mmm i agree that you can def find better headphones out there (if you weren't considering budget)... but at the $124 usd price point, I doubt there are any other closed portable headphones that can compete with it. remember the MDR-1Rs were released at $300 price point to compete w/ the momentum, akg k550, and m100 type headphones, and there were many people here who preferred them over the alternatives at that price point.
@Pedro Oliveira,
hahah, I love bargains too!!!! i've never gotten a pair of headphones full MSRP. i feel like headphones are already really highly marked-up nowadays so unless i can get a deal on em, i wouldn't even consider keeping them hahaha. i personally think the p7 is severely overpriced after demoing them shortly, and I won't get the m500 as I don't like on-ears & i personally think $300 for on-ears is too pricey. (both personal opinions lol!)
mmm when I say colored (no u
) i mean they are not neutral & most likely not a flat frequency response if you measured em. i wouldn't say that they don't sound realistic (female vocals were very well done on the mdr-1rs imo), but more like they were EQed. i think that the 1r's bass was slightly looser & bleeds a tiny bit more compared to the momentums (but I wldn't call MDR-1R's bass muddy or bloated). their clarity wasn't as good as the momentums but it wasn't that big of a difference. i thought the biggest difference was just the sound signature. as i said before, I really enjoyed the way they sounded their sound signature & it works really well w/ all genres (as long as you aren't grading on their ability to be perfectly flat neutrality)
i've never tried the k518, but after quick search i see that they are sometimes mentioned as basshead headphones. the mdr-1r would never be mistaken for basshead headphones, so I would assume that the coloration & warm bass of the 1r shouldn't sound anything like the akg k518. but i've never heard em, so i don't know. the 1r's bass was def not muddy or bloated in my opinion.
i guess the way i would characterize the mdr-1r is that there is a coloration, but it's a very smooth lush coloration, so nothing sounds out of place. the bass is nice & full without being overpowering. the trebles are sweet without being too sharp. i would describe it as very "smooth" (hopefully that's not an audiophile word, because i just mean everything feels very smooth).
they aren't breath-takingly crisp & clear like some headphones I've tried (eg. the akg k550s which I felt like was on another level compared to both the momentums/mdr-1rs... tho the k550 definitely did struggle w/ bass quantity), but everything on the 1rs was very rich & "smooth" lol. definitely had a lot of detail & everything did sound pretty clear.
i would definitely pick the 1r's sound over the m80 (but note, I didn't spend too much time w/ the m80s). when i demoed the m80s, i didn't find anything particular that wow-ed me or struck my interest. however, the m80s are quite capable headphones, and I am definitely a bit biased against on-ear headphones. even tho I did notice momentums had great clear sound (& was obviously the technically superior pair of headphones), I would actually pick the MDR-1R over the momentums (not only due to comfort & design), but I felt like the MDR-1R had solid comparable sound quality & the coloration added a lot of enjoyment to my music. At the end of the day, listening to music is about enjoyment!
please note that i tried the 1rs quite a while ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy about the details of their sound. i did get to direct compare the momentums against the mdr-1rs for a few weeks, and i rmb that ended up preferring the mdr-1rs. (tho i normally recommend the momentums over the mdr-1rs for other people as the momentums are less colored). Hope all this is helpful & rmb that these are all personal impressions. YMMV disclaimer! hahah.