[Shinnbone]

  As far as the intended application of the Z1000, 7520 discussion is concerned, I suspect that Sony uses it's studio reputation (which started AFAIK when the MDR-V6 became widely used in studios and then Sony made a 'professional' version of it with the 7506) to market and promote new headphones. It seems to me that's what happened with the Z1000. Sony's pro headphones have long been distinguished by a 'professional' sticker and have the familiar all black colour scheme and coiled cable, so despite the information on the Japanese site about the Z1000 being designed for studio work, it clearly wasn't intended as part of their professional range. If it was, why would they have introduced the 7520? I seem to recall similar 'pro application' marketing for the MDR-R1...................
 
Great info though from M-13 and Shinnbone!

 
This is my last post about Z1000 / 7520 and their intended market / use.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that 7520 has not been released in Japan by Sony. It is available through third-party retailers, but it is not listed on Sony's Japanese website.
 
MDR-Z1000 is what Sony considers their top-of-the-line studio monitors. 7520 is the overseas version of the Z1000. So, the 7520 is Sony's top-of-the-line studio monitors for non-Japanese markets. 
 
That really sums it up.
 
And as for designations like "professional range" and such, Sony may not use the same classification / nomenclature in Japan. I don't think you can look at the lineup available in your country and assume the Japanese market has the same products and same categories / lineups. Looking at the Japanese and American pages, Sony has different categorizations on their respective headphone pages.
 
So *in my opinion* speculating what Sony intended the Z1000 to be as opposed to the 7520 is really not relevant. For some reason Sony felt they had to retune the Z1000 for non-Japanese market. And for some reason they are not selling the 7520 in Japan. 
 
Perhaps what the "consumers" and "pros" in Japan tend to want are slightly different from their overseas counterpart. I tend to believe Sony knows its markets, and has its reasons. The consensus at least here at Hed-Fi seems to be that most people prefer the 7520 to the Z1000 by a pretty good margin, so introducing the 7520 as the overseas model was apparently the right move.
 
One last thing: NONE of the Japanese reviewers who compared the 2 said either was significantly better. They pretty much all say they are different, but they don't call one the winner. So I dare say *for the Japanese market*, the 7520 is not a marked improvement.

 

[Mike F]

   
This is my last post about Z1000 / 7520 and their intended market / use.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that 7520 has not been released in Japan by Sony. It is available through third-party retailers, but it is not listed on Sony's Japanese website.
 
MDR-Z1000 is what Sony considers their top-of-the-line studio monitors. 7520 is the overseas version of the Z1000. So, the 7520 is Sony's top-of-the-line studio monitors for non-Japanese markets. 
 
That really sums it up.
 
And as for designations like "professional range" and such, Sony may not use the same classification / nomenclature in Japan. I don't think you can look at the lineup available in your country and assume the Japanese market has the same products and same categories / lineups. Looking at the Japanese and American pages, Sony has different categorizations on their respective headphone pages.
 
So *in my opinion* speculating what Sony intended the Z1000 to be as opposed to the 7520 is really not relevant. For some reason Sony felt they had to retune the Z1000 for non-Japanese market. And for some reason they are not selling the 7520 in Japan. 
 
Perhaps what the "consumers" and "pros" in Japan tend to want are slightly different from their overseas counterpart. I tend to believe Sony knows its markets, and has its reasons. The consensus at least here at Hed-Fi seems to be that most people prefer the 7520 to the Z1000 by a pretty good margin, so introducing the 7520 as the overseas model was apparently the right move.
 
One last thing: NONE of the Japanese reviewers who compared the 2 said either was significantly better. They pretty much all say they are different, but they don't call one the winner. So I dare say *for the Japanese market*, the 7520 is not a marked improvement.

 
Shinnbone, thanks for the clarification! I know you said that was your last post on this subject but, as a matter of interest, now I'm wondering whether Sony Japan even has a 'pro audio' page like the rest of the world. And if it does, do they have the 7502, 7506, 7510, 7550 there? I'm wondering whether Sony Japan has ever made a distinction between 'consumer' and 'pro' models, or is the Z1000 an exception? Thanks in advance!

 

[Shinnbone]

   
Shinnbone, thanks for the clarification! I know you said that was your last post on this subject but, as a matter of interest, I'm now I'm wondering whether Sony Japan even has a 'pro audio' page like the rest of the world. And if it does, do they have the 7502, 7506, 7510, 7550 there? I'm wondering whether Sony Japan has ever made a distinction between 'consumer' and 'pro' models, or is the Z1000 an exception? Thanks in advance!

 
Hi Mike, F, I did not want to bore people any more with this topic, so I said that was my last post about it. But since you requested (^_^), here goes ...
 
This is very, very interesting.
 
