haha I don't own them(they're my dream iem), but I audition them extensively. So I can give you some ideas based on my demo section. JE and the Z1R are really different sound signature iems and great sounding in their own ways. Basically, I will say JE sound more natural and have a more 'monitor like' sound, even the 'club sound' version JE have really well-controlled bass, the strength is coherent and smoothness here, it's that kind of iem that won't impress you at the first glance, but when you listen to it in long period you will find it an all-rounder and really comfortable sound. Also, the JE is much easier to drive than the Z1R. The Z1R is the more musical one with punchier, more dynamic and exciting sound, the soundstage is far superior and treble extend better than the JE, which can immediately impress you technicalities wise.
Thanks for the reply, I'm considering the Z1R or JE, but after testing the Z1R a few days ago, I have decided with the JE, somehow the Z1R won't stay in my ears, the ear hook doesn't help as well.
Serial # 124 checking in. Listened to two pair out of a 1Z. One pair fresh and one pair with 200 hours. True that burn-in would have to be big deal here!
Used 3.5mm single ended with 200 hour pair and 4.4 mm 5 pole Pentaconn with the fresh pair. Settings on the DAP Firmware 2.0 and direct. I use Sony Hybrid tips in “L” for basically everything and use them here. The two included cables were used.
Purchased my pair blind without a demo of any kind. I simply somehow knew I’d like them. Paid $1758.00 OTD.
They ARE hard to drive to be their best, but still do amazingly fine from a phone.
Fit was totally perfect, they are way smaller than in the pictures. Air-tight fit was easy. Nice natural soundstage with a soft and laid back texture that still provided any dynamics the music went to. They were not quite as midcentric with guitars on my metal recordings where a upfront mix makes things a little more entertaining. With that said they actually complement the Noble Encore in that regard. I played a range of music and found they were easy to listen to with everything.
They come off as one of, or even THE VERY BEST IEMs I’ve ever heard and even better after 200 hours.Your gas mileage may be different. Lol
They really do all genres amazingly well. Just a polite and carefully painted response, refined and accurate. EDM was a little warm and slighly smoothed out, which I like. Still everything was in it’s place like listening to really nice speakers in a room with nothing amiss. Probably get more review for them later with the TA desktop?
I have no comparisons sorry. Bigger and more robust sounding than the Z5. For what it’s worth, the IER-Z1R comes off a worthy successor to their IEM flagships. They are moving down the road with the new Sony house sound adding maturity and improvements. IMO Still the house sound is there in a slightly refined and expanded soundstage way?
Had the Noble Khan right in front of me but didn’t give it a try, never heard the Solaris. No strange high treble or alien buzzing here in this part of town?
In ending burn-in is huge! If you don’t believe......I don’t know, you may find out?
I’m pretty happy I waited and waited and didn’t buy anything else. My genres of choice are classic rock, electro, OSTs and metal.
Loved the EX1000. I think these can take up the mantle of Sony universal IEM flagship: great resolution + great soundstage + natural presentation. They still use DD for bass so they retain that punch BA lacks.
Loved the EX1000. I think these can take up the mantle of Sony universal IEM flagship: great resolution + great soundstage + natural presentation. They still use DD for bass so they retain that punch BA lacks.
Actually I’ve never heard that IEM. Is that really the past flagship or the Z5? I have always read about the EX1000 and almost think I know how it sounds but have not listened to it. To do some comparisons, and remember I have not spent a ton of time with the IER-Z1R, so take everything I say with a dash of salt. The N8 by 64 Audio is a CIEM but they have store universal demos. N8 has this analog style bass, goes low has some mids and upper sparkle. IER-Z1R has slightly less bass impact but comes off still super fun and natural with bass heavy music, it’s polite with it like it’s just doing it right. Everything is more cohesive so the comparison comes off less intense. This same comparison goes for the IER-Z1R in direct comparison to the Atlas........way less intense. Lol
The IER-Z1R is more Clint Eastwood, where the N8 and Atlas is Arnold Schwarzenegger, as far as bass goes.
I haven’t heard the VX but did listen to the whole qdc upper line that ran before it and slighly underneath it. In. In comparison the soundstage is simply bigger with way-way more space between musical information.
It’s that deepness and widespread details. Where I have not heard the qdc VX but the rest of the line has midrange details close together which has it’s own sound. The IER-Z1R has an open area in where those mids would normally be which by default has the ability of creating an insanely open soundstage. Also with that lack of congestion we end up with more finite imaging.
The Noble Encore has those mids striving for closer neutrality than the IER-Z1R but also expands the mids out wide and front and back to create a big soundstage. Both the Encore and IER-Z1R have enormous soundstages but the IER-Z1R has a more natural bass response with slower decay. And I’m pretty sure the IER-Z1R has a bigger soundstage than the Noble Encore. The balance of everything together is probably the nicest thing I’m noticing. Just how stuff is so organic you forget you listening to IEMs and just get into the music at hand. Also “just in my opinon” the IER-Z1R is missing a slight bit of harmonic “buzz” you just get with 5-10-20 arrays of BAs. It’s slighly set back in how it approaches the mids and highs which in the end comes off as an endearing quality. It’s where the refinement and warmness comes from. But......it’s also very smooth maybe because of that character. Just smooth not missing anything with everything in place. I don’t listen to a bunch of intimate female vocals so I can’t comment on it’s ability. But for my genres it does it all.
The IER-Z1R gets it’s fit when it fits by the lower small flange blending into that same section on your lower ear. Other than that I haven’t figured out why they fit so good. They feel way less heavy in your ear than they are, maybe because of weight balance?
