[nanaholic]

I have been thinking why the initial impressions on the Z1r are quite different across the board. I know we have different ears and different preferences in sound, but it shouldn't be that diametrically opposite from recess mid to strong mid and from absent treble to forward treble. I don't think my hearing is that far off from others. I can postulate that with two DD drivers it may take some heavy burning in to reach stability. As all of our auditions are with new units I think for those of us who have received the unit may want to clock in the time of use/burn in and see if there is any change in signature and share it here will be great. How much amplification is used to drive the unit is also useful info.

Fitting has a huge impact on sound signature, throw in subjective preferences it’s hardly surprising impressions are all over the place and it doesn’t necessarily have any basis in the technical spec of the earphone.

 

[NickL33]

Fitting has a huge impact on sound signature, throw in subjective preferences it’s hardly surprising impressions are all over the place and it doesn’t necessarily have any basis in the technical spec of the earphone.

Yes i totally agreed fit matters but this iem has a very weird change of sound affected by tips alot...

Which the stock tips i didnt find the signature pleasing. I have try from final e type clear and black to jvc spiral ear.. all changes the sound alot

 

[echineko]

I'm curious for those who have tried this, what is your take on how hard it is to drive? I used it with my Walkman (4.4 out), and also tried with the DMP Z1, and didn't think it was underpowered with either DAP (if you can consider the DMP as a DAP).

But then I see some people say it's hard to drive, and you *need* the DMP to drive it well, and still others comment on it being thin while driving it with an iPhone + dongle, either statement seems strange to me

What do you guys think?

 

[hugo poon]

I have been thinking why the initial impressions on the Z1r are quite different across the board. I know we have different ears and different preferences in sound, but it shouldn't be that diametrically opposite from recess mid to strong mid and from absent treble to forward treble. I don't think my hearing is that far off from others. I can postulate that with two DD drivers it may take some heavy burning in to reach stability. As all of our auditions are with new units I think for those of us who have received the unit may want to clock in the time of use/burn in and see if there is any change in signature and share it here will be great. How much amplification is used to drive the unit is also useful info.

I have had the Z1R for one week or so now and I'm pleased to say that I'm an extremely happy owner.

Just two observations during this relatively short period of time:
1. You're right about the burning in - It takes at least 50 hours of proper burning in to give a decent treble. Yet the change is indeed dramatic; once you get through that, everything is a beauty.
2. To let it shine, a source with good driving power is essential. I'm mainly using the Hugo 2 and Hiby R5 Pro (4.4 output); and also briefly an SP1000 that I borrowed from a friend. They all work pretty well with the Z1R. I did notice that the "recess mid" comment is from someone using a Shanling M0. Haven't tried this player myself but according to Headfonics: 'the M0 struggles with 120ohm and does not have nearly enough power to do justice to needy headphones...'

 

[toughnut]

I'm curious for those who have tried this, what is your take on how hard it is to drive? I used it with my Walkman (4.4 out), and also tried with the DMP Z1, and didn't think it was underpowered with either DAP (if you can consider the DMP as a DAP).

But then I see some people say it's hard to drive, and you *need* the DMP to drive it well, and still others comment on it being thin while driving it with an iPhone + dongle, either statement seems strange to me

What do you guys think?

Those who said it’s hard to drive, most likely yet to even touch it real life, let alone listen to it. Sky high expectation based on random ppl impression and would like to keep it that way.

Hearing it yourself will clear the doubt.

 

[OverlordRush]

I'm curious for those who have tried this, what is your take on how hard it is to drive? I used it with my Walkman (4.4 out), and also tried with the DMP Z1, and didn't think it was underpowered with either DAP (if you can consider the DMP as a DAP).

But then I see some people say it's hard to drive, and you *need* the DMP to drive it well, and still others comment on it being thin while driving it with an iPhone + dongle, either statement seems strange to me

What do you guys think?

I have tried it with my WM1A/DX200 AMP8 and Z1, and I have to agree with you. And of course it sounds better on the Z1, but that has less to do with how well the Z1R is driven than the Z1 just sounds so much better than 1A.

 

[NickL33]

I'm curious for those who have tried this, what is your take on how hard it is to drive? I used it with my Walkman (4.4 out), and also tried with the DMP Z1, and didn't think it was underpowered with either DAP (if you can consider the DMP as a DAP).

But then I see some people say it's hard to drive, and you *need* the DMP to drive it well, and still others comment on it being thin while driving it with an iPhone + dongle, either statement seems strange to me

What do you guys think?

I listen on balance around 62-65 low gain on wm1a which is out of 120. I say is pretty easy to drive...

 

[Misson07]

I'm curious for those who have tried this, what is your take on how hard it is to drive? I used it with my Walkman (4.4 out), and also tried with the DMP Z1, and didn't think it was underpowered with either DAP (if you can consider the DMP as a DAP).

But then I see some people say it's hard to drive, and you *need* the DMP to drive it well, and still others comment on it being thin while driving it with an iPhone + dongle, either statement seems strange to me

What do you guys think?

I don't think you *need* the DMP-1Z but I think something with quite a lot of juice on them (N8?) should got a better result than just an average daps as they require more power than most ba iems for sure. I think they sound rather good out of the AK380 (which have just an adequate amount of power, not great) and pretty bad straight from LG G7 even though I listen to them nowhere near their max volume (something like 40/70 on the G7). As alway, having enough power to drive them loud didn't mean it drive them well. I going to bet that 4.4 output on the WM1Z will be enough, though.

