Sony
A company dear to many, yet puzzling all the same. An truly idiosyncratic company, always taking their own road, taking massive pride in their in-house R&D department that approaches many things in audio-land radically different from the other companies. Usually for the worse, but every once in a while, they shine brilliantly.
Perhaps it is because of that, that their products are such this much of a 'Hit or miss'. With many of their high end offerings being lambasted as overpriced or poor value, and their consumer offerings being merely average. A far cry from the market, if not world leading brilliance they used to show in their legendary ES-line audio portfolio from the 70's and 80's, until their eventual decline in the 90's.
Yet, despite the often harsh criticism, Sony has had some brilliant offerings nonetheless. from my personal favourite the MA900, to the legendary Qualias and R10, to the exceptional MDR-EX1000 and beyond.
The current upward trend started with the revitalisation of their Walkman and high-res branding with the, at the time, wicked expensive ZX1 and the stellar midrange A15/A17 DAPs. Around that same time, from 2012 onwards, they've released a whole slew of high end headphones that all ended up being various degrees of disappointment despite absolutely stellar build, design and more personal, ergonomics. Even today, their wired headphones are a far cry from being good when looking purely at musical enjoyment. With the latest round of gear they've seemingly crept back into the notoriously fickle audiophiliac hearts again.But I digress, their headphones we'll save for another day. It's all about the little IEM that could, the IER-M7
Sony BA?!
While Sony's 'HiFi' oriented Headphones have all been rather questionable in recent years, their IEM have seen an amazing progression. The current trend started in 2012 with their well received, but otherwise unassuming XBA-1, 2, 3 and 4. Finally having finalised their in-house R&D on balanced armature drivers, they started to aggressively market their proprietary D-class implementation (called S-MASTER-HX) in daps, and the fresh balanced armature IEM in a renewed attack into the portable high end.
While this may not sound too impressive, this really kinda is, as right now, there really are only 3 major producers with the tech and know-how to make high end balanced armatures. Knowles, whose BA you see in virtually all bespoke IEM on the market today. Sonion, whose BA are mostly used by some Asian companies, notably for tweeters. And then Sony, who stubbornly spent years and many millions developing their own BA with a very different approach just because they could.
The main difference being that all their BA designs using a side-firing configuration without ducting, whereas virtually all other BA's on the market use a duct to fire into the horizontal plane. Internally too, they have extensively tried different configurations of Armature geometry and diaphragm driving that were often quite different from the usual Sonion and Knowles structures. The most recent design, undoubtedly being the latest and greatest by Sony, being a suspended T-shaped Drivebar, instead of the typical S (or U) shaped armature bar where the driving rod attaches to. [The pushrod too, being part of the diaphragm along a wide base, rather than the typical separate driving rod connecting the armature bar and diaphragm.](https://imgur.com/tRfMDiS)
Sony claims that this particular design fixes most, if not all, of the sonic oddities BA suffer from traditionally. Perhaps best by enthusiasts known as BA timbre and BA bass.
Sweet, sweet, Sound
Now, as a disclaimer perhaps, I want to say that as I got myself further and further into the rabbit hole of audiophilia, I started caring less and less about measurements for personal audio in particular. Two things measuring the same can sound vastly different, and some things that seem bad on paper still manage to strike a musical chord.
Tend to prefer darker signatures.
Bulk of listening done on ZX300, balanced, all DSP disabled. TC50S and Sony hybrid MS eartips used. Written while listening to it on AGD NFB11.38, no DSP, Hybrid MS. Imported from SG on release day.
--------------------------
South of neutral, warm, smooth, slightly bassy, very high levels of 'can't believe it's not DD!'. stellar. While not cheap at all, I'd argue this still being good value. splitting up a review in the typical 'low-mid-high' structure doesn't sit well with me beyond what I just wrote, so we'll go on a slight detour and discover some music from the depths of my HDDs.
Peg is a fun upbeat track that is excellent for demonstrating the strength of Sony's newfangled BA in the lows. None of the limp wristed affair of yesteryears BA, or the overly dry, dead sounding bass many BA based IEM seem exhibit. Very pleasant mid-bass bloom and extension down below. If I didn't know better, I wouldn't doubt Sony telling me it's a hybrid design. It's that good.
