Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Headphones Review

The Sony MDR 7509HD professional headphones  worked very well for the year that we owned them.  In that time, we played them with many CD players, TVs, iPods, and headphone amps. Found them a pretty fair audio device in many respects.

The Sony MDR 7509HD professional headphones look like the MDR-V500 and Sony 7506, units. We reviewed elsewhere in this blog.  Visit the links below to read those posts.





These phones are larger in size and weight than the other Sonys’. They have a more bassy sound, and cost a bit more.  But they are more comfortable with a fuller, more real sound.

The MDR-7509HDs, as the higher model number implies, are a couple of steps up from the MDR-7506 and MDR-V5 units. So, they seem to do just about everything a little better. They repeat high frequencies with crystal clarity, though they favor the low bass more than the smaller headsets. We’ve used them with portable CD players on several train trips. Yet despite their bigger size, we found them comfortable enough to sleep in. Indeed their sound comes close to that of the Sennheiser HD-600 earphones, but these are much cheaper.

There was little to gripe about in this product. It looks like Sony beefed up the ear cushions over their earlier headsets.  They last longer and make less of a flaky mess. The pair we bought were used. Yet the cushions showed no signs of wear. Still though, you can order replacement ear cushions if needed.

Benefits, Features, Advantages, and Pros of the Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Headphones

Comfortable Ear Cushions

The 7509HD, like the smaller 7506 version, sport foamy, soft earcushions. They have a thin, resilient black film coating that gives them a soft, leathery feel.

Around Ear Design

The pads have oval, egg-shaped openings that allow them to work well as an ear-surrounding design. Now everything about Sony MDR 7509HD professional headphones is much larger compared to the MDR-7506 units. So the ear openings here are much bigger and a bit deeper as well. They fit completely over my ears with room to spare. Therefore, the inner edges of the cushion rims never touch the ears with proper adjustment.  These are thus, more of an around-the-ear design, as opposed to the on-ear design.

More Depth to the Ear Cups on these Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Headphones

The rear wall inside the cups (the front of the driver speaker) touched our ears. But not as heavily as did the smaller MDR-7506 phones. The overall softness of these cushions and the cloth that covers the driver, made for long yet comfy listening.





Retractable Speaker Units

The Sony MDR 7509HD professional headphones have fold-able speaker cans. These retract up inside the headband. This shrinks the size of the overall unit a lot, making it easy to store.

None Too Heavy, Though Bigger Phones

They’re are a bit heavier than we were used to. Indeed, they’re about an ounce heavier than the Sennheiser HD-650 (our all-time favorite headphones to date). These Sonys’ are light enough still, for great comfort. They offer a wide range of headband and phone angle settiings. So they do not press too hard against eyeglasses. Thus we never need to take off the specs while wearing them. Plus, we never need to straighten out our eyeglasses when done.  We find this product light for its size and sound.

The Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Headphones Feature an Unobtrusive Headband

The headband includes malleable stuffing as well that raises overall comfy ness. Sony coated the wide and flexible headband with a black, shiny material that closely approximates the sheen of the cushions. Like all the headphones in the Sony line that I’ve tried, these indeed feel as comfortable as they sound good.

Attractive Styling

They are black with silver trim, and sport a blue and gold “Professional” sticker on the back of each phone. This gives them a lustrous and modern hi-tech fascia.

True Audio Reproduction, Even at High Volumes

Their 50mm speaker drivers can play quite loud without distortion, with the wide dynamic range over most of the audio frequency band. This suits them particularly for widely varying musical volume levels, such as found in classical music recordings.

You can Take them Apart  to Repair

While you cannot detach the connecting audio cable from the unit, you can replace it using a screwdriver, cutters, soldering iron, and a bit of tech know-how.

Long Wearable

Thus, I could wear them for hours per listening session without discomfort. The music you’re listening to will bug you before these headphones themselves will.





Parts for these Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Headphones are Available

New cables and cushions can easily be found from numerous Internet vendors.

Asymmetrical Design

You can wear the Sony MDR 7509HD professional headphones with equal comfort either way. E.g. Left earphone on left ear, or left earphone on right ear.

Noise Isolating, Closed Air Speakers

They reduce surrounding noise pretty well for somewhat noisy areas. This is a useful feature of their closed-air design. A metal back plate boxes in the driver speaker in each earpiece. This also helps keep the music inside.  Thus, there’s little audio spill, which makes these a good choice to avoid disturbing people close by.

Ruggedly Built

These phones are quite tolerant of ill-treatment for a high fidelity headset. I’ve often dropped them on hard tables and floors with no bad effects.

Gold 3.5 mm Connector on the Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Headphones

Magnets Stay Fully Magnetized, Virtually Forever

Strong neodymium magnets for high efficiency and full sound.

50 mm Drivers

Plus, the drivers (speakers) are very large (50 millimeters).  This yields a truly enveloping sound stage, with very full bass yet crystal clear treble.

Disadvantages, Problems, Cons, and Limitations of the Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Headphones

Non Detachable Coil Cable

The cables are not as easy to replace as they would have been if made detachable.

Too Much Bass Emphasis

As mentioned, the Sony MDR 7509HD professional headphones seem to favor the low bass frequencies somewhat. This can make the eardrums hurt a little after long listening sessions.  So you may need to cut back the bass with an equalizer. While they sound pleasant with “flat” music sources, they tend to thump and boom a bit.





The Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Headphones Can Make your Ears Sweat

After wearing them a bit, my ears became warm, but not terribly so.

No longer Made

Our Rating for the Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Headphones

The Sony MDR 7509HD professional headphones were a good value for the money. Why? Because they lack none of the key features found in high quality pro audio gear. Yes, perhaps some of these could stand some improvement in minor ways. Yet we would again buy the MDR-7509HD.  So, we would rate their overall quality at 95 out of 100.  So if $150 to $250 is in your price range for a decent headset, then we highly recommend this one. Indeed you get a bassy sound, but a clear high end too.

Related Posts to Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Headphones

  1. Sony Professional Stereo Headphones MDR 7506 Review
  2. Sony MDR V700 Dynamic Stereo Headphones Review
  3. Sennheiser HD-650 Headphones Review
  4. Sony MDR-7509 Professional Headphones Review
  5. Sony MDR-V500 Studio Monitor Headphones Review

References for Sony MDR 7509HD Professional Earphones

  1. Where to Buy the  Sony MDR7509HD Studio Monitor Professional Headphones

Revision History

  • 2019-05-28: Added key phrase targeting for ‘Sony MDR 7509HD Professional’. Also removed ad code and added more tags and links to other posts in this blog.
  • 2017-02-24: Originally published.