[TheSatelliteGuy]

After reading a few threads about these very different looking cans I decided to find out for myself if they tickled my ear, suffered from lack of bass, poor cabling and if any of the other maladies that were reported by the super critical reviews were going to hold water for me. Now to start the equipment I am using as a reference are 701, 990, 325i, 650 all re cabled, Stax Lambra, 4070 closed back stax, omega 2, sigmas and ue10, ep4, and 500 to mention a few. The first time I listened to these is when I picked them up at the post office where they were shipped to from japan. I paid $355 and $25 for shipping. They are now at sony style usa for $399. In my car I have a portable cd player with a optic out feeding a micro stack and a baby stax. They are powered by a pure sign wave inverter so the sound is very clean. My cd are all tweaked thru a 8 step system which starts with liquid rez, then nanotech 8500, then cut on a desk systeme, then nespa pro finalizer, then demagnetized with accoustic revive RD3, and finally treated with a acoustic revive negitive ion generator RD5. These tweaks allow you to hear alot more music than a new cd can deliver. Like removing 7 or 8 digital problems allowing the sound to resemble vinyl.
I was listening to a pair of ep4 which I enjoyed every once in a while because of their accurate delivery and their clean sound. I was listening to High on the Hog by the band. My ears were very adjusted to the system so when I opened the box and A/B from the ep4 to the PFR-V1 I was ready to compare. There was no comparison. The sony PFRs smoked them. In every way possible. The beloved ep4s sounded like a $20 set off the rack a CC. End of story. The sony's destroyed my ep4s.
Not wanting to believe what I heard was true I switched to the Baby Stax and I found the sony's more reveling with a much larger soundstage. I was not happy with this because I love my Stax and nothing competes with my stax till now. I tried a couple more cds and more A/B and still the same results. PFR are a different kind of animal. Yes there were aspects of each can that gave it its unique presentation that we love and adore but the proof is in car canal. The FFRs are very very sweet. They out performed both my 500 and UE10. Would I retire the competition on the spot, no. But I find that I reach for the PFR more often than the others.
When I got home I decided to burn them in and see what they sound like after a night on pink noise. In the morning I put on some Big Bad VooDoo Daddy and listened to my maxed out desktop. They gave the 701, 650, 990 and 325i a run for their money. Now these are a bit different than most dynamic cans because they resemble a speaker sound more than a headphone sound. Or maybe they can produce a sound that traditional cans can't. They are more revealing than the others. Very large soundstage. Very clean. When I A/B my dynamic can collection against the PFRs I end up with the PFRs on my head. If I am going to run away with this new girl and drop my harem I can't answer that at this moment but It I had to make a single one choice for the rest of my life they would be on the top right now.
Now I still have to do my A/B with my Stax stuff. A friend of mine who has a ridicules amount of high end equipment (100K +)
including Stax took a quick listen to my PFRs plugged into one of my imods being amped by Xin reference cabled by ALO and got all white in the mouth and said they sounded as good as his sigmas.
I am going to get quite a thrashing by some of you guys but it is all between my ears and your ears. These are a great new technology that gives a audiophile the ability to have very high end speaker sound on the go at a reasonable price for what they can do. I have not used them in public yet but I can imagine people coming up to me saying, What the hell is that on your head. I just put on Cal Tjader Soul Sauce and I can not believe my ears. These cans are out of control.
DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THESE CANS. THEY GOT A GREAT SOUND. Smooth bass, huge sound stage, Lots of air, highs, lows, mids.

 

[Henmyr]

Thanks for the big review

Which of 701, 650, 990 and 325i is closest to the PFR-V1 when considering tonality?

Is it an agressive or laid back headphone? Musical or analythical?

Would you say it's neutral or more focused on midrange or bass or treble?

Warm or cold tonality?

Thanks

 

[evilking]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSatelliteGuy /img/forum/go_quote.gif My cd are all tweaked thru a 8 step system which starts with liquid rez, then nanotech 8500, then cut on a desk systeme, then nespa pro finalizer, then demagnetized with accoustic revive RD3, and finally treated with a acoustic revive negitive ion generator RD5. These tweaks allow you to hear alot more music than a new cd can deliver. Like removing 7 or 8 digital problems allowing the sound to resemble vinyl.

Eh, what? Your tweaks allow you to hear more music than is present on a new CD?

And your colouring the sound to resemble vinyl?

