[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

Could be wrong but this is what most new comers are after. Looking at myself 7 year ago, the quality phones for me were the ones with aggressive signature, thumping bass, and accentuated via elevated treble details. And MDR-1R do not fit that bill, I am afraid. May be Ultrasones or new AKG K167 is a safer bet.

 
I'd also tend to agree, warmer / smoother, mid-range forward headphones tend to require a more acquired taste that usually comes with time, I've stepped up the a ladder too when I just wanted bass at first, then I wanted bass & sparkle (unrealisticly much sparkle) and today I'm at a stage where I want very forward midrange and long gone is when I felt sparkly treble is a good thing, in fact I hate unrealisticly bright treble now.

 

[john53]

I also like balanced and smooth sound from my headphones,with not much treble quantity (like shure srh 940,beyer 990 to name a few) and bass emphasis,I prefer an overall neutral sound with good balance from lows to midrange and to higher frequensies.I like my headphones to have a slightly silky and soft sound signature,without sacrificing the sense of air and life to their sound.
 
I believe that MDR 1R could have just a little bit more emphasis somewhere in the higher frequensies.I also find some midrange frequensies a bit strong and intense some times,and they cause me a bit of ear fatigue when listening to mid to high volume.It's not so bad,but it is interesting to me that a headphone with a so smooth and grain free sound,especially in the treble,can give ear fatigue because of the midrange. Maybe that also depends on each individual person. For example,I've read that many people find the akg k550 annoying somewhere in the mid/highs,but I personally didn't find it to be the case with me,and I found it to be a bit of a problem with the 1R. Good thing is that I mostly listen in lower volumes and it's not a big deal anyway for me.
 
I believe that these headphones are really good for their price,because they have a smooth,musical and detailed sound,with good definition and very good soundstage imaging positioning and depth,(which I find is their strongest point),making music quite attractive to listen too.But I still believe that the tuning could be a bit better,without making them sound harsh or bass heavy or whatever else...

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

^ Hmm, can that midrange harshness be due to an excessive ringing/resonance peak maybe? I haven't heard 1R so wouldn't know but I personally hate upper-mid resonance peaks which can make female vocals harsh especially due to not decaying as quickly as it should and the resonance greatly increases the percieved loudness at the resonating frequencies.
 
For me the ATH-CKS77 IEMs are a prime example of this, to me it has such a huge upper-mid resonance peak that it's actually painful to listen to some female vocals such as some songs by Taylor Swift. I hate these IEMs because of this.

 

[john53]

It's not that bad to be honest,maybe I hear it this way because I'm used to a bit different sound signatures,and the sonys give a bit of emphasis to some frequensies in the midrange-upper midrange,which is different compared to my other headphones. I actually believe that there is not a problem with reverbation from the closed cups,but it's only their sound in these frequensies that sometimes gives me this feeling.

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

I'd also tend to agree, warmer / smoother, mid-range forward headphones tend to require a more acquired taste that usually comes with time, I've stepped up the a ladder too when I just wanted bass at first, then I wanted bass & sparkle (unrealisticly much sparkle) and today I'm at a stage where I want very forward midrange and long gone is when I felt sparkly treble is a good thing, in fact I hate unrealisticly bright treble now.

 
Hmm, that's interesting, since I came at this from the opposite direction. I joined Head-Fi and got the RE-0 when everyone was raving about them, and associated treble detail and ability with a sort of 'refined taste' kind of idea.
 
Over time I've drifted more and more towards darker and bassier sounds. Sometimes people use bass as if its a dirty word around here on head-fi. People are quick to deny being a basshead but no one ever says, "I really like treble - but oh wait, I'm no treble-head."
 
People should just relax and like what they like. If qu0te thinks the MDR-1R's are sexy looking, and he's (or she's) been using skullcandy buds before, then anything will be an improvement and he will most probably be proud and happy with his purchase. Maybe over time he will work out he wants something else more, but honestly I find most competent phones are likeable as long as they don't fatigue the user in some way through harsh treble or overblown bass.
 
It's better that you go ahead and buy something and learn from it and maybe one day sell it on the FS forums, rather than stressing about which one is the 'perfect' choice from dozens of never heard options and canvassing contradictory opinions from every comer on Head Fi. I remember doing this when I was a n00b and I think how silly it is now - just enjoy the music!

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Looking at myself 7 year ago, the quality phones for me were the ones with aggressive signature, thumping bass, and accentuated via elevated treble details. And MDR-1R do not fit that bill, I am afraid. May be Ultrasones or new AKG K167 is a safer bet.

 
Uh, no..

 

[QU0TE]

I'm starting to lean towards either these or the DT770LEs

 

[roma101]

I think any newcomer would like this headphone. Headphones that I think may need an acquired taste are the new K167 and the DT 1350, just to name a couple examples. I agree that many newcomers might like an aggressive signature or just more details in general (remember most newcomers are coming from crappy earbuds/headphones anyway) but it's not always the case (one of my first quality cans was the ATH-SJ5 which is a warm, darkish can) and I feel that the 1R tows a nice line between warm and laidback and aggressive. It's a very lively and musical phone that sounds good to my ears with all genres. In a nutshell, I can see Sony's viewpoint in touting this as a good consumer can tuned for current music or whatever. Although I think they sound good with old and new music. Just my$ 0.02.

