Sony MDR-MV1  Headphones Review

The Sony MDR-MV1 have a somewhat non-descript look with the manufacturer's logo on each ear cup and a teal and gold embellishment on the yokes which says, 'Professional' to indicate their lineup. Like the Sony MDR-7506, a little red tab on the headband lets you know which side is which. While most open-back headphones tend to have mesh grilles, these cans have a perforated enclosure. They only come in this black colorway.

These headphones have a very comfortable fit. They're lightweight and don't clamp too tightly, so you won't feel fatigued from long listening sessions. Their ear cup and headband padding feels plush too. That said, if you have large ears, the ear cup depth may be a little shallow as your ears can rub up against the inner driver covering. There isn't any cushioning at the end of the padded headband, which can put pressure on the side of wide heads. However, either limitation won't be an issue for most users.

Like most audiophile headphones, they don't have any controls. However, the headband has numbered notches to help you adjust the headbands to fit your head and make remembering your settings easier.

These headphones aren't the most portable, but that's normal for audiophile headphones. The ear cups can swivel to lay flat but can't fold inwards to help conserve space. However, their footprint won't be too much of an issue if you use them at your desk.

The build quality is good. They're made of aluminum and plastic with a metal frame to help reinforce their headband. Overall, this helps keep their design lightweight without cheapening their look and feel. The hinges and ear cups are sturdy and have a good range of motion, while the ear cup padding feels nice against the skin. However, the inner memory foam seems like it will flatten over time. The headband's faux leather padding is thin, too, and could be prone to degradation over time.

These headphones have a decently stable fit. They'll stay in place if you're listening to audio at your desk or on the couch. However, if you tend to bop your head to the music, they can shift in place and even fall off your head if you get carried away by headbanging.

• Sony MDR-MV1 headphones
• 1/4" TRS to 1/8" TRS cable
• 1/4" to 1/8" TRS adapter
• Documentation

These over-ears have a somewhat neutral sound suitable for a wide variety of audio content. For open-backs, they can reproduce a surprising amount of bass, so tracks have adequate thump and rumble, as well as extra warmth and boom. The added bass muddies vocals and instruments, yet they still sound detailed and present in tracks. However, sibilants like cymbals are very bright and piercing, which can be fatiguing to listen to over time. However, this extra brightness can be useful when mastering tracks as it can help make imperfections more noticeable.

These over-ears have decent frequency response consistency. They're fairly consistent across reseats, but wearing glasses or earrings can break the ear cups' seal on your head and cause a drop in bass. However, once you take the time to ensure proper fit, positioning, and seal, you'll experience consistent audio delivery each time you use them.

The bass accuracy is great. They can deliver a lot of bass for open-backs, which is surprising. Although they don't reproduce quite as much low-bass as the closed-back Sony MDR-7506, mixes still have adequate thump and rumble. There's also a solid amount of punch, but the high-bass is overemphasized, which results in a boomy, muddy sound.

The Sony MDR-MV1 have excellent mid accuracy. The response is mostly flat, although it's slightly bass-tilted. Some overemphasis from the bass range seeps into the low-mid and clutters vocals and instruments. That said, the rest of the response is neutral, so instruments like the piano in songs like Arabesque No. 1 by Claude Debussy still sound present and detailed throughout your mix.

They have decent treble accuracy. The low-treble is underemphasized, which veils vocals and instruments, while the mid-treble is overemphasized, making sibilants like S and T sounds piercing. This sound can be fatiguing over long listening sessions. However, it can also be advantageous as it helps make imperfections more noticeable when editing audio.

The peaks and dips performance is alright. Most of the response is fairly flat, except for the treble range. This indicates that the headphones can control their sound profile well in the bass and mid ranges but poorly in the treble range. A dip in the low-treble veils vocals and instruments while sibilants like hi-hats are very piercing.

Sony produces many headphones, most of which have solid imaging performances, ensuring that objects like voices are accurately placed in the stereo image. That said, imaging varies between units and indicates a manufacturer's quality control and ergonomics. Our unit is well-matched in group delay, which ensures tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. Our unit's L/R drivers are also well-matched in amplitude, frequency, and phase response, so the stereo image is balanced, even, and accurate.

The passive soundstage is decent. The soundstage feels open, spacious, wide, and natural thanks to their open-back design. That said, the headphones still struggle to produce an out-of-head sensation, so audio seems to be coming from inside your head rather than from speakers in the room around you. If you're looking for open-backs with a more immersive soundstage, try the Audio-Technica ATH-R70x.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is great. Both responses fall within good levels, producing clean and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this way.

The noise isolation performance is bad, but that's normal for open-back headphones. They're not designed to block out sound, so you'll hear all the low rumble of car engines from open windows and ambient chatter. They can reduce a bit of the high-pitched hum of AC units, but it's still quite poor altogether.

The leakage performance is poor, but that's also on par for open-back headphones. Leakage is most prominent in the mid to treble range, which sounds somewhat thin. People around you can hear your audio if you're listening to audio in a moderately noisy environment.

These headphones come with a sturdy and detachable 1/4" to 1/8" TRS cable and a 1/4" to 1/8" TRS cable. The cable screws into the headphones' port for a secure connection.

You can only connect these headphones to your PC via analog. Since they don't have a mic, you can only receive audio.

You can connect these headphones to your PlayStation console by plugging their audio cable into your controller's AUX port. However, you can only receive audio since they don't have a mic.

You can connect these headphones via analog to your Xbox console. They can only receive audio, so if you want mic support, you'll need to use a standalone mic.