Rating: 
Summary: The cord length is perfect and flexible...
Review: After quickly ditching the mondo uncomfortable buds that came with my iPod, I went on a quest for quality yet affordable earbuds and found these puppies. I've gone through 5 pairs of these things in the past 2+ years, at first buying them off some guy in Japan on ebay before Sony decided the US market was worthy. (Both this model and it's predecessor EX70xx) I use them constantly both at work and while jogging. They're great, but there's a few tricks to using them that if you don't do, you'll hate them.
(1) Concerning cord length: The protective case for the buds is intended to be used to control the cord length when in use. You wrap the cord around the open case as many times as you need and then close it. Each time takes up about 1 1/2 inch of slack or so. It also lets you keep up with your protective case while your using them. Really quite cleaver.
(2) These earbuds are designed so that both the cord connecting the two earbuds and cord connecting them to your playing device go behind your neck!! This helps to eliminate tugs on the cord from either resonating in the buds or pulling the buds out of your ear. This also helps explain again why the extension cord is so long. If you don't do this, you will hate using these headphones for anything other than sitting at a desk.
(3) Out of the box, the bass is a bit heavy; but they calm down after they're broken in. And it's been said before, but it's worth reiterating, you have to put them all the way in your ear for them to resonate or you will have very poor bass.
(4) If you're using them with an iPod, you really should hunt down the white ones - just from a design aesthetic if nothing else.
I took off a star because I'd prefer the cord be one piece, but I understand that this was designed for the Japanese market which utilizes a lot more in-cord remotes/displays... yada, yada... The sound really is quite good for the price and it's amazing how well they block out outside noise. Hope this helps.
Rating: 
Summary: Best earbuds you can find without blowing a lot of $$$!
Review: After realizing that my current pair of Sony Street-style had reached the end of their lifespan, I began searching for a replacement pair. They had served me well, so I decided to see what Sony had to offer again.They didn't disappoint me. I decided to look for an earbud type this time for convience and work-related reasons. What I found were the MDR-EX71SL's. These little babies are a godsend. They fit snugly and comfortably inside your ear...you won't know how comfortably until you try them. The best part is, they sound absolutely amazing! I've never heard bass from earbuds like this before! The treble seems a little dark, but that may just be because I prefer bright treble. And, the closed-type design does a good job of blocking out outside noises, which was an unexpected bonus, I must say. The cord quite short, but that's so you can connect it to the in-line remote of your CD or Mp3 player without having too much slack. Sony threw in a metre long extension for those of you that don't have a remote, but the combined length is a bit long for use with a portable player. This problem can be fixed with the nifty case that comes with the pair. Normally, it holds just the earbuds, but it also doubles as a cord winder, which is very useful. In the package you also get a cloth carrying case, which is totally useless IMO, unless you have a MiniDisc player, which it might fit, I don't know. All in all, the MDR-EX71SL earbuds are best you're going to find without splurging on a pair from Shure or another high-end manufacturer. And one more thing, be sure to push them in all the way to get that deep bass, as previously mentioned by other reviewers.
Rating:
Summary: Valued Upgrade
Review: First and foremost, I must say that these sony's did not blow me away at first. Just as a quality home set of speakers need to be broken in to reach their fullest potential, so does the fontopia headphones. Once broken in, the sound is full and rich - rivaling my Sennheiser HD 280 pro's.
I would recommend that if you were to purchase these, first give them constant play using all sorts of music for a couple of days. I didn't even use mine until I broke them in on my Zen Micro playing all genre's of music etc. Jazz, Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop, and downtempo electronica.
Once these are properly broken in, it's hard to beat the sony's price vs. performance value. Sure they're not true audiophile headphones, but they come awfully close.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad (and a tip)
Review: Headphones and earbuds are very subjective, and reviews vary widely for them, especially Sony. Some audiophiles would have you believe these are unredeemable junk, and other users really love them. The truth is somewhere in between for me. They're a nice combination of performance for the money. Better sound quality than the cheap phones that come with most portables, but less expensive than the high-end earbuds (which I personally can't justify buying). One tip on proper use - if you don't get the buds inserted correctly, the sound is awful. Bass is nonexistent, mids and highs are washed, and if you turn up the volume too high to compensate, the speakers can respond with an overdriven crackling. To fit the buds correctly, slip them into your ear canal, then GENTLY tug on your ear, pulling it back and away from your head. The buds should slide a little deeper into the canal and create a seal, dramatically improving quality. Don't just try and jam them in your ear. Also, experiment with the silicone caps to get the best fit.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't make the mistake I made by ordering these!!