 

[DivergeUnify]

After a bit of listening time today I think I'm going to get these.  They do everything pretty well, I like the soundstage and separation.  They have great mids, decent treble, and really nice bass that doesn't rumble or entrench on other frequencies.  They sound better than the UE6000s in my opinion, along with being incredibly comfortable and really nice looking( Sony tends to be good at this)
 
Overall they have everything I could want from a portable headphone

 

[melmac]

Hey, I just found a pair of the Sony MDR-1R for sale for a decent price.
 
Currently I have the JVC RX900's and was thinking of upgrading to either the SOny MDR-1R or the AKG K701's.
 
I have all kinds of music tastes from Jean Michael Jarre to Pink floyd, From Razorlight and the killers to The Crystal Method. The only things I don't listen to at all are rap, heavy metal and classical music.
 
Oh yeah I will be using them for gaming as well.
 
Would you all recommend the Sony MDR-1R's? ARe they a big upgrade over the RX900's?
 

 

[PFULMTL]

Today I saw a used MDR-1R for 18,500yen ($219) at the store and I thought that was cheap.  Then I went on amazon.co.jp and saw them for 17,280yen ($204) new.  Very tempting.

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

Today I saw a used MDR-1R for 18,500yen ($219) at the store and I thought that was cheap.  Then I went on amazon.co.jp and saw them for 17,280yen ($204) new.  Very tempting.

 
e-earphone.jp in Akihabara actually has a silver/brown one for Y14,900. Saw it today.

 

[PFULMTL]

Quote:

 
e-earphone.jp in Akihabara actually has a silver/brown one for Y14,900. Saw it today.

I've been trying to find that store!  I walked up and down the street it was supposed to be on and can't find the sign.
 
edit* saw that there is a vid of the guy walking to the store on the site.  I'll try again tomorrow or next time I'm around there.

 

[Kyle 491]

I got to listen to this headphone for a solid 30 mins in a store next to the Momentum, Amperior and a few others. First of all, the bass has decent quality and quantity, I didn't feel like I was missing too much in terms of quality or impact compared to the Amperior. The treble was pleasant, fairly smooth if lacking in technical excellence. It reminded me of the UE6000 treble presentation. The problem, however, comes in the mid-range. It is awful and does not belong on a  >£200 headphone. Vocals often have a raspy, highly coloured tonality and there is a strange shoutiness in certain songs indicating a bump somewhere over 2khz. Dense passages of instrumental/orchestral music with vocals sound downright terrible on this headphone, with an extremely cluttered, poorly separated presentation mixed with wildly inaccurate tonality, evident in a flac version of this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDDEbpSN590 I used to test them.
As a great deal of music that I listen to is fast-paced and dense with instrumentation, I could never recommend this headphone to those with similar tastes. But what's more, the "modern" music that this headphone has been supposedly tuned for also exhibits unnatural raspiness for female vocals, so really this headphone is giant fail in my book. 80% of the music is in the midrange, so overall this headphone has piss-poor technicalities and is not worth >£100.
 
Listening to the Momentum again from the same amp, I realise I was too harsh on this headphone; it isn't a notch above the MDR-1, it is FAR above it. Vocals and mids almost sound downright transparent next to it and there are no weird bumps or deviations. I would easily put it alongside the Amperior now, when amplified properly. The treble having sparkle yet no harshness is a definite plus too.

 

[Ra97oR]

Quote:

I got to listen to this headphone for a solid 30 mins in a store next to the Momentum, Amperior and a few others. First of all, the bass has decent quality and quantity, I didn't feel like I was missing too much in terms of quality or impact compared to the Amperior. The treble was pleasant, fairly smooth if lacking in technical excellence. It reminded me of the UE6000 treble presentation. The problem, however, comes in the mid-range. It is awful and does not belong on a  >£200 headphone. Vocals often have a raspy, highly coloured tonality and there is a strange shoutiness in certain songs indicating a bump somewhere over 2khz. Dense passages of instrumental/orchestral music with vocals sound downright terrible on this headphone, with an extremely cluttered, poorly separated presentation mixed with wildly inaccurate tonality, evident in a flac version of this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDDEbpSN590 I used to test them.
As a great deal of music that I listen to is fast-paced and dense with instrumentation, I could never recommend this headphone to those with similar tastes. But what's more, the "modern" music that this headphone has been supposedly tuned for also exhibits unnatural raspiness for female vocals, so really this headphone is giant fail in my book. 80% of the music is in the midrange, so overall this headphone has piss-poor technicalities and is not worth >£100.
 
Listening to the Momentum again from the same amp, I realise I was too harsh on this headphone; it isn't a notch above the MDR-1, it is FAR above it. Vocals and mids almost sound downright transparent next to it and there are no weird bumps or deviations. I would easily put it alongside the Amperior now, when amplified properly. The treble having sparkle yet no harshness is a definite plus too.

Well, shame that you didn't like the extremely liquid mids that is the main strength of this pair of headphones along with the excellent soundstage. It my book MDR-1R is far above the Amperior and noticeably more pleasant than the Momentum when listening in quiet area and with a strong home headphone amp. Each to their own I guess.