Sony MDR MA900 Headphone Review

We’re going to be looking at the sony MDR MA900 headphones. Let me say first of all that the Sony MA900 is the most comfortable headphone that I’ve ever worn. If you want a headphone that you can wear for hours and hours that sounds good and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Stop reading this and just go and buy these. They are really well-suited for an everyday pair of headphones.

Let’s move onto the bad news though. The bad news is the MA900 is
a very flimsy feeling headphone taking a closer look we can see that unfortunately, the worst aspect of the MA900 is the build quality. They’re actually not badly put together. The problem is the whole headphone feels really cheap and insubstantial. You get these big 70–millimeter lollipop drivers attached to this really skinny little headband and it looks really out of proportion.

The whole thing kind of feels insubstantial and pretty flimsy though. Again it’s not badly put together everything you know works and everything. But, the way everything flops around and the thinness of the cable it doesn’t inspire a huge amount of confidence. Honestly, a lot of the early reports on hit by about the MA900s bad build quality put a lot of people off and that’s unfortunate because it’s actually a really good headphone. It’s not terribly put together, just the low weight and the insubstantial kind of design really makes this headphone feel a lot cheaper than it really is.

Once you put them on your head though you kind of forgive them for having a flimsy build. They weigh under 200 grams. When you put them on your head you basically don’t feel them at all you can wear them for hours and hours watching movies or listening to music or playing games. They’re really well suited as an everyday use headphone.

So how do they sound or overall they have this nice balanced mellow kind of sound kind of like the Sennheiser HD 600. They have a relaxed laid-back sound but they’re still quite detailed. In terms of bass response, they have a deep well-rounded kind of bass time. They have a slight mid-bass emphasis that blends male vocals a bit of authority with the mids and vocal section. They have a rich liquid kind of sound it’s really nice really relaxing to listen to. In terms of treble they lack a bit of sparkle it’s not the most interesting part of the signature of the MA900

That said, it’s still very detailed it just doesn’t stand out very much in
terms of sound staging. They have a wide but well-defined sound stage. If you’ve read my post where I talk about the 8900 X’s having a diffuse kind of ill-defined soundstage. You don’t get that problem here with the MA900 you get a nice sense of where instruments are inside the headspace. You get a good sense of the concrete the physical nature of the sound so that’s a big advantage.

They have over the 8900 X’s what’s interesting is that because of the angle driver depending on how forward or backwards you put them on your head. You can actually adjust how the soundstage sounds vizac it’s wider or narrower depending on how far the drivers are from your head which is kind of cool. They also have a forgiving sound signature that works with a really wide variety of music. So, again you can listen for hours and hours and not get any sort of ear fatigue.

I really like the MA900 and whenever anyone comes to try my headphones I show these. I go put them on to see how comfortable they are because they really are amazingly comfortable. I recommend them as an everyday headphone. That’s said, they are a little conservative and maybe even a little boring. So, if you’re looking for something a bit more exciting to the sound, I’d recommend something like the Audio Technica 8900 X’s. Especially because they have this brilliant sparkly treble and also because they have much better build quality than the MA900.

The MA900 is still more comfortable. It works with a better variety of music and has a better sense of sound staging. have a look at the post that covers the 8900 X’s. Have a look at the written review that I’ve made on headphone comparing the 8900X and the MA900 in more detail.

If you don’t know what head fires is. It’s an audio enthusiast and headphone enthusiast community forum working on tons of information about all kinds of headphones it’s a really active community and it’s awesome good go check it out. If you’re at all interested in you know collecting headphones as a hobby or even if you just want information on all sorts of headphones.