Sony MDR EX1000

Non-sound related aspects

Fitment:
Fit is perhaps the most interesting part about the EX1K. When in the ears, the driver is almost in line with the ear canal. What this looks like to an outside observer, they resemble "elephant ears" in a sense. It's perhaps a little weird, but I've seen worse. However, the fitment and design means that these are very comfortable.
Daily usability:
I really wouldn't use these in public. Apart from fitment, these have extremely low isolation, meaning that a lot of the nuance will get lost with the outside noise. While they aren't like the open back offerings from Audeze, these barely isolate. I suppose if you're fine with that and the odd fit, then these would be a decent daily driver due to the comfort. I just use them at home.
Build:
The IEMs themselves are structurally sound. I believe Sony used magnesium for the chassis, which is light and durable, while having beneficial acoustic properties. However, the outside paint is easily damaged. My units suffer from their paint and markings chipping off. The filters are also made of a foam which will inevitably degrade. Sony doesn't make replacement filters to my knowledge, though I've seen people get creative with DIY solutions. The EX1Ks use a proprietary connector, which you will need to buy an adapter if you wish to use standard cables with it. The cable (RK-EX1000) isn't very impressive. The cable is in my opinion not much better than many $20 iems. At least it isn't too microphonic.

Sound

Bass:
Bass is very impressive. The EX1K delivers one of the best bass experiences you will find far beyond it's price. Sony knows its dynamic drivers after all. The EX1K has exceptionally detailed and impactful bass. Not much else I can say, as it's just that good. It's not bass head level, however, with some eq...
Midrange:
Mids are similar to the bass, amazing, almost without complaint. It's rather flat, so nothing particularly stands out.
Treble:
I consider myself more tolerant to treble than most. Headphones like the Arya are to my taste. The treble is arguably the biggest "X factor" of the EX1K. Notably, the dip starting at 2/3k and the two peaks in the mid treble. Starting with the dip, it gives certain instruments and vocals a bit less presence. If accounted for, "z" and other sibilants will be a bit more apparent. You may or may not like this, though a bit of eq will help female vocals quite a lot. In my opinion, the peaks in the treble aren't a problem. The treble of the EX1K really contributes to its detail pickup after all. My another issue with the EX1K is the air. Simply put, there isn't enough, leading to a slightly congested feeling. A high shelf fixes this.
Subjectives
The EX1K possesses very strong subjective aspects in all areas. Detail retrieval is pretty good, especially in 2024. It’s capable of almost anything, without being too force-fed in nature. Soundstage is dare I say, the best within its used price range. I personally don’t consider imaging too important, but it’s accurate, and I have no complaints.
Equalisation
The 16mm driver of the EX1K is very tolerant to eq. With eq, this thing can be whatever you want. The EX1K with a bass shelf is an experience. I would highly recommend using this driver to its full potential.

Conclusion
To conclude, the EX1K is a very unique iem which has some outstanding qualities which keep it in the conversation even in 2024s competitive market. Admittedly, it's quirks and features might be a dealbreaker, notably the non sound aspects in addition to the abnormal treble. Depending on your situation and requirements, the EX1K could bring you very close to "endgame". To me, the EX1K's sound is excellent, perhaps the best in some cases, but it's other traits bring it down.

I had a chance to buy an almost brand new EX1K so I took the shot, It’s a relic of an audio world 13 years ago and it also holds the answer to my question “How would a 13 years old flagship iems sound compare to nowadays standard?” and without further ado let’s get into it



Bass

Starting with the Bass, The bass of EX1K is a nice rumbly warm along with decent impact, a Sony’s signature bass style but more balanced to the mid and treble. When compared to the Z1R, it’s only a portion of the Z1R’s Bass. However, The benefit of an full range single DD dish out an arguably speaker-like bass (you can feel the air push to your ears) and the bass connect to the mid and treble so much better than the Z1R, With the Z1R you can feel like a gap between the bass and mid but in the EX1K you feel the bass is mix in well thus create a coherent and life-like experience. Overall, the bass of the EX1K can satisfy the majority of listeners as it creates a fairly impact bass while adding warmth to the atmosphere for the songs which makes you feel alive and realistic, bassheads will find themselves wanting for more.

Mid

The mid-range of the EX1K is bit forward to me but never feels intense or harsh, it is balanced between female and male vocals and both sound amazingly natural, clear. When it comes to high mid, female vocals are beautifully portrayed but not boosted while male vocals sound great with decent weight to the voice. “Natural” and “Vivid” is the word I would use to describe the mid-range of the EX1K. However, Micro details is the weak point of the EX1K as it lack the micro details compare to nowadays iems like Blessing 2 or cheaper one but if I were to go back to the past I would say this is very details for 13 years ago, it still have some decent details but when come to today standard it just feel subpar. Despite all that if you not too focus on details along with the how well the tuning of EX1K is, I dare say you will still indulge yourself in the mesmerizing audio world it create.

