Sony MV1 Review: The open-back Sony

 

This unit was bought with my own money.

Some time in late may I had a trip to the city of Taipei. It's a beautiful city, one of my favourite places to visit. Besides the usual touristy things of going around and trying out the local food, I also wanted to make time to visit some headphone shops. Enter: the Sony MDR MV-1. This specific model was one that I wanted to try after following it for a while and watching some reviews on it. Eventually I got my hands on it, and I've had it for the past month, using it fairly often (never mind the fact that I spent an entire month before bothering to write this review). 

 

I can't find the original cable, so the aftermarket one is used (lol)

Packaging, Build, & Fit

The MV-1 is touted by Sony to be "Open back Studio Monitor Headphones for creating spatial and stereo sound with wide frequency range and soundstage feel", whatever that marketing is supposed to mean. It's an open-back dynamic driver headphone that comes with suede earpads and a small assortment of connection accessories. Namely, it comes with a single 2.5 meter cable that terminates in a TRRS 3.5mm plug on one end and a 6.35mm jack on the other end as well as a 6.35mm-to-3.5mm dongle-adapter. The Cable itself is a bit too long for me, so I used an aftermarket cable; any 3.5mm-to-3.5mm jack ought to do if you just want something simple. Sony reports a sensitivity of 100dB/mW and an impedance of 24 Ohms, and I found that any source (from a phone jack to my DAC/Amp stack) ran this pair perfectly fine for me.

The MV-1 is built very light. Despite this, the overall feel of the headphone doesn't feel very flimsy or fragile. It features a mostly plastic build with light aluminum ear cups. The yokes seem to rotate 90 degrees to let the ear cups lie even with one another. A 3.5mm socket is found on the left ear cup, presumably balanced. The overall fit and comfort was top notch; I found them to be one of the most (if not the most) comfortable headphones I own at the moment. 

Sound Impressions

The MV-1 features a very relaxed U/V-shaped sound signature. For an open-back, it features quite elevated bass. I found the bass to be very nice and pleasing despite my preference for more neutral sound signatures. It never felt particularly slow or bloated and came across very even overall. This bass is supplemented with a somewhat emphasized treble region that never really comes across as sibilant or sharp. My only issue (albeit a minor one) with the tonal balance would be the vocal presence being a bit lacking, but not enough for me to not enjoy it. Overall, I found the sound signature to be an extremely relaxed V/U-shape with slightly dark vocals. 

Technicalities on this set were good. I found soundstage to be nothing special or not very spacious, yet the imaging of the MV-1 is very good for me. Detail on the MV-1 was good; not always outstanding but almost no complaints either. Attack and decay on percussion instruments are almost perfect for me while strings never lack any detail either. I found brass instruments to come across clearly, though maybe their sustain/decay came off a little too fast.

Vs. Hifiman Sundara

The Sundaras and the MV-1 are different but similar. More than anything, they both have a good sense of treble and more often-than-not a correct sounding attack-sustain-decay frame. Both give a good sense of detail, however I'd rate the Sundaras ever so slightly higher in this sense. Additionally, the Sundaras reproduce non-musical sounds like snaps and claps much more naturally than any other headphone I've tried. They both graph with similar gain regions, but don't really sound similar in that sense. The main major difference would be the bass response. The Sundaras are much cleaner and lean compared to the elevated response that the MV-1 offers. This sort of leads to the Sundaras having more pronounced vocal presence than the MV-1. Furthermore, there tends to be a bit more bite on higher notes on the MV-1. Strictly speaking, I think I would rate the overall sound of the Sundaras higher, due to a greater sense of refinement and my preference for vocal energy with a brighter sound signature. However, factors like comfort often have me use this pair more often.

Conclusion

The Sony MV-1 has become my favourite piece of audio equipment over the past month that I've owned it. Maybe, besides my desktop speakers, it's also been my most used audio equipment over that time. I can easily say that I find it very good with some minor issues like a lack if vocal energy. But, even then, my issues aren't deal breakers nor do I find them to be irritating at all when listening to them only. If you're looking for a relaxed set that's really easy to listen to, then this is a great set for you.

Pros:

• Relaxed sound signature
• Well executed U-shape
• Great imaging, good detail retrieval
  
• Very good comfort

Cons:

• Cable is too long (nitpick)
• Slightly dark vocals (nitpick)
  

Final Verdict: Very Good