MDR-EX800ST(Japan Import)

These IEMs, despite having been released over 10 years ago, are better than the vast majority of competitors, even those costing many times more. They are unique in that, due to their design (using a massive 16mm dynamic driver, mounted obliquely to the nozzle, and with vent ports), and the tuning of their driver, they have an extremely natural, open, and solid presentation. The frequency response is extremely balanced, and the timbre is very natural, which makes these shine in particular with any acoustic material (classical, jazz, vocal, etc) Instruments sound the way they are supposed to sound, and percussion (in particular), which is very hard to get right in IEMs, is amazing. It is very deep and authoritative, but it is not overemphasized. While the bass registers (including subbass) are very present and natural, the bass is also very controlled and nuanced, and it never overpowers the mids. The treble (looking at frequency charts) is very rolled beyond 12Khz, but this doesn't affect acoustic material, and most people wouldn't hear much beyond 12Khz, anyway. On the plus side, this means that these IEMs are very easy to listen to for extended periods of time, without causing fatigue or irritation. I think this rolling off in the highest registers of the treble is done by design, since these are monitoring IEMs produced in Japan, meant to be used by sound engineers and producers for many hours every day. I haven't found the treble to be fatiguing or excessive, and when this has been the case, it has been a fault of the recording, and not of the IEMs themselves, which simply reveal what is there. The mids are beautiful. Compared to something like an ER2SE (notiriously mid-centric), the mids in the EX800ST sound slightly withdrawn, but they lack nothing in terms of detail. This is only noticeable by comparison with other IEMs that have a stronger presence region, like the ER2SE already mentioned. If there is something to be mentioned as an outstanding feature of the EX800ST, however, it is the soundstage. Even though I already knew from reviews that the soundstage in these was amazing, I wasn't prepared for what I heard. Combined with very accurate imaging, when listening to well mastered material, it seems as if you are a part of a space, surrounded by sounds that envelope you. The degree to which this (along with the natural timbre) contributes to providing a sensation of actually "being there" can't be understated, and it makes listening to good music with these a very satisfying experience. The EX800ST is an amazing IEM with a design which not only has stood the test of time, but which is still superior to most IEMs (and also full headphones) produced nowadays. A work of art.

They sound absolutely fantastic - I could not begin to recommend these enough. Before buying these, I had assumed that IEMs in general would necessarily have worse bass than over-the-ear headphones, owing to their smaller drivers. This view turns out to be completely wrong: IEMs have smaller drivers, but operate in not as large a volume of air, and it is the ratio that matters. The bass of the Sonys both goes just as low and sounds cleaner than my JVC SZ-2000s - that, folks, is quite the accomplishment. Sound stage / separation is better than the SZ-2000s, and better than a $200 pair of old Audio-Technicas that I also have. Most importantly: these sound fantastic and well-balanced *WITHOUT* any EQ, which makes them usable on-the-go. Many other headphones don't really sound their best unless you plug them into a DSP, which in practice makes them hard to use on-the-go. Sound isolation is good enough for city transit. Medium tips felt best for me - they come with three sizes. The headphones are designed for the cable to wrap around the ear, but the stock cable is so stiff that I couldn't get it to stay in the right place. I ended up getting rid of it entirely, buying an MMCX adapter, and wearing these in an earbud manner with cable pointing down rather than around-the-ear. This has worked out well for me - more comfortable and no problems with falling out. Pros: * Amazing sound. Solid bass with a well-balanced overall aesthetic. * Very good price for what you get. I've paid double for worse headphones before. Caveats: * Very plain packaging - ordinary white box with everything in Japanese, not even a picture. Looks suspicious, but very clear from the sound that these are the real deal. * Japan import - you're implicitly paying for tariffs and import fees, which would not be necessary if Sony sold these as a US product. * Warranty requires dealing with Sony Japan - no personal experience with this. * Stock cable is absolute trash. Get rid of it immediately and buy an MMCX adapter.

This is the latest of my purchases of Dynamic Driver iem’s , and although the self-proclaimed audiophiles and professional reviewers vehemently disagree with others in this subset about burn in, for this product I have experienced an obvious improvement in the upper midrange and lower treble regions after around 45 hours. These have been around for years, and some “experts” claim they need more than 100 hours to start sounding good. CA Honeydew and IKKO OH10 seemed to improve somewhat, DENON ah-c820 showed no change, but these are much better after burn in. The first day I was ready to return them, but I changed my mind after giving them a few days. The hack of covering the vent and putting a pin hole in the tape increases the bass profoundly. Then I replaced the silicone tips with Comply foams and these have moved up in my rotation. The sub bass rumble is unmatched-I’m waiting for a chance to get the FatFreq on eBay. If you’re not a basshead, but you’re treble sensitive, just make the hole in the tape over the vent larger. There’s also foam in the sound tubes that diminishes the upper treble that can be removed, but I don’t need that for my preferences. So….these are easily adjustable to your needs. I enjoy the midrange and the wide soundstage as is, but if you’re coming from iem’s with a narrow soundstage, your brain will have to adjust-it was initially distracting (although I am easily distracted). I will update after 55 additional hours. I do equalize and amplify them, so your results may be different. Update: I replaced the Comply foams with the t200 in large size to better stabilize and for a better seal. After 100 hours I still had issues with the upper treble region when there was a lot of information that seemed to overwhelm the huge Dynamic Drivers. I purchased a 2.5mm balanced cable ($38 on eBay), and that improved the treble region tremendously. FOR MY MUSIC. I listen to dark, bassy music, guitar centered blues and jazz fusion, so these are great for me. The bass is amazing, midrange impressive, and the treble is okay. Your genres may not give you the same experience. Keyboard, female vocals and percussion are all exceptional. Details and soundstage are fantastic for the $220ish I have invested. But-for someone with different musical tastes-$135 for the DENON ah-c820 on eBay and $110 for the Shanling ua3 DAC amp will give you most of thump, impressive mids and treble.

