saflang said:

Not to de-rail this thread but which Android cable are you using with the Z5's ? 
Also I must say I'm loving the sound of the Z7's with my Musiland US 02 DAC paired with a Little Dot MKIII.  I'm contemplating getting a Sound Blaster E5 for portable use (reviews have been surprising good).  Having bought both the Z5 and Z7 I can't stomach the price of a PHA-3.

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I bought this cable http://m.ebay.com/itm/261330281626?_mwBanner=1#ht_2947wt_986&rmvSB=true. It has volume and the usual Mic button and works with my LG G3 and is advertised for Samsung phones.

I hear you about the PHA3 after buying the two Z's I just can't stomach buying the DAC. I am going to likely buy a Pono when they are made available to Canada. Other than that I am happy with my currents setups.

dl. said:

I would get the Woo Audio WA7 instead. I tried the Schiit Bifrost Uber / Lyr 2 and preferred the WA7 more, though I never A/B'd it with the Z7 in particular.

At the very least, you won't run into cosmetic blemishes out-of-the-box if you happen to be OCD.

dL

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Yeah, everybody would prefer to get the amp for 1000$ instead of 350-450 $... 

Sure PHA-3 is definitely pricey but I love how it pairs with the Z7, and the investment makes even more sense if you have both Z7 and Z5 (I am selling IE800 and getting Z5 for that reason, actually).
 
It doesn't necessarily make as much sense if you have other gear (for the price of PHA-3 I'd probably get Cypher Labs Theorem) that don't have the same synergy and balanced cables bundled with the headphones / IEM too. Going balanced usually means getting custom cables, didn't go down that route with the SE846 even if I have read so much great things about it.
 
I think Sony is really building a coherent "system" of sorts.
 
A few hours now before I get to check out the Z5, and see how it pairs with the PHA-3 balanced vs my ZX1 and FiiO E18.
 

buttuglyjeff said:

The brain burn in is greater then any headphone I had before.  I say live with it a bit before rushing into a pricey cable.

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Also my feeling, the sound signature is something different and depending on where you're coming from first impression might not be that good with the Z7. You need to give it a chance, definitely.
 
 

sonic defender said:

Regardless of what people say, as far as I can tell, none of these cable purchasing members set up blind testing. (...) You need blind testing that is done correctly to make any determination as expectation bias is extremely strong, and everybody is equally subject to it's effects, no exceptions, none. 
 

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I am waiting on the Kimber Kable, it's the second time I get a cable upgrade (first time was Moon Audio for SE846, I found it had marginal impact on sound) and I ordered those based on testimonies of forum members.
 
Let's say expectations make you perceive better sound then you have a better experience in spite of no actual significant change   In psycho-accoustics there is psycho
 
Yeah I have expectations it's human but no pre-conceived beliefs (as I have none regarding burn-in other than the fact I perceived the sound has changed over time) and I look forward to ask a friend to blind test me on this. I really am curious.

sonic defender said:

 
Get a better amp/dac, seriously. Regardless of what people say, as far as I can tell, none of these cable purchasing members set up blind testing. Without blind testing I don't care if the poster has 25 000 posts and owns every expensive headphone and amp on the planet. You need blind testing that is done correctly to make any determination as expectation bias is extremely strong, and everybody is equally subject to it's effects, no exceptions, none. Now I just spent $500 Canadian for an amazing cable to be made, but I did that for other reasons and to this day I make zero claims about sound quality as I have been unable to do any blind testing therefore any impressions I have are very biased and can't be confirmed. Sorry, I love this community, and the quality and caliber of members here is exceptional; however, the trust me I know I can hear the difference position on cables is simply just opinion.
 
For the record, I am on the fence about cables, I hope the big investment I made matters, I really do, and I don't see why cables can't have some positive impact on sound quality. Without evidence that stands up to the standards of scientific inquiry, claims need to be taken very carefully. And that goes for any gear. If there isn't a technical advantage/innovation in the gear that can reasonably be expected to yield positive sound quality gains, and be blind tested, then I remain equally skeptical of course.

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That is not true. Most people do not need to undertake blind testing whatsoever to make correct judgments. The expectation bias is not extremely strong in all who are in a process of  making a judgment on sound, not everybody is a subject to effects of expectation bias, there are exceptions, maybe 50% maybe even more of people who are able to make balanced judgments against their cognitive biases. I would say only a minority of people elevate their biases above their honesty. 

