Sony Mdre9lp Red Ear Buds Survey I subscribe to a wide variety of daily and weekly podcasts and I am constantly walking around with earbuds on. I'm sure that listening to podcasts constantly instead of loud music is better for my eardrums but it is murder on the earbuds. I have probably bought more earbuds in the last five years than five people buy in a lifetime. Since I have an Apple Nano and an iPod Touch, I was buying Apple OEM and replacement earbuds. I would buy twelve or fifteen at a time. The problem was that the earbuds might last only a week before either one side or both stopped working. I bought a pair of these Sony earbuds a few days before Thanksgiving at a local discount store. It is now the end of January and the earbuds are still working like the day they came out of the store. And yes, they have been put through the wringer. I've snagged them on the cabinet knobs. I've lifted the iPod Touch by the wires. I have slept with them on. Both left and right are still working and they still sound great. The sound is better than the cheaper Chinese Apple replacements, but what really seems to set these earbuds apart is the way they are constructed. The wire connections to the earbuds and the plug seem much stronger and more durable than the Apple design. I am happy with the product. In fact, I've already ordered a supply of them from Amazon. I would definitely recommend this product. P. S. Music sounds great on them, too! Enjoy! I currently own the Sony Mdr-E10Lp earbuds, and have re-purchased them several times (have been my favorite for years). Now that it has been over a year with my current pair it was time to get a new pair. I found that the Sony Mdr-E9Lp were the newer version of favorite earbuds, and i was expecting at least quality equal to that of the older version. When i got the earbuds, i had nothing to complain about the packaging and product design is almost identical to the Sony Mdr-E10Lp, except the stem on the earbud itself is much shorter than its predecessor. Everything seemed fine, until i pressed play on the music with these. The sound was a disaster. There is no bass, volume of sound is dramatically decreased, sound is muffled. Even with different music and video players, there was no improvement. I was so disappointed. I don't know if i received a defective pair of earbuds or if this is what the product is. I would not recommend these, even for just music traveling needs. Now to the hopes that I can continue to purchase the Sony Mdr-E10Lp earbuds, which offer a much better, impressive sound quality. I thought I lost these ear buds one day. Then I remembered that I accidentally left them in the pocket of my sweat shorts, which were thrown into the washer. I quickly retrieved them, dried them off, then plugged them in. I assumed they would not work but they still do! I couldn't believe it! I have used the E10LP of these headphones for a long time on numerous devices. They are a great value with solid sound quality for the cost. Are there better sure, but I am hard on them and if a pair last me 4 - 6 month I am happy do to physical damage that I inflict. That being said I have now purchased the new version of the E9LP and there is a feature that the new version doesn't have that I never knew I would miss until it was gone. The E9LP are uniformed in shape while the E10LP are "banana" shaped. What I have found is that the old shape made it very easy to feel what the left was and what the right headphone was. You ask why this would be important, first the L and R will wear off but more importantly I use them to listen to PbyP at a lot of sporting events where I just use one side and they sit in my pocket and go in and out of my ear often. It is impossible to tell quickly by feel if you grabbed the left or right bud. Also, when listen in the dark like at night when I listen to audiobooks or music it has been useful. Again, not a feature I even though about until it was gone. No I have bought some old stock of the E10LP's but that will only last so long. Sony, you made a mistake taking the "banana" shape out of the ear buds. If all you are concerned with is sound then these are fine if you know what price point you are buying at. As for the comments about the foam pads not staying on. Not an issue for me, I never use them.
I used to love Sony's cheap earbuds, they gave a great sound and you didn't have to worry too much over them breaking or being lost. This new version just isn't the same however, the sound is very very tinny, nothing like they used to be.
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