Other than a brief mention in the mod PDF and maybe one other place, nobody has gone into detail about removing the small coin sized felt treble filter over the center of the driver. I imagine it changes the sound a bit, but can't imagine it adds that much treble.
My Husband told me he tried them at Saturn (German equivalent of US & Mexico best Buy) and he told me he liked them for classical music, found them to sound very neutral nothing emphasized(i took as a grain of salt as his ears are not mine , i must try them this december when i go to germany), so i am baffled because here some say it's dark and my Hubby says they're neutral sounding mmm
They are excellent for classical music. They are not neutral in an absolute way, but they sound very natural and neutral in their own way.
To me 'neutral' is a choice in a way. Are you willing to go along with the tuning of do you reject it. I don't think neutral even exists (in a practical sense), the most technically 'neutral' pair of headphones may not sound neutral to everyone. In everyday life the qualification 'neutral' is subjective as hell. Every headphone has its own pitch and color. The Z7s are darker pitched than avarage, but while following and agreeing with this pitch everything makes sense.
That's exactly what I love about the MDR-Z7s. And all this with digital files. It reminds me of my youth when I listened to audio tapes, the warmth and roundness is striking with the Z7s. But still they are very detailed, textured and pretty transparant, to name a few things my tape-deck and speakers didn't do so well back then
To each it's own I guess. I must have grew up in a different analog age, as my Z7 sounds nothing my crappy cassette system sounded like back then. Of course there is that pesky fact about human auditory memories that lasts a few seconds at best. In reality only it's emotional remnants that remains, good or bad.
You don't remember that analogue blooming sound, without any harshness?
With a big bass and a soft treble. When the cassette deck heads became dirty or the tape was worn out the sound got dull and muffled, so you needed to turn the amp's treble completely open to make the sound brighter and still there wasn't any harshness or edginess to the sound. You could play loud and louder without any fatigue.
(My first CD I played on my 1st Sony CD player I bought sounded so hard, cold and bright that I had to turn the treble down. With years I barely got used that brighter sound but CD players and CD mastering got better and that analogue sound came back a bit)
Now the Sony's have a similar analogue blooming sound that reminds me of my youth, you can play loud and louder without fatigue. Luckily I no longer need to crank the treble open though...
But as I said in my post:
But still they are very detailed, textured and pretty transparant, to name a few things my tape-deck and speakers didn't do so well back then
I agree with the comments on the sound qualitys of the Z7. I am going a step further by saying that in my humble opinion the sound reminds me of some types of tube amps, using a solid state amp. As a tube guy, this is meant to be a very good compliment. Again it makes me wonder why they are not more popular, considering how tube amps are held in high regard with a lot of forum members. Of course we all hear different, so your experience may vary.
I'm still convinced that the Z7 is far more dependent on source for defining its sound, then amplification. Ever since adding my Musette to the chain, the Z7 has been giving me chills.
I'm getting more and more curious about what the mods can do...
You don't remember that analogue blooming sound, without any harshness?
With a big bass and a soft treble. When the cassette deck heads became dirty or the tape was worn out the sound got dull and muffled, so you needed to turn the amp's treble completely open to make the sound brighter and still there wasn't any harshness or edginess to the sound. You could play loud and louder without any fatigue.
(My first CD I played on my 1st Sony CD player I bought sounded so hard, cold and bright that I had to turn the treble down. With years I barely got used that brighter sound but CD players and CD mastering got better and that analogue sound came back a bit)
Now the Sony's have a similar analogue blooming sound that reminds me of my youth, you can play loud and louder without fatigue. Luckily I no longer need to crank the treble open though...
But as I said in my post:
And this was an understatement, of course the Sony's sound way better than my crappy hifi system sounded back then.
Of course I remember how it sucked!
Yeah soft treble indeed, cassettes didn't have much FR above 12khz especially the cheap type 1's, type 2 and 4 did much better on that regard, but nothing like digital or the original master tapes..Like I've said to each it's own, first time I heard digital I thought someone removed a blanket from my speakers. Regarding the Z7 yes it's FR rolls off top but not quite as bad as a typical cassette tape though, but nowhere near as flat like the source signal. Of course most headphones are like that, some more than the others. I get fatigue if the FR's 2-5k being over represented, or if the bass is below the midrange average amplitude, or thin sounding. The Z7 is nothing like that for sure.
I very clearly remember the first CD I ever heard. Theatre of Pain- Motley Crue. Keep in mind we listened to vynal, Cassette tapes were for the car or walkman. I remember thinking it sounded very strange. I couldn't put my finger on it but something sounded very "off". I have always been an audio nut and I quickly decided I didn't want a CD player! Pure analog is not rolled off. It's smoooooth. It's not in your face. Yet it's just as detailed, if not more so, than digital. This describes the Z7 IMHO to a tee. I have been really digging these cans. They are so enjoyable, I find my self not analyzing the music. That should say it all.
If you want them, shop around. You shouldn't have to pay list price on these. I paid full, just because I wanted to be an earlier adopter, but would never recommend to do that.
Watch places like Massdrop, or consider importing them from Japan. Amazon Japan has them for 48480 yen currently, you just need to pay a small fee plus shipping to an export service.
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