Quick: King of close back headphones still in production - Page 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich 


Also, I think you can buy the 7520 cables separately from Sony's Pro/Broadcast division (as well as a matched hard-case), that should all fit the Z1000 afaik.

I've been trying to buy that damn case for over 2 weeks now. Sony will not return any of my calls nor the calls of their official dealers. I have 2 official Sony pro dealers who have tried to make contact on my behalf, leaving half a dozen messages to their Pro/Broadcast division, but no luck. Not sure why it's so hard to get a hard case for it...

Quote:

Originally Posted by roma101 

Not mid-fi to my ears, they are more resolving than any mid-fi can I've heard yet and they are not peaky like some headphones, for example the Z1000. Have you tried the 500?

Only briefly and I was unimpressed. Their price tag is a bit steep for the sound you are getting. I'd much rather get Mad Dogs, which I did. But that is beside the point, the thread title is "King", meaning best among all closed-backs, not just price based closed backs. I can say with 100% confidence that they don't match up to the TH-900, even the TH-600.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greed 

Only briefly and I was unimpressed. Their price tag is a bit steep for the sound you are getting. I'd much rather get Mad Dogs, which I did. But that is beside the point, the thread title is "King", meaning best among all closed-backs, not just price based closed backs. I can say with 100% confidence that they don't match up to the TH-900, even the TH-600.

Well, at some point I hope you get to spend more time with them. A brief listen does not do any headphone real justice when it comes to solid impressions IMHO.

As for the TH-900 and TH-600, I haven't had the pleasure of trying them so I can't quite comment. I will still stand by saying that at least of all under $500 headphones, especially one that you can use portably and is an all-rounder, the 500 is at the top to my ears. I would even say they compete with the likes of the D7000, D5000, and Sig Pro in terms of detail and resolution.

Quote:

Originally Posted by roma101 

Well, at some point I hope you get to spend more time with them. A brief listen does not do any headphone real justice when it comes to solid impressions IMHO.

 

As for the TH-900 and TH-600, I haven't had the pleasure of trying them so I can't quite comment. I will still stand by saying that at least of all under $500 headphones, especially one that you can use portably and is an all-rounder, the 500 is at the top to my ears. I would even say they compete with the likes of the D7000, D5000, and Sig Pro in terms of detail and resolution.

Fair enough, I will have to try them out for a more extensive time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by roma101 

compete with the likes of the D7000, D5000, and Sig Pro in terms of detail and resolution.

Wow Roma... You have my attention. I will try to audition the 500s ASAP.

Hopefully I will be like ==>  and report back how good the 500s are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by M-13 

Wow Roma... You have my attention. I will try to audition the 500s ASAP.

 

Hopefully I will be like ==>  and report back how good the 500s are.

IMO they are the most refined headphone I have heard under $500 and I think they definitely compete with higher-end cans. That is how I feel when I listen to them. Think of the instrument separation/layering of the DT 1350 with the timbre of a high-end can like the Denon DX000 series except perhaps not as warm as the Denons. Just keep in mind, however, that while the bass is nice and tight it is not neutral like something like the K550, DT 1350 or KNS-8400. It's got a bit more slam and excellent PRaT. Piano, vocals strings, and cymbals never sounded so natural to my ears. I hope you get to try them for sure and would love to know your impressions. If it was any other brand with any other style and the same drivers, I'd say they would cost a lot more than $399. Just my opinion.

except that layering and separation are not the strengths of the dt1350 imo

I respectfully disagree. Details are cut up and separated very nicely on the DTs to my ears. What they lack is soundstage and body (they're quite lean).
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by M-13 

Wow Roma... You have my attention. I will try to audition the 500s ASAP.

