Sony MDR-V6 Monitor Series Headphones with CCAW Voice Coil

It was time to replace them since the cord is finally shorting too much to ignore any longer and my ears are always covered with black stuff and foam from the disintergrating earcups. I asked around and a colleague who is the audio technician on a popular TV show told me without hesitation, these are the ones to buy. It's what he uses on the set and at home. I'm glad Sony still makes 'em. Maybe I should buy another pair for ten years down the road...


My favorite headphones   July 8, 2004
M. Chabot (State College, PA)
76 out of 79 found this review helpful

The Sony MDR-V6s were the first really good headphones I owned. After about 15 years of use, the foam padding was a bit run down. After doing the exhaustive search for the best headphones, I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD580s (I also own Etymotic ER-4Ps). Comparing the HD580 to my MDR-V6s, I would say that the MDR-V6s are better for two reasons. 1. The MDR-V6s are more comfortable to wear for long periods of time, and 2. The MDR-V6s have a telephone-like cord, which is easier to deal with than the straight HD580 cord. The sound quality was very good on both headphones, and about equal. I ended up buying new foam pads for my 15-year-old MDR-V6s, which made them feel like brand new headphones. I also bought a second pair of MDR-V6s, and shelved the HD580s for now.

Do not buy the MDR-600s by mistake. I have never used them, but I have read numerous reviews that state that the MDR-600s are inferior to the MDR-V6s. You can still buy the MDR-V6s, but they are harder to find. I bought mine at millionbuy because Amazon did not have them in stock. For some reason, the MDR-V6 product name at Amazon magically changed to MDR-600, even though it is an entirely different product. I am not sure why this happened.

The audioreview Web site has a great collection of headphone reviews.


Owner since 1992   December 14, 2005
J. Vinopal
67 out of 68 found this review helpful

I bought these headphones in 1992, and unlike most of the rest of the stuff I squandered my money on back then, these were and continue to be the real deal.

My earpads have flaked off their coating like everyone else. But no need to buy new phones, you can order the earpads from sony.com or some specialty audio stores:

MDR-V6/MDR-7506 Ear Pad
PART: X-2113-124-1
PRICE: $6.00 (US)


Sony MDR-V6   February 6, 2000
Stephen Misel (Southern California)
26 out of 26 found this review helpful

I purchased my Sony MDR-V6 headphones in my very early teens (if not earlier) after reading a review in Stereo Review (I believe). Since then, they've gotten tons of use and I've seen them everywhere. I've gone through 3 or 4 cords over the years and they're finally falling apart. I wanted another pair but settled (ha!) on MDRV600's, which are very muddy - all mids. They're going back today to Best Buy and I'm getting a new set of V6's from here -- I can't believe Sony has kept this model alive so long. These are incredible 'phones. Trust me.


Unbeatable value   January 3, 2004
Kaiser Soze
25 out of 25 found this review helpful

I have been a headphone fanatic for thirty years and have owned and used a variety of headphones over those years, to include Stax SR-5, Sennheiser HD-424 and HD-580. The Sony MDRV6 excells as the best value of any headphone that I've ever owned. They are especially good at producing natural-sounding deep bass, and the overall octave-to-octave balance is excellent. The sound quality is all in all comparable to other headphones that cost considerably more.

The MDRV6 is especially well-suited for travel due to the collapsible design, and for noisy environments or for quiet environments such as a library where the sound emitted by open-back headphones would distract others.

The MDRV6 is not quite as comfortable as some other headphones, but the comfort can be improved enormously by replacing the pads with the velour pads from BeyerDynamic. The pads that come on the MDRV6 have a non-breathable cover, and significant additional discomfort is caused by the way that the thin foam cover is glued to the pad around the inner circumference of the pad, which prevents the top and back of your ear from slipping into the space between the pad and the face of the headphone. This forces the pad to rest on the back of the ear, which compresses the ear and eventually becomes uncomfortable. I read on a web forum where several people had replaced the pads (which eventually come apart) with a velour pad made by BeyerDynamic, and after I did this replacement on my one pair that had a damaged pad, the increase in comfort was so great that I immediately did the other pair. The thin cover can be glued down to the headphone face if needed to hold it in place, which then allows the top and rear of your ear to naturally slide under the inner circumference of the pad, which is considerably more comfortable. I can recommend this trivial modification without reservation to anyone who owns these headphones. Even if you don't replace the pads with the BeyerDynamic velour pads, I suggest removing the pads anyway, then carefully separating the thin cover from the pad, and glueing the cover directly to the headphone surface.