Sony MDR MA 900 (new release from Sony) - Page 36

The MA900 is warmish - kind of more in that sweet / neutral range. It's a little warmer than the SA5000 but not much, and upper mids are more forward on the MA900. You'll have to have a listen ;)

Exam finishes by Monday 25th :3

 

It doesn't need to tighten up, it needs to extend.

 

I found the bass more present after a lot of dampening (Mine was the SA3k, so heaps of plastic inside the cups), with more impact.  Before the mods they were a bit too light in presence for my liking. Like it far better now :)

That could mean that the mod reduced the emphasis on the treble, thus making the bass be able to show through. Of course, this is just wild guessing from me as I've never had them, so take that with a ladle of salt. 

 

You are kind of right, but the bass quality increased a lot imo due to adding mass to the driver as well. Heaps of butyl rubber was applied onto them haha! a_rec has photos on the SA5k thread :)

Hmm I need to go and ask him which post is that. 

So, this time I bring some competitors, it's coming from Shure 1440 and Fischer Audio FA003 moded with Merbau wood, recabled with something-I-don't-know + ALO Audio plug.

 

I can easily take MA900 as the best for live recording among them, it has biggest soundstage and more accurate imaging, followed by FA003 mod and Shure 1440 at last position (somehow 1440 can't manage to build the imaging of the whole band)

 

Overall tonality I think Sony is closer to FA003 mod rather than 1440, but MA900 has more airy presentation even compare to 1440.

The bass on MA900 has quantity bigger than 1440 but a little bit less than FA003 mod.

MA900 has the smoothest vocal among them.

 

The weakness that I captured from this comparison is, MA900 has the most "blurry" sounding compare to others. It's not that MA900 lack of detail or separation, but it's just less clear. Vocality, bass, and instrument, they sound like there's thin blanket covering them.

 

MA900 has the lightest clamp and the lightest weight, it's easily the most comfortable headphone among them.

 

 

Edited by TheMiddleSky - 6/23/12 at 6:29am

Mike, i think the way you stated the issue was as nicely as you could have, without being a pushover or untruthful. And i completely disagree with the name calling Amarphael did.

This still is a better conversation for PM's. 

Quote:

Once again,  An Identical problem as i was feeling with the F1. It's that damn impedance circuit that gets in the way, It became very noticeably clearer once i got rid of it. Not SA5000 clear obvioudly but still totaly worth it, Bass also gaind a bit extra weight. Curiuos if it's the same layout in the MA900...

II don't know... I made a circuit like that for my D7000 + STX and it notably benefited from it. Especially in micro detail and bass clarity.

But then again, I used some decent quality resisters.

Interesitng. Is it extacly the same circuit? How'd you integrate it? Why did you need it with the STX?

 

nm, just saw your thread. Do you think it works the same as an impedance adapter. I'd think that it should raise the load impedance, not lower it such as in this case.

Anyway, these SMD bits, in the F1 at least, do more harm than good, as i and others have witnessed once they were removed.

Edited by Amarphael - 6/24/12 at 1:24pm

I would agree that a Zobel isn't a boogey-man, and tbh I don't think the F1 lacks anything against the SA5000 in terms of clarity or fidelity. The SA5000 are just super bright and you get more "detail" as a result; the bass extension is explained in the F1 manual - they're defeating an impedance hump (the manual specifies something like 8 dB of FR deviation with Zout at 200 ohms without their circuit; that'll certainly change the sound). I should qualify that I'm kind of an F1 fan, and consider them > the SA5000 in most every regard.

I am not sure if its the exact same, but it seems like it because of the low nominal impedance of the driver.

 

I needed it because the STX has a 10ohm output impedance, and it was messing up my 25ohm denons bass response.

Well, I pulled the trigger at bhphotovideo.

 

After exchange rate, duties, taxes, and shipping, it came out to $369 CAD. Should be at my doorstep on Friday or Monday. Will compare them against my Grado 225i which I bought for $330 CAD after tax. Should be a fair shootout.

 

...yeah Canadians don't get good prices on headphones at all. My wallet...

 

As a frame of reference, prices (after tax) at the Sony Store in Toronto...

MA100: $40

MA300: $68

MA500: $113

XB500: $102

XB700: $170

 

So the MA900 at the very least has to curbstomp the MA500 or else it's a poor value.

Edited by colgatetotal - 6/26/12 at 8:34am