Sony MDR-ZX330BT Bluetooth Wireless Headphones with NFC Connectivity - Black

I shall precede this review with a disclaimer, and no, it's not what you are thinking. No, I wasn't given this product for free/discount in exchange for a review! Yes, unbelievably - I actually paid full price for this item and I am writing this as an unbiased and genuine review! If you have been reading reviews as part of your research when shopping from Amazon, then you will understand what I am referring to and undoubtedly have seen these types of reviews. I don't know about you, but I'm fed up with them. Although many claim to be unbiased, it is odd that so many of these reviews seem to be so much more detailed, contain more product photographs and generally are given very high ratings. These types of reviews are usually for cheaper low-end brands which you've never heard of (importing goods from China, adding a logo on them and reselling on Amazon is a growing trend - search for the term: “buying in China selling on Amazon" if you are interested in doing this), but I can't help but feel these "paid for" reviews are affecting the integrity of the review system. OK, moaning over, let's talk about these headphones! Sound I am not an audiophile and I am new to the world of Bluetooth headphones. Having been using the stock on-ear buds supplied with my Apple iPhone 6, it makes sense to compare the Sony ones in terms of sound. In a nutshell - they sound very similar, but the Sony has a very small improvement. (This itself, may be due to different on-the-ear design of the Sony which automatically allows more room for the sound to move before it enters your ear). Personally, I am happy with the similarity in sound. As I understand it, the audio quality of Bluetooth headphones tend to be equivalent to wired headphones of half the price. The Sonys are priced at £59 and the Apple headphones retail for £25 so this rule appears to be relatively accurate. That’s all I will say regarding the sound, since audio quality is extremely subjective. If you are happy with your standard IPhone headphones, you will enjoy the familiar lows/mids/highs that the Sony's provide. Setup and pairing The headphones came charged out of the box so I was happy to begin using them immediately. Setup was easy and pairing to my phone was quick. There is no battery indicator on my iPhone 6. This is a little disappointing, as my girlfriend's cheaper £30 headphones do show this information. I have read the battery indicator is displayed in Sony Experia phones though. Design Like many people have commented; the plastic headband feel fragile and you do wonder if they might snap with accidental force. We shall see how these hold up. The headphones fit on my head snugly. Adjustments in tightness can be easily made on the headband for a good fit. Although I wear glasses and the headphones rest on their arms, they still are comfortable to wear and very light in weight. With that said, I do find myself adjusting them every now and again to give my ears a little break. Controls The controls on the side are easy to use and distinct enough to differentiate between their functions using your fingers alone. Volume increase is using a convex shaped button and volume decrease is with a concave button. Pausing and skipping tracks forward/ back is controlled with a different switch/rocker mechanism. When powering the headphones on, you hear an ascending tone and powering off omits a descending tone. I much prefer this compared to some man/woman saying “power on/off” like other headphones do. Similar to many Bluetooth headphones, the LED light blinks to show the power is on. What I like is that the blue light flashes only once every five seconds, as opposed to every second, like some cheaper headphones do. The LED light is also thin and discreet looking and people nearby will not be mistaking the blinking lights for an ambulance siren. It's these little subtle touches that make it worthwhile to spend a little more money on a recognised brand name such as Sony, in my opinion. In comparison, my girlfriend's cheaper Ausdom M06 headphone light flashed so frequently and visibly, she had to stick some black tape to cover it. Battery One of the major reasons I chose the Sony's, was because of the 30 hour battery life. I'm not anal enough to measure this exactly with a timer, but with fingers crossed, I suspect the battery life will be similar to what is advertised.

After reading a few reviews for this set, and having used them now for a bit myself, I wanted to give my thoughts on these Sony Headphones. Firstly, let's get something out of the way which I've noticed in several reviews: These are not noise cancelling, over ear headphones. Further, it doesn't say ANYWHERE IN THE INFORMATION that they do this. If you are looking for those features, continue searching. What these headphones do however, is produce brilliant sound at a great price point. Yes, you can spend less (and more), but the bang for buck here is sensational. Bluetooth, with NFC for pairing, great battery life. Great high end and decent lows (although not the bass-iest headphones ever). A couple of notes: The built in microphone isn't really suitable for phone calls - or anything really. So not great as a replacement for your in-line mic. The on-unit controls are a bit iffy at times, but are generally fit for purpose. And it doesn't have a cushion on the top of the band, which might be a deal breaker for some - although I've found them comfortable and easy to wear. But overall, a brilliant set of headphones, for a very reasonable price. Since buying these, I've seen countless other pairs in the wild, particularly others on the tube. I'd highly recommend them, and rate these 5 stars as a result.

