[immtbiker]

I heard these headphones, thanks to hiflight at the Tampa meet and fell instantly in love with them.
The are a K-1000 approach to headphones which offer a headphone with two circular Cabasse type cubes which are distanced from you ear about an inch which use a sub-bass u shaped ring which sit directly in you ear canal that taps into the bass for the circular cubes bass which are directed into your ear canal for the lower end, while the 2 cubes sit away from your ear pulling double duty as the mid and high frequency components.
They can be driven directly from any portable or home source and the sound spectacular, The idea, like the K-100o's is to give speaker field type presentation, which they do.
The MSRP is $500 but I obtained them from J&R for $350 and they are worth every nickel. The soundstage is speaker-like and they are very low impedance (I believe 18 ohms), which gives the option to run directly out of a DAP or CDP without an amp.
I use my iMod and a Tomahawk and the sound and soundstage are as good as it gets. These are a nice alternative to the K-1000's and they are light and ubber comfortable. They cannot be worn in loud environments because, like the 1000's they let ambient noise in and leak the music out.

They come with a georgeous case, which also holds a DAP/amp and are the next best thing to carrying around your speakers with you.
They are slightly "bass-weak" which is remedied by proper positioning of the bass tube which goes directly into you ear canal. The headband is fully adjustable and is kind of like the Qualia 010's and the SA5000's.

Everyone should own a pair of these!

Amazon.com: Sony PFRV1 Personal Field Speaker Headphones: Electronics

 

[scompton]

I'd love to hear a pair some time. I'd also like to see someone wearing them.

 

[panda]

those are weird looking, sort of like a free floating tweeter or something. interesting... what's the sound signature of them?

 

[crappyjones123]

if they werent so freaking expensive for portable headphones, id have bought them already. kinda sounded like mini k1ks at tampa. the soundstage was WIDE. for the price, id go with a pair of esw9s. but if you have some spare cash lying around, id certainly suggest these. they sounded excellent. dont know about the sound signature, but they do NOT sound anything like the sa5000s.

 

[immtbiker]

I actually like them better than the ESW-9/10's overall.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton I'd also like to see someone wearing them

Wifey in dreamland with them on:

 

[powertoold]

The good thing about them is if you're using them in public and someone goes, "eww that thing looks horrible" You can just say it's a Sony, and they'll be interested

 

[TopPop]

Wow, they really don't look as bad in use as I thought they would.

 

[immtbiker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by panda /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... what's the sound signature of them?

Short synopsis. Extremely airy and speaker-like.

Good dead center on recordings that I know well, and a sense of space and dimension that are different than your average headphone. Not like dynamics, not like stats...different.
Sony did not use cheap (besides the obvious plastic) parts. It feels right for a portable or a home based unit.
Lot's of goodies in the nice carrying case, too.

 

[ak40ozKevin]

I've always wanted to try these but I have a recurring debate that plays in my head every time I see them. I like the idea of having my headphones reproduce speaker like qualities but I always wonder if using some sort of virtualization technique like Dolby Headphone combined with higher quality headphones will be enough to satisfy my desire for speaker like presentation?

 

[krayzie]

Hey immtbiker did they come with those foamies for the bass tubes? I bought mine straight from Tokyo and I cannot find any foamies inside the box, nor the instructions mentioned anything about them?!?

The material on the headset seems very nice, aluminum here, magnesium there, the speaker housings are actually made from liquid crystal polymer to simulate wood. I wish they would have throw in a LC-OFC or 6N-OFC cord too!

 

[scompton]

They don't look bad at all. I could never tell how they fit looking at the pictures. How does the bass tube feel in your ear?

 

[dclancy]

Wow, these look worse alone than when being worn. They don't stick out as much as I had thought?

 

[Punslayer]

Nice to see more people listening to these little gems. I also have a thread about these, with a somewhat similar title

It also has a few pictures if anyone is interested.

That new toy feeling.

I pretty much feel the same about the sound, it's unique and captivating. Not something for the bassheads, but I never feel that anything is lacking.

 

[IceClass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punslayer /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not something for the bassheads, but I never feel that anything is lacking.

X2 but they are *really* not for the bassheads.

They were astounding with Keith Jarrett on harpsichord and were excellent with Terry Callier with the help of a little EQ.

 

[Punslayer]

One album that really sticks out for me is "Grace" by Jeff Buckley. It sounds so good that I just keep going back to it for another listen. In fact, now that I mention it I've got to give it another listen