Review: I apologize. I should have read the other product reviews for this item before I bought them ... would have saved me several dollars and alot of trouble ... These are quite simply the most bizarrely designed set of headphones ever sold by any manufacturer. Indeed, they are simply unusable. The odd cord length makes these headphones impossible to use unless the connected player is in your shirt pocket.
True, they sound terrific, but Amazon.com needs to just drop this item from the store. Instead, try Sony MDR-EX51LP Fontopia Headphones (same tech specs, but with normal cords and $10 cheaper!!).
Rating:
Summary: Great Headphones
Review: I bought these headphones over X-mas break because I lost my Ipod headphones. These were supposed to be Sony's comparable headphones to the Apple In-Ear headphones, but better. After reading many reviews, I find these headphones to be awesome! They fit really well in the ear, which helps reduce outside noise. That's one thing I didn't like too much about my Ipod headphones, was how they fit and they let in a lot of outside noise. Also, if I were to wear them for a long period of time (like an hour or more) they would start to hurt my ear. These are very comfortable and haven't had any discomfort so far. The quality of music compared to my Ipod headphones is about the same. But with the reduction of outside noise, it makes it sound better. The only things I don't like about them how they split going up the wire from one wire to splitting into the two separate headphones. They made one side longer than the other, which is great when you want to wear them behind your head for working out, but when you wear them normally they look kinda weird. Also, the piece that sticks out of your ear is sitting at a weird angle and looks kinda funny. But, besides those two things, they are totally awesome and worth the little extra money.
Rating:
Summary: Odd design, a few minor caveats, but overall, top notch
Review: I got these headphones for my birthday, after someone online I knew recommended them. I must admit, the design is funky - one headphone cord is much longer than the other, and the main part of the cord is way too short for normal use. They give you an extension cord, but it's too long for average use.
I'm not a very vain person, so I went ahead and took the suggestion that was put on here of bundling up part of the extension cord with ties, and using the extension all the time in normal use. This works just fine, and easily fixes the length problem... and also, having that extension is excellent.. I had an old pair of earbuds I liked to use with my laptop, and I was always yanking the cord because it was too short.
As far as the one cord being longer than the other... I have no problem looping the right side cord behind my neck to the right ear. This causes no discomfort for me.
Occasionally, the left side will get yanked a lil bit, which will pull on the left earplug.. this isn't really a big deal though. It doesn't come out, and unlike if that were to happen with traditional earbuds, it doesn't hurt.
A word of advice: Maybe it's just me, but I sometimes have a heck of a time getting the left earpiece in right so it sounds right and doesn't feel weird. I'm a right-handed person, and the solution I've used is to put in the earpieces one at a time, the right first, and then put the left in with my right hand.
Now, I don't know why they tell you that there's a winding case that comes with this - there's NOT. It's a little chest kind of case, which sucks and I don't use. It does come with a lil capsule to hold the buds and keep them clean, and prevent tangles though, I do use that.
These caveats aside though - I LOVE THESE HEADPHONES. They're one of the best sounding set of headphones I've ever heard, and they even beat out a lot of over-the-ear models I've heard, esp. when you have an equalizer on what you plug them into. And not only do they sound great (decent sound across the whole spectrum - but the bass is AWESOME), but they block out a lot of noise with the closed, earplug type design. They're great for bus trips. They're also fun to use on the computer, if you don't like to hear your own keystrokes - which I hate. LOL
Another word on the bass response... it's best described by one word, beautiful. Most headphones this size can't do real rich, warm, comforting bass like they have in some songs.. these can. I give these guys two thumbs up on their bass response. I'm a big bass fan BTW. lol
They are also very comfortable.. unlike most earbuds I've tried, you can wear these soft silicone wonders for hours on end without any sores in your ears. Just keep your ears clean though!
For safety's sake though... don't wear these where hearing external sounds is necessary for your health. The noise blocking properties of these headphones truly are amazing... I'd hate to see someone get killed in traffic because they were jammin' with these things! :)
PS: If you wear these in your room, and you have other people in the house and they come to see you... you won't hear them coming. So prepare for a shock if you're nervous. These headphones are that good at blocking noise.
