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Getting to Know Sony by the Numbers “6”
The Sixth-Generation Successor to the Title of 'Master Ear Model Artisan'
There's just one person among the many developers in Sony's Headphone Design Department who is dubbed the 'Master Ear Model Artisan,' from one generation to the next. They are someone who seeks the comfortable earpiece fit, facing off against the shapes peoples' ears can be and the way earpieces feel in them.
They've come to be the sixth successor to the unbroken line of headphone developers past who first started gathering and researching anatomical models of ears back in 1978, the year before the first generation of Walkman first launched. The Department has since amassed a collection of over 500 model ears, which also includes the models that these previous generations of developers so judiciously acquired over time, and this accumulated knowledge continues to be used in headphone development today.
And what these artisans seek is not just a good fit. When it comes to headphone and earphone development, the way a headphone feels inside the ear is inextricably linked to the audio quality. No matter how excellent the audio technology you pack into the earpieces may be, if you can't get the earpieces to fit properly then the nuances of its innate tone and timbre will end up suffering for it.
The story of the number '6' is the history of artisans sharing an inheritance spanning 48 years. The technologies for collecting ear models inherited from these generations past, as well as the ways in which these technologies can be leveraged, are continuing to evolve to keep pace with the modern age.
The devoted passion poured into the craft by the master ear model artisans of the past has coalesced into the foundations of the crystal-clear world of sound that gets delivered straight to your ears.
The New Standard Created by Master Ear Model Artisan
The earplug-like earbud tips that have become the obvious go-to shape in the present day fit deep inside the ear canal, garnering them the name 'in-ear' type earphones. In fact, these types of earphones were first* made available to the world in 1999 based on a concept of Sony's master ear model artisan at the time. It was the extensive findings by our engineers in their exhaustive research into ear models that brought this revolutionary shape into being.
The MDR-EX70SL closed type in-ear headphones.
An anniversary edition of the headphones that enabled a new style of listening for the 21st century
