[mt877]

Lately I've been broadening my audio earphone horizons and it's been well over a month since I've listen to any music with the M7s. Last night I spent several hours listening to some of my favorite tracks with the M7s and was gently blown away (again) by these mid-level iems that punch above their weight class.

 

[vas-tomsk]

Where can I buy nozzle foam filter for Sony IER-M7 in Japan?

 

[jjss]

Hello, good morning / evening,

The M7 has 4 BA drivers whilst the M9 has 5.
Does anyone know if the 5th one in M9 is the super tweeter driver that is absent in the M7, or the use / allocation of these 5 and 4 drivers are entirely diff?? Thanks ..

Also I haven't read all the relevant posts on the forum so can't be usre if this question had been raised: that is has anyone take out the M7 nozzle foam filters and listen to M7 without it ??

Cheers

 

[DynamicEars]

Hello, good morning / evening,

The M7 has 4 BA drivers whilst the M9 has 5.
Does anyone know if the 5th one in M9 is the super tweeter driver that is absent in the M7, or the use / allocation of these 5 and 4 drivers are entirely diff?? Thanks ..

Also I haven't read all the relevant posts on the forum so can't be usre if this question had been raised: that is has anyone take out the M7 nozzle foam filters and listen to M7 without it ??

Cheers

The 5th BA is the super tweeters in M9, so the M7 is like 80% capabilities of M9, where the M9 have better treble extension and technicalities. Bass and mids are comparable. But M9 also have better build with magnesium alloy housing instead of M7's plastic.

About nozzle foam, it is acting as dampers and put there as part of tuning filter so removing it will alter the sound, same with other sony IEMs. If you don't know what to do or don't have measurement rig, I suggest don't take it out, just gently clean it if there are earwax on the foam using cotton buds or tweezer.

 

[jjss]

The 5th BA is the super tweeters in M9, so the M7 is like 80% capabilities of M9, where the M9 have better treble extension and technicalities. Bass and mids are comparable. But M9 also have better build with magnesium alloy housing instead of M7's plastic.

About nozzle foam, it is acting as dampers and put there as part of tuning filter so removing it will alter the sound, same with other sony IEMs. If you don't know what to do or don't have measurement rig, I suggest don't take it out, just gently clean it if there are earwax on the foam using cotton buds or tweezer.

@DynamicEars

Thanks for the explanation ..

 

[jjss]

@DynamicEars

On second thought, why Sony has decided to put a nozzle filter in? Does it mean that the original sound coming out of the 4 BA drivers is somewhat "problematic"?? On the Sony webpage (https://www.sony-asia.com/electroni...UT-OOFM-IER-M7-EN_GL-2018-11-M01-SOUNDARTISTS) that talks about "What sort of sound is desirable in a stage monitor?", its been said the the SQ goals as a studio monitor are (1) accurate reproduction (2) balance between instruments (3) rhythm. So does it i imply that without the filters these 3 elements would have been somewhat compromized - as a studio monitor that Sony wants?

As far as I know a foam filter mainly alters the acoustic impedance by way of freq changes, time smearing reduction and dBSPL reduction by way of the foam's sound absorption/resistance property. Or, am I wrong about my understanding?

Its just that its so tempting to take out the foam and has a taste of the real ability / character of the 4 BA drivers!

 

[DynamicEars]

@DynamicEars

On second thought, why Sony has decided to put a nozzle filter in? Does it mean that the original sound coming out of the 4 BA drivers is somewhat "problematic"?? On the Sony webpage (https://www.sony-asia.com/electroni...UT-OOFM-IER-M7-EN_GL-2018-11-M01-SOUNDARTISTS) that talks about "What sort of sound is desirable in a stage monitor?", its been said the the SQ goals as a studio monitor are (1) accurate reproduction (2) balance between instruments (3) rhythm. So does it i imply that without the filters these 3 elements would have been somewhat compromized - as a studio monitor that Sony wants?

As far as I know a foam filter mainly alters the acoustic impedance by way of freq changes, time smearing reduction and dBSPL reduction by way of the foam's sound absorption/resistance property. Or, am I wrong about my understanding?

Its just that its so tempting to take out the foam and has a taste of the real ability / character of the 4 BA drivers!

Nope, the RAW FR of the driver can be very peaky and unlistenable with that raw state. Drivers have peaky frequencies, these are intended to boost up details, but then have to be dampening to the target FR as part of the tuning, either with nylon filters ( I hate it because make bass bloated / smears), or foam, or like knowles damping.
Sony has design their BA and tune the earphone with the damper. Damper used to tame the peaks, to absorb the unwanted shrill on the trail of each notes, without damper, sound can be sounded very peaky or sibilant and thus unlistenable.
I'm working on this re-tuning, dampening things, so I learnt a lot.

take example from this RAW measurement of the Moondrop KATO :

The blue line is filterless KATO, means I took out the damper and see the result, the green one is KATO with damper as intended by Moondrop. I did my own dampening system to my IEMs to made them better (better airflow for the bass, more balance tuning etc) but like I said you have to know what are you doing.
Simply taking out the foam is just lead you to peaky and sibilance sound because Sony tuned the IEMs with damping system in mind. And you will need measurement rig also. I never mod my M7, M9 and Z1R, they are just good and too expensive to Mod.

 

[jjss]

Nope, the RAW FR of the driver can be very peaky and unlistenable with that raw state. Drivers have peaky frequencies, these are intended to boost up details, but then have to be dampening to the target FR as part of the tuning, either with nylon filters ( I hate it because make bass bloated / smears), or foam, or like knowles damping.
Sony has design their BA and tune the earphone with the damper. Damper used to tame the peaks, to absorb the unwanted shrill on the trail of each notes, without damper, sound can be sounded very peaky or sibilant and thus unlistenable.
I'm working on this re-tuning, dampening things, so I learnt a lot.

take example from this RAW measurement of the Moondrop KATO :


The blue line is filterless KATO, means I took out the damper and see the result, the green one is KATO with damper as intended by Moondrop. I did my own dampening system to my IEMs to made them better (better airflow for the bass, more balance tuning etc) but like I said you have to know what are you doing.
Simply taking out the foam is just lead you to peaky and sibilance sound because Sony tuned the IEMs with damping system in mind. And you will need measurement rig also. I never mod my M7, M9 and Z1R, they are just good and too expensive to Mod.

I see .. thanks a million for you kind explanation @DynamicEars
Cheers