Sony MDRZX110 Review. Cheap Price, Cheap Quality

In this review we’ll go cover the Sony MDRZX110 wired headphones. Before we start with a review of the 110 (that’s what I’m calling them for the rest of the review because it’s just easier), there are different versions of the 110 available and a lot of reviews on the internet are wrong about them. They give you false information because they’ll note that the 110 has a microphone built into it, which it doesn’t. Other reviews will mention that the 110 has noise cancelling, which it does not. If you want to see the version of the 110 with a microphone built into it that’s the 110AP, it’s a slightly different model. If you want to see the 110 with noise cancelling built into it, that is the 110NC and the NC stands for noise cancelling. The 110NC version I have reviewed.

This review is simply for the regular 110 version.

There’s one caveat I have, which makes no sense from Sony and that is because the earcups can fold in and having earcups that fold in on any headphones will automatically make the frame slightly weaker than it should be. This especially makes no sense with these headphones. Why? Because they’re not ideal for travelling. They’re wired headphones, so having wired headphones means when taking them off it’s okay, but every time you want to put them on it means fiddling with a cable a bit before you can put the 100 on. It’s annoying with wired headphones putting them on and taking them off. Better to just leave them around your neck when possible. You’re not fiddling with the cable, not fighting it, just picking it up from your neck and placing it on your head and done.

The other reason for not making sense for having this foldable is because they are not ideal for travelling. If you frequently take the bus, train, plane, or whatever do not get the 100. I’ll cover noise cancelling later.

There’s no official information from Sony if they’re dust and water resistance. Well, that’s probably because they’re not. They’re super cheap, so don’t get them wet or dirty. You might damage them permanently.

When it comes to replacing the ear cushions, there’s no replaceable units being sold by Sony, but third-party resellers do sell them.

One thing to keep in mind when it comes to the ear cushions (whether it be from third party resellers or the ones that come with the headphones themselves), they’re not ideal. They’re made of horrible material, the type that will easily dissolve after wear and tear of use, especially on daily use. And that’s because the fabric is like paper (in durability in my opinion), is this is not going to do much justice. Again, I know it’s cheap, but there are cheaper competing headphones in the same price tag bracket that sell much better ear cushions than the 110.

Now, when it comes to working out, in case you’re curious, can you use it for working out? Well, yeah, but there’s a couple of problems. The first is that they’re wired headphones, so they’re not ideal for weight training. However, if you can do something like stationary bike, outdoor cycling, elliptical machine, or treadmill, they’ll work just fine. Although I don’t recommend it for working out for 2 reasons. One is that they’re on the ear headphones, your ears will sweat like crazy, very quickly. The other reason being, of course, is that the ear cushions are well, they’re pathetic material. As I mentioned earlier, they’ll dissolve very quickly, even more rapidly with your excessive sweating.

While we’re focusing on the ear cushions, let’s talk about how they are in terms of comfort, just simply wearing them. Overall, they’re not bad. I can wear them for about 3 hours straight. My ears don’t get irritated, they don’t get hot, and they feel just fine, surprisingly at this price point.

The thickness on the ear cushions is very thin, at this price point it’s expected.

The headband flex is generous. It’s not too tight, it’s loose. Nothing that will shift the 110 around and fall either, it’s well done. One thing to keep in mind for people that have little to no hair or well, no hair at all (if you’re bald) is that there’s no cushioning on the interior of the headband. Again, competing headphones at the same price point do have some cushioning. If cost of material was a concern for Sony, they could have got around this very easily by just putting some cushioning at the dead centre of the headband (maybe two or three inches wide) because that’s where your head is most likely going to rest and touch the headband, problem solved. But this is a missed opportunity by Sony.

When it comes to the headband extension, it’s rather generous and it’s done in notches (it’s not a slider mechanism). The earcups can shift up or down and only slightly rotate forward or back. There’s minimal rotation when it comes to forward or back, which should be barely just enough for most people’s head shape and comfort. It looks like Sony sacrificed the forward and back rotation opportunity because they focused more on the foldable design. Again, a very poor choice.

