[GREQ]

I can confirm your suspicion, I happen to have gotten a extra set of pleather pads with the NOS pair of Dr-Z7. Like you I did not care so much for the overall presentation, though the decay, and seperation were noteworthy. It would be sometime before I decided to see the effect if any the pleather would produce on the overall performance and was very pleased to hear the sub bass was actually there. So what went from somewhat cold clinical, switched to balanced with a bit of warmth. This allowed me to be appreciate everything else it did even more so. One other aspect thats noteworthy is the sparkle on the top end. Crunch on the guitar, splashes of the hi hats are wonderful and easily trounce the z6 in this respect really pulling you into the music. When I got my hands on the aune m2s with the b1 amp I was awestruck listening to pink floyds wish you were here parts 1-4 as if for the first time all over again

Considering it sounds like it retained it's top end, I'm pretty sure I'd still be happier with the Z6 configuration.
I guess I'll never really know for sure, but I'm honestly not that bothered. Thanks for the info 

 

 

[ExpiredLabel]

I did mention earlier to sum up in so many words, the z6 is more musical where as the z7 I feel is more for serious listening. It has the ability to be just as musical as the z6 however, you would need the pleather pads to help the bottem end. Otherwise I would see those with a huge or mostly classical collection getting a lot out of these in regards to the level of detail, seperation and soundstage (which is not big at all, though not a bad thing).

As for the mids I would also give that to the z7. Im really kicking myself now I wasn't able to make the portland meet. I was hoping to get others impressions to chime in. I cannot be the only one to experience these awesome pieces of tech from 40+ years ago.

 

[takato14]

  I sold my DR-Z7 quite some ago because I wasn't convinced by it's sound or comfort.
I'm glad I decided to give the Z6 a chance. I think it's more comfortable (from memory of the Z7) and definitely the pleather pads give the lower-end a nice boost.
Since they share the same driver specs, in hindsight I should have tried out some pleather pads on the Z7 - might have given similar results... but could also be a lot worse

Anyone try pad rolling on the Z7?

drivers are different, Z7 has a thicker palladium coating and is tuned looser to compensate for the fabric pads
 
theres also a leather-padded version of the Z7 that's EU-only; I've never seen a pair but the Z7 is pictured with pleather pads in the manual. I did put the Z6 pleather pads on my Z7 when I owned both and it sounded muddy and slow, until I adjusted the damping to the driver, after which it sounded <MUCH> better than any of the other Z headphones did in stock form (!!!)
 
Z6 is good, very clean and tight sounding, but very very "in-your-face" and closed-in sounding, only made worse by the serious lack of content above 2kHz -- this is caused by the pads and can be mitigated with the right pad swap at the cost of all that lovely bass extension. the pads also restrict airflow and affect the driver's transient speed. there may be more potential to be gained from them but I never managed to get a good sounding pad configuration before one of the channels on my pair died (on the THIRD pair I've owned for the THIRD time) so #fack
 

 
here's a quick FR plot of the (stock) Z6 before I go to bed -- very very flat, smooth and extended from bass to midrange with an extremely gentle "V" shaped sound signature. nice sounding headphones but absolutely not worth anywhere near the going prices (same goes for the Z7) due to the severe lack of any and all treble, poor comfort, and poor ear canal resonance behavior (which makes that little bump from 2-3kHz notably more violent than it looks on my rig). maybe viable as a transportable due to isolation and being easy to power? nope, because they're extremely fragile, not durable at all, especially the cable and drivers -- be VERY careful buying these online as they break very easily. disassembling the headband can crack the sliders and cause them to break, the cable is extremely fragile and tends to develop shorting under normal use, and the pads become hard, stiff, and deflated very easily, which will cause 2-3kHz to become emphasized more severely and kill off low bass extension. Even after receiving them I'd exercise extreme care by keeping them on some form of stand or in the storage box, moving the cable as little as possible, and wiping off the earpads thoroughly after each use with a microfiber cloth. 
 
I'd value these at maybe $250-300, if complete and in great shape. Z7 might be more around $400, again only if in great shape.
 
BTW: driver matching on these is ABSOLUTELY ******* RIDICULOUS for the age. These were produced VERY carefully by Sony, and likely matched and tuned by hand.
 
EDIT: here's a quick comparo graph against my modded Sansui SS-100 (my current reference):
 

 

[GREQ]

. the pads also become hard, stiff, and deflated very easily and this will cause 2-3kHz to become emphasized more severely and kill off low bass extension. 

I guess I got really lucky.
I seldom see any pads this old in this supple condition as the ones on mine... they actually feel nicer than some modern pads. 
Probably helps explain why they still sound pretty good.
 
Nice graphs!

 

[takato14]

. the pads also become hard, stiff, and deflated very easily and this will cause 2-3kHz to become emphasized more severely and kill off low bass extension. 

I guess I got really lucky.
I seldom see any pads this old in this supple condition as the ones on mine... they actually feel nicer than some modern pads. 
Probably helps explain why they still sound pretty good.

