Low cost headphone with very correct sound for money. Good comfort also despite annoying load plastic squeaks when moving.

The Sony MDRXD200's are not quite the entry-level model into the new Sony MDRXD series, yet they aren't the flagship of the line. More like an "intermediate" model. My whole point of checking these out was to see how well they'd match up with some other cans, and most importantly the ones I was planning to replace, the Koss UR20. The MDRXD200 has some positive attributes, but you'd do much better giving your money to Philips (SHP2500), Sennheiser (HD201), or Koss (UR20).

The actual sound quality was a bit "underwater" sounding. The bass was a bit on the boomy side and was poorly controlled the entire listen. The extension was "alright", but they mostly gave me bloated upper-bass. The mids were OK, clear but with a slight nasal characteristic. The highs seemed rolled off and muffled at the same time. A lot of vocals came off unclear and music on a whole just sounded boomy and bloated-sounding. And if you didn't notice already, soundstage and detail go absolutely nowhere.

The MDRXD200's were pretty comfy, though the cups got a bit hot after extended use. They gave out alright isolation, and the cord is a long 10 feet. The construction seemed very poor on Sony's part. Very poorly built and cheap parts used here. Yes, this is a cheap headphone, but the recommendations in the first paragraph had way better build quality. The cans are rather big, though not the largest 'phones I've seen, a bad buy for portables.

The MDRXD200's are a cheap, monitoring-style 'phone, but sound quality is lacking and so is the build quality. If you need a cheap monitoring headphone, the SHP2500 from Philips is more impressive.