[starfly]

It's been two months since I bought MV1 and I compared intensively with Z7M2 and HD660S. My conclusion is MV1 is a full spectrum nice sounding positional monitor headphone. HD660S is Gaussian smoothed with an emphasis on lower mid. Z7M2 is Sony's extended Sennheiser without the veil.

The biggest difference between MV1 and Z7M2 is sound stage and imaging. Z7M2 simply cannot get away from closed backs and echo. It can tell you whether you are in a concert hall or in a stadium, but it also reminds you that you are listening to recordings. MV1 on the other hand lets you immerse in the audience with its precise imaging at full spectrum. The difference is quite apparent when watching soccer and live concerts. Z7M2 also rolls off a little bit earlier than MV1. It's not a problem in general. But if you want to enjoy Lang Lang's piano, MV1 is the way to go, fully extended and fast.

The biggest difference between Z7M2 and HD660S is that HD660S loses subtle information due to earlier roll offs at both ends. HD660S kind of simplifies music. Sometimes, it actually works well although not faithful. HD660S has a warmer lower mid range which also contributes to the veil. I do feel Z7M2 lost Sony's lineage, clearly not as vibrant and lively as 1AM2, rather more towards Sennheiser's laid back sound.

The ways they deal with sibilance are different. HD660S makes sibilance longer and weaker. The Sony's filter out and leave some at the end. So, you may hear a grainier and weaker S sound with HD660S, and a shorter and a little sharper S sound with Z7M2 and MV1. In general, they have about the same amount of sibilance. Sometimes I feel HD660S creates weak grainy sibilance out of none sibilant sound due to its aggressive algorithm.

Switching headphones, I can only pick up more details in one way HD660S -> Z7M2 -> MV1. From HD660S -> Z7M2, it is mostly in the treble. From Z7M2 -> MV1, it is in both bass and treble due to imaging.

Since I started using MV1, I do find myself pay more and more attention to recording and mixing because I started to notice mistakes and brilliance from sound engineers. There are cases for what used to be good music I now wish they have had done it differently, for what used to be a big mixed up of everything, now I am amazed by the level of details they put into it. I also noticed that sometimes the vocals drift around the center. At first I thought the sound was not stable, then I realized it's actually the singers moved back and forth from microphones. The awareness of sound engineering sometimes bothers me and distracts me from what I am doing especially when I need to read and write. It doesn't bother me when I code.

So for me, they all have good use cases, MV1 when I want to enjoy music, HD660S when I don't want to be distracted by music, Z7M2 when I want to block background noise.

Yeah, that sounds like what I'd expect from a Sony studio monitor headphone. Very revealing, and thus also recordings that were mastered less than perfectly will not sound as great. Still haven't gotten around to doing a back to back with my 7520, but they appear to have similar characteristics.

One main concern that did pop up for me is comfort. Ear cups might not be deep enough for my ears as my ears get a bit itchy after a while. My benchmark for comfort is my Fidelio X2HR which I can literally wear for hours and they just disappear on my head.

 

[pintegral]

One main concern that did pop up for me is comfort. Ear cups might not be deep enough for my ears as my ears get a bit itchy after a while. My benchmark for comfort is my Fidelio X2HR which I can literally wear for hours and they just disappear on my head.

That might be the case. They are not deep. Z7M2 is the deepest, but heavier.

 

[jaibautista1]

And I thought I was happily retired from head-fi

The original plan was to get the Sennheiser HD660S2 (been seeing rave reviews about them, despite me owning the HD650 already). Then when I had to stay at a mall here in Manila a couple of nights ago to while away the heavy rain, I dropped by the Sony concept store and saw a weird-looking headphone that looks very much like the Sony MDR-MA900 (which I have also been lusting for quite some time as I have an affinity for vintage/discontinued Sony audio stuff). What an expensive mistake it was to demo the MDR-MV1s

Quick sound impressions: it retains the signature Sony house sound (warm-ish, fun-sounding) but surprisingly allows for a transparent and balanced yet non-fatiguing listening experience (I am aware I am not making any sense here hahaha). They're marketed as studio monitoring headphones after all (they have the matching teal "Professional" stickers in the left and right headphone gimbals), with their best use case as a monitoring peripheral for Sony's 360 Reality Audio.

Having also owned the MDR-Z7M2s (and still owning the MDR-1AM2s), the MDR-MV1s, I believe, are a great step towards the right direction as far as the evolution of Sony's house sound is concerned. While its looks are a bit off-putting (when I first picked them up I thought they only cost USD50 and deserve a place in the cheap knockoffs bin), the overall listening experience belies such first impressions. Finally, Sony has something up its sleeves that can go toe-to-toe with (or even surpass) what the other major headphone manufacturers that continue to have a presence in the mid-fi price range (Sennheiser/Neumann, Beyerdynamic, HifiMan, Fostex, Grado) currently offer.

Exciting times ahead (especially for long-time Sony audio stans)!

P.S. I tried logging into my old head-fi account but apparently I got locked out (I can't get past the two-step verification even though I didn't activate that security feature in that account) so if my handle sounds familiar (I used to post a lot in other Sony-focused subs) then I am that same exact person

 

[starfly]

Man, these headphones are real detail monsters, for better or for worse.

