The Official Sony MDR-Z1R Flagship Headphone Thread (Live From IFA 2016)

[pietcux]

It does.

 

[purk]

Oh I bought it again, because it is the headphone that makes all other headphones that I ever had sound kind of lifeless. I simply found that I absolutely missed the way it presents music to my ears. I is a very emotional way. Listening to Miles Davis "Tutu" album while writing this. To me this can is the benchmark headphone besides the HD650. The bass as it is is a revelation, no mods needed. My taste in music reproduction seems to be rather different from the standard on HeadFi though.

Trust me, I envy you for loving the Z7 this much.

 

[The Dutch Guy]

Apple put so much detail into the inside of a computer case early on for their own reasons. -security or whatever. But if you only wish to spend $500 on the new phones for your own reasons, go for it.
If I see an attractive woman who is wonderful, I don't worry about the inelegant parts inside.
You put these things on your head and get into it. Maybe you sit in front of a mirror to see how great your listening device appears on your head. Feel free to apply badges on the outside, or disassemble them to apply images from the Sistine Chapel inside.
We're here anticipating something that is possibly marvelous. Don't assume we need to feel beaten by Sony if the innards don't meet your expectations. Who cares?
And your friend can sell me his broken SADC player and I'll find someone to fix it...

First of all: A woman is not an object designed to be as profitable as possible for a corporation with a dodgy reputation.
 
Second: Is it really that strange that some people expect a little more from a 2100$ pair of headphones? At this pricepoint it should have been possible to make the entire thing from some lightweight luxurious metal. Now if Sony found out that plastic, paper and wire mesh sounds great I'm all for that, but adjust the price accordingly.
Would you buy 10$ a liter tap water just because the seller gave you a glossy brochure stating  it is better then Cola?
It's not about looks, it's about endless marketing hype about luxurious materials , but as soon as you remove a few screws it becomes obvious that these luxurious material are only applied where you can see them: they are striclty there for appearance (Maybe YOU like to sit in front of a mirror to see how great your listening device appears on your head?)
 
Third: The service/aftersales is unfortunately a very real problem with Sony. It's hard to tell from the pictures but the headband does not look like it's removable for example. If this goes flat or starts cracking a few years after purchase I can almost guarantee (from AMPLE experience unfortunately) Sony won't fix it. The same goes any other failure of purpose-built parts. (Which in headphones is basically almost everything, from drivers to all the structural parts))
You are also missing the point on my SACD player example: Even if it would be possible to have it fixed (Doubtful, many people all over the world ended up with 3000-5000$ "boat anchors" with the SCD-1/777ES) , why should you have to? On products in these price range, marketed as "the best of the best" , "using only the highest quality materials" etc. etc. etc. you would expect the manufacturer to be willing and able to fix it if it breaks down (en masse) just a few years later.
 
Finally: Most people haven't even heard these headphones yet. Is it really that bad to read a few critical notes in a thread that amounts to little more than speculation? Did I ruin the anticipation by gving my opinion and experience with Sony for you to resort to ridicule ?

 

[kman1211]

Oh I bought it again, because it is the headphone that makes all other headphones that I ever had sound kind of lifeless. I simply found that I absolutely missed the way it presents music to my ears. I is a very emotional way. Listening to Miles Davis "Tutu" album while writing this. To me this can is the benchmark headphone besides the HD650. The bass as it is is a revelation, no mods needed. My taste in music reproduction seems to be rather different from the standard on HeadFi though.

I've always found the Z7 and it's little sibling the 1A to have an unusual clarity and essentially no fatigue at all. Never really understood why the Z7 is bashed as it is, it has a few issues but nothing that ruins them for me, I really liked it from first listen. I personally think I probably should of got the Z7 instead of the Nighthawks as my main dark headphone. I am thinking of possibly getting the Z7 in the future but honestly likely just going to aim for the Z1R and call it quits headphone wise. My tastes seem to be different as well, so I understand that feeling. 

 

[coolcat]

just listening to them now

 

[thanatosguan]

 
First of all: A woman is not an object designed to be as profitable as possible for a corporation with a dodgy reputation.
 
Second: Is it really that strange that some people expect a little more from a 2100$ pair of headphones? At this pricepoint it should have been possible to make the entire thing from some lightweight luxurious metal. Now if Sony found out that plastic, paper and wire mesh sounds great I'm all for that, but adjust the price accordingly.
Would you buy 10$ a liter tap water just because the seller gave you a glossy brochure stating  it is better then Cola?
It's not about looks, it's about endless marketing hype about luxurious materials , but as soon as you remove a few screws it becomes obvious that these luxurious material are only applied where you can see them: they are striclty there for appearance (Maybe YOU like to sit in front of a mirror to see how great your listening device appears on your head?)
 
