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The Sony MDR-Z1R
The New Sony Flagship
A Table of Contents
1. Design/ Philosophy Notes (Directly Below)
2. Video of Technical Interview (Click Here)
3. General Impressions By This Author (Click Here)
4. General Impressions by Other Members (Click Here)
5. Event and Release Videos (Click here)
Links To Related Threads
An Introduction From The Ground
Hello all! It’s thatonenoob here, A little while back, the Sony Singapore Team reached out to me, saying that they had a rather interesting proposition. I figured that it was probably going to be something along the lines of a new product release, and was naturally quite curious. A couple of calls and a few emails later, and I found myself booked for a flight to the 2016 IFA in Berlin.
As it is now slightly past 1:15 PM here in Berlin on September 1st, I’m finally able to discuss in an official capacity the immensely exciting new Sony Hi-Res lineup. I know there’s already been some “info” that has arrived beforehand from a Chinese (?) source, but by nature of things I won’t be commenting on that channel. Rest assured though, everything you see here is official, so speculation begone!
Currently, the atmosphere here at the press conference is hectic and filled with a great deal of excitement, and in the coming hours I will be posting all my impressions, photos, and videos right here in this thread. In short, I will be bringing the Sony experience directly to y’all Head-Fi’ers. Stay tuned.
And We're Done
IFA has since been concluded, and my review of the Z1R published. If you should have any questions, just post below or shoot me a PM. Either is fine really.
Specifications
Model Name | MDR-Z1R Hi-Res Audio Headphones |
Hi-Res Audio | Yes |
Receiver Type | Closed |
Wearing Style | Around-Ear Headband |
Driver Unit | 70mm Dynamic |
Diaphragm | Aluminum-coated Liquid Crystal Polymer Edge Diaphragms with Magnesium Dome |
Frequency Response | 4-120,000Hz |
Sensitivity | 100dB/mW |
Impedance (at 1kHz) | 64Ω |
Cables | Headphone Cable (3m Silver-coated OFC with gold-plated 3.5mm Stereo Mini Plug); Balanced connection headphone cable (1.2m Silver-coated OFC with L-shaped gold-plated 4.4mm Balanced Standard plug) |
Weight | Approx. 385g (excluding cable) |
Case Accessory | Hard storage case |
USD Prices (Projected For Asia)
WM1Z - 3199
WM1A - 1199
ZH1ES - 2199
Z1R - 2199
1000X - 399
Design/ Philosophy
Key Features
Right off the bat, there's a couple of new features to be had in the MDR-Z1R. There's several key aspects of the headphone as advertised by Sony.
- The 70mm Magnesium Dome HD Driver Units
- Fibonacci-patterned grill for smooth ultra-high frequencies
- Breathable housing that reduces resonance
- New 4.4mm balanced connection standard
- Genuine Leather, built in Japan, lightweight beta-titanium headband
The tuning philosophy has been more or less transferred over from the MDR-Z7, intact, might I add. There are two key components of this philosophy - super bass/ super treble and extreme dynamics. That is to say, for fortissimo reproduction there should be clean and little distortion, and for pianissimo reproduction a strong depth of field. However, the execution is without a doubt better than that on the Z7. This, I will cover in greater detail once I iron out my impressions. Which mind you, were very positive. Handling the headphone, I am impressed, if not slightly stunned, by its aesthetic.
The construction of the headphone is very unique. The driver is 70mm, but this wasn't the same one that was utilized in the MDR-Z7. Instead, it comes with a magnesium dome, surrounded by an aluminum-coated LCP edge. Behind that is the voice coil, pole piece, magnet, frame and acoustic register. Supposedly, this transducer is able to reproduce frequencies of up to 120 kHz w/ high acoustic velocity and internal loss. Interestingly enough, one may notice that the Focal Elear also makes use of a similar 40mm "M-shaped" dome. The aluminum-coated LCP edge has made a return, primarily because of its "clear -mid and treble sound" with "no coloration. But speaking with Nageno-san, it was fairly obvious that the most exciting part of this new design was the magnesium dome.
The enclosure of the MDR-Z1R was designed primarily to tackle resonance. It's comprised of three parts - a housing frame, acoustic filter, and housing protector. I think many people, including myself, wanted to know exactly why Sony chose not to go for an open design. I have thus been reassured that it is not because of a lack of engineering capability. In a conversation with the engineers (not shown in video), I was more or less told that it was because of the fact that they wanted the listener to focus purely on the music at hand, and also because they felt it was more favorable to tackle the internal reflections/ damping issues than to deal with building a headphone around inevitable background noise. Based on the feeling I got, it did seem to me that the Sony team felt the former was the easier "variable" to solve for.But moving away from the philosophy, I want to discuss the acoustic filter located above the housing frame, which to me is quite impressive. I'll start by saying this - the advertising material (at least the stuff I got) did not convey the essence of what was so great about the filter. I was told that this was a "breathable" headphone, and frankly at first, I was wondering why they decided to place such emphasis on a performance characteristic that would have been much more fitting for an active use device. It did not help that being able to wear the headphones for hours on end was the buzz phrase of the day. It was only after consulting Shunsuke Shiomi, an acoustic engineer from the team, that I finally realized what the engineering team was trying to do with the enclosure design. The filter itself is made of a Canadian conifer pulp processed in the traditional Japanese Washi method of paper making. It is breathable in this sense.
Yes, it is a hand-drawn diagram by Shiomi-San. He explained that one of the perceived drawbacks of the MDR-Z7 was the significant venting that had been used (see the left). However, with the MDR-Z1R, the goal was to design a 3D housing that could allow the Air (A+B) to flow right out. Hence, the enclosure is breathable, and this, according to Sony, makes it very good at tackling resonances. However, there is still a vent at the top of the enclosure, but it is, as expected, much smaller than that seen on the Z7. The housing protector is made from a stemless wire and coated with chromium, and should be quite resistant to abrasion. The last component in the design, is the Fibonacci-Patterned Grill. This wonderful looking grill was designed to reproduce smooth ultra-high frequencies, and is made of a stiff resin. The thinness and strength of the grill lends itself to reduced sound damping at high-resolution frequencies. Not too sure what a high-resolution frequency is, but I bet it's got something to do with the purported 120 kHz reproduction.Sony has decided that it will now support its own 4.4 mm Balanced Connection as the "standard" for the Signature series. See below. Accessories will include the said balanced cable and a standard 3.5mm cable.