Sony MDR-1A Headphones Review

The Sony MDR-1A have a sleek and polished look that feels high-end. The ear cups are slightly similar to that of the MDR-100AAP or the MDR-ZX770BN but with considerably better padding and build quality. The headband is also well padded and coated with a faux-leather material that further exuberates the premium feel of the headphones. They come in an understated yet stylish black and gray color scheme with red accents and a textured back on the ear cups. There's a silver and brown variant, but it comes with an integrated DAC and costs a bit more than the regular MDR-1A.

The MDR-1A are a lot lighter than you would expect when looking at their build quality. That and the excellent padding on the earcups and headband means they deliver a comfortable listening experience that's not fatiguing even if you have them on for a while. However, the padding of the earcups creates a relatively small opening for your ears so they may not fit as comfortably for all listeners.

The control scheme for these headphones feels lacking. They only have one Call/Music button to pause, play and skip tracks. You won't have any control over the volume level which is a bit disappointing, but at least the button has good feedback, and it's easy to use.

The Sony MDR-1A are about average in terms of breathability for an over-ear. They have a good seal which prevents airflow to your outer-ear. This will make them relatively warm after an hour-long listening session, but it's better than some of the other closed back critical listening headphones we've tested like the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x.

The Sony MDR-1A are mid-sized, over-ear headphones, with large earcups that do not fold into the frame for a more compact format. This makes them a bit cumbersome to carry around on your person, especially without a bag. They're not the most portable headphones, but at least the ear cups lay flat, which may come in handy in some situations.

Comes with a rugged pouch. It won't shield the headphones from drops and impact but it will protect them from scratches and minor water damage.

The Sony MDR-1A have a sturdy yet lightweight build quality. The headband is reinforced with a thin metal and plastic frame that's sufficiently flexible to handle a decent amount of physical strain. The ear cups although fairly lightweight are also a mix of metal and plastic that will withstand a couple of accidental drops without getting damaged. The hinges are a bit loose but there aren't a lot of them, reducing the potential weak points of the design.

The Sony MDR-1A are not the most stable headphones. They stay put during casual listening sessions and the audio cable will detach if it's hooked on something, but unfortunately, they will quickly fall off your head if you use them for running or working out.

• Sony MDR-1A Headphones
• Carrying Pouch
• Audio cables (x2)
• Manual

The frequency response consistency of the Sony MDR-1A is good. In the bass range, for some reason the right ear cup shows more inconsistency. But the maximum deviation is about 4dB, which although noticeable is not too bad, especially since it's mostly happening in a narrow region. In the treble range, these headphones show more consistently (below 10KHz), except for narrow deviations between 5KHz and 7KHz.

The Sony MDR-1A have an excellent bass. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is great. Low-bass, responsible for the thump and rumble common to bass-heavy genres is flat but 2dB above our neutral target. Mid-bass, responsible for the body of bass guitars and punch of the kick drums is also flat and 2dB above our neutral target. High-bass, responsible for warmth, is overemphasized by 1.5dB, but most of that is happening below 200Hz, so it doesn't add muddiness to the bass. Overall, the bass of the Sony is deep, punchy, and slightly heavy, but without sounding boomy or cluttered.

The mid-range performance is excellent. Low-mid is underemphasized by 1.5dB which thins out vocals a little bit, but it also creates more room for punch in the bass range. Mid-mid and high-mid are nearly flawless and within 0.7dB of our neutral target. Overall, the mid-range of the Sony is clear and well-balanced, which is quite important for vocals.

The treble performance is good. Low-treble and mid-treble are slightly underemphasized, and the dip around 5KHz negatively affects the detail and presence in vocals/leads. But the effect will be subtle. The peak in the sibilance range at 9KHz however, means these headphones could sound noticeably sharp and piercing on S and T sounds, especially on overly bright tracks.

The imaging performance of the Sony MDR-1A is very good. Weighted group delay is at 0.27, which is within good limits. The GD graph also shows that the entire group delay response is within the audibility threshold. This results in a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were very well-matched. This ensures an accurate localization and placement of objects (voices, instruments, video game effects) in the stereo image.

The Sony MDR-1A has a sub-par soundstage. The PRTF graph shows a good amount of activation (pinna interaction), and the interaction is decently accurate too. However, there's no 10KHz present. This results in a soundstage that is perceived relatively large and natural, but located inside the listener's head. Also, because of the closed-back enclosure, their soundstage may be perceived to be less open as that of open-back headphones.

The Sony MDR-1A has a sub-par isolation performance. In the bass range, where the rumble of airplane and bus engines sit, they don't achieve any isolation. In the mid-range, important for blocking out speech, the isolate by about 7dB, which is below-average. In the treble range, occupied by sharps sounds like S and Ts, they isolate by 30dB, which is good.

The leakage is decent. The significant portion of the leakage is between 500Hz and 5KHz, which is a relatively broad range. The overall level of leakage, however, is not very loud. With the music 100dB SPL, the leakage at 1 foot away averages at 41dB SPL and peaks at just above 50dB SPL, which is around the same as the noise floor of an average office.

The recording quality of the in-line microphone is about average. The dip between 100Hz and 400Hz makes the sound of recorded/transmitted speech a bit thin. But the bump in low-bass makes this mic prone to pops and rumbling noise. The HFE (high-frequency extension) of 4.1KHz results in a speech that lacks some detail and presence. But this won't affect the comprehensibility of the speech, since speech intelligibility is mostly dependent on the 500Hz-4KHz range.

The in-line microphone of the MDR-1A is average at noise handling. In our SpNR test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 17dB, suggesting they are best suited for quiet and moderately loud environments since they would struggle to fully separate speech from ambient noise in loud places.

These are passive headphones with no active components and no battery.

The Sony MDR-1A do not have a compatible app or software support for added customization options.

These headphones are wired and do not have a Bluetooth connection. If you want a good Bluetooth headset for more casual use, check out the Sony WH-1000XM2.

The Sony MDR-1A have a simple wired connection with practically no latency. Unfortunately, this also means that they're limited by the range of the provided cables.

The Sony MDR-1A come with a non-os-specific audio cable with an in-line remote and microphone that is compatible with consoles. They will provide audio and voice chat support when connected to your PS4 or Xbox One controller, but you may need a headset adapter for PC if your PC does not have a 4 pin audio jack like tablets and phones.

These headphones do not have a dock. If you need a headset with a dock that also has a wired connection for gaming or watching movies, then consider the SteelSeries Arctis 7.