Third: The service/aftersales is unfortunately a very real problem with Sony. It's hard to tell from the pictures but the headband does not look like it's removable for example. If this goes flat or starts cracking a few years after purchase I can almost guarantee (from AMPLE experience unfortunately) Sony won't fix it. The same goes any other failure of purpose-built parts. (Which in headphones is basically almost everything, from drivers to all the structural parts))
You are also missing the point on my SACD player example: Even if it would be possible to have it fixed (Doubtful, many people all over the world ended up with 3000-5000$ "boat anchors" with the SCD-1/777ES) , why should you have to? On products in these price range, marketed as "the best of the best" , "using only the highest quality materials" etc. etc. etc. you would expect the manufacturer to be willing and able to fix it if it breaks down (en masse) just a few years later.
 
Finally: Most people haven't even heard these headphones yet. Is it really that bad to read a few critical notes in a thread that amounts to little more than speculation? Did I ruin the anticipation by gving my opinion and experience with Sony for you to resort to ridicule ?

 
I think the main thing I have against your argument is that good looking doesn't equal good quality. Most drivers are not that good looking. And if you're basing all of your argument on "doesn't look very good" it's not a very good way of arguing. Even Focal Utopia or Audeze LCDs are not that good looking inside. Heck, wait till you crack open a pair of HD800s and discover the stock internal cabling, they look gnarly. 
 
Sure, some of the legendary components looked really nice internally. For example, things like TA-NR10 and TA-ER1 looked gorgeous inside. Consider this, TA-ER1 retailed at about 1 million JPY.
 
Simplicity has its virtues. But complex engineering also has its benefits. A Canon 6D is more complex and capable than a Leica M3, by modern standards. But definitely uglier and have worse-looking internal components. Shorter lifespan, yes. But that's the nature of plastics and complexity.
 
All in all, I'm just saying you're perhaps misguided in equating good looking to quality. Even a Leica M has plastics and digital innards now. If you're really after longevity, buy yourself some instruments or hire an orchestra to play for you when you dine.
 
The ZH1ES internals looked gorgeous, no? Components tend to look better. ALO Studio Six is also mighty sexy. 
 
--
 
Secondly Sony US sucks. I think there's no argument against that. The plus side to their insanely bad distribution is that their parts can often be found online. Plenty of SCD-1 still in circulation in my region (East asia) so finding spare parts and getting them services is not a big issue.
 
Plus I just got one of my SA5000s fixed by Sony HK because they have some driver parts laying around. It's a matter of luck. Spare parts still exist in their warehouses.
 
--

 

[thanatosguan]

just listening to them now

Remember to turn on the DSD Remastering engine, some reports say they're turned off in the stores.
 
How do you like the ZH1ES + Z1R combo? Is it less warm than the WM1Z? Would you mind trying your IEMs on the ZH1ES to see if it drives smaller earphones well?
 
I'm really looking forward to any information regarding the ZH1ES. Thanks in advance!

 

[The Dutch Guy]

   
I think the main thing I have against your argument is that good looking doesn't equal good quality. Most drivers are not that good looking. And if you're basing all of your argument on "doesn't look very good" it's not a very good way of arguing. Even Focal Utopia or Audeze LCDs are not that good looking inside. Heck, wait till you crack open a pair of HD800s and discover the stock internal cabling, they look gnarly. 
 
   

 
I am not saying that at all and am suprised that's what you took away from my post: I am not commenting on looks/quality i am commenting on materials used vs. asking price.
It just appears to me the price on this is extremely inflated , the entire build quality just screams "Mid fi".
The fact that other manufacturers of high end headphones also don't exell in this area is no excuse: The audeze's look like a basement-built DIY project, the HD-800's don't exactly say "1199€" with their cheapish silver painted plastic frame and don't even get me started on the Fostex models with their gorgeous exterior bling and their incredibly poor "tiny screws directly in soft plastic parts" construction.
"Everybody does it so why shouldn't we get away with it' is not the mentality I expact when buying a premium product.
It appears to me that as consumers we have lowered our standards to the point we will just about swallow anything.
 
I actually owned the TA-ER1, the MDR-R10 and  several other of their top of the line products, along with a slew of much cheaper  ES products that were built to much higher standards than anything we see today. (Still own a TA-F5000, which build quality/fit&finish wise puts most modern 10.000$ amplifiers to shame 20 years down the line) So my comments on Sonys decline as a quality manufacturer are based on "some" experience.

