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Vintage Sony MDR-e434 earphones?

judeandon
New

Vintage Sony MDR-e434 earphones?

Hi there!

 

Recently, I found an old pair of flat-head earphones in one of my dad's drawers of old electronics - the Sony MDR-e434 earphones (ear buds). I was told by him that they were probably purchased by him in Japan in the late 80s, 1988ish - and after closer expection to the bit of plastic on the cable, I found out the model number.

 

After sitting down, plugging them into my audio interface, I was amazed with the sound quality! Such rich bass but balanced trebles, and capable of picking up even the slightest sounds in the recording studio of David Bowie's "Low". I was simply blown away with it - and even plugged into my phone it produced a fantastic experience. I own a pair of MDR-EX450 Sony earphones, and even they didn't match the performance. Also, one problem I have with most flat-end earphones is that they never seem to fit in my ear properly, but these MDR-e434s were the one exception: fitting perfectly. I can truly say that these earphones delivered the same fullness and richness, yet also subtleness and accuracy as over-ear headphones: something which is incomparable to any consumer earphones on the market.

 

However, after Googling them I was presented with no relevant information, apart from the original manuals (which all cost tons of money) and a few eBay listings, which labled them as rare and vintage items (selling for roughly $140, or £97). I really want to find out some more information about these amazing earphones, which sound more amazing than any of my modern earphones that I've used. So, if anyone here could help me out with my research - I would be extremely grateful.

 

Thanks so much,

Jude Andon

2 REPLIES 2
profile.country.GB.title
Thalamus.
Champion

Hi Jude,

welcome to the Sony User Community Forum..

I asked one of my contacts within Sony if they had an info on your headphones & received the following info..

They believe the MDR-E434 headphones were supplied with the WM-EX80.

They also supplied some specs which I hope are of interest..
Driver unit diameter is 13,5mm
Impedance is 18 Ohm
Sensitivity is 105 dB/mW
Rated power 20 mW
Frequency response 18-22,000 Hz

profile.country.GB.title
celli27
Explorer

i own a WM-FX45,with in ear phontopia ear phones,MDR-E741 these also have great sound quality.