Sony MH755 Review – Testing Another Hype

CATCHING THE HYPE TRAIN

This $5-8 cheapo has caught the attentention of the earphone wizards after creating a hype earlier in 2019. Crinacle rates them highly: “Clean notes, proper sub-bass extension and a tonal balance beyond expectations.” Shotgunshane also added them to his list of favourites: “Yup, Seven dollars and 95 cents. Dynamic driver. Universal. Exaggerated Harman type frequency response with large sub bass boost, very clear upper mids and slightly easier going treble. Less warmth than [Sony] MH1/C. Once again Sony makes a budget gem and then screws us over with a J cable.​” Antdroid also appreciates the Sonys: “The Sony freebie is exceptionally good for $6-8. It’s included free with their Bluetooth adapters, and a similar model, the MH750, is included with their cell phones. It’s a warm, bassy yet quite coherent in-ear that is quite a bit bassier and warmer than the Harman Target but has a similar upper-midrange and treble curve. It’s a steal for $6 on eBay.” Another qualified earphone guy, B9Scrambler, assigned the Sonys a small soundstage typical for the price range [original statement]. Co-blogger Biodegraded commented the bass was a bit strong for him (I have not heard him ever not say that). The question is: who is right and is the hype justified? The short answer: they are all right, each for their own reasons, and the hype (if there ever was one) is somewhat justified considering the low price and the small risk to lose money on something one doesn’t enjoy.

NOTHING SPECIAL IN MY EARS?

This is the MH755: single dynamic driver, small earpieces, cable too short (needs extension or recabling), haptic is nothing special. Got my pair from Biodegraded who had purchased them on ebay for $7 AUS.

I put these Sonys first into my ears after a week with the $600 Sennheiser IE 500 PRO [review], which generated a jaw-dropping experience (I had expected the Sonys being slaughtered but the opposite was the case): outstanding tonal balance, clean, natural reproduction. Technicalities are also good: sufficiently wide soundstage with ok depth, good resolution, separation, imaging, layering. No, the Sonys are not better than the Senns, but they excel in the upper midrange: the upper winds and strings of a symphony orchestra are nicely reproduced whereas they are lacking in the better resolving, smoother Senns. Note: the Sony MH755 need quite a bit of juice…while it appears to be preposterous purchasing a dongle amp/dac for a $8 earphone, they work “louder” with my audioquest dragonfly.

To me, the Sony MH755 are like the Toronto Raptors basketball team: every element is good, not much is individually brilliant but everything working together wins matches or even the championship: HOMOGENEITY (=balance) is the Sony’s strength…some may disagree because of the lifted low end. These are simply a delight to listen to for my ears and the main reason may be the tastefully executed upper midrange. Personally, I favour the Sony MH755 over most of my recently reviewed (and much much more expensive) iems, which once again shows that listening pleasure/quality and asking price are frequently not correlated (hence the expensive stuff often has to compensate with window dressing). And even if the MH755 were a bucket of crap in the opinion of others, they still did their job for me by creating pleasure. Isn’t that what we want? MORE JOY OF UNBOXING? Not needed at this price (it comes in a plain baggie).

So why are all earphone guys mentioned above right imo? It depends where you are coming from. If you listen to classical music, the Sonys will excel by their tonal accuracy (“timbre”), their liveliness, and their homogeneity. If you listen to amplified music, the Sony’s benefits don’t play such a big role. As so often, it is in the eyes of the beerholder. The discussion also shows how much timbre can contribute to the listener’s satisfaction…but it is not mentioned at all in many reviews. Many (expensive) balanced armature earphones may not satisfy the listener in terms of timbre or harmonic distortion. As to soundstage: small or not? I find the soundstage being oval, quite wide rather than deep, with an ok height, but it appears to become smaller with decreasing volume. Add some juice and the soundstage is ok (for my ears).

SMOOTH JOURNEY IN THE END

Does the Chifi holy grail we all have been looking for come from Japan in the end? This is up to you to answer. I usually don’t give buying advice: “If you are in the market for a $xxx earphone, this is a no brainer because it punches above its weight…pull the trigger now” or similar sales blabla. But at $5-8 your biggest risk is getting a fake. Check the ratings of the ebay sellers.

Keep on listening!

You find an INDEX of all our earphone reviews HERE.

The Sony MH755: There is no reason to be euphoric about them but they certainly are a victory for the dollar-store audiophiles.

P.S. I am lazy and “recabled” by adding a female-to-male audio cable for $2.99. Works.