Many of my younker summer afternoons were spent riding about my hometown on my Huffy bicycle or, in afterward years, taking the bus into Harvard Square to stroll about and suspend out at The Garage. My Sony Walkman was continually in my coat pocket, and a brace of headphones were continually on my head. For many of those years, they were a brace of Sony MDR-3L2 handed downward (or perchance “borrowed”) from my older brother. I wore them continually — until the cable caught on my handlebars, pulled off my head, and I ran them complete alongside my bike. But now I can relive those days alongside the publish of the Sony MDR-3R wired headphones.
The Sony MDR-3R are remarkably akin to the original. They appearance identical, alongside metal element extenders that glide into the synthetic headband to modify the fit. The identical 23mm drivers use removable foam pads that arrive in blue and orange (both colors are in the box). The scheme is additionally incredibly ray — Sony lists them at 38 grams, 2 grams lighter than the MDR-3L2.
There are a few changes. Instead of a 3.5mm connector, the MDR-3R uses USB-C. At 1.2 meters, the cable is additionally shorter, so it doesn’t capture on as many things (like a Huffy bike), and it has an inline distant alongside a built-in mic. The foam pads aren’t as scratchy as I recall the first ones being, which, alongside alongside the ray design, makes them incredibly comfortable to deteriorate for lengthy periods. The MDR-3R additionally don’t arrive alongside a Walkman, akin the first did. And Sony’s current row of Walkman digital media players starts at $1,900 (with 3.5mm and 4.4mm analog jacks), so I wouldn’t equal regard using a $60 brace of USB-C headphones alongside them. Maybe we’ll see a retro-styled, cheap Walkman in the future. It would be a fun, if extremely niche, pairing.
I spent a lot of period listening to the identical music I listened to expanding up — The Police, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Paula Abdul (don’t judge) — and it all appears beautiful fine on the MDR-3R. Vocals are apparent and never muddy, and there’s a nice openness to the elevated end. There are several issues, though. An high midrange highest adds a small too much additional break to snare drums, which can over-accentuate sampled drums in particular, and the bass reply drops off, causing bass lines to audio additional plucky and small boomy.
Listening to the MDR-3R in noisy environments isn’t ideal. Their on-ear scheme doesn’t obstacle ambient noise, so if you’re looking to isolate from the earth about you, these headphones ain’t it. While strolling about my neighborhood, I established myself expanding the quantity to drown out the noise from traffic on the street so I could comprehend Sting holler, “You don’t have to put on the red light,” the identical as I did 40 years ago in suburban Massachusetts.
The mic norm was fine during talking in meetings or on calls in my home. People could comprehend and comprehend what I was saying without issue. Talking exterior caused problems, though. I echoed muffled at times, and additionally a bit distorted. If I held the microphone up off my chest and nearer to my mouth, the norm improved drastically. There was motionless several distortion, particularly as traffic passed, but I was far additional intelligible whenever I held the mic akin I was filming an influencer video.
The Sony MDR-3R are far from the lone retro-inspired USB-C wired headphones around. The Moondrop Old Fashioned disbursal small than fractional the cost at $25. The all-metal headband isn’t as comfortable as the Sony’s, though. And during the Old Fashioned have larger 40mm drivers, the bass achievement isn’t any better, midrange appears a bit darker than the MDR-3R, and the elevated frequencies aren’t as crisp.
All that to say, I akin the Sony MDR-3R fairly a bit. Is it since of nostalgia? The memories of my (brother’s) old brace are certainly part of it. It additionally feels refreshing to put on headphones so light. They don’t audio perfect, and I would never use them in all situation, but they scratched an itch I didn’t equal cognize I had. Walking about the neighborhood alongside them during listening to tunes felt acquainted and comforting. For $60, they’re a nice way to recall a simpler period whenever all that mattered was the music.
Photography by John Higgins / The Verge
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