Recently I've been looking around tech stores and noticed that they sell quite a bit of cheap over-ear wired headphones. That caught my interest cause I thought headphones this cheap would be in-ears only. I decided to buy a pair, which turned out to be the cheapest I could find - a pair of JVC HA-L50s in white that cost me around 9 euros. I needed a pair of small over-ears that I can carry around as in-ears irritate my ears if I wear them too much and the price was so cheap that I wouldn't even be disappointed if they were bad (which I expected). A friend of mine also decided to get a pair but he, instead, bought the Sony MDR-ZX110AP (amazing name really.. so catchy).
This gave me an idea - why not review and compare them? So that's exactly what I did.
JVC HA-L50
First starting with the JVCs. They are cheaper than the Sonys (9 euros vs 14 euros) and smaller. Don't let this trick you into thinking they are worse. When I actually tried them I was surprised that the sound quality is actually okay. They were obviously a lot worse than my DT 990 Pros but it was actually alright. It's like all of the cost for these went into the speakers. Though the plastics, while cheap, feel solid enough not to crack under normal use.
They don't come without their weaknesses though. Since they are so small and barely grip your head while wearing, it is really easy to make them fall off. Basically, forget about running, or even shaking your head for whatever reason as the slightest movement makes them shift around.
Otherwise they are alright, will take them over any cheap in-ears.
Sony MDR-ZX110AP
Now, these are a bit more expensive, and bigger in size as well. They have a bit more of a grip and cannot fall off as easily. In my opinion they look better as well, though the JVCs give off 80s portable cassette player headphones. They come in cooler colours as well, including pink.
Let's talk about how they sound now - I did a test where I played several seconds of a song then switched to the other ones to see what the difference is. What I found out is that they sound really similar, except one thing - the Sonys are a lot more bassy, not enough to sound bad but it's there. The JVCs feel more balanced in comparison. The extra bass isn't a bad thing though, as DankPods likes to say, it makes them more fun and I agree.
TLDR
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JVC HA-L50
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Sony MDR-ZX110AP
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