These headphones have poor imaging performance. Sony is a very reputable company with good quality control and ergonomics. Treble reproduction is transparent, but our unit shows a mismatch between the L/R driver in group delay, indicating a loose bass. However, these headphones have trouble delivering bass to your ear, so this mismatch can be difficult to hear with real-life content. Unfortunately, we also noticed pops in this region when doing our sweeps, which can be annoying if you’re listening to content with low-bass sounds.
The L/R drivers aren’t well-matched in other tests, most notably in phase response. As such, sound objects, like instruments or sound effects, sound inaccurately placed in the stereo image, which also isn’t well balanced. Keep in mind as well that imaging varies between units.
