Old Argument: Any reason to get a pair of 7506's over the MDR-V6 Headphones?

KnoxHotch

Well-known member
The title says it all, for $15 is the only difference a gold plug and a "Professional" sticker? I'm looking for something for on-camera, editing, music listening, etc. and these have always sounded and fit great for live sound monitoring.
 
How else will people know you are a professional? And we all know gold connectors make copper cable sound better. :)

I actually am curious too. I have the 7506's and have no complaints, but if the V6's are the same...
 
Don´t know the difference, but why bother with a 15$ markup when getting the quasi industry standard headphones for it...?
 
The Sony MDR-V6 was superseded by the Sony MDR-7506 with only minor cosmetic differences and a different cited frequency response, such as the latter being provided with a gold plated headphone connector and a flat frequency response of 10 Hz to 20,000 Hz instead of the MDR-V6's 5 Hz to 30,000 Hz. The MDR-V6 also costs less than the MDR-7506.

Another difference is that the MDR-V6's, labeled with "Digital" are intended for mass market distribution through Sony's consumer division, as opposed to the MDR-7506's, which are labeled with "Professional" along the side and distributed through Sony's professional division. The MDR-7506's also come with a much more accessible warranty, which is another reason for the higher price.[2] The next model in Sony's pro line, the Sony MDR-7509, use a larger driver.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_MDR-V6
 
Reading the Wiki article is why I went with the less expensive option built on an identical platform. There's no real difference.
 
Physically, there's no real difference. However, Sony's consumer division handles the V6's 90-day warranty and has been replacing warrantied V6's with refurbished V600s.

The 7506 1-year warranty is handled by the Pro division and they actually fix the product you send them.
 
$15 might be worth it for the warranty, then. I had a excellent experience with Sennheiser replacing my $40 HD205's nearly a year after I bought them, so a good warranty might be worth the extra cash.
 
I have an extra pair of 7506's laying around I think. No warranty obviously, but if you are interested, I'll sell them to you for 30, shipping included... shoot me a pm if you are interested. I don't need two pair right now.
 
I have an extra pair of 7506's laying around I think. No warranty obviously, but if you are interested, I'll sell them to you for 30, shipping included... shoot me a pm if you are interested. I don't need two pair right now.

If you have these still, I would gladly take them off your hands. Will do pay pal as soon as you reply.
 
I have dabs on them if they haven't been sold. just waiting.NicoleSent From My Verizon Motorola Q Phone.
 
I have both, and have been using them since only the MDR-V6 headphones were available.

I bought the MDR-V6 headphones at Circuit City. 10 years or so later, I got the MDR-7506 headphones from a professional music supplier (can't remember where).

The 7506 headphones allegedly have a flat frequency response. The MDR-V6 headphones have an intentional "smile curve" where the bass and treble are boosted. I prefer the 7506 headphones since they are at least not intentionally boosting the bass and treble.

If you are a consumer, the theory goes that you would want a lot of bass and treble to make it sound more exciting. If you are a professional and using them to create content, you would want them to be flat so they aren't lying to you.

In practice, both are pretty great, at least for using on location to listen to sound recording and that sort of thing. I wouldn't rely on either of them for critical mix decisions. Other than the frequency response and the different distribution channels, they are both rather similar.

Before the MDR-7506 headphones came along, a lot of pros used the V6's in the field. After the 7506's came along, those sort of became a new de facto standard of sorts. You see them all the time in behind the scenes footage, on sets, in recording studios, and so on.

Personally, I would go with the 7506's. Either one works though.
 
I would think a pro would go ahead and spend the 15-20 bucks more to get the flat response and warrantee, which is more accurate. But people are cheap, and they compromise a little here, a little there. It all adds up to lower quality overall. I say just get the better cans and be done with it. If the V6 were really the same everyone would know it and use them. But it seems only V6 owners think they are the same.
 
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