 

[echineko]

I don't think you *need* the DMP-1Z but I think something with quite a lot of juice on them (N8?) should got a better result than just an average daps as they require more power than most iems for sure. I think they sound rather good out of the AK380 and pretty bad straight from LG G7 even though I listen to them nowhere near their max volume (something like 40/70 on the G7). As alway, having enough power to drive them loud didn't mean it drive them well. I going to bet that 4.4 output on the WM1Z will be enough, though.

Yes, my thoughts are along this line as well. From posts earlier here, someone did post an opinion (I think from a write up in HK iirc) that the DMP Z1 was needed to bring out the full potential of the IER Z1R

And also few others claimed the mids were "thin" when in fact they were using an iPhone as source.

My experience didn't seem to mirror either of these, that's why I asked the question. Good to know that I'm not imagining things

 

[Misson07]

People who have them right now or are consider them should get the Kimber cable as I think they improve them quite a lot on what I think is a dry-ish mid. Unless it didn't bother you, of course. They never sound recessed to me either way and is pretty forward.

 

[OverlordRush]

People who have them right now or are consider them should get the Kimber cable as I think they improve them quite a lot on what I think is a dry-ish mid. Unless it didn't bother you, of course.

I tried the kimber cable for a bit with the z1r. While it give z1r a even wider soundstage and somewhat of a warmer mid, I dont think the loss in clarity compare to the stock cable is worth it.

 

[INGRAMLI]

I have been thinking why the initial impressions on the Z1r are quite different across the board. I know we have different ears and different preferences in sound, but it shouldn't be that diametrically opposite from recess mid to strong mid and from absent treble to forward treble. I don't think my hearing is that far off from others. I can postulate that with two DD drivers it may take some heavy burning in to reach stability. As all of our auditions are with new units I think for those of us who have received the unit may want to clock in the time of use/burn in and see if there is any change in signature and share it here will be great. How much amplification is used to drive the unit is also useful info.

For IEM significant different impression across different people is not unusual. Let's face it, achieving proper seal on universal monitors is harder than many people think. For instance, I bought the Earsonic SEM9 three months ago, I couldn't achieve basic level of isolation with the sleeves came with it and I started the journey for the right sleeves, it took me almost 1 month, spending around USD100 on almost 10 types and sizes of aftermarket sleeves before I settle down on spinfit CP220 M1, even then that spinfit is nowhere near perfection isolation, 85% or so, and the sound is quite different across different sleeves (and seal). That's why custom made exists, and I ended up placing an order for Just Ear MH2 with Sony.

 

[kms108]

I owned the first tape Walkman model and a few others as they kept breaking and as well as several CD Walkman models that helped me pass time in college. The CD Walkman players were great with the mdr-e8xx fontopia earbuds that I owned and lost. That one model is one that I loved and would love to buy one again, but I don't remember which model it was. I remember buying it at e-earphone in January 1991. It was a Japan only model. Now that I have thought about it, I need to find a classic jdm earbud expert who can help me. I want to guess that it was the e848 model. I think we got the e888 in the USA and I know it wasn't that model. Or was it the e878?

I also owned Nike air Jordan 1 when they came out and kids these days who wear it have never seen him play except for old video clips.

I'm old and have seen and done it all.

Are you referring to the e888 and the king of iem e484, these are not a Japan only release model, and they cannot cope with hi res, many current mid range iem can sound better with present hardware.

 

[nanaholic]

Yes, my thoughts are along this line as well. From posts earlier here, someone did post an opinion (I think from a write up in HK iirc) that the DMP Z1 was needed to bring out the full potential of the IER Z1R

And also few others claimed the mids were "thin" when in fact they were using an iPhone as source.

My experience didn't seem to mirror either of these, that's why I asked the question. Good to know that I'm not imagining things

You can ignore most of the opinions written in HK regarding the Z1R - as most of those HK "audiophiles" has the tendency to blame anything that doesn't sound good (to their ears) as due to the lack of power of the source and don't consider things like pairing, sensitivity, impedance (both source and headphone), fit or even personal subjective preferences into their assessment.

The official specification of the Z1R is 40ohms at 103dB/mW, sensitivity is average the slightly higher than average impedance should actually mean it is less source dependent than most IEMs. There really isn't anything to suggest that the Z1R should be difficult to drive from a modern mid to top tier DAP.

Yes i totally agreed fit matters but this iem has a very weird change of sound affected by tips alot...

Which the stock tips i didnt find the signature pleasing. I have try from final e type clear and black to jvc spiral ear.. all changes the sound alot

Out of curiosity what stock tips were you using?

As I know the Z1R comes with two types of tips (common to all recent Sony earphones) - the silicon ones as well as the new triple comfort foam tips, on top of which they come in 7 sizes for the silicon tips and 6 sizes for the foams. I really like the Sony foam tips because of their comfort as well as how they general take the treble edge off with any IEMs I pair them with, but I can see some people not liking that.

 

[OG10]

I'm sure @Toom is storing all our ear photos for some kind of purpose

These look so good, looking forward to impressions against the solaris when people get them.