Hello vintage earbuds experts! I recently bought a white Sony WM-503 which came with its original MDR-E454 earphones. Despite searching the internet and this forum, I couldn't find any information. They look almost identical to the MDR-E464, but without the chrome accents. I think they sound really good. Does anyone have any information? I would really appreciate it. Thanks!
Sometimes Sony mixed up model numbers so yeah they could be the same but maybe with a different cable, or different materials are used for the shells etc. If you look at both pics you can see that the cable is different, 464 uses OFC Litz cable...so looks like the 454 is a downgraded 464...i have the 464 new in blister and they sound great
So i've gotten a pair of MDR-E454, they are in the mail. Since i also have the E464 i can do a comparising of the two. On Head-Fi https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diamony-sony-earbud.26805/ there is a nice discussion about these earbuds. Actually the E464 is an upgraded version to the E454 with better diaphram in the driver. And don't hate me but i also have a pair of E484 which will be the benchmark since those are the best buds i own atm...
Great, let us now what your impressions are then. Until now I have only seen the E454 bundled with a variety of Walkman models and not listed on any catalog, etc as a retail model. According to the discussion on Head-Fi you mentioned, the E454 have sapphire diaphragms, what do you think? In what other way would the diaphragm be an upgrade in the E464? I mean cosmetically they an upgrade. Regrading your E484, I don't hate you buy I envy you . I have a pair of E472 with remote from the WM-701C Walkman. I think it's the same story as with the E454 and the E464.
I actually think that the sapphire diaphram is found in the E464 and not the E454. It's what you said the E454 came standard with many walkmans of that period and people liked the way they sound. A logical upgrade would be to use an even more sensitive diaphram and an upgraded cable and sell them as individual units as E464... Same goes for E472 and E484, they look the same but are totally different in materials used....actually the only thing they share are the looks...lol
