You should put your worries aside wondering if your front-end was up to par to hear them. I had the chance to hear them with an expensive DAC/amp combo and have the exact same ideas of the bass light model R-10 character signature. Thanks for the great review.

@Redcarmoose Well that is reassuring news to hear I didn't deprive the R10s of a decent setup. Another reason why this headphone is so amazing. 

I absolutely love reading about classic products, or reviews of earphones that have been around for ages. Fantastic review!

What a wonderful review, like description of some delicious, gourmet food. Thank you for your impressions!

I loved reading this review, full of great information and detailed analysis.

The only thing thing I'll say is less negativity on 'never again' on hearing hearing that beautiful midrange.

Looking at the super fast advancement of high tech headphones, better and more funded research and development, rapid prototyping, better high quality mass production and manufacturing, new manufacturing technologies, quality control, customer services and positive thinking towards headphones by the public, means sooner or later we'll all get that chance to hear the the same, or better, midrange that this beautiful retro Sony MDR-10 could produce, way beyond it's time.
The MDR-10 foretold a future where creating such headphones is now not only easier but also more readily accepted, thus bigger demograph of potential customers.

Soon @bpandbass, soon you'll get that sound back.

Thanks for the great write-up!

^^

Cool review!
 
So is it worth the $15K or so from a pure audio perspective. I suspect that $14K is purely for the rarity and collectability.

Superb write up.  As an R10 owner, I agree with you on most counts.  Hopefully, you will get a chance in the future to listen to the R10 in even a better setup and fully balanced.  The R10 in such setup can be as detailed as the HD800 with even better soundstage width and depth compared to the HD800.

Thanks for the review.
 
Just wondering, if anyone knows: Why make a limited edition such as this? And does Sony have plans to re-introduce something as good or better? If not, why not?

I went through 3 bass lights (lower serial #s, all under 500) and I heard lots of annoying sibilance and sold them all.

well done review

Good stuff. I don't know what you are trying to get across when you say "I just heard music" or "They sounded like music" but I assume you are saying that it is a fun headphone to listen to rather than a accurate when it comes to detail. Anyway, have you heard the MDR CD-3000?

@rgs9200m It can be easy to look back on old legendary headphones with fondness and gloss over their primary weaknesses. I have never heard the R10 but it is still on my bucket list. I would think though that with today's driver tech the newer Fostex biocellulose drivers could handle bass a lot better than the old R10 as well as the Denon D5000/7000 line. But they would most likely be lacking the natural midrange that many people find absent in the above. I would like to compare a modded TH900 or the latest TH-X00 to the R10. Also, there should be a frequency response of the R10 so we can see how they measure and if it puts any mystique to rest regarding the sound.

Frequency response doesn't tell the whole story, IMO.  What's great about this headphones is also soundstaging and the way it renders musical presentation.  Yes,  the glaring weakness is the bass.  So it will not rock out unless that particular recording is completely superb.

what a pleasant read. you really have a knack for this sir.

@theyazzern Thank you. I try to be as straight to the point and descriptive without using florid language. 

@xEcuToR I haven't heard the CD3000, but I know about it and how rare and hard to find it is. I have a friend who overhauled a broken down model that was given to him. What I was trying to get at was I thought the midrange was extremely transparent and realistic to my ears. It didn't have an off-sounding tonality that would have detracted from the enjoyment of the mids. 

@TheOneInYellow Well I surely hope for a future with audio that can replicate the listening pleasure of the R10, and not just try to achieve it by boosting the bass, sampling rate, or treble volume.

this is what i dont get ,these are the best looking headphones iv seen ,im a sucker for wood and those wooden cups and the angles just look ,wow .if sennheiser put a wood cup on like the hd800s i recon they d sell even more of them .anyway but these things look and apperently sound great m why does ent sony still make them ,theres gotta be another 200 year old elm they can cut down during winter .if sony still made these id be more interested in them as headphone manufactures and maybe even buy one of there cheaper models

My dream as a headphone enthusiast is to own both, the bass heavy and bass light R10's, or at least listen to them. Both possibilities are far away from me right now, but a man can dream. Excellent review.

From 1989 to 1992 I sold hifi part time at a shop in Adelaide, Australia called Blackwood Sound. We had some remarkable equipment; Spendor S100, Dali DaCapo full length ribbon hybrid speakers, Dali 40's are probably the best all round speaker I have heard in my life. Nakamichi Dragon and the other top Nakamichi cassette decks. The Marantz PM95 integrated Amp switchable class A with onboard DACs was conservatively rated at about 150 WPC into 8 ohms and was simply beautiful, and kept pace with a remarkable Nakamichi 200wpc pre power amp we had.

Then we had the absolutely beautiful two piece Marantz CD12 LE. It was the most beautiful thing.