Nice graphs!

no you didn't get lucky, that's how my pads were when I got them too. they were shot within a month of using them extensively. I'd suggest wiping the pads off with a microfiber cloth or paper towel to remove the sweat and keep it from permeating the leather.

 

[GREQ]

no you didn't get lucky

 

 

[takato14]

no you didn't get lucky

lol just tryin' to help man, I honestly think the Z6 is cursed because of how much of a dicking it's given me over the years, I shouldn't be able to buy three pairs of the same headphone and have all of them fail on me.. especially not when older headphones were and are still fine after the same care regimen.

 

[GREQ]

Yeah, I understood.
I just couldn't resist messing around a bit
 
Let's see how well mine holds up over time. Who knows.

 

[Graphicism]

I shouldn't be able to buy three pairs of the same headphone and have all of them fail on me.. 

 
Just checking you are actually sat, listening to these headphones and not slinging them around your head at the gym... maybe using them for a jump rope?
 
I've listened to mine a lot (not so much recently) and the pads are still soft and plump. They look like they're built like a tank, weigh close to one too... I couldn't really see what would go wrong with it given that you care for them. As with all my headphones I put them in some sort of box when I'm not using them because dust will destroy stuff fast! That and my cat's like to bite the cables, but you learn quickly.

 

[takato14]

 

I shouldn't be able to buy three pairs of the same headphone and have all of them fail on me.. 

Just checking you are actually sat, listening to these headphones and not slinging them around your head at the gym... maybe using them for a jump rope?

I've listened to mine a lot (not so much recently) and the pads are still soft and plump. They look like they're built like a tank, weigh close to one too... I couldn't really see what would go wrong with it given that you care for them. As with all my headphones I put them in some sort of box when I'm not using them because dust will destroy stuff fast! That and my cat's like to bite the cables, but you learn quickly.

No. The only thing my first Z6 ever experienced travel wise was shipping to me from Wyoming and transport to a coffee shop for a mini-meet, and that was only AFTER the original cable failed and was replaced. It failed from normal, at-home use, with the cable either left untouched after listening or unplugged and loosely coiled up on my desk. After that pair had a driver failure I took more extreme care with the second one, leaving it in the same spot it all times and keeping the cable out of harm's way at all times. While it lasted longer, the cable still ended up failing and another driver died during the repair process. Much of the same happened for the two pairs of DR-Z5 I've owned. The Z7 is the only headphone of the three that actually survived normal use well after all this time, it was fine for two years straight, but the cable STILL eventually failed on me. It's just the way the cable is constructed, the sheathing is too permeable and this causes the copper to oxidize much more severely than most cables, and it's very thin uncoated litz wire so it's not super strong to begin with. The Z7 has COATED litz wire, and thus it doesn't oxidize, so that probably explains the extra survivability compared to the other two.

That being said the third Z6 I got had the stronger DR-Z7 cable on it, so it's possible that theres some variance going on here. That pair was sold to me with a very shoddy repair job on the headphone side however, and I had to resolder the driver, which resulted in another failure despite plenty of experience working on these headphones and a perfect soldering job on the other channel.

And no, these headphones are not built "like a tank". The headband structure is stiff as hell and the cups are heavy and well finished, giving the illusion of good build. In practice the yokes are very flexible and easily broken and the plastics used are of low quality compared to new offerings. Even the HE-6's build quality is far superior.

 

[GREQ]

Yeah, the Z7 is built like a tank being mostly metal, but the plastic on the Z6 that connects to the cups seems quite fragile.
No idea about cables.. my experience with this series has only been positive so far.

 

[takato14]

Likely against my better judgement, I bought back my mint DR-Z7 from the person I sold it to. I'll get measurements of it posted once it arrives.

 

[GREQ]

  Likely against my better judgement, I bought back my mint DR-Z7 from the person I sold it to. I'll get measurements of it posted once it arrives.

You nutter!
Likely against my better judgement I kindly ask you to slap on some pleather ear pads on it for a 2nd set of measurements, so I can see what I missed out on

 

[takato14]

 

  Likely against my better judgement, I bought back my mint DR-Z7 from the person I sold it to. I'll get measurements of it posted once it arrives.

You nutter!
Likely against my better judgement I kindly ask you to slap on some pleather ear pads on it for a 2nd set of measurements, so I can see what I missed out on

Oh don't worry, I've already got the perfect pads picked out for them. Prepare for the onslaught of Z7s showing up on ebay at ludicrous pricetags 

 

 

[flipflop]

Apologies for reviving an old thread.
 
Just curious... how would the Z6 hold up against more modern on-ear cans such as the V-Moda XS or the Sennheiser HD25/Amperior/etc. (their model lineup still confuses me)?  I jumped almost immediately to vintage cans after getting into hi fi and thus have no idea on what i'm missing out on.  Where does the Z6 stand in the grander scheme of things?
 
While we're at it, I recently got a decent DAP (Cayin N5) in a trade and was thinking of either getting a more modern can (V-Moda XS) or sticking with the Z6 as a "transportable" rig (my first). Any thoughts?  I would probably have the plug on the Z6 reterminated though, which I would rather leave stock. Would changing the plug affect the value in any way?
 
Thanks in advance for your time!