The 1Khz peak, which (with some recording) could cause vocals to get shouty is gone, or I no longer hear it?
I think these headphones are my favorite pair for approximately 80% of the music I listen to.
With some classical (laid-back recorded) albums I prefer the A900Xs for their wider sound and at the same time more upfront presentation that makes instruments bigger and better defined, although imaging is a tad weaker.
I think Sony's biggest weakness is an ocassional lack of texture in intstruments, mainly strings. Not with many recordings, but the A900Xs (although less detailed overall) have certainly more grunt and bite.

zorin said:

  That is not true. Most people do not need to undertake blind testing whatsoever to make correct judgments. The expectation bias is not extremely strong in all who are in a process of  making a judgment on sound, not everybody is a subject to effects of expectation bias, there are exceptions, maybe 50% maybe even more of people who are able to make balanced judgments against their cognitive biases. I would say only a minority of people elevate their biases above their honesty. 

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You will need to provide some evidence for the claims that expectation bias isn't strong, if you wish I will provide many studies that show otherwise and where you arrived at the number 50%? While I am not trying to be difficult, this is exactly the type of non-evidence based claim I am talking about. Frankly, I don't really care that not everybody needs mountains of evidence in order to enjoy something. For me I just want people to acknowledge that the burden of proof isn't a frivolous thing that some geeky people who spend too much time in books came up with in order to kill some time. Our species has survived and evolved precisely because we insisted on evidence based living in general, not just in the realm of science.
 
I'm fine with somebody saying to me, or as far as I can tell cable XYZ makes a big difference. That implies that the difference being ascribed to the cable is acknowledged as  perception and opinion, not as an absolute fact. As I said before, I am on the fence with the cable debate as I can't think why it should be impossible for a cable to make a difference. But despite that desire, that hope, I need to respect evidence. I am not insisting everybody else does, who am I to tell you what to think? I make these posts to help newcomers to the hobby who might think $400 is better spent on a cable than say a headphone upgrade with measureable, quantifiable differences in conjunction with subjective evidence. Perhaps the cable is better, and if so you should reasonably expect some evidence that tries to mitigate the effect of expectation bias, which is quite strong, that is why the placebo effect works.

So just got my Z7's in from Japan today and first impression coming from the TH600's they sounded almost a bit muffled and dull, but after a few hours of getting more used to the sound they are actually quite nice.

The TH600 is definitely more piercing and I think I do prefer it for some music like electronic/shibuya kei (Capsule), but I already do prefer the Z7's for the majority of other genres. That may still be a bit biased having only been using the TH600's for nearly the past year and just getting the Z7's today.

Will see how the Silver Dragon V3 changes that ^^

Whats the consensus on stock Z7 with classical music? I don't listen to it that often.

I can only speak for myself but I love how the Z7 handles classical music. I listen to a lot of Arvo Part, Bruckner, and other composers and love how the Z7 handles instruments like Kettle Drums and stringed instruments like the Cello.

Z7 leather or pleather?

pleeether...

lorspeaker said:

pleeether...

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Thanks

rumiho said:

So just got my Z7's in from Japan today and first impression coming from the TH600's they sounded almost a bit muffled and dull, but after a few hours of getting more used to the sound they are actually quite nice.


The TH600 is definitely more piercing and I think I do prefer it for some music like electronic/shibuya kei (Capsule), but I already do prefer the Z7's for the majority of other genres. That may still be a bit biased having only been using the TH600's for nearly the past year and just getting the Z7's today.


Will see how the Silver Dragon V3 changes that ^^

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I had the TH600 for more than 6 months but sold it coz I couldn't get used to the V shaped sound signature on most of my music.
Do compare the Z7 and TH600 on some vocal tracks and decide which one you prefer

A 99%-pure-plus alloy of silver and gold. No price-list on their site - http://www.crystalcable.com - since Crystal Cable's products fall into the if-you-have-to-ask-the-price-then-you-can't-afford-it category.

longboy said:

A 99%-pure-plus alloy of silver and gold. No price-list on their site - http://www.crystalcable.com - since Crystal Cable's products fall into the if-you-have-to-ask-the-price-then-you-can't-afford-it category.

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I believed Toxic Cable and Effect Audio are some of the authorised cable makers for Crystal Cable.
A simple 4-wire iem cable using Crystal Piccolino cable already cost > US$500 from Effect Audio