Sony, we hear yer

Edvarcl Heng | May 05, 2006

It’s Sony’s new high-end earphones and it looks like an amalgam of the company’s own Fontopia series and Shure earphones. The MDR-EX90 comes encased in a lathed aluminum housing that’s reminiscent of B&O’s signature style. Sony promises the earphone casing will reduce vibration noise. Danish design influence notwithstanding, the MDR-EX90 looks just plain odd--it seems like someone had stuck on two in-ear rubber foams at a 45-degree angle on top of a standard earphone. But these extraneous protrusions do help. They provide an extra layer of noise protection without the discomfort of canal foam or the expensive circuitry of noise-canceling technology.