I previously wore in ear headphones all the time, but it got to a stage where the wires were breaking and the getting too tangled to unwind them. They were becoming very frustrating to use. So I didn't go change to some on ear headphones and these truly don't disappoint. Firstly the build quality is better than expected, with the ear cushions being very soft on the ears allowing a very long listening time without discomfort. Also the drivers themselves have great durability; I know this as I've dropped them multiple times without them breaking. Furthermore the sound quality is amazing. The drivers work well to deliver a quality of sound which goes way beyond expectation. Enabling you to truly listen to the music in its entirety. I was picking up parts of songs I'd never realised were there before. In addition the battery life of these headphones are impeccable. They impressively have lasted more than 20 hours on a single charge at full volume. So if the volume is reduced they'd easily last 30 hours. No other headphone brand offers those sorts of hours. Charging is also pretty fast; as only a few hours of charge is needed to provide a more than 15 hours worth of listening. However the headphones scratch quite easily, with both of my drivers having many scratches on them; this just ruins the general aesthetic feel to them. And the mic quality could be considerably improved as my friends and family always complain about not being able to hear me when I'm wearing them. Overall this product is amazing. With superior build quality and sound quality, these headphones go above and beyond.

These are the first Bluetooth headphones I have bough. I watched a lot of reviews on youtube on other headphones on different brand. They all were very highly priced. I saw this on amazon and looked at the specifications and it ticked all the boxes, well apart from one. The one thing I would say is the durability of these headphones. They are made out of good plastic and I haven’t broken them, but compare to other headphones I feel like the hinge feels a bit cheap. Again I haven’t broken these and I have used them when I’m travelling to work so if they do break I will update this review on how they broke. The good thing about these headphones are that they do everything on the box. Sound on these are very good not too much on the base like Beat headphones. The ability to answer phone calls on these is a very good function as the person on the other end can hear me clearly even in crowded areas like a train station. It does take a while to get used to using the control on the headphones but after a week of use you will get used to them. I have used these in the gym and I have to say they are good I walked away from the thread mill to get cleaning towel and the Bluetooth connection stayed on. Overall good headphones at a decent price but I would say treat these with a bit of care. I do look after my electronics really carefully.

Fantastic headphones! I have been using them constantly since December and a very worthy purchase. I charge them very very infrequently and not for long (10 mins here and there, when I'm in the shower etc) and they are yet to die on me. Battery lasts for ages. I am overall very impressed! Pros: - Adjustable to even the smallest of heads, very snug fit - Won't fall off when at the gym - NFC works very well - Easy to use and intuitive buttons - Lasts for ages between charges and does not take long to recharge back to full - Great sound quality - ear cups swivel so you can angle them to allow some air by your ears so they don't get warm (or to avoid fresh piercings) - Minimalist design, not obnoxious looking. Cons: - Microphone could be better, callers have complained about background noise - some sound leak but they're not noise cancelling so to be expected - Could fold up smaller, they're a bit big for my handbag