Rating:
Summary: ignore the complaints- these headphones are great
Review: I had recently killed my ipod headphones by leaving them into the bottom of my backpack, so one of them cracked open. I was also blowing one of the speakers out anyways, so I thought oh well and used some cheap headphones until my birthday, when i got these. I had read some reviews saying that these had an extremely annoying cord and how the earphones were set up were weird, so I was afraid that I wasn't going to like them because I'm really picky.
It turns out that I absolutely love these headphones and that I would never go back to the crappy ones that came with my ipod. They fit comfortably in the ear, although how far it goes in takes a little getting used to. Now, whenever I put in someone's ipod earphones, they feel hard, bulky and uncomfortable. I can't believe that I used to like those. The sound quality is great, it blocks out sound wonderfully. They're easy to transport, which is a feature that I love because I like to listen to music between classes. The protective case for the earbuds is a great idea because they protect them from the same fate as my ipod earphones. It also helps keep them from getting tangled. The other larger case is good for keeping the other sized rubber things that go over the earphone, but i don't use it that much because it's too much of a pain to keep pulling them out and putting them back in.
As long as the cord thing, they're right, the cord is too short, and the extension is way too long. To solve that problem, I used the cord extension, but kept the little tie thing wrapping up the rest of the cord on it, so it would stay short. A problem that easily solvable isn't a reason for returning them.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Comfort, but Irritating Design
Review: I purchased these earphones to replace the headphones which came with my iPod. I recently took a job which requires me to commute nearly 2h each way, and the iPod headphones were killing my hears. Therefore, I checked everything out and purchased these headphones hoping they would be usable for 4+ hours every day.
I was not disapointed. They are definitely the most comfortable earphones I've used. Unfortunately, the design of nearly everything below the earpieces is very irritating. Unlike the standard iPod headphones, these do not have the usual Y-intersection where each earpiece is connected by an equal-length cord to an intersection which then merges the separate cords together. Instead, from the intersection point, there is a very short cord which extends to the left ear, and a very long cord which extends to the right ear. The result of this is that the left earpiece bears the entire weight of the the cord. In addition, this results in the left earpiece being suseptible to being yanked out if the cord get caught on something. The equal-cord-length design of the original iPod earphones is much superior to the design of these earphones.
The second disappointing aspect is the cord below the junction point. The actual cord itself is very short (only long enough to reach an iPod in a chest pocket) which Sony offsets by including a 2' extension cord. The problem is twofold: first, the linkage between the cord and the extension easily gets caught in one's clothing, and second, the combination of the cord and extension is too long for most purposes. The two factors lead a much lanking on the left earpiece and having to fuss with the cord to keep it from getting tangled in your clothing.
Finally, there's the case. One of my objections to the iPod's earphones is that there is no good way to store them short of wrapping them around the iPod itself. So, in deciding what to replace them with, I was pleased to see that these earphones came with a "winding case design". I had assumed that this case was the kind where the earpieces rest in the center of the enclosure, and you can use a single finger to rotate the center part of the case within its housing to wind up the cord. Alas, this is not so. The case they provide is simply a box slightly bigger than an Altoids tin. While this does serve the purpose of protecting the earphones, it is far from convenient to use. I'd hoped for something more useful.
Overall, these are a very confortable set of earphones, and despite my grousing, I much prefer them to others I have tried. Ideally, however, I would love to chop of the earpieces from my iPod headphones and attach the earpieces from these to make a perfect set of iPod earphones.
Rating:
Summary: A Worthwhile Upgrade for Anyone Using iPod Headphones
Review: I would suggest buying these headphones to anyone who is using iPod headphones or headphones included with a CD/MP3 player. The MDR-EX71SL Fontopia headphones provide excellent sound quality for any genre of music. They provide great sounding bass, unlike the iPod headphones. It seems like you are listening with much larger headphones. Also, they are excellent at noise-cancellation. When I used them on an airplane while watching a DVD, it significantly reduced the outside noise. However, they are not perfect, and true noise-canceling headphones do a better job, but these still work fine. The headphones cord is short, so an extension cord is included. Instead of the extension cord I use the iPod remote, and it works perfectly. I ordered the white Fontopia headphones on eBay, so they look just like the iPod headphones.
These are really quality headphones. I was considering buying the more expensive headphones from Shure, but I decided to go with this as a less-expensive alternative, and I'm happy I did.
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