Still I can’t figure out how others have described the treble? I read that the EX1000 has a spicky treble? But here the IER-Z1R does treble just right. It gets it’s detail in the treble due to firm imaging and spatial soundstage abilities. Add the nonchalant way it does it and your almost brought to tears. The charm here is that nothing is forced, it just comes off with this crazy ease and finesse? IMO........ Cheers!
I had the JVC SZ2000 for some time. I was not overly impressed with the overall result of a good idea. And the built quality was off even for that price point. No, I will stick to the Sony camp.
Actually I’ve never heard that IEM. Is that really the past flagship or the Z5? I have always read about the EX1000 and almost think I know how it sounds but have not listened to it. To do some comparisons, and remember I have not spent a ton of time with the IER-Z1R, so take everything I say with a dash of salt. The N8 by 64 Audio is a CIEM but they have store universal demos. N8 has this analog style bass, goes low has some mids and upper sparkle. IER-Z1R has slightly less bass impact but comes off still super fun and natural with bass heavy music, it’s polite with it like it’s just doing it right. Everything is more cohesive so the comparison comes off less intense. This same comparison goes for the IER-Z1R in direct comparison to the Atlas........way less intense. Lol
The IER-Z1R is more Clint Eastwood, where the N8 and Atlas is Arnold Schwarzenegger, as far as bass goes.
I haven’t heard the VX but did listen to the whole qdc upper line that ran before it and slighly underneath it. In. In comparison the soundstage is simply bigger with way-way more space between musical information.
It’s that deepness and widespread details. Where I have not heard the qdc VX but the rest of the line has midrange details close together which has it’s own sound. The IER-Z1R has an open area in where those mids would normally be which by default has the ability of creating an insanely open soundstage. Also with that lack of congestion we end up with more finite imaging.
The Noble Encore has those mids striving for closer neutrality than the IER-Z1R but also expands the mids out wide and front and back to create a big soundstage. Both the Encore and IER-Z1R have enormous soundstages but the IER-Z1R has a more natural bass response with slower decay. The balance of everything together is probably the nicest thing I’m noticing. Just how stuff is so organic you forget you listening to IEMs and just get into the music at hand. Also “just in my opinon” the IER-Z1R is missing a slight bit of harmonic “buzz” you just get with BAs. It’s slighly set back in how it approaches the mids and highs which in the end comes off as an endearing quality. It’s where the refinement and warmness comes from. But......it’s also very smooth maybe because of that character. Just smooth not missing anything with everything in place. I don’t listen to a bunch of intimate female vocals so I can’t comment on it’s ability. But for my genres it does it all.
The IER-Z1R gets it’s fit when it fits by the lower small flange blending into that same section on your lower ear. Other than that I haven’t figured out why they fit so good. They feel way less heavy in your ear than they are, maybe because of weight balance?
Still I can’t figure out how others have described the treble? I read that the EX1000 has a spicky treble? But here the IER-Z1R does treble just right. It gets it’s detail in the treble due to firm imaging and spatial soundstage abilities. Add the nonchalant way it does it and your almost brought to tears. The charm here is that nothing is forced, it just comes off with this crazy ease and finesse? IMO........ Cheers!
Also, EX1000 has one of the worst fit ever in IEMs, Z1R is miles ahead. But it might still be awkward depending on how big your ear tracts are. It fits sort of like IER-M9 but with bits protruding out.
And it’s maybe the fit that has an effect on how people describe the midrange and treble. Meaning if the IEM fits correctly for the person and makes an airtight fit, stays in place and does what it can for it’s build to block outside noise, it results in a chance to be well and good. But what may happen if you don’t get the best fit, it’s causing the low end to be missing causing the treble to seem more pronounced. Remember too, this IEM sounds better with power, still it’s no slouch being driven by a phone. So it’s not one of those losing a bunch of bass due to low amp power, effecting the treble. I would guess people may not be using the right tips, or getting the best fit? Because when you get the fit, it stays in and the sound is obviously the best it can be. Remember too the Sony Hybrid Tips I use are actually very gummy and floppy.......and it still stays in place. Folks may want to experiment with the included Triple Comfort Tips which are included with a new expanded sizing choice. I’m not actually sure how much of this IEM is being held in my ears by the tip? It may be resting on the lower ear lobe and have balance due to being kept in place by the tip; and of course the over ear guides. It’s not ever one of those situations where you feel you have the weight of a 9 volt battery on your ear. It’s never like “Gosh, these are heavy, I’m glade that over-ear guide is there”
It’s more like, “Wow...these are low weight and don’t even move out of place?” “They simply sit there. I thought they would feel way more heavy in my ears?”
I would not go jogging with these. They are not like that.
Sadly fitment is totally different on every person, though I feel some designs are smarter, more likely to fit more people and are maybe just good due to luck or random happenstance?
I had the JVC SZ2000 for some time. I was not overly impressed with the overall result of a good idea. And the built quality was off even for that price point. No, I will stick to the Sony camp.
Well everybody can have its own appreciation there, not sure it's fair to compare a 200$ headphone to a 1500$ flagship IEM. To me the natural heir to the EX1000 is the JVC and I can vouch that the FW10000 has top notch build up to par with the best and the tuning is close to the EX1000 and more refined IMHO.
The IER-Z1R is built like a tank for sure but seems to have a *very* different tuning from the EX1000 so there is that...
Same here, I even fell hard once while running downhill with them on, I hurt terribly, my glasses flew into the ground, but the EX1000 did not move a bit, lol, for me they could not fit any better. I went home bleeding, but the music was still fantastic....The player was the Sony NWZ-A15 a nice and light player, extremely good for sports.
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