Okay this first paragraph is a rant. Wasn't going to even make a review but I had to after seeing some crackheads saying these are "suspected fakes". No they're not, do some research. The EX800s in Japan have always came in a sketchy white box. Look at people reviewing these IEMs from over a decade ago. You'll see the same sketchy looking white box from people that imported them to the U.S. or people that bought them that actually live in Japan. They don't "sound fake" or "not as good as my other pair of EX800s" that's nonsense. Who is going to make fake pairs of an IEM that's over a decade old that no one really cares about? These are weird looking Sony IEMs no one ever heard of and they have weird connectors that no one wants to make overpriced connectors for. No one took the time to make a perfect fake replica with the same connections and everything. These are not fake. No one would fake these. Common sense. Rant over. Okay so the packaging sucks. No hiding that. The IEM itself is nice although a bit funky looking. It's plastic. The cable is kinda trash. You'll want to replace it with a nicer and heavier cable. The cable is so light and thin it loves to come undone from around your ear if you move too much or tilt your head. These IEMs seal well in my ear with OEM or spinfit tips. Haven't tried foam but I'd imagine that'd work better. If you cannot get these to seal they will not sound nearly as good as they should. You'll probably hate them and return them if that's the case. The soundstage on these is ridiculous. Has a nice airy almost 3 dimensional feeling like the music is around you. Instruments and vocals all sound normal. Nothing sounds wrong with any frequencies. These have a good amount of bass, these large drivers move a lot of air. If you do the little mod where you put take over the large vents on these and poke a hole in them with a pin the bass is absolutely ridiculous. If you want a lot of bass, this is how you'll get it. Interestingly enough it isn't muddy bass and it doesn't really change the overall soundstage on these much. I personally listen to these without the tape. I love bass but for listening to these all the time, it was a bit too much for me. These sound amazing as is though. They respond very well the EQ if that's your sort of thing, I do not EQ these. It's just hard to describe how well these sound. They do everything extremely well, you can get sets that cost more that sound better, but there is absolutely nothing about the sound of these that can be described as anything less than excellent. These have aged VERY well. They sound amazing honestly. There really isn't many new pairs out there that sound much better than these, even ones that cost a lot more. There are even less that have as much bass as these (when you tape the vents). I love the way these look. I don't have an issue with fit or getting a seal. I absolutely love the way these sound. If you are okay with the weird shape and want something that has a huge soundstage and you can get a lot of bass out of them, buy them. Just note you may have an issue with fit, but if you do, return them and get your money back. If you have a soft spot for anything Sony like I do, DEFINITELY buy these, you will not regret it.

There is basically just one issue here, and that is that Sony U.S. will not honor the warranty on these (I just checked). It's unlikely that you're going to have a warranty issue, but if you do, you're going to have to deal with Sony Japan. I do have a couple of suggestions after having used a pair of Sony Mdr-ex700l's for about 3 years. Ear wax will end up building up in the ear pieces and eventually contaminate the foam pieces that are buried in the metal housing, to protect the diaphragms from wax and other external contaminates. To prevent this problem it is a good idea to remove the ear pieces occasionally and clean out any built up ear wax in the tubes. As an added precaution on mine, I went to the local Wally World superstore and bought a piece of ordinary foam and cut out little 1/8" diameter, 1/8" deep plugs that I placed in the outer most part of the metal tube that meets with the rubber ear pieces. If ear wax does get on them, it's simple to replace them, and for me at least, there was no noticeable loss of fidelity caused by doing this. If you can find the Sony MDR-7550 IEM at a similar price, it is an identical product to the MDR-EX800ST, but it caries the full U.S. manufacturers warranty. Pros: Appears to be an authentic Sony product. Amazing fidelity Low price Based on my previous experience with Sony earbuds, they are incredibly durable. Cons: Effectively no warranty.

I am fairly certain I got a defective pair, since none of the many reviews I read mentioned this. The pair I had had a very unpleasant spike somewhere between 5-8k. Cymbals, hyped treble on toms and snares, and sibilance on female vocals literally hurt my ears. Any poorly recorded music was unlistenable, and even many good recordings were unpleasant. I returned them after a few days. Listening to them actually started making me a little nauseous and aggravated my tinnitus. On a good note, they were really wide, detailed and pleasant in all the other frequencies. But for the treble spike, they would have been great. I bought a different pair of IEMs and have not had this problem after purposely listening to the same tracks for comparison.

Came in a plain white box with no print on it anywhere no identification code. Don't sound as good as other ex800st I've owned. I suspect them to be fake

Great neutral IEM superb detail retrieval, sound stage, and bass to satisfy me. I haven't tried the tape mod which apparently makes the sub bass and treble go up. Only issues I've had with these IEMs is that the cable is a little to long and the over the back design of inserting these is weird. The second issue which is the primary reason for 1 star less is that getting a seal on these is a crap shoot at times, as well as trying different tips that aren't the included stock one makes the sound quite different. Besides that, I'm happy with what I got so far.