Guaranteed the best $20 you'll ever spend.

Today I had a realization that most often does not come to musicians, especially those who are rough on their gear. My headphones have taken an unreal beating throughout their years. Flashback: to my early days of DJ'ing in the basement, yearning for some quality cans to monitor the mixes with. One trip to Best Buy solved that. As soon as I laid eyes on the Sony MDR V150's, I knew I was about to attain sonic bliss. Better yet, they were only $20, an entry level price seemingly unsuitable for such a high quality product. Now, let me explain how these headphones are so well constructed to withstand a 4 year beating. First of all, the cord is long, about 6 feet from jack to the split. Not only does that allow a lot of freedom, but it makes it less likely to be in the way or get caught on something in the DJ booth. Also, the cord is straight, unlike those curled cords. As far as I know those were designed for phones, but it's just too distracting and tangle-prone for a DJ. Next, the headphone speakers themselves. Perfect amount of padding, with the right angle to fit nicely on the ears. These are neither completely over the ear or on the ear style. The reason this style works so well for DJs is that the music can be heard at extremely loud levels in a loud room, but you can still intereact with your surroundings, and talk to people with them on, and no music playing, therefore saving the time of carefully taking the headphones off and putting them back on. Believe me, this is a lifesaver. The sides offer the right amount of adjustability and can be changed without taking them off your head. The main reason these have lasted so long is that fact that they are destructable-the two adjustable sides can come all the way when pulled. The first time I stepped on the cord and yanked the 150's on, I thought I had ruined a perfect pair of headphones. Then I saw the two speakers on the floor, and snapped them back in; genious (Maybe this is where Apple stole their MagSafe power adapter idea from). Eventually I bought a second pair, which was recently sent into repair by some jack that ripped the plastic molding and most of the inner wiring apart. Guess I can't have too much of a good thing.







The duct tape? One of the sides suffered a slight fracture, now its not noticable with the tape. The padding is wearing away around the edges, but I think it adds wisdom.