 

Hopefully I will be like ==>  and report back how good the 500s are.

you know if you go back far enough on the z1000 thread back when it first came out, if i remember right, there were people comparing the z1000 to lcd2 or denon d5000/7000, some say they are close in performance, some say they are not, so all opinions i guess.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by reddragon 

 

you know if you go back far enough on the z1000 thread back when it first came out, if i remember right, there were people comparing the z1000 to lcd2 or denon d5000/7000, some say they are close in performance, some say they are not, so all opinions i guess.  

Yup. I read the entire Z1000 thread, probably more than once, haha. I think people had high hopes for Sony because they called the Z1000 a flagship and When Sony makes a Flagship people think R10. Plus the LCP diaphram is a cousin(?) some what related to the biocellulose diaphram of the R10?

Yeah so even much vaunted reviewers like Muppetface was comparing them to the HD800 and coming away somewhat pleased. But if you ask me the Z1000's are amazing, and I love them to death. I did a direct comparison of them against the LCD-2 R2, and HE-500, using Lyr/Bifrost over a period of months. The Z1000 of course do "lose" against these two heavy weights, but man they put up a fight, When considering how light/comfortable they are and how easy it is to amp them, they're really a hidden gem. It's sad everyone pretty much ignored them on Head-Fi. The resolution and clarity Sony achieved using a traditional dynamic driver is amazing. Not planar magnetic resolution, but it's right below. The driver is slower than Orthos and maybe even Tesla, but the rigid drivers provide insane clarity.

As hard as it was to believe the 7520 improved upon the Z1000 in everyway, I can think of and to me is a more "perfected" version of the Z1000. Now that cable sucks... thinking about Brian BTG audio to sort this little messy cable problem out for me.

But yeah reddragon you definitely should also try the 7520. It's pretty nice as well.

They are just opinions indeed, but the more opinions there are from different users the higher the chance you can find some solid impressions and attain a general knowledge of the sound of the headphones. It's why I hope and encourage people to audition them - the Z1ks got a good amount attention when they came out. These should also. I already PMed Jude, telling him about these and asking if he would write a review or at least give his opinion.

Just read the Yamaha Pro 500 thread and discovered a funny guy: money4me247 is hillarious, hahaha. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by M-13 

Yup. I read the entire Z1000 thread, probably more than once, haha. I think people had high hopes for Sony because they called the Z1000 a flagship and When Sony makes a Flagship people think R10. Plus the LCP diaphram is a cousin(?) some what related to the biocellulose diaphram of the R10?

 

Yeah so even much vaunted reviewers like Muppetface was comparing them to the HD800 and coming away somewhat pleased. But if you ask me the Z1000's are amazing, and I love them to death. I did a direct comparison of them against the LCD-2 R2, and HE-500, using Lyr/Bifrost over a period of months. The Z1000 of course do "lose" against these two heavy weights, but man they put up a fight, When considering how light/comfortable they are and how easy it easy to amp them, they're really a hidden gem. It's sad everyone pretty much ignored them on Head-Fi. The resolution and clarity Sony achieved using a traditional dynamic driver is amazing. Not planar magnetic resolution, but it's up there. The driver is slower than Orthos and maybe even Tesla, but the rigid drivers provide insane clarity.

 

As hard as it was to believe the 7520 improved upon the Z1000 in everyway, I can think of and to me is a more "perfected" version of the Z1000. Now that cable sucks... thinking about Brian BTG audio to sort this little messy cable problem out for me.

 

But yeah reddragon you definitely should also try the 7520. It's pretty nice as well.

I hope to try the 7520s. When I had the Z1000 I appreciated them more at home than I did portably, in loud environments. Going my memory, I think I just wanted a bit more punchy bass and I found that there was some peakiness in the higher registers, but otherwise it's a beautiful-sounding headphone. Is there big difference between the 7520s and the Z1000 sonically?

Here's another vote for Fostex TH900.

I don't own them, but I got to demo them at a recent meet, and they were definitely the best closed-back. Very expansive soundstage, and insane imaging. They were second only to the Stax rigs that I heard, and even then, they were only behind by about 5%.