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Sony has new headphones, MDR-1R
Oct 7, 2012 at 12:43 PM Post #301 of 2,773
I briefly listened to these in a Sony Style shop yesterday, and had a chance to compare them to the Z1000. The 1R sounded more open and laid-back to me, the Z1000 being more of a classical studio headphone with the typical upfront soundstage. Tonal balance difference was not as big as I expected, the Z1000 sounded more neutral to me but not by a huge margin. Last time I heard the Z1000 I didn't like the treble though so the 1R might actually be better with agressive material. I also have the CD900ST at home which are probably the clearest of the three, but the most bass-shy as well.
 
Oct 8, 2012 at 9:54 AM Post #303 of 2,773
Quote:
mobbaddict said:
I briefly listened to these in a Sony Style shop yesterday, and had a chance to compare them to the Z1000. The 1R sounded more open and laid-back to me, the Z1000 being more of a classical studio headphone with the typical upfront soundstage. Tonal balance difference was not as big as I expected, the Z1000 sounded more neutral to me but not by a huge margin. Last time I heard the Z1000 I didn't like the treble though so the 1R might actually be better with agressive material. I also have the CD900ST at home which are probably the clearest of the three, but the most bass-shy as well.
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IMO it goes the other way around, laid-back is preferred for classical due to it helps bringing a large and spacious soundstage. Forward is what is more suited for pop, rock, acoustic etc which gives a more intimate & engaging experience while listening to classical more often than not, serious audiophiles tend to prefer this large spacious sound which gets an interesting way of listening in its own kind while then listening to rock for example won't give you the engaging experience cuz it sounds overall a bit too distant.
 
I'm guessing the differences you're experiences are mainly in the midrange, the Z1000 is a very midrange focused headphone which gives it a forward/intimate, slightly smoother signature while 1R is probably more balanced in the mids & highs so therefore it has a bit more neutral tonality (mids & highs are more evenly balanced). From the russian FR graph we can already see the 1R is quite significantly bassier, both in mid and subbass (the subbass extension on Z1000 is somewhat lacking too).
 
Goldenears & this new russian headphone enthusiast site are quite comparable in the measuring methods used so therefore you can fairly well compare these two graphs:
 
Z1000:
 

 
 
MDR-1R
 

 
This only gives you a small part of the sound signature but for comparing overall balance, it's quite interesting though. Should be noted the russian 1R measurement is extremely smoothed (more so than goldenears presentation), on another site you're almost garantueed to see a larger variety in the 5 - 20kHz range, especially larger dip around 6kHz and a bit higher peak around 9~10kHz is what I'd expect to see. Even for a very smoothed graph the 1R does look impressive FR balance wise (if you happen to prefer a bit emphasized bass), I wonder how the other non-measurable aspects compares like though. :)
 
Oct 8, 2012 at 11:33 AM Post #304 of 2,773
Quote:
rpgwizard said:
 
IMO it goes the other way around, laid-back is preferred for classical due to it helps bringing a large and spacious soundstage. Forward is what is more suited for pop, rock, acoustic etc which gives a more intimate & engaging experience while listening to classical more often than not, serious audiophiles tend to prefer this large spacious sound which gets an interesting way of listening in its own kind while then listening to rock for example won't give you the engaging experience cuz it sounds overall a bit too distant.
 
I'm guessing the differences you're experiences are mainly in the midrange, the Z1000 is a very midrange focused headphone which gives it a forward/intimate, slightly smoother signature while 1R is probably more balanced in the mids & highs so therefore it has a bit more neutral tonality (mids & highs are more evenly balanced). From the russian FR graph we can already see the 1R is quite significantly bassier, both in mid and subbass (the subbass extension on Z1000 is somewhat lacking too).
 
Click to expand...

 
Oops when I said classical I meant usual, not classical music, sorry
tongue.gif

Anyway I agree with you the 1R would probably be better with classical music due to the large soundstage.
The midrange of the Z1000 sounds OK to me, not especially forward, I think it's fairly well balanced with the bass. The only thing that annoyed me the first time I heard it (with more agressive music) was the treble that sounded unnatural to me. The 1R might be more forgiving but I couldn't say for sure.
 
@asmagus: I didn't try them with bass-heavy songs so I couldn't say for sure. I thought the bass was pretty good with the 1R, not too prominent but had a good kick.
 
Oct 8, 2012 at 12:53 PM Post #305 of 2,773
So... it seems that U.S. only gets the "black/red" version only then? :frowning2:
 
http://store.sony.com/p/Sony-Headphones/en/p/MDR1R  --> (shows a release date of 11/4/2012)
 
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR1R-Premium-Headphone-Black/dp/B009A6CZ30
 
http://www.macmall.com/p/Sony-Head-Phones/product~dpno~9379290~pdp.hjjfjaj
 
 
I WANT MY BROWN/SILVER COMBO!!!!!!
 
Oct 8, 2012 at 9:47 PM Post #307 of 2,773
I ordered 1R brown/silver version. I once ordered red/black version, but I've changed my order. I'm not sure I can get it at Oct. 27 (official relase date in japan). I dislike Z1000 because of its bizzare frequency response. So I worry about quality of 1R.
 
Oct 8, 2012 at 9:56 PM Post #308 of 2,773
Quote:
diseree said:
I ordered 1R brown/silver version. I once ordered red/black version, but I've changed my order. I'm not sure I can get it at Oct. 27 (official relase date in japan). I dislike Z1000 because of its bizzare frequency response. So I worry about quality of 1R.
Click to expand...


So you ordered from Japan I take it... :frowning2:
 
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