Sony MH755 review: Budget star

The Sony MH755, one of the budget IEMs that I had seen some people excitedly recommeded. Lots of words about it just go on and on and travel around me like some sort of crazy urban legends that is too good to be real. This attribute along is enough for me to pull the string and draw a hefty amount of money out (Thanks USD to VND conversion rate) of my poor pocket to see what is all of these talks about, enough fancy talking, let's just get into it.

Before going into the post, if you are new, please read this before having any comments regarding my writing or point of view

Informations:

  • Price: 1 - 50$ (Yeah, no joke)
  • Driver: 1DD

This unit was bought from Olashop, a third party shop that I found on Shopee

Contents:

  • Three pairs of silicon tips (S/M/L)
  • The product itself
Image of the product

Well, considering this thing is just an earphone that as cheap as 1$ (Or even, 0$), If someone even expect something more from this kind of product I would be amazed. Needless to say, the silicon tips seem to be a downgraded version of the Sony Hybrid tips. These are softer than the Hybrid tips and gave me more "suction" even with the smallest tips available which is something I don't prefer.

The earphone's build is from plastic, which is forgiving at this price - at least I still think it has some feel of durability with it. The cable itself is a non-detachable 3.5mm cable and let's be honest here: It is extremely short which mean without the original product these thing come with (SBH24, SBH56, etc), you are left with either:

  1. Buying something like an EarStudio ES100 and clip it to your neck or get an extension cable
  2. Rip that cable out and mod it or buy a MMCX modded version which can get as high as 50$
  3. Live with it and always hold your DAP near your face or on your shirt pocket assuming you have one

For real, the cable is really short if someone is thinking I am exaggerating

Image comparison with the Tin Audio T2 stock cable

Ok, enough ranting, here is a little bit more information since I think it is necessary to inform you guys due to the number of fake MH755s out there. Of course, the best way to buy this is just buy the SBH24, SBH56,... like I mentioned earlier, but if you want to go cheaper then:

  1. There is a guy who complied a list of legit seller here.
  2. Buy from a third party and verify it yourself. User staler on headfi provided a way to pop open the driver which is the method I used to check if this was legit or not.

Sounds:

The setup I will use to determine the sound will be as follow: MH755 (Stock tips) > Apple USB-C to 3.5mm converter (DAC) -> Samsung Galaxy S8 with USB Audio player Pro

The Sony MH755 is characterized with a Harman-neutral signature, some people upon looking at the frequency graph can even interpret it as V-shaped. One of the characterized tuning of this earphone which I like is the sub-bass of this thing: It is crazily good considering of its price. While some people might have some complain about the bass that it is not punchy but more like... "slamming" (Which I suspect due to the rolloff or the slow decay), I still found myself swapping this between my Tin Audio T2 occasionally just because of this alone. That being said, the MH755 main weakness for me (Also one of the attribute about the Harman target curve that I dislike) is the tuning on the mids which has a pinna gain that peaks at about 3khz - 4khz: This results in some lack of depth from the vocal and at the same time, a dry (some would even considering it harsh) tone especially on high notes. The lower midrange is also recessed, which left a sensation of a "hollow mids" that can be deadly to some people. Cymbal is even weird on this and this earphone also lack some of the "air" which I personally like on a lot of vocal, instrumental songs. Luckily, the MH755 seem response well to equalization so if you find all of these thing deadly, just try to push the frequency at 3k down.

With all of that being said, the most surprising thing about it is that it has a really good tonal-balance that even something more expensive than the MH755 10$, 100$ struggle to achieve. Yes, I do found it does have some problem with resolution: The sub bass being the most prominent element in a lot of song and with an average soundstage, it makes everything still seem congested with my ears with a little bit of bass bleed due to tuning, Imaging is even weirder upon the first time I listen to it. But the problem is that while these issues are "wrong", they are still in "acceptable" rate for me even if this thing is 50$ - 100$ more expensive that its original pricing. I had tried to pull out more criticism for this earphone for the sound, but the more I listen to it, I found myself stuck in a corner and cannot come out with anything at all.

Overall:

Now, before you get hyped up and sell your kilobucks IEMs just to buy this thing and call this "endgame", I would kindly ask you to stop and wait there for a moment. Despite my praising (as much as other people do), this thing has a really distinguish tuning which isn't that preferable like how the T2 is, and also the technicalities of the MH755 to me also only stop at "acceptable" rate with tonality being the highlights. Considering what I had said about the quality of the cable and the workaround for that issue, I think it is best to consider with what you have and your gain by buying this. If you are fine with your current setup, buy this as a backup measure, If you really think this thing is superior and it makes you feel bad for spending the money for "the more expensive earphones but doesn't worth the price", sure, mod it and sell your current IEM, If you think this doesn't worth the time, just skip it. At the worst case scenario if you happen to buy this, you would find yourself spending only 9$ (even with modded) and would still achieve a happy ending with your purchase.

Note: If someone know who made the list of legit seller I put up there, feel free to DM me on Reddit (u/banbeucmas) or write in the comment section and I would gladly give credit for that person.