High

Well I guess this is the part that makes the EX1K famous/infamous for, when it comes to treble the EX1K has a strange spike at it which makes the sound glaring sometimes, people with treble sensitive will definitely feel this part. Also you can clearly hear the sibilance in female vocals, especially when some singers have the habit to emphasize hard on the “sh”,”ch”… When I tried an old record (pretty bad quality due to limited technology back then) it pierced through my ears with insufferable sibilance, needless to say I had a very hard time listening to that record. Moving to better records, the piercing is significantly reduced but the sibilance is still there and will definitely annoy people with treble sensitive or plainly hate sibilance which make them feel uncomfortable.

Soundstage, imaging and other stuffs I impressed

“Fantastic” is the word I will use to describe the soundstage. In fact, I love it so much I wish nowadays iems had it more. The soundstage is fairly wide, wider to me if I use the JVC spiral dots tips, instrument separation is well done. On busy track, instruments never get mixed to vocal or sound congested but rather position to the back and sides thus making you feel like you are listening in a small studio room. String instruments hit just right with a decent amount of tension on the string and the resonance just melts your brain away in ecstasy (kinda sound like a shill here).



Versus

In this section I will compare the EX1K with what I have

Qdc Dmagic 3D

This confirms the “Sometimes more is actually less”. The Qdc Dmagic sound much warmer and favour the male vocal more than female vocal. Despite the fact that the EX1K aged 13 years old, it trades blows in detail with the Dmagic, the Dmagic wins in this as it has more details but I think that’s not in a considerable amount compared to the EX1K. In terms of tonality, the Dmagic sound very consistent and coherent as if it was made by a single DD. However the EX1K definitely beat the Dmagic in this department as the EX1K sounded much more natural, coherent and life-like. Combined with the wide soundstage and superb instruments separation and position, the EX1K outshine the Qdc average soundstage and imaging. Everything portrayed by the EX1K is simply vivid and easy to listen to, like music flowing into your ears and straight to your emotion. While the Qdc don’t have the spiky treble and serious sibilance issue, it's tuned safe, too safe that sounds more boring compared to the EX1K. If the details are not a problem then I will definitely choose the EX1K over the more expensive (nowadays price) Qdc.

JVC FW10000

The final battle will be single DD vs single DD. EX1K has proven itself to be excellent but this is where it stops. The FW10000 (FW10k) simply outshines the EX1K in almost everything. Wider soundstage, more details, instruments separation and imaging is simply on another level. Both have natural and very lively mid-range, the only thing to nit-pick here is the EX1K sound better as the JVC sounds a bit shouty (not too much but definitely there) but the JVC neither have the spiky treble nor the serious sibilance issue. Combined with better technical performances and in tonality, the FW10k dominates the comparision. Overall I can say the FW10k is the winner but remember this is 10 years after the EX1K release so still pretty amazing to see the EX1K trade blows with another flagship 10 years later and still hold some of its values.

Conclusion

I remember I used to be a boy, saving bit by bit to buy iems and couldn’t stop myself from drooling when I saw the EX1K. Now that I have it in my hand it still amazes me how fast technology has progressed and it’s a bliss to hold a beautiful relic of the past fully knowing it can still deliver me the emotions of music and can still give me goosebumps when I let myself get lost in the audio world. Of course, the EX1K may not stand a chance against new iems but it offers a special style that you hardly find in iems nowadays.

Introduction:
This is a technical review of the earphone Sony Mdr-Ex1000 (Exk for short). This earphone from 2010s features some unique designs. With balanced performance across the hearing range and an open-sounding neutral tuning it is not hard to understand where all the praises over the years are coming from. In this review we try to discuss what the nature of this earphone is and some of the characters that makes it stand out.

I. Sound quality:

Openness in Sound-staging:
The tuning of the Exk is a diffused-field neutral one. It has a open sounding sound stage. This manifest itself most apparently in the vocals, where the voice of the singer is diffused naturally into the surrounding. That is, instead of being forcefully focused into an area as with some IEM with poor sound staging, the vocalist sounds like he/she is singing in the environment the record is made: be it an open-field or a studio.

Detail and separation:
For detail retrieval, it suffice to say that the Exk is very detailed. As compared to the highly revealing BA IEMs, the Exk has less micro-details. However, the detail retrieval is good enough that the decay of string instruments for example is nicely reproduced. In good recordings the detail reproduction is good enough to reproduce the bouncing of the sound of say string instruments on the piano in an orchestra setting. In busy passages different tracks are reproduced reasonably independently from each other and so there is no mixing or muddling of different musical elements.

Natural vocal timbre:
This is another one of the Exk's strong point: the timbre of vocals are excellent. Vocals, female or male, are both nicely bodied. You can feel the presence of the vocalist and localize it as a sound source in the music space. It sounds like someone is actually singing on stage, instead of an abstract voice being just there. This is still the case for even female treble. Thanks to the balanced tuning of the earphone it has the appropriate thickness at the mid-range and the sufficient detailing capability.

