Best Sony MDR-1000X Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

To celebrate its 70th anniversary, Sony has put the little dishes in the big by announcing all kinds of products that would highlight its expertise. The MDR-1000X active noise canceling headphones are a good example of this. The manufacturer finally holds its reference product in this sector.

Best Sony MDR-1000X Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. Sony MDR-1000X/B Black Hi-Res Bluetooth Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Renewed)

2. SONY WH-1000XM3 Wireless Noise canceling Stereo Headset(International Version/Seller Warrant) (Black)

3. Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones WH1000XM3: Wireless Bluetooth Over the Ear Headset with Mic for phone-call. Alexa voice control – Industry Leading Active Noise Cancellation – Black

4. Sony WH1000XM3 Bluetooth Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones Silver WH-1000XM3/S (Renewed)

5. Sony WH1000XM3 Bluetooth Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones. Black WH-1000XM3/B (Renewed)

Ergonomics

With this MDR-1000X, Sony has really gone up a notch to offer a helmet with a very neat and elegant design. It can be folded up and stored in its carrying case to limit the risk of breakage. The accessories supplied are complete: a USB cable, a 3.5 mm mini-jack cable and an airplane adapter

The MDR-1000X really emphasizes user comfort. It is certainly a little less airy and light than the Bose QC35 , but we can undoubtedly classify it among the best in the category. The pads are thick, flexible and soft and are placed naturally on the head and around the ears, whatever the morphology of the wearer. The relatively contained weight for this type of helmet is very well distributed.

You feel very little pressure on the head, which allows you to use the helmet for long hours without any discomfort; we even managed to fall asleep in the transport for a few hours. That without having pain in removing it. For more comfortable wearing around the neck, the MDR-1000X’s ear cups can be rotated 90 °, flat with the pads against the shoulders. We only regret that it is impossible to remove the ear cushions.

The pads are made of memory foam covered with imitation leather. Small aesthetic detail, the outer part of the hulls is covered with imitation leather.

There is not much to blame the user experience. These headphones offer a range of touch controls accessible via the right atrium (volume management, calls, music playback and navigation between tracks) which prove to be complete, responsive and intuitive. The controls with physical buttons (activation of the ANC, choice between two modes of using the microphones to hear the environment) also work without harm.

Audio

The MDR-1000X offers a warm and musical sound rendering which, once is not custom, is more balanced without the noise reduction activated. The whole remains no less precise, well defined.

The bottom of the spectrum is deep and is reproduced quite naturally. The sources which operate more specifically in this register (bass, double bass or large percussion for example) easily find their place on the stage. It is especially their warm and round side that we feel the most, but they would however deserve even more percussion, like what we can hear on the BackBeat Pro. Soft and warm, the voices are no less detached and intelligible. 

Even if the measurement suggests a significant emphasis in the 8 kHz, there is no sibilance that disturbs the listening. On the other hand, lovers of brilliant and very clear rendering, with guitars and cymbals well in front, for example, will be a little disappointed because of the withdrawal of the highest frequencies and the zone located between 3 and 4 kHz. Nevertheless, we can still perceive quite fine details (end of reverb , note …).

Switching to active noise reduction emphasizes extreme low and low frequencies a little more clearly, regardless of the connection. As a result, the whole looks warmer and even softer, but we lose slightly in legibility. There is a little difference between the sound rendering in wired connection and Bluetooth. The latter especially having a tendency to cut the most extreme frequencies in the treble. 

Measurement of active noise reduction. Left: without helmet (black), with helmet (purple), non-optimized ANC (blue), optimized ANC (green). Right: Bose QC25 / 35 without ANC (blue), Bose QC25 / 35 with ANC (green)

CONCLUSION

With the MDR-1000X, Sony is finally holding its nomad wireless active noise reduction headset to face the big names of the genre. It offers an attractive user experience and sound as well as well-integrated functionality. It does not equal the qualities of the very best (noise reduction at Bose, audio quality at Plantronics, functionalities at Parrot), but it is very close behind.

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