 

[Niteowl360]

Anyone else joined the party ?

Yip, me. Just needing to get the cable you linked to earlier to enjoy balanced setup from my DAC.
Cable needs to be from 6.3mm female to 4.4mm balanced male.
I agree with your initial comments with the awesome audio.
Was afraid they might be too clinical as per Studio Monitors but I'm not finding that at all.
My own FLAC files created from my Linn turntable sound excellent throughout the frequency range.
Tidal Max res FLAC files sounding very good and not too high in the treble area for me.
I am used to open planars and hence an open spacious sound is what I enjoy.
All sounding very good...

 

[Sp12er3]

Headphones.com's Resolve reviewed it

 

[Beagle]

So looks like it’s too bright, in theory? But perhaps deadly delicious?

 

[Shonen84]

Just got mine from Amazon. Buy. It. Seriously! It’s brilliant! Jacked it into my WMZ1 and old Discman (DE350). Sony knocked it out of the park. More detailed impressions later. To illustrate my preferences, my favorite headphones are the Focal Clear Mg, Sennheiser HD 595 and Focal Bathys (which replaced my Sony XM4). I’m very excited to try these on my RME Adi-2FS. I think that combo will blow my socks off

 

[starfly]

So looks like it’s too bright, in theory? But perhaps deadly delicious?

I don't think they sound too bright. The highs are just well defined.

Disclaimer, I have mild tinnitus and some hearing damage in upper regions.

 

[Sp12er3]

So looks like it’s too bright, in theory? But perhaps deadly delicious?

It depends on your tolerance but do have ADX5000 and T1 as my daily rotation, for me MV1 isn't nearly as bright as either. Again, it's not that different from Sony' usual house sound from Z1R and Z7 if you ever use them.

 

[adelaidestevens]

It depends on your tolerance but do have ADX5000 and T1 as my daily rotation, for me MV1 isn't nearly as bright as either. Again, it's not that different from Sony' usual house sound from Z1R and Z7 if you ever use them.

which gen t1?

 

[Sp12er3]

1st

 

[Beagle]

Just got mine from Amazon. Buy. It. Seriously! It’s brilliant! Jacked it into my WMZ1 and old Discman (DE350). Sony knocked it out of the park. More detailed impressions later. To illustrate my preferences, my favorite headphones are the Focal Clear Mg, Sennheiser HD 595 and Focal Bathys (which replaced my Sony XM4). I’m very excited to try these on my RME Adi-2FS. I think that combo will blow my socks off

How does the MV1 compare to the Clear MG?

 

[Sp12er3]

And I thought I was happily retired from head-fi

The original plan was to get the Sennheiser HD660S2 (been seeing rave reviews about them, despite me owning the HD650 already). Then when I had to stay at a mall here in Manila a couple of nights ago to while away the heavy rain, I dropped by the Sony concept store and saw a weird-looking headphone that looks very much like the Sony MDR-MA900 (which I have also been lusting for quite some time as I have an affinity for vintage/discontinued Sony audio stuff). What an expensive mistake it was to demo the MDR-MV1s

Quick sound impressions: it retains the signature Sony house sound (warm-ish, fun-sounding) but surprisingly allows for a transparent and balanced yet non-fatiguing listening experience (I am aware I am not making any sense here hahaha). They're marketed as studio monitoring headphones after all (they have the matching teal "Professional" stickers in the left and right headphone gimbals), with their best use case as a monitoring peripheral for Sony's 360 Reality Audio.

Having also owned the MDR-Z7M2s (and still owning the MDR-1AM2s), the MDR-MV1s, I believe, are a great step towards the right direction as far as the evolution of Sony's house sound is concerned. While its looks are a bit off-putting (when I first picked them up I thought they only cost USD50 and deserve a place in the cheap knockoffs bin), the overall listening experience belies such first impressions. Finally, Sony has something up its sleeves that can go toe-to-toe with (or even surpass) what the other major headphone manufacturers that continue to have a presence in the mid-fi price range (Sennheiser/Neumann, Beyerdynamic, HifiMan, Fostex, Grado) currently offer.

Exciting times ahead (especially for long-time Sony audio stans)!

P.S. I tried logging into my old head-fi account but apparently I got locked out (I can't get past the two-step verification even though I didn't activate that security feature in that account) so if my handle sounds familiar (I used to post a lot in other Sony-focused subs) then I am that same exact person

You can ask admin to help you disable that, as long s you can verify yourself. My account used to be locked for the same reason but I asked and they helped.

 

[WalkmanMax91824]

I have been thinking about buying between the Z2M2 and the MV1, could someone here tell me which one is better, although I read comments that said the mv1 scenario is better than the z7m2 and I honestly don't believe it since the z7m2 has a 70 mm driver , and yes although the mv1 is an open earphone but the sound does not expand like an hd600 would.

In a headphone I like / highlight aspects such as: Soundstage, Instrument placement, detail, realism in the sound, bass (I mean unsaturated and balanced), with a neutral/warm sound.
So if anyone here who has experience with these could tell me which one is better based on the aspects mentioned Thanks.