Sony MDR-7506 Headphones Review

The Sony 7506 have a closed-back, over-ear design. A few branding logos highlight the understated, all-black color scheme. The ear cups are large and oval, while the wide headband is lightly padded and covered in a faux leather-like material. There are red and blue accents on opposite sides of the headband, so you can instantly differentiate between right and left.

These headphones are decently comfortable. The ear cups are large enough to fit well around most ears. They also don't grip your head too tightly, so they won't get uncomfortable during long listening sessions. The ear cups are covered with a faux leather material that feels soft but cheaply made. However, they aren't as comfortable as the plush padding seen on the Sony MDR-MV1.

These headphones are reasonably breathable but will still make your ears make your ears fairly warm during long listening sessions. They have a closed-back over-ear design that prevents airflow, so listening in hot, humid environments may cause sweat to build up around your ears.

The Sony 7506 are reasonably portable headphones. Their frame is quite bulky, but the foldable design tightly tucks the ear cups within the frame to save space. They won't be the easiest headphones to carry around, but they will comfortably fit into most bags. Unfortunately, they don't come with a pouch or case.

These headphones have a decent build quality. They have a thin metal frame that somewhat reinforces the build, and despite being lightweight, the dense plastic used on the ear cups and yokes is solid enough to withstand being dropped. Overall, these headphones feel cheap, and there's an audible creak when you put them on. The hinges are also relatively weak, and the exposed wire is susceptible to damage. On the upside, these headphones are designed for their parts to be easily replaceable, so you can switch out any damaged parts without buying a new pair.

These headphones have disappointing stability. They won't slide off your ears during casual listening sessions, but you'll have to re-adjust their fit if you find yourself headbanging too hard. If you're looking for more stable studio headphones at a similar price check out the AKG K361.

• Sony MDR-7506 headphones
• 1/8" to 1/4" adapter

The Sony MDR-7506 have a well-balanced sound profile that's well-suited to everything from sound mixing to casual listening. The bass range as a whole is overemphasized, adding warmth with plenty of punch and boom, but not as much as some bassy DJ headphones like the Sennheiser HD 25. Other than a small dip in the low-mid, which thins out rhythm instruments somewhat, the mid-range is very neutral and results in a detailed reproduction of vocals and lead instruments. The treble range is also quite neutral but a little uneven in part of the range: two small peaks in the low-treble help bring out the upper harmonics of vocals, while a larger peak in the mid-treble makes sibilants sound bright and accurate.

They have good frequency response consistency. The bass delivery won't vary too much between different sittings, but you might need to re-adjust the fit a little to achieve a consistent treble delivery.

The bass accuracy is impressive. The whole range is slightly overemphasized, resulting in a warm bass response with plenty of boom, rumble, and thump on tap.

These headphones have outstanding mid accuracy. The response is virtually flat across almost the entire range and follows our target curve very well. There's only one small dip at the lower end of the low-mid range that slightly thins out instruments like snare drums. On songs like Carole King's You've Got a Friend, the vocals sound both present and intimate, and you can clearly distinguish them against the crisp piano accompaniment.

The treble accuracy is very good. The low treble is slightly overemphasized, which brings out the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments but also makes them a little harsh. The mid-treble response is tilted so that lower-toned sibilants, like hi-hats, sound dull, but the overemphasis at the top of the range brightens S and T sounds in higher-pitched vocals. Overall, the overemphasis in the treble can be useful for professional audio applications as pops, clicks, and other unwanted audio artifacts are more easily identifiable.

The peaks and dips performance is good, and these headphones generally follow their own sound profile. The entire bass range is slightly boosted, resulting in a warm and boomy bass response. A slight dip in the low-mid makes snares and toms sound a little hollow. Peaks in the low-treble make upper harmonics sound harsh. A sharp peak in the mid-treble makes sibilants, like S and T sounds, seem piercing.

These headphones have excellent imaging performance. A good imaging performance often represents a manufacturer's quality control and ergonomics. Sony has built an excellent reputation in this regard, and the imaging performance of these headphones indicates this. That said, imaging varies between units. Our unit's group delay is below the audibility threshold, and the left and right drivers are well-matched in phase, amplitude, and frequency. Although there appears to be a large spike in the phase mismatch in the high-treble, this may be due to these headphones struggling to reproduce very high frequencies.

The Sony MDR-7506 have a poor soundstage performance, which is normal for closed-back headphones. Sound seems to be coming from inside your head rather than from speakers placed in a room around you. The resulting soundstage sounds closed-off and lacks the immersive quality found in open-back headphones.

These headphones have a decent weighted harmonic distortion performance. There's some distortion present between the mid-bass and low-mid at higher listening volumes. However, this distortion still falls within good levels, and it's hard to hear unless you're an astute audiophile.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The isolation performance is poor. They isolate passively through their closed-back design. While this provides a degree of attenuation in the treble range, which helps block out noises like fridge hum, it provides minimal isolation against mid-range noise and virtually no isolation against low-frequency sounds, like engine rumble.

They have a decent leakage performance. Escaping audio is concentrated in mid and treble ranges, so it sounds thin and lacks body. That said, the leakage isn't particularly loud and will only bother people around you if you're cranking your tunes in a quiet space like a library.

These headphones don't come with a microphone. Check out the Bose SoundTrue Around-Ear II, the Bose QuietComfort 25/QC25, and the Apple EarPods for wired headphones with a good in-line microphone.

These headphones have a single non-detachable audio cable. They can only receive audio as there's no microphone. Fortunately, latency is negligible, so you won't notice any sync issues between your audio and video.

You can connect these headphones to PCs with a wired connection for audio compatibility. However, you'll need a standalone mic to input audio.

You can connect these headphones to PlayStation consoles with a wired connection for audio compatibility. However, you'll need a standalone mic to communicate with your teammates.

You can use these headphones wired on Xbox if you plug their 1/8" TRS cable into a controller. However, you'll need a standalone microphone to input audio.

These headphones don't come with a dock. If you need a headset with a dock that also has a wired connection for gaming or watching movies, consider the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless and its variants.