Ah, the Sony MDRPQ5s. These are a bit of a blast from the past for me. I originally got a pair of these from a Best Buy 3 years ago and they've been following me since. At the time they were retailing for $19.99 and now you can get them for as little as $7.99 depending on the colors you get. At the time, I had a pair of Skullcandy in ears that had just broken and another cheap pair of in ears so I just said, to hell with it and picked them up because they looked interesting.
I ended up going with a green pair and surprisingly they've lasted these past few years. I say surprisingly because the build quality is quite shoddy. They do look interesting with the gas mask covers and after you get used to putting them in, I actually find them quite comfortable and snug in my ears. That said, they do feel really awkward when you first put them in and it takes a while until you know that they're in right, at least in my experience. Form wise, they're earbuds, different from in ears, note I'll be calling IEMs and canalphones in ears from now on, just because really. Earbuds rest on the outside of the ear instead of going into the ear canal. Some people compare the difference to being the difference between open and closed headphones but that's not really the case. Open headphones are named as such because they don't isolate sound and sound doesn't reflect off the back of anything. Earbuds generally do. However, the comparison is made because they don't isolate sound the way in ears do. Namely, with earbuds you get more sound leakage and can hear more of your environment.
But enough about the differences between earbuds and in ears, that's not really what this review's about. Getting to sound, these are really mediocre. You really can't expect much from $8 headphones but hey, that's what cheap headphones are for. They provide a respectable amount of bass that is kind of muddy but not horrible by any means. The mids and highs are both relatively good in so far as they don't suck and aren't consumed by the bass. Being earbuds and not in ears, they have a bit of a wider sound stage than say the Nuforce NE770Xs or JVC HAFX1Xs but not by a great deal. Sound wise, they are overall acceptable without any real strengths or weaknesses except a bit more bass than mids or highs which is to be expected.
Overall, I can't say I really recommend them. I give them a 5.5-6 out of 10 partially because of nostalgia and partially because they're really quite mediocre and fit around there. That said, a good pair of earbuds can be useful. I use my MDRPQ5s at work since I generally do want to know what's going on around me and yet when it comes down to it, they isolate enough that I can ignore my surroundings too. Also, it seems that they're discontinued so if you are for whatever reason interested in them, there isn't a huge amount of time left to pick up a pair and at $8 you can do worse than a mediocre pair of headphones. Anyways, that's all I've got for the MDRPQ5s. Next up is my current favorite sub $30 headphones, of the ones I'm reviewing here. That review will be on the 13th so stay tuned and if you're looking for cheap headphones for the holidays wait until then to make a decision.
--CsMiREK
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