This evening I went out and bought a set of Sony MDR-ZX100 headphones because my wife straight up stole my MDR-V150 headphones that I bought about two years ago. Both sets of headphones cost roughly $20 and have very similar technical specs with 30mm driver units, running at 24ohms. But I find the V150s to have better control at higher volumes, remaining composed and clear even when nearing it’s limits. At the same volume, the ZX100s sounded very harsh in the top end and bass is lacking that physical thump, being able to vibrate my ear drums like the V150s.
That’s kinda odd given that the specs on the newer ZX100s are superior to the V150s. The MDR-ZX100 has a frequency response of 12 – 22,000 Hz and a sensitivity of 100db while the MDR-V150 offers a frequency response of 18Hz – 22,000Hz and a sensitivity of 98db.
I plugged in the MDR-ZX100s and cued up Coheed & Cambria’s “Welcome Home”, turned the volume upto about 70% on my Onkyo A/V amplifier and pressed play. Everything sounded good, if a little more bright than I like initially, that was until the drums kicked in, suddenly the sound became very harsh on the ears while the bass felt a little light, which emphasized the bright high end. The sound overall distorted at this volume level, which added to the harshness of the sound. The ZX100s are fine at low to moderate volumes, maybe for use with portable devices which have less powerful headphone amps, but driven hard with a Hi-Fi headphone amp, it’s somewhat lacking!
Next I plugged in my old MDR-V150s after I wrestled them away from my wife. Immediately the volume was 15% louder while still set at 70% on the amplifier. The bass was thunderous, really vibrating my ear drums with every ‘kick’, the snare drum had loads a snap & fizzle while remaining controlled without distortion. Also the cable is longer, 6.5ft as apposed to the 4ft of the ZX100s.
The end result is that I switched the new MDR-ZX100s for my old MDR-V150s, my wife is happy as she only uses the headphones for audiobooks on her Android phone and I’m happy because I got my beloved V150s back… so I can enjoy ear drum vibrating distortion free music, it’s a win/win for me!
I had decided to buy either the MDR-V150s or the MDR-ZX100 and after reading several reviews on both these headphones I’m gonna go with the MDR-V150s.
Thanks for a great article!
Thanks Jason for the review I too love the v150 but they break so easy went to the local walmart to buy a new set but all they had was the zx100 so it looks like I’ll wait and go to ebay can anyone recommend a better headphone at 20.00 than the V150 I can’t find one yet these are great .
Sadly, from my experience, you get what you pay for in the $20 range, most headphones in this price range lack power, unable to handle higher input levels, much like the newer zx100’s. I wish you luck in your search to find another pair of the now discontinued V150, they are truly a rarity in the $20 headphone market.
You can still get the v150s on eBay for 15 bucks. I know, it’s a steal. =)
You know that sometimes they just need 1-2 days of playing music just to adjust and soften the membranes or whatever the rubber circle is called. Could you write if you have compared them sooner?
When I wrote the review; I had only used the ZX100 headphones for a couple of hours before switching back to the V150’s, but since that time I have had to revert to the ZX100 as the V150’s were broken by my daughter and I still level the same complaints at the ZX100 as I did in the review, little too bright and not enough low end thump.