Tonal variations and dynamics:
With great sense of detail and realistic vocal, the Exk sounded romantic when the music is so. The vocal is intimately distant from the listener, offering a personal and emotional performance. With more dynamic tracks, the presentation does not lose its excitement. With its technical prowess it jiggle several tracks with ease while keeping the base beat snappy. Acoustic track reproductions are sympathetic, as the tonal variation of the vocalist is captured and nicely reproduced. In every case the music reproduction is vivid and exciting.

Defined bass note:
The bass from this earphone is impressive, especially considering that it is a small earphone. Bass notes are well defined and well-modulated. What it definitely not is a boomy sound with no definition. One can hear the different pitches in the bass, even when many different tones of bass are simultaneously being reproduced. With a good seal the quantity of bass is enough for the earphone to be entertaining and at the same time keeping the neutral tuning.

Complete package:
For the practicalities, the unit weights at at 9 Gramm, 1/3 as massive as the modern Sony flagship IER-Z1R. It comes in a relatively small size, with a quality genuine-leather carrying case for on-the-go. The cabling is of high quality, with the conductor being 7N oxygen-free-copper. It is supple, nice to the touch and tangle free. The audio jack is nicely machined and polished, with an especially robust gold plating that keeps its shine despite frequent use. The way this earphone fit to the ear is unique: the horizontal plane of the earphone sits perpendicular to the ear cannel. Aesthetically the fit is exotic when seen from untrained layman's (non-audiophile) eyes. Nevertheless it still managed to sit comfortably in the ears without popping off, making long hours of listening enjoyable. One thing to note is that the bright-red felt lining in a black leather box with gold accent from the plated audio plug is a reminder of some of the legendary Sony headphones, like the R10 for instance; it adds a sense of prestige and luxury to the mix.


II. Technical limitations:

Sibilance:
There are resonance peaks in the treble range of the frequency response, causing sibilance. The technical design is to be blamed, but it is understandable.

From the unique technical design, the actual driver of the earphone is placed horizontally relative to the axis of the ear cannel. For those experienced with speakers they would know that the acoustics of the listening room will have a detrimental effect on the sound quality. One of these effects are room modes. Rooms, or any enclosure or chamber for that matter has its own resonance frequencies. When the sound wave inside hits those marks, a peak in the frequency respond is produced. To make matter worst one could try placing a speaker close to and against the wall, that way the sound wave from the speaker did not get to dissipate and so would bounce off even more sharply from the hard wall creating all kinds of annoying resonance peaks.

An analogy would be for someone to speak from a tube. It sounds unnatural in that it is peaky and sibilant.
This is exactly what is going on with this pair of earphone. From the design point of view, due to the technical limitation at the time, in order the achieve a wide chromatic range (the range of notes an instrument can produce), the designers had to settle for a large driver unit. This lead to the need for the horizontal driver placement otherwise the driver won't fit in the ear. (Imagine a flat-head earphone being too big to fit in the ear), forcing a placement of the driver such that it produces its sound perpendicular to the ear cannel. In terms of speaker placement this is analogous to placing the speaker against and facing the wall.



In practice, some tracks would sound sibilant. Treble in general, cymbal hit for example, are less natural sounding when compared to the vocal reproduction. They sounded not as realistic as could be. The listening experience is not deal-breakingly bad unless one choses to focus on the sibilance, in which case it can become very annoying. It is perhaps worth noting that with better recording or source equipment with better treble control and smoothness, the sibilance issues get alleviated ever so slightly.

All in all, it seems fair to say that if this is the trade off for a balanced performance across a wide frequency range, one would arguably take it as the engineers did back when they design this earphone.


III. Conclusion:
We would like to end this review by noting the general merits of this earphone. Perhaps the most fitting, modern description of the Mdr-Ex1000 as an IEM is that it is a vivid, dynamic, and open-sounding, light-weight small IEM that performs on par with mid-range full-size headphones. It has a neutral tuning, with good performance across the whole hearing range. The sonic performance is great with detail, separation, a realistic and well-bodied vocal reproduction, and well-defined bass notes.

Tonally speaking, it sounds dynamic and vivid. It keeps the presentation exciting if needed be, passionate where appropriate, and romantic when the time is just right. For some this is the most valued quality of any piece of audio equipment: the Magical ingredients to sounding good.

As an audiophile, one will realize at some point in the journey towards Audio Nirvana, that Nirvana does not exist. There does not exist a system that is perfect in every sense of the word; there have to be some imperfections. In the case of the Mdr-Ex1000 it was its peaky upper-end and hence the distortion in treble and sibilance. It is up to the reader to decide if the whole package of this earphone and what it offers would outweighs its shortcomings or not.