Deacon Blues. Brilliant layering here. While the vocals take a bit of a back-seat to the instruments, the separation more than makes up for it. The snares nicely textured, and cymbals retain their shimmer and extension into the air without being sparkly or bright. Did I mention these being oh so very pleasant?
Josie. hmhm... yummy guitar texture, and the synth keys on the background are very nicely rendered, crisp without excess presence.
While the album itself doesn't scream hifi very much, with the little crackles, background noise and slightly stuffy microphone. The ambiance, the total picture is there and then some. Each note and chord distinct, the sustain being held to the very end. The minute little noises of a live recording, the felt of the pedals touching, the the occasional bounceback of a pedal, key or hammer, it's all there. Everything rendered in all its glory without ever becoming harsh, or punishing. Showing the flaws oh so pleasantly. Gentle Piano, Mediocre recording, lovely composition.
Treble response may be relaxed, the extension is good, and more importantly, the midrange is excellent. A very sweet and smooth interpretation of ‘Neutral’ without a doubt. Accurate, yet retains silky soft smoothness. Working wonders here. Lower female vocals, classical/nylon guitars, woodwinds/flutes and various medieval instruments are bloody amazing on these. fabulous stuff.
A more general note, Great staging too! it's not very large, but the separation is very very good, better than HS1551 or EX1000 levels of good I think, the staging reasonably precise too, but the stage itself is on the small side. If EX1K was a full blown orchestra or open air performance, the M7 is akin to a (living)room performance.
---------------------------
As you may have noticed, this iem really plays nice with a wide range of genres with excellent technicalities that really doesn't yield much to its famed detail oriented monster of a brother, the EX1000 and handily beats out virtually everything under its price bracket, exception being made*. As a package, I'd take over both the SE535/SE846 as those are just musically dead and sterile sounding, and severely lacking in extension. The RHA IEM all shrill and terrible treble texture and presentation, the AKG iem… not worth mentioning really.
I'd also pick them over the excellent Acoustune 1551's, mostly due to my preference for darker signatures and very specific use case as main portable iem, as the IER-M7 is absolutely amazing at isolation, being a non-vented design.
The whole package
Sony are masters of packaging, masters of the packaging experience. Their high end offerings all have exceptional packaging in general, to the point where it's a shame to toss the boxes out or even damage that stuff.
No boring peli-case with some foam inserts, no cheap feeling cardboard construction with some moulded plastic and inserted pieces. Instead, you get a gorgeous matte black box made from 3-4 mm thick longfiber cardboard of amazing quality and finish, already feeling real premium with its imposing heft. Inside, ample space to give each separate part their own place, two amazingly flexible cables that could arguably go toe to toe with bespoke cables in terms of ergonomics and perhaps even looks. Not only that, you get the whole range, and even some unreleased,of sony's own Hybrid silicon tips and the new, and truly impressive, TC50 'foamed silicone' tips. Both of which are exceptional in both fit and sound compared to many other tips. Also included is a cute little storage with thick fabric walls, the typical sony fabric lining and a very sturdy plastic cap and bottom, The stitching and finish really outdoes quite a few aftermarket solutions.
Bottom line
These are good. really, very good. With the caveat being, do you like it cozy, dark and sweet?
Only real weaknesses to me are the slight lack of lower-treble energy at times, and the lower mids can be a little too thick for certain genres, like metal or distortion-heavy rock. But I wouldn't recommend warm IEM for that in the first place.
TL;DR M7 is lovable wallflower doing everything it's asked with stride and attention, without drawing any attention to itself, mellow and shy, oh so very sweet.
ADDENDUM:
The sole exception being the Acoustune HS1551, which retails for 300-400, and is an all round excellent iem, but with a much more V-shaped tuning and much lesser isolation, along with less comfy staging and tonality.
A company dear to many, yet puzzling all the same. An truly idiosyncratic company, always taking their own road, taking massive pride in their in-house R&D department that approaches many things in audio-land radically different from the other companies. Usually for the worse, but every once in a while, they shine brilliantly.