I'll leave the more technical aspect to the persons who are more knowledgeable in that area. The Good: - It's a cool pair of headphones. It's a nice shape and it fits nicely on your head. It's actually black, unlike other Sony products that have deceiving pages in regards colour. - The battery is impressive. I've had it for three days and it's been on almost the whole time whilst I was awake (I'm a bit of a music addict and I'm on study lockdown at the moment) and it's still going. It says that it takes 4 hours max to charge on the instructions manual, which is not long considering. - I'd say the sound is pretty good. It's clear, it has decent bass and it goes up to higher volume levels than I require. I'm not the best person to ask about crispness since I don't have much to compare it to in that department. - The ear pads are comfortable. They're big and they cover my ears completely, which is better than a pair of Marshalls headphones which left parts of my ears poking out and made the experience a little less pleasant. I'd say they're normal in regards feel, in that they're neither noticeably soft, nor noticeably hard. - They're convenient. Not only are they wireless, which is apparently more convenient than I expected, but they also have buttons beneath the right ear pad for pausing/answering and ending phonecalls, rewinding, volume control, and a power button. It also has a light that flashes blue when on, and it flashes red when the headphones are on but the battery is low. You can also use device's NFC to connect to the phones really fast and conveniently. If your device does not have NFC, you can just connect with bluetooth, which isn't an inconvenient method, anyway. The Bad: - These headphones are plastic. They do not contain any metal on the outside (except for maybe the Sony logo?) and the band does not have any leather on it. It's completely plastic, which is what disappointed me the most, I think. I don't know what the plastic parts in the ear areas are called (the round parts attached to the pads) but they tend to get a little scratched even though I'm being extra careful with them. The scratches are removable with a soft piece of cloth, but, as I said, I'm being extra careful. I imagine that if an accident were to occur, it would not take much to leave a permanent scratch on there. Which brings us to the next complaint: - There's not right way to keep these headphones tucked away. My old Marshall headphones allowed me to tuck the round ear parts within the band. This kept the round parts safer (even though they were harder and more durable than this pair's) and they also allowed for the headphones to take up less space (even though they were already smaller than this pair). So, yeah, I'm still trying to figure out how best to try and tuck these away when I'm not using them. - Even though it has a pause button beneath the left ear pad, the same button can not be used to continue whatever was paused. There's no button to continue what has been paused. The instructions manual says that the pause button also works as an unpause button, however, not on all devices. My devices don't fall within that lucky bunch, apparently. This barely bothers me but I'm just putting it out there anyway. Neutral: - The ear pads, which are quite comfortable, are also quite warm. This can be good and bad. I live in the UK and it can get cold out. When I was out with this pair of headphones, I liked how I didn't suffer from cold ears whatsoever. However, when I'm in my room, which isn't too warm (it's just not cold, either), it bothers me a little how warm my ears get. I'm from a very warm country and I'm going back there in September. I can easily imagine how this can be a bit of a problem. Verdict: 3/5. There are plenty of decent, yet cheaper headphones out there. You can buy one of these for £20 less and consist of more metal and leather where it counts. The sound is also just as good. I should know since I've tested the Sony MDR-ZX660AP. You are paying extra for the convenience in the wireless aspect and the buttons, whilst also compromising the benefits of having a leathery band on a more scratch proof pair of headphones.

Very pleased with the Sony MDR-ZX330BT headphones for the price. Looks good, feels well made. Sound quality clear, particularly higher frequencies, bass a little flat, do not expect a deep thumping low frequency bass. Excellent for the spoken word. Bluetooth linked to an iPad 10.5" Pro very good, can walk around a normal small to medium detached home. Note; I have not checked the quality of the microphone. Can be a bit uncomfortable to wear. Update, the top of the headband is very uncomfortable has sharp edges which is sore on the head if you are bald. So I bought a Replacement Headband Cover for Bose QuietComfort QC15, QC2 Headphones/Headband Protector from Amazon for £9.69, making the Sony headphones much more comfortable on the head. Further update, I have now used the headset microphone for a Skype call and the audio was generally good.

Quite coincidentally I'm using these right now as I write this review. Very clean and crisp sound, with no lack of bass but not overly emphasised either - in other words, it's a balanced sound, with a full range. The current track from Amazon Prime music is "Fly Away" by John Denver and it sounds great. If I could change anything it would be the size of the headband as I have a mutantly large head (at least my hats say that) so an inch or so bigger would have been even better. They sit ON the ears, not OVER the ears so maybe that's why they are tighter fitting, to make a good seal, I'm just guessing though. Battery life is excellent (stated at 30 hours but I haven't been counting, but I get a good week's use of evening listening before recharging using the supplied USB cable). The fact that I'm using these as the request for a review appeared says something does it not? Very pleased with them for the price I paid. Oh, and now it's Chicago, "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", what a great sound!