MDR-Z1000 new Sony flagship headphones - Page 7

Not overly enthousiastic overhere looking at those new SONY flagship headphones... They look a lot like my CD900ST. Very very similar cup size and design, closed back, studio oriented. Yes, overall built quality looks a lot better, but to be honnest, the CD900ST feels like a chinese toy in your hands; all plastic and lightweight. As Leepeery stated, the CD900ST earpads are fragile, and those earpads seem strangely alike.

However, mainstream SONY products usually offer excellent quality/performance ratio, so we indeed can expect some good sounding headphones at the very least. I for sure love the sound of my CD900ST. And I also agree that it is positionned at a very interesting pricetag. Beeing 3 times the price of the CD900ST, and considering how good the CD900ST already sounds to me, these could be a killer.

At least they aren't USD 1500 like ED8 are, so, we have to wait and read all about them later, cos USD 735 still a serious amount of money.

There are also new MDR EX1000 in ear pair, which is also interesting how would they do vs. more expensive IEM's.

Sorry for my Beyer Turret syndrome moment.. There is such a headphone.. DT48.. Sony is more then capable of building a 'tank' that would crush Tokyo in such a fashion,  Godzilla would cringe.. But Sony gets the 'cheapies' when it comes to 90% of their headphones.. Anyone who has had the SA5000 for a yr or more knows about the amateurish soder/cable job.. & to the guy who is upset the new headphone won't have a large SS? Why should they? If they are strictly for monitoring music the last thing you want to have is create a huge sound stage.. There's no need for it for studio/work related applications.. There fore it's a non issue..

Two possible issues I see with these headphones is that the detachable cable connector is a 3-pin mini-stereo, and I am curious how thick the internal wiring is. I have something against 3-pin detachable cables based on subjective listening, IMO not letting the grounds combine except at the amp side sounds better, but this may just be placebo. And internal wiring, I would like to be 26 awg or thicker, ideally 20-24 awg because that is the usual thickness of aftermarket cables. Looking at pics, it doesn't look easy to do an internal recable, and I don't know if it is smart to drill a hole in the magnesium cup for dual-entry. If combined ground is a real issue and not my imagination, maybe a fix could be to replace the 3-pin mini-stereo with a 4-pin mini-stereo?

Quote:

Originally Posted by haloxt 

Two possible issues I see with these headphones is that the detachable cable connector is a 3-pin mini-stereo, and I am curious how thick the internal wiring is. I have something against 3-pin detachable cables based on subjective listening, IMO not letting the grounds combine except at the amp side sounds better, but this may just be placebo. And internal wiring, I would like to be 26 awg or thicker, ideally 20-24 awg because that is the usual thickness of aftermarket cables. Looking at pics, it doesn't look easy to do an internal recable, and I don't know if it is smart to drill a hole in the magnesium cup for dual-entry. If combined ground is a real issue and not my imagination, maybe a fix could be to replace the 3-pin mini-stereo with a 4-pin mini-stereo?

Hopefully it is a 4 pin like the audeze so you could just reterminate for any who would want to go balanced.

It's 3-pin, look at this pic:

http://en.akihabaranews.com/?gallery=1&post=59572&origine=59572&image=003

Another solution is to just make the internal wiring go 1-4 feet out of the cup and reterminate in 3 or 4-pin mini-stereo, or 4-pin mini-xlr. But if it's just me hallucinating worse sound with the ground wire combined close to the drivers, no need to consider this, except if you want to balance these headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by haloxt 

It's 3-pin, look at this pic:

 

http://en.akihabaranews.com/?gallery=1&post=59572&origine=59572&image=003

 

Another solution is to just make the internal wiring go 1-4 feet out of the cup and reterminate in 3 or 4-pin mini-stereo, or 4-pin mini-xlr. But if it's just me hallucinating worse sound with the ground wire combined close to the drivers, no need to consider this, except if you want to balance these headphones.

thanks for that halo

Fail on so many levels though for the 3 pin trs...

I hate the fact if I then wanted them balanced I would have to ship them off to some randy to do work on my super expensive headphones.

heh, its a sleeper headphone

Yeah.. But if I'm spending that kind of money on a headphone.. I'd probably just buy a used LCD2.. I just hope the Z1 combines the strength of the 900ST/SA5000..That will a price tag under MSRP will be tough to pass up..
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by shamu144 

Not overly enthousiastic overhere looking at those new SONY flagship headphones... They look a lot like my CD900ST. Very very similar cup size and design, closed back, studio oriented. Yes, overall built quality looks a lot better, but to be honnest, the CD900ST feels like a chinese toy in your hands; all plastic and lightweight. As Leepeery stated, the CD900ST earpads are fragile, and those earpads seem strangely alike.

