusive, so I didn’t like the look. They come with silver and blue covers, both of which are a little too flashy for my taste. You can also leave the covers off if you want. I’m not crazy about the way the cord attaches to the left earphone and then runs out across to the right one. This means if the cord gets caught on something, it’s going to jerk ferociously on just your left ear (and probably pull the clip off as well). I’ve had that happen before with earbuds and it’s not nice. Better that the cords connect in the middle and I suffer a moderate jerk on both ears.
Once I decided to return these to the store, I also found to my extreme frustration that it’s a royal hassle to get the darn things back into the packaging. Arghh.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
tesseract
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Member: Tesseract
Location: The Fourth Dimension
Reviews written: 71
Trusted by: 19 members
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