Sony MDR-Q68LW Clip-on Style Headphone with Retractable Cord

See it at Amazon.com for $29.99

Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)

Amazon Customer Reviews

Most Helpful First | Newest First

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I tried the JVC version and returned them. These rock

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2ZHR75HHA6ZV8 They rock!
Watch the video to see why this product is so much better than the JVC version of it.

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Great Product

I am an audio engineer, and although these are not professional quality headphones, they are the best mix of price and convenience I have ever had in a set of headphones. (I have gone through quite a few). They are easy to carry around without getting your cables twisted up, they sound great, they are comfortable, and they are well built. For those who don't like earbuds, I strongly recommend this pair.

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Convenience over sound

Of course, you shouldn't expect a $30 headphone to answer your stereophile dreams...but the MDR-Q68LW achieves one dream. Most portable music listeners have had to contend with a mess of tangled, knotted cables; in a few cases, this leads to a dead connection in one ear. Sony's innovation, albeit incremental, may be the perfect approach: these earclips automatically spool cables, making for a tidy pickage. Owners of earbuds and IEMS frequently start their listening sessions with the "unknotting of the cables" ritual, but earclip innovation seems to have achieved a new level of sorts.

In addition:

- These ear clips are flexible and comfortable for well over a few hours - unlike the popular Koss KSC-75. Moreover, they don't fall off with light exercise.
(+) Although the cables are thin, build quality is well suited for portable use.
(+) These are surprisingly good-looking while worn; their shiny black tone is striking
(o) The issue of sound quality is relative. In comparison to, say, the much cheaper KSC-75, the SQ seems a bit "clipped." Sony promises a sonic range of 16-24,000; it actually comes closer to 50-15,000, and you can hear how a number of music tracks can sound rather "dead,." depending on the track. (High volume levels don't suit these clips.) If you're a critical listener, you might be disappointed.
(-) Unless used with care, there's a fair chance that a cable will get stuck. Depending on your luck, this may render this phone's major asset useless.
(-) Played at louder volumes, the sound quality can become harsh, depending on the tune.

I use these phones while listening to computer audio on my computer (never music). It's perfect for watching movies with the iPod Touch. For convenience, these phones are hard to challenge.

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Not as good as hoped for

Just so you know where I am coming from, my previous headphones were Sony MDR-Q22LP w.Ear Headphones with Interchangeable Headphone Caps. I thought they worked great and I went through 2 pairs of them over the last 6 years or so. My only complaint was that the cord was always getting tangled up. So when my last pair broke I thought these would be the perfect answer, still made by Sony and with a retractable cord.

Well, the retractable cord works great, no complaints about that so far. My complaints are that first off, the cord is much shorter then in the MDR-Q22LPs. I measured it to be only slightly longer than 3 ft long (a fact that isn't found on the product's page). I am not a tall man, only 6 ft tall, but the cord bearly reaches from my ear to my pocket where I have my Ipod. This is very annoying and I have almost dropped my Ipod several times because of this short cord. Also,I find that the sound quality of these headphones is worse than that of the MDR-Q22LPs, which are $10 cheaper.

All in all, I think next time I'll save the money (and the problems) and buy the MDR-Q22LPs.

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Quick on/off with reasonable sound

I have several earphones for various uses. But I needed something portable to work with my mp3/audioplayer device. I carry the player around with me and listen to it at random times of the day to make use of "dead times". So I needed earphones that I didn't need to spend time untangling wires, unwinding, pulling out of a case, etc; yet still sound reasonably good.

The retractability of these headphones are exactly what I needed. The units auto retract the cords with a button, and pull back out with just a pull. Perfect; no tangled wires, winding, or cases. The units clip over the ear like the ends of a pair of glasses. This works only if you are standing upright. If you lie down, they tend to fall off.

Sound wise, they are comparable to the $22 headphones they are, which makes them about the same sound quality as equivalently priced Sony's and about the same or slightly better than the white earbuds that come with ipods. Due to the position over the ears, bass is kind of lost.

Overall I'm happy with the units; particularly for their quick to use nad reasonable sound.

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