EK

 

[TheSatelliteGuy]

As far a tonality they make the competition appear to be lacking. I would say the 325i is the closest but mine have ALO cable and gs1000 foams so it is hard to compare. They tend to be a bit brighter than dynamic but not harsh but smooth. Just like the bass, it is not overpowering but very smooth and musical. I would say they are agressive and musical. Very very neutral. All tones are equally smooth but a little bright but not out of the box at all. If I had to pick between warm and cold I would say a bit on the cold side but the warmth is not like a 990 or 701. The warmth is there but not a flavoring that over lays the sound. I'm telling you they are in a class by themselves. The new technology resembles speakers sound. Very very very expensive speakers. They are musical and analytical. Let me put it this way, If I wanted to lay down and go to sleep I would probably slip on the 990. The sound really resembles my stax sigmas. Allowing the sound to surround the complete ear and enter naturally as the creator of ears intended gives these cans a edge that a traditional OTE or ITE can not achieve. Let me put it this way. It is like your in a swimming pool of music all around you rether than comming at you. You will not be disappointed with these if you let them shine on their own. When you A/B them to others you tend to notice what the competition is lacking rather than what is better. IMO. If you were putting together a very expensive speaker system these could be your model. I love them, they are fun and offer a quality that does not exist in traditional cans. These are audiophile all the way. I am not sure if you tweak cds but if you do they revile more of the sound so you hear more of what is there rather than flavoring the can adds to the sound. If you got the bucks you will not regret getting these. I am a bit disappointed in some of the head-fi reviews about these cans because they didn't get into their beauty but focused on that they objected to. They tickled, They look strange. They leaked. They have a cheap cable. I will go on a limb and say these are going to be the first model not the last. There will be other manufactures making can like these. Just like ipods and suv. The world will take notice of how these perform. Will they replace all headphones, no, they are a specialty item meant for those that are aware and seek the finest quality that exist.

 

[TheSatelliteGuy]

Tweaks are a very big advance in cd listening. I have thought about posting a tread about them but I am the slowest typist in the world and hate doing it. Here is a little stuff to think about. First when the cd is manufactured there is a coating that protects and lubricates the polycarbonate so it can be transported thru out the manufacturing process. It is supposed to dry transparent, but when it is removed the ability of the laser to read is greatly enhanced. Not slightly. Greatly noticeably. You will hear things that were not there before the cleaning. Xtreme Cables Online Store is the best cleaner/ film remover. Then the cd must be protected. The raw polycarbonate scratches easily and there are microscopic holes that defuse the light. The best is Intron 8500. Optrix works at 1/3 the price but not as well. Do this and SQ goes up. Next the cd being mass manufactured, come out of the press and are not trimmed or balanced. They spin out of round. The desk systeme from Germany works out this problem. It cuts the edge of the dvd or cd and balances it while cutting it on a 38 degree angle. Since it is spinning true there is less need for error correction. You hear what the laser reads not what error correction thinks is there. The 38 degree angle serves two purposes. First the light goes sideways and bounces back in and affects the lasers abilities. Second the edge is blackened so the light doesn't reenter the disc. Boom the SQ goes sky high. At this point the SQ of the disc will make the unaltered cd sound lacking. Next is the problem of how the label is glued to the polycarbonate. To put it bluntly. like ****. The glue is uneven with hills and valleys, and there arte air and gases trapped between the disc and the label. The nespa pro finalizer changes all that. This strobe light in a box which has the power of sunlight devolves the trapped air and turns the glue to glass. When this is done the air between the instruments becomes huge and SQ goes up, a lot. Now Acoustic Revive has a couple of tweaks that really help. First when you remove these veils you now can hear static electrical sound, clearly. The RD-3 removes this annoying background degradation. It is hard to hear it on new cd because there are so many veils limiting the SQ. Then they are removed the static is very noticeable. This devise also does wonders on cables. I treat my headphone cables every few days and there is a huge improvement in my can SQ. Next is the RD-5. Negative ion generator for disc SQ improvement. I am not sure why it works but if you treat your disc with this devise the sound really gets alive. Finally there is a disc matt. If you hold a disc to the light you will see thru the dics. The light that seeps back into the disc from the top inside the player is fighting the laser from doing its job. Non of this is Voo Doo Magic. It all works wonderfully. If you get into these tweaks you will be embarrassed by how poor the SQ you were listening to before tweaking. So many audiophiles buy more and better of everything, almost additively, trying to get more better sound when improving the quality of the source does will make you very happy with most equipment. I do not care if you are using a $100 boom box or a $100k system the improvement is undeniable. There is alot more but this just took me 2.5 hours to write this and I am tried. By the way I am not coluring the sound, I am actually uncoluring the sound.

 

[TheSatelliteGuy]

You bet your life I own all that equipment and more. The point here is that the tweaks I mentioned all work very well and you so called audiophiles relate to this wonderful info like I told you your wife resembles a trol. What is that all about. Seekers of what? If you question what I own send a email to North American Stax and ask what I own and who I am. I went out of my way to share with this forum info I have been aware of for years and so far not a single person has shown any interest or expressed any questions concerning my experiences or history. I am beginning to think this is not a place I want to share the truth. I have been on this sight thousands of time but I read and explore and learn. I take what I find out and either disprove it or use it. You guys that are reading my treads on tweaking are rude and very closed minded. I am ashamed and embarrassed at your conduct. Seek the truth. I am at this point quite a expert on these subjects and have alot of first hand experience and by opening my knowledge to head-fi I get slammed. Listen you idots get off my thread. If you are seeking real good info about making cd sound alot better, ask, I will not defend my knowledge, I know the truth. If you have any legit questions about these sony cans or tweaking ask and I will try to help. If not climb back into your box and have someone hide it.

