Sony Revives the Original Walkman Headphones, Adds USB-C

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Sony has brought back the MDR-3-series headphones that debuted in 1979 alongside the Walkman TPS-L2 cassette player. [...] The new MDR-3R (originally called the "MDR-3L2") headphones look just like the originals and come with orange and blue ear cushions. New headphones are often wireless these days, but the MDR-3R continues the wired tradition of the MDR-3, with an essential twist: a USB-C connector. For better or worse, the new headphones also use "the same 23 mm driver units as the MDR-3 to reproduce sound quality close to the original," per Sony. Audiophiles will prefer something more advanced, perhaps with additional acoustic features. In addition to the USB-C connector, the MDR-3R also adds an in-line remote control and an integrated microphone. They are available for $60.

Appeal to nostalgia

[Anonymous Coward]

Why can't this company make anything original anymore?

Sony makes a lot of stuff

[OrangeTide]

What, you don't like the Sony MDR-Z1R? It's only $2000.

Re:

[Fly Swatter]

There is nothing left to make original. Even if you do, there will be a copycat Chinese product in 3, 2.. Oh there it is right now.

Foam Cushion

[andydread]

lets hope they at least fixed the foam cushion that would come apart after a few weeks of heavy teenage use.

Re:

[Luckyo]

But how would you get nostalgia out of it without that unique feeling of having hard plastic and metal on your ears because foam broke up again?

Clever idea

[Dan Posluns]

It's pretty clever bringing them back, not just for nostalgia, those things are also bright and colorful and counter-culture in a certain way. Not everything that's retro is ever going to look "cool" again, but I could see these doing really well, if they hit the right demographic at the right time.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

You can still buy a pair of koss portapros, etc, that look exactly like that and order different color foam pads for it for much cheaper. They would probably have better sound + lifetime guarantees.

Re:

[Dan Posluns]

Ah. Well I guess it was clever of Koss then!

Re: Clever idea

[FudRucker]

Cheap reproduction items flood the market like those fake tombstone radios that have cassette and CD player, and AM FM radio all in a fake wooden cabinet made of plastic, so cheaply made i would not have one even if it was given to me free

10+ years too late

[OrangeTide]

Sony failed to capitalize on the retro craze after Guardians of the Galaxy. They could have released an updated MDR-5A, but did nothing really.
Koss never really stopped making their crappy P/19 from the 1980's, but improved it quite a bit with KPH40 sort of at the tail end of that retro headphone craze. (early 2020's by then)
Around that time (2023 I think), I picked up a pair of JLab Rewind wireless headphones. It doesn't use any of the good codecs for BT so the sound quality is like listening to music in t

But...why?

[Crudely_Indecent]

For $60 you're half-way to a to a decent set of headphones.

Re:

[Crudely_Indecent]

How do you know I'm not a cyberman?

Cooler retro-y options

[peterww]

If you're going to pay for sub-standard headphones for $60, you might as well get ones that look less boring: https://koss.com/products/port... [koss.com] https://modretro.com/products/... [modretro.com]

Re:

[Locke2005]

I got your porta-potty headphones right here! Interesting that they have a gap in the middle for your douche sunglasses, that's a nice touch.

What i would like to have is

[FudRucker]

Headphones that have FM broadcast radio receiver, bluetooth for devices like smartphones and tablets and noise cancellation too, usb rechargeable, is that too much?

Re:

[Luckyo]

This piqued my interest, so I went to take a look on amazon. There's an absolute shit ton of headphones like that.
For example:

https://www.amazon.com/PROHEAR... [amazon.com]

Re:

[pla]

I have exactly that, but they're not "normal" headphones, they're specifically for hearing protection.

Best thing ever for mowing the lawn (aside from paying a neighborhood kid to do it).

Does it contain a rootkit?

[jenningsthecat]

It can't be a legitimate vintage-inspired Sony product unless it has a rootkit. And oh... maybe a proprietary connector or two as well.

Re:

[Luckyo]

This is from analogue era. You know, like flint spears and victorian dresses. Firmware meant firm fabric you wear back then.

Re:

[pla]

"Oh, did we say USB-C? Well, yeah, technically it uses that connector but it's only compatible with Sony devices."

And jokes aside, that's exactly why Apple used Lightning connectors for so long - They're basically just a draft version of USB 2, minus the (non-Apple) licensing fees, plus a proprietary form factor.

Sennheiser-like?

[Locke2005]

My dad bought me a state-of-the-art pair of $99 Sennheiser Open Air Headphones in 1970, and modified my 8-track boombox by adding a headphone jack, just so he wouldn't have to hear the "n-word bebop" rock music that I listened too. The open air design did provide really good high frequency sound, probably not so good for bass.

Why mention audiophiles at all?

[Fly Swatter]

This is a Walkman product, which is/was their 'everyman' line of audio products.

btw, Panasonic was better.

Re:

[Archfeld]

Panasonic Rocked. In 1976 I bought a Panasonic boombox that I carried on my shoulder to the skate park everyday. Holy crap that thing ate D-Cell batteries like they were tic-tacs. Good times back then....

Could we get 3.5mm option?

[billyswong]

I understand a lot of phones are USB-C only now. But there are still a lot of computer users that would like to save the USB-C port for non-audio stuff. Not all computer cases provide USB-C front port(s) either.