[Wiz33]

For those that have had theirs for a while: how's the scratch resistance of the body of the IEMs?

I got pair of TPU clear case from ebay before mine even arrive and put them on right out of the box and never worried about it.

 

[gLer]

I usually used Z1R with DAPs, but today I am listening at my home with desktop setup, I am Wowed again, Z1R indeed scales with the source. I almost felt that it can compete with my Atrium or HE6SE in some sense.

After I bought Z1R, I have demoed most of the TOTL IEMs, and only recently I also demoed for a week the Fir Audio frontier series, including XE6, KR5, and NE4.

IMHO, Z1R is still absolute the TOTL IEM, the preference within TOTL IEMs is purely personal, all the rankings are only for the creator's personal preference.

What Z1R stands together, are majority of the modern IEMs, including XE6, Odyssey, EE EVO, UM Mest Mk2, etc. I would say choosing one of them will not make day and night difference. I know someone will tell me there is a huge difference among those IEMs, but for me, they are warm, bass heavy or with very good bass IEM with TOTL technical performance.

Then there are two other slightly different types of IEMs: reference/treble focused, and colorful Mids focused. The reference/treble focus is like U12t, to slightly less reference such as Ragnar, or even Trailli and Jewel. They are extremely detailed and TOTL in resolution, but the reference tuning, or treble is not my type of IEMs, I tried very hard to demo and understand why people like them, I guess my only conclusion is they need longer time to be appreciated.

The colorful Mids are UM Mason FS, Multiverse Mentor, and probably some VE IEMs (I don't have a good memory of VE IEMs that I demoed, just from others' review. My vague memory was VE IEMs' Mids is not similar, or at the same level of my liking in Mids). I really like those IEMs, but unfortunately, I can't justify pay $4k+ to buy them.

Therefore, for me, I am more and more convinced that there is very few IEMs that I really need to have beyond Z1R.

That's a very insightful analysis that I agree with 100%. Whenever I listen to reference/treble or mids-focused IEMs, I always miss Z1R's bass power, texture and staging. That's down to personal preference, but not a single one of those TOTLs can do what I get from Z1R and I therefore see no point in owning one.

 

[BaltColts]

gLer - I just received the Willow adapter you recommended. I also got another adapter off of Ebay. The Ebay one has a longer stem that fits better into the IER-Z1R's stem. But the adapter rolls around in the shell. This makes it harder to get a good fit with. On the other hand, the Willow adapter stays in the shell better but the stem is shorter. I remember you said that it took some patient fiddling to get the Willow adapter right. I find that I have to push the Willow adapter into the IER-Z1R pretty deep to get a connection. Then, if I move slightly, it loses connection and sound. Can you share what you patiently did to get it to hold? Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[gLer]

gLer - I just received the Willow adapter you recommended. I also got another adapter off of Ebay. The Ebay one has a longer stem that fits better into the IER-Z1R's stem. But the adapter rolls around in the shell. This makes it harder to get a good fit with. On the other hand, the Willow adapter stays in the shell better but the stem is shorter. I remember you said that it took some patient fiddling to get the Willow adapter right. I find that I have to push the Willow adapter into the IER-Z1R pretty deep to get a connection. Then, if I move slightly, it loses connection and sound. Can you share what you patiently did to get it to hold? Thanks for any help you can give.

Hi, I never had any issues getting the Willow adapter to click into the Z1R. The key word there is 'click', push it in until you hear a firm click, then it's in. I got the 45-degree adapter; I'm not sure if the straight adapter works because I never used it, though I can only assume it does. See how you go.

 

[emdeevee]

Hi, I never had any issues getting the Willow adapter to click into the Z1R. The key word there is 'click', push it in until you hear a firm click, then it's in. I got the 45-degree adapter; I'm not sure if the straight adapter works because I never used it, though I can only assume it does. See how you go.

I have to push pretty hard at the right angle to get that click. Get the click.

 

[gLer]

I have to push pretty hard at the right angle to get that click. Get the click.

Yep, indeed. I don't like messing with Z1R connectors too much for fear of damaging them. Once clicked, I suggest you keep them in place and don't touch them. I had slight issues with the fit of my cable + adapters so I've sent the cable to be reterminated with ConX connectors that work well with Z1R but also give me the option of using the cable with 2-pin IEMs in future.

