I felt the same way at first, when I pulled the trigger on the Z1R, it had already been around for four years. But I'm glad I went for it. The Z1R still holds the crown as my favorite IEM. I don't know when Sony will drop their next big thing, and even if they do, there's no guarantee I'll like...

My Z1R was produced just last year, so I don’t think it’s discontinued.

Now that makes sense, the pictures I looked at must've been darker so the colour appeared brown / copper. I actually bought a fake case for my IE200 and it's copper, I always thought it was the original colour.

maybe i'm mistaken but i'm sure the original case was brown or copper too, it's strange that the fakes makers haven't updated it

I bought mine directly from Sennheiser and these look good to me. But it’s hard to tell these days

I was afraid to remove the foam because it seemed to be glued to something inside when I tried.

1000 pages of discussion for 1 IEM and new owners still keep coming. The Z1R has the best staying power.

Same here, I also have both. The IE600 is well rounded and "safer", but it doesn't reach the height of the IE900. However they complement each other very well and it's not redundant to own both in my opinion.

True, i have the IE900 too. Excellent bass, a bit behind Z1R but i can take it outside due to how small and comfortable it is.

I don't know about the MDR-Z1R, been wanting to try, but I used to have the TH900, which is often said to have endgame-level bass for headphones. It's hard to compare because the experiences are different. The TH900 also has excellent depth and texture like the Z1R. The biggest difference for me...

Yeah I didn't expect the Alpha 3 to come close to FF3's bass anyway, was just looking for a neutral and musical pair of earbuds, and the Alpha 3 do just that. It's only been a few days though.

Finally got the Dunu Alpha 3, my second high quality earbuds. My other set is the Fiio FF3 which I’ve had for over a year. Build quality is very good, I think it looks classier than the FF3. Overall sound presentation is more neutral and balanced than the warmer FF3, but it can’t match the FF3’s...

Very nice, wouldn't call them basshead since they don't have a huge amount of bass, but the bass quality is excellent and they slam harder than some basshead IEMs that i've tried.

Is it really that hard to get the stock cables ? I see a lot of websites that sell genuine Sony parts and I get my tips from one of them. Cables are always in stock and fairly affordable too.

Same. No IEMs are perfect for all music. I also have both the M9 and Z1R and they have their own strengths. M9 are a great all rounder, Z1R are spacious and energetic. They complement each other very well.