[QU0TE]

So how are these unamped? I'm really considering these as my first high end-ish pair of headphones, and its between these and the DT770 anniversary edition >_>

 

[roma101]

They sound great unamped to my ears.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

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.

That's like saying that orgasm is the worst part of sex.

Didn't know that vocals can go over 2khz, what kind of aliens' music do you listen?

 

[kskwerl]

Quote:

That's like saying that orgasm is the worst part of sex.

Didn't know that vocals can go over 2khz, what kind of aliens' music do you listen?

Mermaids bruh lol

 

[Dyaems]

the 1R doesnt sound 300usd anyways if it doesnt have at least 20 hours (lenient timeframe) of playtime, i guess. when i heard the 1R out of the box, it sounds like 30usd headphone to me. everything sounds grainy.

 

[DrGonzo]

FYI,  If anyone is interested in getting a hard shell case for their mdr-1r, the Slappa Hardbody Pro Full Size Headphone case is a great option.  Just got is earlier this week from Amazon and the headphones fit perfect.
 
http://www.slappa.com/HardBody-PRO-Full-Size-Headphone-case

 

[roma101]

Thanks for that! ^^

 

[haojan]

Quote:

FYI,  If anyone is interested in getting a hard shell case for their mdr-1r, the Slappa Hardbody Pro Full Size Headphone case is a great option.  Just got is earlier this week from Amazon and the headphones fit perfect.
 
http://www.slappa.com/HardBody-PRO-Full-Size-Headphone-case

 
I'm thrilled with my MDR-1RNC and it comes with it's own hard shell case.  Construction, comfort and quality are better than the basic.  I personally enjoy mine and would recommend it over the basic model though it costs 50% more!  Even got lucky with the guys giving me a sony headphone stand to go along with it 

 

[takato14]

Why is everyone hyping the hell out of this headphone and not posting actual reviews?
 
How about comparisons to other portable cans in its pricerange? Like the DT1350?
 
Or maybe comparisons to other popular cans, like the M50 or M-80 or some of ultrasone's offerings? All I'm hearing here is it's a decent headphone, overpriced at $300, and is generally grainy and slow. And about 2 metric ****tons of hype and worthless comments. Why all the hype? It's not like the 1R is a huge game-changer. It sounds like a typical modern-day Sony, nothing special.

 

[MrViolin]

Quote:

Why is everyone hyping the hell out of this headphone and not posting actual reviews?
 
How about comparisons to other portable cans in its pricerange? Like the DT1350?
 
Or maybe comparisons to other popular cans, like the M50 or M-80 or some of ultrasone's offerings? All I'm hearing here is it's a decent headphone, overpriced at $300, and is generally grainy and slow. And about 2 metric ****tons of hype and worthless comments. Why all the hype? It's not like the 1R is a huge game-changer. It sounds like a typical modern-day Sony, nothing special.

LOL. I guess it's cause we're sony fanboys and big boss Jude says they do fine. Reason why I trust/admire Jude is that he doesn't really hit on any phones, but points out what they do well and cross references them. Each phone caters for a different audience.
 
Everyone here is looking for full-sized cans I'd assume is why no one's compared them w/ supra aurals. The supra aurals are usually compared among each other. I'm not sure how a typical modern-day Sony would sound -- nothing special? Grainy and slow is before the break-in period (seen it gets up to speed, comments say the grainy stops).
 
V-moda's are more for your bassheads (something I've generalized through reading forums/reviews -- could be wrong). Against the M-100, these are more resolving and would be used as reference, said by Jude. However, the M-100's isolation is better and its element is in the public. 
 
 
Edit: woops read the last part n doesn't seem complete: The M-100's aren't as refined is also another reason you'd use them in public. I'd think that these cans are relatively flatter considering I saw Tyll's review saying that the M-100's were a basshead's delight

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Why is everyone hyping the hell out of this headphone and not posting actual reviews?
 
How about comparisons to other portable cans in its pricerange? Like the DT1350?
 
Or maybe comparisons to other popular cans, like the M50 or M-80 or some of ultrasone's offerings? All I'm hearing here is it's a decent headphone, overpriced at $300, and is generally grainy and slow. And about 2 metric ****tons of hype and worthless comments. Why all the hype? It's not like the 1R is a huge game-changer. It sounds like a typical modern-day Sony, nothing special.

Yep, Jude wrote pretty comprehensive review in Holiday Gift Guide http://www.head-fi.org/a/2012-head-fi-holiday-gift-guide-over-ear
and this one is pretty good too, give a perspective against others in the same category http://www.head-fi.org/t/639948/review-closed-portable-circumaural-around-ear-headphone-comparison-m50-z1000-tma-1-s-momentum-ue6000-mdr-1r
I don't actually see anyone is hyping these phones here or trying to push on others as "the best thing since sliced bread", for that go check K167 thread 

They are indeed very good and can easily hold their own against all new players in the field like Momentum, M-100, UE-6000.
Not sure what earth shaking and revolutionary did you expect from portable closed, to my ears and sonic preferences they are better from others under $500 closed and some open I had owned and auditioned to day, but we all know that there is not a single phone that suits everyone's taste.