 

However, mainstream SONY products usually offer excellent quality/performance ratio, so we indeed can expect some good sounding headphones at the very least. I for sure love the sound of my CD900ST. And I also agree that it is positionned at a very interesting pricetag. Beeing 3 times the price of the CD900ST, and considering how good the CD900ST already sounds to me, these could be a killer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yashu 

The backs look like spun ABS, which is extremely dead acoustically, if that is the case, they can be light weight, offering the same dampening as a much heavier headphone. Supported by all metal hardware would mean they would last forever, really, since that kind of spun plastic is practically bullet proof. It is used all the time in pro-audio on speakers (nearfield, control, full range monitors), since it can be molded to fit computer modeled shapes and it is acoustically dead. It would actuallt be an advantage.

Yep, ABS is tough stuff.  When was the last time you ever broke a Lego?
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoSpecial 

Perfect for pissing off dogs I guess.

And bats as well.

kool bubba ice: To be fair, I was speaking only of Sonys... hehe. Beyer DT770/80s are already "throw at the wall" strong, yet light... and Shure's first entry into their new line, the 440 at least, since I have that too, is probably made better than the DT770 in the earcup department, just gets a little hot under those nice pleather pads that won't flake. M50s, pads aren't going to flake... pretty much all Sony monitors will, and Sennnheiser has a history of using the same crap on their closed back monitors. The Xb700s and XB500s both are sewn with non flaking pleather on most of the pad, and the v700DJs and the v500DJs have non flaking pads entirely.

TBH, these new phones look more like the Shure's 440, or maybe 840 type material, I guess a vinyl pleather, but the 440s are extra rugged, and the 840s are closer to the m50s, but none of them will flake. Beyer wins because velour doesn't get too hot, nor does it flake, and it is oh so comfey. The Senn HD600s, maybe even 650s, use the crap, but the HD555s/595s and the newer versions of them are some of the most pleasing to wear and the pads are more likely to come unglued from the phones than ever flake out on you. My 10 year old modded 555s have flakey crap on the underside of the pads, so there is a little, when I modded them, I tried to clean it up as best I could.

AKGs pads seem like you could take ones from the 80s and put them on the MKIIs and not know what is what. Their velour is different, but I am speaking of the pleather on their monitors. I have a couple extra AKG pads and 880/990 velours from beyer. The 770s sound a lot better in them and I never know when I want to mod something and need some pads that won't flake away. To see the flakey pads on the HD600s a while back bothered me, which is why I got the 555s, which sound a lot like the 600s after modding them to death.

I am happy to see the new killer looking black 558s can be easily modded to get 90% of the way back to the 600s. Sony gets serious with their release, I think taking aim at B/W myself, because, well, the P5s are terrible, but built well, maybe these are built well and not terrible :D

Sennheiser, on the other hand, chose to play around with their "fun" headphones. Also, the magnesium would only be a small shell, as it, well, we all know how magnesium makes for a great pyrotechnics show, so I expect a thin layer, not some thick "block", since it is hard to work with other than as a shell/coating.

The hinge on these is very much like the P5, inserted into one end only as some aesthetic choice. I think that is where they are going to be placed. The headphone for the sophisticated, elegant, yet actually sounds good. I am not sure if that audience will care, but it's nice to know Sony is still giving a nod to higher end consumer phones.

That's only pure magnesium.  Its a lightweight but strong magnesium alloy that's being used.  A lot of manufacturers use it in headphones.  Denon uses it in the D2000/5000/7000 series.  Sony uses it in a lot of their other 'phones along with other things like camera bodies and whatnot.  I'm pretty sure that's what the metal in the XB700s is.  There are probably other companies that I can't think of right now that use it as well.

You guys have any idea how quick the "spun plastic" is in comparison to say a bio cellulose driver they had in the CD3K and R10? Acoustically dead sounds good to me, but they are still closed :S which leads to acoustic problems... at higher volumes anyways

Quote:

Originally Posted by sokolov91 

You guys have any idea how quick the "spun plastic" is in comparison to say a bio cellulose driver they had in the CD3K and R10? Acoustically dead sounds good to me, but they are still closed :S which leads to acoustic problems... at higher volumes anyways

I don't believe it can be quicker than the bio cellulose.  The process I remember reading on how they made those drivers was amazing.  Any reason why the CD2K drivers are never mentioned?  The phones may not sound as good as the R10 but they are bio cellulose.  I would not be surprised if the 'LCP' was extremely accurate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sokolov91 

You guys have any idea how quick the "spun plastic" is in comparison to say a bio cellulose driver they had in the CD3K and R10? Acoustically dead sounds good to me, but they are still closed :S which leads to acoustic problems... at higher volumes anyways

That's the housing, not the diaphragm.  The diaphragm is supposed to be "liquid crystal polymer".  I don't have a clue what that's supposed to be though.