[Mimouille]

Had the time for a little stop at the Sony Style store in Shanghai and I tried the Z1R IEMs. Disclaimer, as the cable was glued to the IEMs I could not use my source as I didn't have my WM1Z with me, and the cable was 4.4. Also, I am not sure this is the final tuning as this demo seemed quite worn out.

Long story short, the stage is incredible, most open sounding IEM I have heard by far. The bass is deep and well controlled, no harshness in the treble, super clarity in the mids. Where I had a problem was that the mids sounded a bit thin and brittle, making the overall feeling a bit dry. If this has been tweaked on the final version, this will be a huge hit.

 

[Deezel177]

Had the time for a little stop at the Sony Style store in Shanghai and I tried the Z1R IEMs. Disclaimer, as the cable was glued to the IEMs I could not use my source as I didn't have my WM1Z with me, and the cable was 4.4. Also, I am not sure this is the final tuning as this demo seemed quite worn out.

Long story short, the stage is incredible, most open sounding IEM I have heard by far. The bass is deep and well controlled, no harshness in the treble, super clarity in the mids. Where I had a problem was that the mids sounded a bit thin and brittle, making the overall feeling a bit dry. If this has been tweaked on the final version, this will be a huge hit.

Fully agree with all your thoughts. I'm quite sure the demo's the final tuning, though. The unit I tried in Singapore arrived just last month and it looked pretty much as bad as yours. It was covered end-to-end in oily fingerprints. I've yet to see a full retail unit, but if this is what the shell will look and feel like after a mere month (plus the cheap-looking faceplates), the overall aesthetic will be a massively hard sell considering the MSRP.

 

[Mimouille]

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! All those in search of a flagship, top-of-the-line DAP!

For The Headphone List has come to announce a Royal Joust worthy of spectacle...

PinkyPowers' Cayin N8 Review - A Secret Fire Within vs. Flinkenick's Lotoo PAW Gold Touch Review

​

I fairly agree with the LPGT review and yet I have personal preference for the LPG sound. The LPGT sound doesn't engage me much coming from LPG or WM1Z.

I think I should try the Cayin again. I really don't like the design but that's taste. However, when I tried it I tried only the 4.4 SS (I find the multiplicity od outputs a bit confusing, decide where you want to go, don't cram all the things you can so in one device), but I found it way too warm compared to WM1Z. I will do a longer side by side if I get the chance.

 

[491326]

Had the time for a little stop at the Sony Style store in Shanghai and I tried the Z1R IEMs. Disclaimer, as the cable was glued to the IEMs I could not use my source as I didn't have my WM1Z with me, and the cable was 4.4. Also, I am not sure this is the final tuning as this demo seemed quite worn out.

Long story short, the stage is incredible, most open sounding IEM I have heard by far. The bass is deep and well controlled, no harshness in the treble, super clarity in the mids. Where I had a problem was that the mids sounded a bit thin and brittle, making the overall feeling a bit dry. If this has been tweaked on the final version, this will be a huge hit.

How much does this thing cost again?

 

[davidmolliere]

@PinkyPowers Great review, you make us long for the N8... unfortunately the price is totally out there for me so iBasso AMP9 with KORG NuTubes might be the alternative there, especially since a new flagship is rumored to come some time in April (DX200 Pro or whatever it’s going to be called).

Right now I am enjoying Hiby R6 Pro quite a bit, so I have a DAP to play with and I am looking at desktop tube amps

@Mimouille Oh man, I wished you hadn’t liked the Z1R... I had it in a corner of my mind but... well I should be happy with Solaris and FW10000 is getting better each day it burns in... Anyway, release seems to be postponed to an indefinite day...

Ah and it’s so nice to read @flinkenick as well, LPGT seems great although the battle would be won for the N8 given the signature

 

[491326]

DX200 Pro

oh, thanks for the hint, time to further delay decisions

 

[Mimouille]

How much does this thing cost again?

41 000 000 Vietnamese Dong

 

[Mimouille]

@PinkyPowers Great review, you make us long for the N8... unfortunately the price is totally out there for me so iBasso AMP9 with KORG NuTubes might be the alternative there, especially since a new flagship is rumored to come some time in April (DX200 Pro or whatever it’s going to be called).

