Sony MDR-J10 Review

I have owned 5 of these over several years. I am very sad that these now costs nearly $100. I originally paid $10, and became very hesitant at $20.

Design

Personally, I love the design. (I am fashion-illiterate so don't trust me on the looks)

The great design is that it hooks around my ear rather comfortably. I can wear them for hours without it causing soreness. It does not move much even while exercising. The best part is that it does not plug into my ear. It does go in slightly but not like other earbuds. It almost hangs near the entrance.

Problems

The biggest problem is that the durability of these earbuds are very questionable. All of mine died (the latest today hence this post). The last was probably my best at nearly a year (and probably because I used them less often). The oddest part for me is that the left one always dies first. 

I haven't figured out why this happens. I don't tug on the cable. Maybe the cord of one or two have been rolled over by an office chair, but haven't been the immediate cause of the sound disappearing. Also there are no visible damages to the cable. Nothing appears to be clogged in the earbud.

There were two that did consistently shock my ear (usually the left too). I thought it was because of the dry air. The worse of the pair did sometimes shock the right ear but much less frequent. I recently read a post where some people had the same problem, so I figured I should mention it.

Because these break so frequently for seemingly explainable reasons, I cannot justify paying more than $20 per pair. $100 definitely out of the question. I would pay $10. More, and I start trying other brands before returning.

I do like the other brands and/or models. Sony also had a similar one with a softer rubber material. It was ok but I prefer the harder plastic as it was easier to put on the ear. The software one was sometimes tricky to sense where it sat on my ear without having to adjust it a few times to get the best quality. I do not like the ones where it loops completely around the ear. It was uncomfortable, and also trickier to put on. 

Side notes

I am not much for fashion or sound quality. Personally, they look decent enough and the sound quality was decent enough.

 

Keywords

earphones, earbuds, headphones, sony, over the ear, MDR-J10

References

Amazon -
https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-J10-Headphones-Non-Slip-Design-x/dp/B000092YR6/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1546449995&sr=8-15&keywords=sony%2Bearphones%2Bover%2Bthe%2Bear&th=1

Review: Ryan Homes - Front door doorknob broke

It's only been 6 months, the inside doorknob (Kwikset) to the front door broke off. When opening, the knob slides off. I can turn, but then use the bolt lock to open.

Ryan Homes service was fast and easy. I just entered the problem into their site, a ticket generated, and a guy responded the next morning. He came by the following morning exactly on time (seriously, not a minute sooner or later than the agreed time). He was in and out in less than 30 minutes (I had other little problems to show him).

I feel bad that all I needed was a hex screwdriver. I had thought the part sticking out was a piece of the bolt (the head broke off) but really turned out to be the actual bolt to hold the doorknob. The screen door was easy to fix too which makes me wonder why the other guy couldn't fix it.

Complaint: Google Hangout Phone Quality - First impression

I am surprised that there are so many little things that have been bothering me from Google's products. They've always seemed very complete with at least the 80%, but recently there seems to be what I think should be common requirements that does not even seem to exist.

Online Status
My biggest issue that I noticed right away was that I am unable to see who in my list are actually online or offline. Sure I can leave a message if they are not there, but how do I know if I am expecting a response soon or never. If I wanted to leave a message, I might as well just used an email. What was the justification to force this upgrade on the phones without this requirement? At least on the PC, you can revert back to the old chat (but I need the hangout to get Google Voice to work).

Voice Quality
Voice in seems to be ok, but voice out seems choppier than when I used the old gchat. The other end seems to have complained that I sound much quieter. I am not sure why this would be different because it would only be an interface change.

Redial
There is no redial. There was an issue with our conference system where I dropped off the call randomly, so I found that I needed to redial but cannot find the option. I am not sure if there is an option from the call window because the call window does not recognize that the call was disconnected and I could not end the call through the interface. I had to close the window and redial in.

Button Tone
Once in the call, the tones of the button is very slight. At first, I thought that I didn't hit the button so I had hit the button again. This makes it difficult for slow automation call systems because I am not sure whether I didn't press the button hard enough, the browser didn't recognize it, or the call system did not recognize it. After a while, I just got used to this.

Speed
Answering calls takes significantly longer. Prior to hangout, it took gchat at most 2-3 seconds to pick up the call and around a second on average. Now, Googe Hangout takes several seconds 5-10 seconds to pick up. This process takes even longer if it is the first call since the browser was opened. Once, I have had the call reach voice mail after I clicked on Answer during the first ring. The calls were much faster in gchat where the call never reached my phone, but now my phone rings a 1-2 times after I click Answer. [[Is there a keyboard shortcut for answering a call?]]



Edit:
9/4 Added Speed, updated Quality