These 25-year-old headphones might be the best you can buy for under $100

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What’s the goal of headphones? For me, it is, and always will be, to sound good. Frequent travelers may prioritize comfort, the trendier among us may be preoccupied with style, and more active types may need something sweatproof, but the thing that makes headphones headphones is the way they put sound in your head. If that sound is harsh, everything else is lessened. If it’s great, it has a habit of glossing over imperfections.

The Sony MDR-7506 sound great. They’d be extinct if they didn’t, just like any other headphone introduced in 1991. Yet they’re still here, and at $80, they remain a tremendous value for budget buyers willing to sacrifice a few modern features for excellent performance.

WikipediaIf you’re a dork about audio, I imagine you’ll enjoy the MDR-7506’s sound more than most headphones twice as expensive. Instead of boosting out the bass many modern cans do, it takes a leaner, more natural approach. Treble, mids, and bass consistently feel accurate, balanced, and well-spaced. They’re set up in a way that remains pleasant across genres, be it rock, classical, or just a few podcasts.

There are certainly fuller headphones out there — try something like Audio-Technica ATH-M50x if you only ever listen to pop and hip-hop — but for $80, these are as close to “reference” headphones as you’re likely to find.

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They don’t totally sell out for sound, though. The MDR-7506 have been a standard among radio professionals for decades — you should see them the next time you look up a live studio performance on YouTube, and even I spent three years wearing them as a DJ in college. That wouldn’t happen unless they were durable and comfortable. They also isolate well, and if they ever wear down, replacement earpads aren’t hard to find.

Now, it doesn’t take more than a quick look at these things to know that they aren’t for everyone. Very few people would call them attractive, and that coiled, non-replaceable cable very much belongs in a studio. There’s no Bluetooth, no mic, no remote, and no sweat resistance. Again, it’s up to you to decide if you can live without features like that.

If you can, you’ll get a great return on your investment. I’m not the first person to write this, either — the MDR-7506 has a 4.6 rating after 3,065 Amazon reviews, and feedback from The Wirecutter, CNET, and Reviewed has been glowing. You can always pay up for something higher-end if you need your headphone to do a little bit of everything, but if you’re an audiophile on a budget, the MDR-7506 should serve you well.

Sony MDR-7506, $79.99, available at Amazon.