Now when it comes to people on the go, if you’re walking around campus or whatever and you want to put the 110 around your neck, it’s not a bad experience. When it comes to looking left and right, it’s fine it doesn’t touch my chin at all. It’s very comfortable when looking down, it will rub against my chin and my cheeks ever so slightly.

Controls

For those of you curious about onboard controls, what I mean is basically just a physical button somewhere in the cable to play pause/music, answer/hang up a call, or anything else. There’s absolutely nothing there, no controls whatsoever. It’s very disappointing because headphones that are even cheaper than these, ones from competing manufacturers will have at least a play/pause button. You must get the microphone version (the 110AP version) to get a play/pause button included.

Noise Cancelling

I mentioned we’re going to talk about noise cancelling so we can dive into it now. Now, these are not the active noise cancelling version, instead you need to get the 110NC version.

When it comes to passive noise cancelling because they’re on the ear headphones just simply wearing them, it doesn’t block almost any sound at all. You will hear almost all your surroundings. If I’m sitting in a room, someone else is watching TV and the TVs about ten feet away from me with normal volume, (nothing blasting like an action movie), I can hear a lot of the dialogue while nothing’s playing on the headphones.

When I’m playing something on the headphones and there’s some slightly loud music playing in the same room as me, it’s very difficult to hear what’s going on in the headphones, especially for listening to a podcast or news, for example. You’re going to have to crank up the volume a lot to really understand what’s being said in that audio dialogue. You can hear your songs, but again, if you listen to something very vocalised, like a podcast, this is not going to be a good experience for you.

Battery

Regarding battery well, there are none. These headphones are 100% powered by the auxiliary cable plugged in. There’s no battery whatsoever.

Microphone

Going over the microphone, I know I already mentioned it but in case someone jumped to this part of the review, there’s no microphone. Again, if you want to get the microphone version, you must get the 110AP version. So, the same model number but with “AP” at the end of the model’s name. The 110AP model will have the onboard microphone.

The regular 110 one has nothing at all.

Audio Quality

When it comes to sound and audio quality it’s kind of what you expect at this price point. It’s nothing stellar by any means, although there are some things that kind of stood out to me. For example, I’ve noticed with almost every Sony headphone that I’ve reviewed, is that bass is punched up slightly higher right out of the box compared to mids and highs. It’s nothing that will overbear and ruin the song for you, especially if you’re not a bass enthusiast or looking to crank up the bass. However, there’s a slightly bigger punch for bass especially for example when listening to hip hop music. All this is at a flat profile, by the way.

Now when it comes to mids and highs, they perform exceptionally well at this price point. Surprisingly, to be honest.

Now, if you use a third-party equaliser and you crank up the bass, it can get very punchy. If you increase bass too high, it will get distorted. At this price point that isn’t surprising. Mids and highs can output exceptionally good quality within an equaliser, again at this price point, I was really surprised.

The only thing to keep in mind that I find strange about these headphones is that for certain songs and depending on what sound is being output is that there’s a slight reverb, it’s not overbearing, it’s not going to ruin the experience. However, if you really pay attention to it, you can hear that reverb, it’s a little strange. It’s not a flat, clean sound. There’s a there’s a bit of an after feeling (if you will) and that’s where the reverb comes in. The reverb is only noticeable for certain songs and audio (certain action scenes), you will get used to it again. After about an hour of listening to music you get accustomed to it.

Software

Regarding software, there is no official software supported for these headphones, even through the Sony Headphone Connect app.

If you want to use an equaliser like I did in my testing, you need to use a third-party equaliser, so that could be on your computer or your cell phone, whatever it might be. That’s the only way you can really adjust the sound tuning to match whatever your preferences at the time.

Conclusion

There’s a bit of a running joke I’ve heard amongst many people over the last several years for Sony products (not just headphones but Sony products in general) is that Sony products are always expensive. This is one of those rare exceptions where that’s not the case.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some shortcomings, especially with the ear cushioning padding. It’s like paper and going to dissolve in no time. If you use this daily, just keep that in mind then.