 

[catscratch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSatelliteGuy /img/forum/go_quote.gif As far a tonality they make the competition appear to be lacking. I would say the 325i is the closest but mine have ALO cable and gs1000 foams so it is hard to compare. They tend to be a bit brighter than dynamic but not harsh but smooth. Just like the bass, it is not overpowering but very smooth and musical. I would say they are agressive and musical. Very very neutral. All tones are equally smooth but a little bright but not out of the box at all. If I had to pick between warm and cold I would say a bit on the cold side but the warmth is not like a 990 or 701. The warmth is there but not a flavoring that over lays the sound.

Wait... what? First you say that they're a bit bright, but then you say that they're neutral. Then you say that they're on the cold side, but after that you turn around and say that they have warmth.

I'm confused. Which one is it? Since all of that is pretty contradictory.

Sorry, I don't mean to pick on you, but I am interested in these headphones, so what you have to say matters.

It's interesting that you prefer this over the baby Stax. That's a system that I know quite well, so it gives me a nice basis for comparison. Though to be fair, I've heard a modded SR-001 that completely and utterly blew away the stock SR-001, so a stock baby Stax isn't quite the end of the line for me, portably speaking.

I've had my eye on these headphones from day 1, but was somewhat reluctant to touch them due to their unique design and the relative dearth of information, so any impressions are very welcome. I also am not a fan of the Sony house sound (as defined by the SA5k and similar latter-day offerings), so that was another reason for hesitation. But, as price drops and info comes in, maybe I'll make up my mind.

 

[eruditass]

so, how bout those PFR-V1's?

 

[TheSatelliteGuy]

It is actually my srm252 11 that was in my car not the baby stax portable. When I said the sonys were bright I was referring to the overall presentation. The fact that they are neutral is that they do not color the sound with a signature sound. They are very very neutral but they are bright. I find that I enjoy them at lower volume levels just as much. They need some power to drive the magnets. They preform better on my micro portable than my xin mini 4 maxed out. As far as the stax comparison they actually were a bit more revealing and more open soundstage. Remember I got over a half dozen stax products and it is difficult to compare these because they sound more like speakers than headphones. It is really a trip to hear how they perform. Clean and revealing. I listened to some live dave mathews and heard things I would say I didn't want to hear. Nuances i guess. I am not saying they would be no good for live music but if it is there you will hear it. I also had my eye on these since day one but what I read on head-fi made me hold off. It is hard to compare these to standard cans because that have a very different technology. I do not believe in better but I do believe in differences. I think they do something traditional can can't. that is sound like speakers. They do resemble my sigmas a lot. BTW these are my first set of sony cans. I have no idea what their signature sounds like. Cans are like guitars. They sound different, look different, play different music. You can not say one is better. Just different. But they got something going on here at sony. I think more manufactures will come out with their copies. Just like IEM. They are real cool.

 

[WittyzTH]

They sounds like speaker because they are the speakers attached with the headband.

I've tried once when I was in Japan. It sounds weird (not bad way), unlike the usual headphone.

If I had money, I wouldn't buy it for sure.

not because they are bad, but I need headphone to sound like headphone and if I want that kinda sound, I would go for good speakers in stead or save that budget for K1000.

 

[kwkarth]

Let's stay on topic kids. Keep it civil please.

About the Sony's right... You were saying?

 

[kwkarth]

It would be interesting to compare these Sonys with the K-1000s.

 

[catscratch]

Yeah the uniqueness is what made me interested in them in the first place. I could fault Sony for not liking the house sound, but I can't fault them for innovative designs.

How's the transient response? I don't like the slower speed of dynamic headphones, pretty much preferring planars all the way, but Sony has made some of the fastest dynamics I've ever heard (Qualia 010) so the technology for fast dynamic drivers is certainly there.

I'm not worried about any kind of revealing nature; a lot of what I listen to is immaculately recorded and the SR-007 is my main headphone, so the more detail, the merrier.

It seems like these are scheduled to be released state-side with a $300-ish price ballpark. That's much more reasonable, I think I'll check them out then.

 

[TheSatelliteGuy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catscratch /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah the uniqueness is what made me interested in them in the first place. I could fault Sony for not liking the house sound, but I can't fault them for innovative designs. How's the transient response? I don't like the slower speed of dynamic headphones, pretty much preferring planars all the way, but Sony has made some of the fastest dynamics I've ever heard (Qualia 010) so the technology for fast dynamic drivers is certainly there. I'm not worried about any kind of revealing nature; a lot of what I listen to is immaculately recorded and the SR-007 is my main headphone, so the more detail, the merrier. It seems like these are scheduled to be released state-side with a $300-ish price ballpark. That's much more reasonable, I think I'll check them out then.

They are very fast. Maybe that is why they appear to be bright.

 

[TheSatelliteGuy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwkarth /img/forum/go_quote.gif It would be interesting to compare these Sonys with the K-1000s.

I have never heard k1000 but they have a similar type of technology as I have been told.