 

[purk]

   
I am not saying that at all and am suprised that's what you took away from my post: I am not commenting on looks/quality i am commenting on materials used vs. asking price.
It just appears to me the price on this is extremely inflated , the entire build quality just screams "Mid fi".
The fact that other manufacturers of high end headphones also don't exell in this area is no excuse: The audeze's look like a basement-built DIY project, the HD-800's don't exactly say "1199€" with their cheapish silver painted plastic frame and don't even get me started on the Fostex models with their gorgeous exterior bling and their incredibly poor "tiny screws directly in soft plastic parts" construction.
"Everybody does it so why shouldn't we get away with it' is not the mentality I expact when buying a premium product.
It appears to me that as consumers we have lowered our standards to the point we will just about swallow anything.
 
I actually owned the TA-ER1, the MDR-R10 and  several other of their top of the line products, along with a slew of much cheaper  ES products that were built to much higher standards than anything we see today. (Still own a TA-F5000, which build quality/fit&finish wise puts most modern 10.000$ amplifiers to shame 20 years down the line) So my comments on Sonys decline as a quality manufacturer are based on "some" experience.

I almost bought the TA-ER1 several times but price has gone through the roof.  How do you like your R10 out of the back headphone jack if you don't mind me asking.  TA-ER1 = An absolute pre-amplifier by Sony.  Completely in agreement with you on the build quality/fit/finish compared to yesteryear products.

 

[Gibraltar]

For members in Hong Kong, Sony HK has started taking reservations to demo the Signature series (seems no 1A though). You can schedule a 30 minute window between Oct 18-24 at the Causeway Bay or Mongkok locations by calling the customer hotline.

 

[thanatosguan]

   
I am not saying that at all and am suprised that's what you took away from my post: I am not commenting on looks/quality i am commenting on materials used vs. asking price.
It just appears to me the price on this is extremely inflated , the entire build quality just screams "Mid fi".
The fact that other manufacturers of high end headphones also don't exell in this area is no excuse: The audeze's look like a basement-built DIY project, the HD-800's don't exactly say "1199€" with their cheapish silver painted plastic frame and don't even get me started on the Fostex models with their gorgeous exterior bling and their incredibly poor "tiny screws directly in soft plastic parts" construction.
"Everybody does it so why shouldn't we get away with it' is not the mentality I expact when buying a premium product.
It appears to me that as consumers we have lowered our standards to the point we will just about swallow anything.
 
I actually owned the TA-ER1, the MDR-R10 and  several other of their top of the line products, along with a slew of much cheaper  ES products that were built to much higher standards than anything we see today. (Still own a TA-F5000, which build quality/fit&finish wise puts most modern 10.000$ amplifiers to shame 20 years down the line) So my comments on Sonys decline as a quality manufacturer are based on "some" experience.

 
Yes but I suppose they did some market research and end up concluding people don't care about quality anymore, only more features. And also Sony made a transition to full digital amplifying with their S-Master technology, so they don't make them like they used to. I speculate Apple revealed a huge segment of market that care more about portability and feature set than quality and Sony followed suit, crashing their brand image along the way.
 
It's quite common actually, even back in the less digital age. Leica never managed to produce any M that beats their M3. The M4, M5 are all of subpar quality, not to mention the digital M9 that have CCD lifespan issues...
 
But the middle segment of the market have improved. Reasonable performance and quality can be obtained in reasonable price.

 

[thanatosguan]

  For members in Hong Kong, Sony HK has started taking reservations to demo the Signature series (seems no 1A though). You can schedule a 30 minute window between Sep 18-24 at the Causeway Bay or Mongkok locations by calling the customer hotline.

I saw them unloading crates in the Mongkok store just days ago. I figured something must be happening behind scene ;p

 

[Drumonron]

Well, I caved and bought me a new sony headphone:
 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NJ2M33I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

Sony MDRZX110 ZX

 
This WAS available to the US Market, I guess, which I happen to be a part of.
 
Seriously though, I really did buy them.  I think it's the biggest Sony bang for my US dollar.
 

 

[Whitigir]

And how is it related to Z1R ? Maybe Z7 is a closer thing to it

 

[fullranger]

Well, I caved and bought me a new sony headphone:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NJ2M33I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sony MDRZX110 ZX

This WAS available to the US Market, I guess, which I happen to be a part of.

Seriously though, I really did buy them.  I think it's the biggest Sony bang for my US dollar.

So, no free shipping on products over $49 I see...