 

[Kyle 491]

Quote:

That's like saying that orgasm is the worst part of sex.

Didn't know that vocals can go over 2khz, what kind of aliens' music do you listen?

 
In your eagerness to deride my opinions and defend your purchase, you may want to try a stab at reading comprehension, specifically the section you highlighted. Nowhere did I refer to vocals above 2k. I stated that there is a shoutiness, a bump in this region which is out of sync with the rest of the midrange. The vocals having a raspy quality is a separate issue. I have no idea how criticising the midrange of this headphone is equivalent to saying orgasms are the worst part of sex; if you judge the midrange to the best part of this headphone, then your estimation of this headphone's overall ability is even lower than mine, because you must find the bass and treble diabolical.
 
Takato, the reason people are posting hype rather than any critical comparisons is that writing gushing praise has no stigma attached to it, while daring to criticise something invites the writer to be criticised themselves. There is no doubt also good proportion of people who also have little long-term experience with closed portable cans in this price bracket, as well as top-end open and closed cans to see what great mids sound like, so they may not see the flaws as readily.
 
I make it a point to detail flaws with any headphone I listen to, because for me these are the most important part of any review I read. Others looking to choose between pairs in this increasingly saturated market may look for such reviews to weigh up the pluses and minuses before dropping the dough.
There is not one headphone I have heard that does not possess at least a few flaws, but the MDR-1r is just plainly below the level of the Momentum, Amperior, M-80, HD-25 and UE6000. I've listened to two pairs now, one at an official Sony store; both pairs have been on display for weeks and have the same problems to my ears. I don't believe any amount of burn-in can effect a dramatic change to make these actually sound competent, I have never experienced burn-in to improve the sound to the point that I would suddenly like a can I previously hated.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

 
In your eagerness to deride my opinions and defend your purchase

Defend the purchase, there is nothing to defend, it's a pocket change comparing to other stuff and being here for quite a while I am well past the stage of defending any phones like it's your own child or forcing my opinion on others. They are not ideal as anything in this life but to me present very well rounded package that I found in particular pleasing to my ears.
You didn't like them, we all  heard you, no need to go nuts about it and labeling everyone else who thinks differently as lacking critical comparison abilities or long-term experience with headphones in general.
It is what it is - difference of opinion and nothing else.

 

[MrViolin]

Ey guys. Calm down before currawong comes and smites you all. 

 

[roma101]

I've had a variety headphones in my arsenal including HD598s, HD600s, DT1350s, Z1000, HD25, M-80 and most recently K167. We must acknowledge in this hobby that we all have different use cases as well as different preferences. I am more big on timbre and balance across the frequency than I am on precision and detail (although of course I want detail and precision as well). Natural tonality and decay are what's most important to me as well as good imaging. That said, I have yet to find a closed portable that's great at everything. For example, the K167 is very precise, detailed with great soundstage and imaging. What was wrong to my ears? Timbre. The sound was cold, distant and sterile. The decay was not right to my ears. Even the DT1350, which is a lean headphone, sounded more accurate and thicker to my ears. The 1R may not be up to par clarity-wise but it sounds helluva lot more natural tonally while still remaining flat and detailed.

Two of my favorite cans as of this moment are the DT 1350 and the 1R. They are great complements to each other - where one lacks the other delivers etc. I'm pretty sure, with everyone's different preferences, these 1Rs are not gonna be for everyone - not everyone is gonna love their warmth and their sound sig, they might prefer something leaner and more crisp perhaps. I'd say this can does a lot more right than it does wrong. It's balanced across the board, it has plenty of sparkle without being sibilant, has good soundstage and imaging, has good bass extension and sounds very textured as well as punchy. It might not be as clear-cut or as precise in its separation as the K167 or the DTs but it is more full-sounding and more musical while still having good instrument separation and layering.

In any case, I don't think anyone is hyping this headphone at all. In fact I have read a bunch of criticism as well as those like myself who appreciate them for what they are and the flavor they provide. If its too thick-sounding for you, you might as well go elsewhere. If you want something leaner that's fine. But I think it's best to criticize a headphone when you have actually owned it instead of auditioning once or twice. That's like saying sushi is horrible when you've only had it once. Try it a few times and then talk about it. If you don't like it perhaps what you prefer is a juicy steak. And vice versa. Perhaps this headphone is an acquired taste - perhaps its not. But it's definitely easier to tell once you've had more than a taste.

Edit: I should add that I am in no way shape or form, a Sony fangirl. Quite the contrary. While I appreciated the V6 for its comfort and SQ at the price I had issues with its peaky unnaturally bright tonality. The ZX700 sounded dull and lifeless to me. The Z1000 had its bass emphasis issues while lacking bass impact and therefore hardly any PRaT, while having treble peaks. I appreciate the headphone more at home than I did for portable use and thought it just wasn't right for my use case and for that price. I bought the 1R on a whim because of the good deal I found. I figured I would try 'em, trade 'em and get another set of popular portable cans on the market because being that I wasn't that impressed with Sony in the past, I was not expecting much. At this moment, I am not parting with them and don't see myself parting with them in the future. Like I said, they do more things very right than wrong and I am pretty nit-picky.