Right now I am enjoying Hiby R6 Pro quite a bit, so I have a DAP to play with and I am looking at desktop tube amps

@Mimouille Oh man, I wished you hadn’t liked the Z1R... I had it in a corner of my mind but... well I should be happy with Solaris and FW10000 is getting better each day it burns in... Anyway, release seems to be postponed to an indefinite day...

Ah and it’s so nice to read @flinkenick as well, LPGT seems great although the battle would be won for the N8 given the signature

Like I said in the other thread, it might be wishful thinking on my part that this version is not final. It is super impressive but sounds...halfway tuned.

 

[davidmolliere]

Like I said in the other thread, it might be wishful thinking on my part that this version is not final. It is super impressive but sounds...halfway tuned.

Got it, this being said if it’s final then I don’t get several months delay... production and providers problem can only explain so much...

 

[491326]

Like I said in the other thread, it might be wishful thinking on my part that this version is not final. It is super impressive but sounds...halfway tuned.

isn't this is what a lot of people said about sony's flagship headphone too? something about how the mdr-z1r sounds very nice except the treble wasn't finished tuned

 

[Deezel177]

isn't this is what a lot of people said about sony's flagship headphone too? something about how the mdr-z1r sounds very nice except the treble wasn't finished tuned

The problem with the IER-Z1R isn't the treble though. I think the treble's pretty great. Its weakest aspect to me is the midrange. It seems like they've innovated so much acoustically to create this awesome stage, but aren't utilising it as fully as possible. Now yes, enriching the midrange with harmonics would lessen the wow factor of the stage a bit and make it seem less grand, but I think it would've been a worthy trade-off to give instruments and vocals some welcome meat. I hear similar issues in the Noble Khan and some measure of it in the Trinity SS as well. It's a technicality-over-emotionality philosophy that will resonate with some and won't with others.

 

[Mimouille]

The problem with the IER-Z1R isn't the treble though. I think the treble's pretty great. Its weakest aspect to me is the midrange. It seems like they've innovated so much acoustically to create this awesome stage, but aren't utilising it as fully as possible. Now yes, enriching the midrange with harmonics would lessen the wow factor of the stage a bit and make it seem less grand, but I think it would've been a worthy trade-off to give instruments and vocals some welcome meat. I hear similar issues in the Noble Khan and some measure of it in the Trinity SS as well. It's a technicality-over-emotionality philosophy that will resonate with some and won't with others.

The key difference is that Sony can get my money even if they try to sell me an IEM which is just a solidified turd with a cable plugged into it, but for Noble to achieve that, their IEM would need to solve world hunger and Fermat's theorem. I have a slight bias.

 

[491326]

The problem with the IER-Z1R isn't the treble though. I think the treble's pretty great. Its weakest aspect to me is the midrange. It seems like they've innovated so much acoustically to create this awesome stage, but aren't utilising it as fully as possible. Now yes, enriching the midrange with harmonics would lessen the wow factor of the stage a bit and make it seem less grand, but I think it would've been a worthy trade-off to give instruments and vocals some welcome meat. I hear similar issues in the Noble Khan and some measure of it in the Trinity SS as well. It's a technicality-over-emotionality philosophy that will resonate with some and won't with others.

oh, yeah, i know i was just referring to how people said the last flagship sony headphone "wasn't finished" and that it was "nearly there" (not actual quotes, just what I heard from people)

 

[deafdoorknob]

with the exception of a handful of models, modern iem (totl) tuning has forsaken getting the lower mids “right”. listening to the humble JH Tri-fi (limited ed) this past weekend, for all its limitations in detail retrival, and end to end extension, its dense meaty lower mids made it more compelling and appealing to me than many resolution dominant iems out there.

i have come to the realisation that a lower mid head like myself have little in common with upper mid (DF) heads lol

 

[Deezel177]

with the exception of a handful of models, modern iem (totl) tuning has forsaken getting the lower mids “right”. listening to the humble JH Tri-fi (limited ed) this past weekend, for all its limitations in detail retrival, and end to end extension, its dense meaty lower mids made it more compelling and appealing to me than many resolution dominant iems out there.

i have come to the realisation that a lower mid head like myself have little in common with upper mid (DF) heads lol

Yeah, definitely. It’s because recessing the lower-mids boosts note definition, creating a sense of detail and cleanliness outlining each instrument. But, the compromise is in timbre and body. This is why I appreciate IEMs like the Phantom and Layla so much. They’re IEMs that not only highlight the lower-mids (the Phantom moreso than the Layla), but they also get it right in terms of texture, definition and tone.