Perhaps it is because of that, that their products are such this much of a 'Hit or miss'. With many of their high end offerings being lambasted as overpriced or poor value, and their consumer offerings being merely average. A far cry from the market, if not world leading brilliance they used to show in their legendary ES-line audio portfolio from the 70's and 80's, until their eventual decline in the 90's.
Yet, despite the often harsh criticism, Sony has had some brilliant offerings nonetheless. from my personal favourite the MA900, to the legendary Qualias and R10, to the exceptional MDR-EX1000 and beyond.
The current upward trend started with the revitalisation of their Walkman and high-res branding with the, at the time, wicked expensive ZX1 and the stellar midrange A15/A17 DAPs. Around that same time, from 2012 onwards, they've released a whole slew of high end headphones that all ended up being various degrees of disappointment despite absolutely stellar build, design and more personal, ergonomics. Even today, their wired headphones are a far cry from being good when looking purely at musical enjoyment. With the latest round of gear they've seemingly crept back into the notoriously fickle audiophiliac hearts again.But I digress, their headphones we'll save for another day. It's all about the little IEM that could, the IER-M7
Sony BA?!
While Sony's 'HiFi' oriented Headphones have all been rather questionable in recent years, their IEM have seen an amazing progression. The current trend started in 2012 with their well received, but otherwise unassuming XBA-1, 2, 3 and 4. Finally having finalised their in-house R&D on balanced armature drivers, they started to aggressively market their proprietary D-class implementation (called S-MASTER-HX) in daps, and the fresh balanced armature IEM in a renewed attack into the portable high end.
While this may not sound too impressive, this really kinda is, as right now, there really are only 3 major producers with the tech and know-how to make high end balanced armatures. Knowles, whose BA you see in virtually all bespoke IEM on the market today. Sonion, whose BA are mostly used by some Asian companies, notably for tweeters. And then Sony, who stubbornly spent years and many millions developing their own BA with a very different approach just because they could.
The main difference being that all their BA designs using a side-firing configuration without ducting, whereas virtually all other BA's on the market use a duct to fire into the horizontal plane. Internally too, they have extensively tried different configurations of Armature geometry and diaphragm driving that were often quite different from the usual Sonion and Knowles structures. The most recent design, undoubtedly being the latest and greatest by Sony, being a suspended T-shaped Drivebar, instead of the typical S (or U) shaped armature bar where the driving rod attaches to. [The pushrod too, being part of the diaphragm along a wide base, rather than the typical separate driving rod connecting the armature bar and diaphragm.](https://imgur.com/tRfMDiS)
Sony claims that this particular design fixes most, if not all, of the sonic oddities BA suffer from traditionally. Perhaps best by enthusiasts known as BA timbre and BA bass.
Sweet, sweet, Sound
Now, as a disclaimer perhaps, I want to say that as I got myself further and further into the rabbit hole of audiophilia, I started caring less and less about measurements for personal audio in particular. Two things measuring the same can sound vastly different, and some things that seem bad on paper still manage to strike a musical chord.
Tend to prefer darker signatures.
Bulk of listening done on ZX300, balanced, all DSP disabled. TC50S and Sony hybrid MS eartips used. Written while listening to it on AGD NFB11.38, no DSP, Hybrid MS. Imported from SG on release day.
--------------------------
South of neutral, warm, smooth, slightly bassy, very high levels of 'can't believe it's not DD!'. stellar. While not cheap at all, I'd argue this still being good value. splitting up a review in the typical 'low-mid-high' structure doesn't sit well with me beyond what I just wrote, so we'll go on a slight detour and discover some music from the depths of my HDDs.
- Steely dan - Aja
Peg is a fun upbeat track that is excellent for demonstrating the strength of Sony's newfangled BA in the lows. None of the limp wristed affair of yesteryears BA, or the overly dry, dead sounding bass many BA based IEM seem exhibit. Very pleasant mid-bass bloom and extension down below. If I didn't know better, I wouldn't doubt Sony telling me it's a hybrid design. It's that good.