Sony Japan's "pro" page only lists the 7506 (at the bottom of the page the page).
http://www.sony.jp/pro-audio/lineup/index.html#mixer_headphone
 
Sony US's "pro" page lists 7502, 7506, 7510, 7520, 7550, and PHA-1, as well as a carrying case for the headphones.
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-audio/cat-headphones/
 
Sony UK's "pro" page lists 7506/1 and 7510 only.
http://www.sony.co.uk/pro/products/broadcast-products-professional-audio-headphones
 
So apparently Sony is all over the place about which headphone models it considered "pro," depending on the market.

 

[jackson1]

  Sony UK's "pro" page lists 7506/1 and 7510 only.
http://www.sony.co.uk/pro/products/broadcast-products-professional-audio-headphones
 
So apparently Sony is all over the place about which headphone models it considered "pro," depending on the market.

 
Remember the European ban of the 7520 which we discussed in this thread.

 

[Mike F]

   
Hi Mike, F, I did not want to bore people any more with this topic, so I said that was my last post about it. But since you requested (^_^), here goes ...
 
This is very, very interesting.
 
Sony Japan's "pro" page only lists the 7506 (at the bottom of the page the page).
http://www.sony.jp/pro-audio/lineup/index.html#mixer_headphone
 
Sony US's "pro" page lists 7502, 7506, 7510, 7520, 7550, and PHA-1, as well as a carrying case for the headphones.
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-audio/cat-headphones/
 
Sony UK's "pro" page lists 7506/1 and 7510 only.
http://www.sony.co.uk/pro/products/broadcast-products-professional-audio-headphones
 
So apparently Sony is all over the place about which headphone models it considered "pro," depending on the market.

 
Yes, I certainly find it interesting!
 
The Japanese 'pro' page is especially interesting because the 7506 is exactly the same as the V6 (which AFAIK is still being made?) with the exception of a gold plated plug on the 7506, so why bother with one 'pro' version, and not the others? I guess the answer is, as you say, that the others (Z1000, Z700) are different from the 'pro' versions but are not considered inferior in any way by the Japanese.
 
Thanks for the reply and information. Can you read Japanese, or are you using a translator?

 

[Shinnbone]

   
Thanks for the reply and information. Can you read Japanese, or are you using a translator?

 
I am Japanese, born there and was there until 13, when I moved to South America. Been in the States for over 20 years now, though.

 

[jackson1]

  Sony UK's "pro" page lists 7506/1 and 7510 only.
http://www.sony.co.uk/pro/products/broadcast-products-professional-audio-headphones
 
So apparently Sony is all over the place about which headphone models it considered "pro," depending on the market.

 
Well, I'm not letting this one go unnoticed 

. Your above statement is flawed. The 7520 has been discontinued in Europe. I wouldn't call that "all over the place". Sony decided to pull it. Had it not been banned, it would be listed under the Pro page you mention.
 
Click your link and click the discontinued products:
 

 

[Shinnbone]

   
Well, I'm not letting this one go unnoticed 

. Your above statement is flawed. The 7520 has been discontinued in Europe. I wouldn't call that "all over the place". Sony decided to pull it. Had it not been banned, it would be listed under the Pro page you mention.
 
Click your link and click the discontinued products:
 

 
Only 1 product listed on the Japanese page. Two on the UK page (yes, the 7520 would probably be there if it weren't pulled in Europe). Five on the US page. If you don't think that qualified as "all over the place," that's fine. Perhaps "inconsistent" would have been to your liking?
 
Ah, you're right. I see that with discontinued headphones taken into account, the US and the UK pages are consistent. Checking some other countries' pages I see some inconsistencies, but it seems the Japanese page is the anomaly.
 
I also find it peculiar that the PHA-1, a portable DAC / headphone amp, appears on the US page. I don't think many people would consider that a pro gear.

 

[starfly]

The 7520 can still be found in Europe though. I bought it for € 390 (worth every penny!) in the Netherlands. Still find that whole story about the 7520 being banned kinda absurd. I believe it had to do with the SPL rating or something? Ridiculous, I hate it when politicians decide what's best for the citizens, at least when it comes to irrelevant things like this. Like they're being your mother and they know what's best for you.
 
Otherwise interesting discussion on the 7520 vs. Z1000. Perhaps it comes down to cultural differences? Maybe the 7520 is what's considered 'good' in Western countries, and the Z1000 is what's considered 'good' in Japan?

 

[M-13]

 

[mannkind246]

Have anyone listened to MDR-7510 and how it compared to MDR-7520 in term of sound signature?
 
Tried to search but no so much threads that talk about MDR-7510.

 

[jackson1]

mannkind, here you go. Not much info but...
 

 

[Currawong]

 

[jackson1]

Currawong, what's up... is the pictured article a no-go?

 

[azureaura]

This headphone belongs in summit fi, imo, which is very odd. It's a hidden jewel.