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54 Karma

Review on Sony MDR AS210 Sport Headphones Black by Andrew Kay

Revainrating 2 out of 5

Not as good as the original MDR-J10s and overpriced

Bought these to replace my old favorite Sony MDR-J10 headphones. This is the next model after and after trying them I miss my old ones. These AS210 are not upgrades, they are downgrades. The "sticky plastic" that makes up the earhook is flexible and not as rigid as the older J10 models. It's okay, I can forgive it, even though it's harder for me to pierce my earlobe. The main complaint is the material the plastic is made of. It's not smooth plastic like all headphones are made these days, these as210s are made from sticky plastic commonly used on sex toys. Sticky, like when you wash it and then wipe it with a paper towel, the fibers of the paper towel stick to the plastic so you can just air dry it. Even if you try to use a towel, it catches the lint so it just air dries. I don't mind that, but in the past this stuff has had a tendency to break down from the heat and get very sticky. Let's see how long it takes, I'll try to post an update in a year. For those wondering why they should care about heat, I live in Miami so it's always hot and muggy here. Getting them for exercise puts these headphones through a lot of heat, sweat, and all that salt. Hopefully it will hold up better than other items I've made from the same sticky plastic. Cons: The plastic used for the frame is a very poor quality sticky rubber plastic. Short cable length - no built-in volume control. Frame size 1 fits best, there is no way to adjust to small baby ears or large adult ears. (This works best with in-ear or in-ear headphones.) Now, as far as sound quality goes: a terrible base, as you can imagine. And unless you place them perfectly inside, right next to your ear, right next to your ear canal, the volume is low. They don't look like regular wireless headphones that fit snugly around your ears, nor do they look like in-ear headphones that pick up sound perfectly - they don't rest on your inner earlobe, so unless you fit them perfectly and snugly, the Volume sounds low and the sound quality is poor. This is frustrating because the price of this new model is double the price I paid for the old model and for twice the price the quality has not doubled. It was a crappy, crappy remake. All I know is that I paid over $20 for a little under $10. In this case I didn't get what I paid for and it's below average hence two stars. and the reason I didn't give it a star is because it wasn't broken, it was a 'must see'. At this price point, you can buy entry-level Bluetooth headphones or high-end wired (untitled) headphones. It seems that the reason these basic entry-level headphones are so high is simply because you're paying more for the Sony brand name.

Pros
  • Great overall performance
Cons
  • Doubtful