 

[emdeevee]

Yep, indeed. I don't like messing with Z1R connectors too much for fear of damaging them. Once clicked, I suggest you keep them in place and don't touch them. I had slight issues with the fit of my cable + adapters so I've sent the cable to be reterminated with ConX connectors that work well with Z1R but also give me the option of using the cable with 2-pin IEMs in future.

I'm so happy with the stock cable TBH. I have other cables with mmcx that work (and have tried other cables with adapters), but I don't hear any appreciable improvements. And the stock cable is light, flexible and pretty cheap to replace.

 

[psikey]

Anyone know if the newly released Sony NW-A306 is powerful enough to adequately drive the IER-Z1R's? Any other compatibility issues there?

Drives my M9 beatifully so I'd imagine so (uncapped version of NW-A307)

 

[gerelmx1986]

I usually used Z1R with DAPs, but today I am listening at my home with desktop setup, I am Wowed again, Z1R indeed scales with the source. I almost felt that it can compete with my Atrium or HE6SE in some sense.

After I bought Z1R, I have demoed most of the TOTL IEMs, and only recently I also demoed for a week the Fir Audio frontier series, including XE6, KR5, and NE4.

IMHO, Z1R is still absolute the TOTL IEM, the preference within TOTL IEMs is purely personal, all the rankings are only for the creator's personal preference.

What Z1R stands together, are majority of the modern IEMs, including XE6, Odyssey, EE EVO, UM Mest Mk2, etc. I would say choosing one of them will not make day and night difference. I know someone will tell me there is a huge difference among those IEMs, but for me, they are warm, bass heavy or with very good bass IEM with TOTL technical performance.

Then there are two other slightly different types of IEMs: reference/treble focused, and colorful Mids focused. The reference/treble focus is like U12t, to slightly less reference such as Ragnar, or even Trailli and Jewel. They are extremely detailed and TOTL in resolution, but the reference tuning, or treble is not my type of IEMs, I tried very hard to demo and understand why people like them, I guess my only conclusion is they need longer time to be appreciated.

The colorful Mids are UM Mason FS, Multiverse Mentor, and probably some VE IEMs (I don't have a good memory of VE IEMs that I demoed, just from others' review. My vague memory was VE IEMs' Mids is not similar, or at the same level of my liking in Mids). I really like those IEMs, but unfortunately, I can't justify pay $4k+ to buy them.

Therefore, for me, I am more and more convinced that there is very few IEMs that I really need to have beyond Z1R.

I am also impressed worh this the fact they do spund good even from a very underpowered sony DAP. The NW-A25 which has only 10mW of power, sound better on WM1A 2016 in balanced (250mW) and best SQ so far wurh DMP-Z1

 

[Damz87]

Anyone know if the newly released Sony NW-A306 is powerful enough to adequately drive the IER-Z1R's? Any other compatibility issues there?

The previous model A105 drives the Z1R perfectly fine imho, so the new A306 shouldn’t be an issue (as long as you buy an uncapped version)

 

[flvtch]

Just wow!

 

[Yatharth]

Has any ADV sleeve owner noticed better sound quality than stock Sony hybrid silicone rubber tips on their IER-Z1R?

 

[JerryHead]

Drives my M9 beatifully so I'd imagine so (uncapped version of NW-A307)

Considering we’re only using SE with the NW-A306, will I see any improvement using the Z1R over the M9? I owned the Z1R in the past and was bowled over by the performance. But if I’m going to stick with the A306 going forward, which I believe I will, I’d prefer to use the lighter weight and less expensive M9 if I will notice no difference.

 

[psikey]

Considering we’re only using SE with the NW-A306, will I see any improvement using the Z1R over the M9? I owned the Z1R in the past and was bowled over by the performance. But if I’m going to stick with the A306 going forward, which I believe I will, I’d prefer to use the lighter weight and less expensive M9 if I will notice no difference.

My understanding is if you want reference quaility with great mids you go M9 and if a bass head but expect muddier mids then the Z1R. The M9 (or cheaper 4 driver M7) are really easy to wear.

 

[JerryHead]

I see, so the Z1R tends to be more musical, and less reference than the M9, huh?