Deacon Blues. Brilliant layering here. While the vocals take a bit of a back-seat to the instruments, the separation more than makes up for it. The snares nicely textured, and cymbals retain their shimmer and extension into the air without being sparkly or bright. Did I mention these being oh so very pleasant?
Josie. hmhm... yummy guitar texture, and the synth keys on the background are very nicely rendered, crisp without excess presence.
- ARIA PIANO COLLECTION II "DIPARTENZA" - Kubota Mineta & Senoo Takeshi
While the album itself doesn't scream hifi very much, with the little crackles, background noise and slightly stuffy microphone. The ambiance, the total picture is there and then some. Each note and chord distinct, the sustain being held to the very end. The minute little noises of a live recording, the felt of the pedals touching, the the occasional bounceback of a pedal, key or hammer, it's all there. Everything rendered in all its glory without ever becoming harsh, or punishing. Showing the flaws oh so pleasantly. Gentle Piano, Mediocre recording, lovely composition.
- Hush by a little girl - Sana [鎖那]
- Harmonia - Akiko Shikata [志方あきこ]
Treble response may be relaxed, the extension is good, and more importantly, the midrange is excellent. A very sweet and smooth interpretation of ‘Neutral’ without a doubt. Accurate, yet retains silky soft smoothness. Working wonders here. Lower female vocals, classical/nylon guitars, woodwinds/flutes and various medieval instruments are bloody amazing on these. fabulous stuff.
- The Gloaming - 2
A more general note, Great staging too! it's not very large, but the separation is very very good, better than HS1551 or EX1000 levels of good I think, the staging reasonably precise too, but the stage itself is on the small side. If EX1K was a full blown orchestra or open air performance, the M7 is akin to a (living)room performance.
---------------------------
As you may have noticed, this iem really plays nice with a wide range of genres with excellent technicalities that really doesn't yield much to its famed detail oriented monster of a brother, the EX1000 and handily beats out virtually everything under its price bracket, exception being made*. As a package, I'd take over both the SE535/SE846 as those are just musically dead and sterile sounding, and severely lacking in extension. The RHA IEM all shrill and terrible treble texture and presentation, the AKG iem… not worth mentioning really.
I'd also pick them over the excellent Acoustune 1551's, mostly due to my preference for darker signatures and very specific use case as main portable iem, as the IER-M7 is absolutely amazing at isolation, being a non-vented design.
The whole package
Sony are masters of packaging, masters of the packaging experience. Their high end offerings all have exceptional packaging in general, to the point where it's a shame to toss the boxes out or even damage that stuff.
No boring peli-case with some foam inserts, no cheap feeling cardboard construction with some moulded plastic and inserted pieces. Instead, you get a gorgeous matte black box made from 3-4 mm thick longfiber cardboard of amazing quality and finish, already feeling real premium with its imposing heft. Inside, ample space to give each separate part their own place, two amazingly flexible cables that could arguably go toe to toe with bespoke cables in terms of ergonomics and perhaps even looks. Not only that, you get the whole range, and even some unreleased,of sony's own Hybrid silicon tips and the new, and truly impressive, TC50 'foamed silicone' tips. Both of which are exceptional in both fit and sound compared to many other tips. Also included is a cute little storage with thick fabric walls, the typical sony fabric lining and a very sturdy plastic cap and bottom, The stitching and finish really outdoes quite a few aftermarket solutions.
Bottom line
These are good. really, very good. With the caveat being, do you like it cozy, dark and sweet?
Only real weaknesses to me are the slight lack of lower-treble energy at times, and the lower mids can be a little too thick for certain genres, like metal or distortion-heavy rock. But I wouldn't recommend warm IEM for that in the first place.
TL;DR M7 is lovable wallflower doing everything it's asked with stride and attention, without drawing any attention to itself, mellow and shy, oh so very sweet.
ADDENDUM:
The sole exception being the Acoustune HS1551, which retails for 300-400, and is an all round excellent iem, but with a much more V-shaped tuning and much lesser isolation, along with less comfy staging and tonality.
