[dennarwhal]

After a hiatus of posting, admittedly due to life and other stuffs, I am back with my latest purchase.

Couldn't help but pick one of these up before supply of them completely dried up

 

[F700]

After a hiatus of posting, admittedly due to life and other stuffs, I am back with my latest purchase.

Couldn't help but pick one of these up before supply of them completely dried up

Sold mine a few months ago because of its overly warm/veiled signature with the IEMs I am listening too, but that’s a great cable actually, provided it brings the required contribution in one’s preferred synergy

 

[Hinomotocho]

After a hiatus of posting, admittedly due to life and other stuffs, I am back with my latest purchase.

Couldn't help but pick one of these up before supply of them completely dried up

Pre-IER-Z1R the XBA-Z5 w/Kimber cable and 1A/1Z was the holy trinity. When I bought my Z1R I was almost relieved to hear that the stock cable was recommended and I didn't have to spend more for an upgrade cable for it to improve the sound like the Z5.
I love the look of the Kimber and looked into it anyway but there seemed to be quite a few posts where members didn't find it to be a good pairing. I don't want to put you off it and would be keen to hear your experience and opinion.

 

[wolfstar76]

Pre-IER-Z1R the XBA-Z5 w/Kimber cable and 1A/1Z was the holy trinity. When I bought my Z1R I was almost relieved to hear that the stock cable was recommended and I didn't have to spend more for an upgrade cable for it to improve the sound like the Z5.
I love the look of the Kimber and looked into it anyway but there seemed to be quite a few posts where members didn't find it to be a good pairing. I don't want to put you off it and would be keen to hear your experience and opinion.

Is Kimber cable the stock cable comes with Z1R? The cable is horrible, and I may end up spending another several hundreds to upgrade it. I don't complain the sound quality, it is the cable design, especially the hook that supposed to go around your ears. Eventually the horrible fitting of Z1R mostly is coming from the cable. The hook won't stay around my ears and will gradually slide out of my ears and drag the Z1R with it. I already bought Luna Amber cable, it slightly improves the situation and to my ears Amber cable sounds slightly thin and not as good as the stock. My next upgrade could be Plussound X8 copper, which is $400+ after tax for me and I am not sure if X8 works or not.

 

[jacknit]

has anybody heard any rumors about a ier-z1r sucessor after it got discontinued in some countries?
i looked around and didn't found any information, but imagined that the release of the Sony NW-WM1ZM2 maybe is a indication of a new gen for the hole signature series..

 

[Hinomotocho]

Is Kimber cable the stock cable comes with Z1R? The cable is horrible, and I may end up spending another several hundreds to upgrade it. I don't complain the sound quality, it is the cable design, especially the hook that supposed to go around your ears. Eventually the horrible fitting of Z1R mostly is coming from the cable. The hook won't stay around my ears and will gradually slide out of my ears and drag the Z1R with it. I already bought Luna Amber cable, it slightly improves the situation and to my ears Amber cable sounds slightly thin and not as good as the stock. My next upgrade could be Plussound X8 copper, which is $400+ after tax for me and I am not sure if X8 works or not.

The Kimber was a Sony upgrade cable for the XBA range like the Z5, N3 etc made with copper, as seen in the post above by dennarwharl.
I'm lucky enough to have a reasonably solid fit so the stock cable is mostly fine, my only issue is when I clip it high on my shirt to prevent snagging it when I move around doing things the cable loses the weight factor and seems to get pushed up causing the earhooks to move and disturb the fit. I don't like the general handling of the cable and would mostly like to change cable for that reason, also something that looks a bit sexier.
Mine were secondhand so I don't know the MMCX swap history if any, and as they are not able to be repaired I am playing it safe for now with the stock cable. I'd prefer a custom one that specifically caters for the IER-Z1R connectors but I'm am unsure of whether silver, copper or blend would be best. I don't want to spend mega bucks.
Cable's characteristics can subtly enhance an iem or take away from it which makes it a tricky blind purchase. Having followed various threads for several threads I have found my experiences to be aligned with some other members so I may be able to make a choice based on others experiences. I'll most likely wait until the cable wears out, or if I can get back to Japan to demo some.

 

[F700]

Is Kimber cable the stock cable comes with Z1R? The cable is horrible, and I may end up spending another several hundreds to upgrade it. I don't complain the sound quality, it is the cable design, especially the hook that supposed to go around your ears. Eventually the horrible fitting of Z1R mostly is coming from the cable. The hook won't stay around my ears and will gradually slide out of my ears and drag the Z1R with it. I already bought Luna Amber cable, it slightly improves the situation and to my ears Amber cable sounds slightly thin and not as good as the stock. My next upgrade could be Plussound X8 copper, which is $400+ after tax for me and I am not sure if X8 works or not.

Absolutely backing this. I ended up with Plussound X6 Copper and it’s night and day in terms of comfort. Sound wise, there might be a slight improvement in the mids section, but nothing that we can call a transformation. I highly recommend Plussound cables for the Z1R.

With a good seal and firm fit the Z1R deploy all the awesomeness they are known for.

 

[dennarwhal]

Sold mine a few months ago because of its overly warm/veiled signature with the IEMs I am listening too, but that’s a great cable actually, provided it brings the required contribution in one’s preferred synergy

For me, I wanted to get the cable cos of the desire to have an all Sony listening experience. From the WM1Z to the the Sony Kimber Kable to the IER-Z1R, it just feels very satisfying.

I love the look of the Kimber and looked into it anyway but there seemed to be quite a few posts where members didn't find it to be a good pairing. I don't want to put you off it and would be keen to hear your experience and opinion.

As for the audible experience, I frankly was hard pressed to hear any differences between it and my current custom 16 core pure silver cable. If anything, it was a more comfortable experience since it was way lighter.

Also, when you see that shiny bronze-ish "KIMBER KABLE" logo, it makes it all worth it. The cable just feels classy and even if its audible performance is nothing special, the chance to own it is something I was not willing to pass up.

 

[nc8000]

I had the Sony Kimber cable as it came with a second hand Z5 and I tried it with the Z1R when I first got them but did not like it neither sonically nor ergonomically. I find the stock cable to be one of the best stock cables on any iem I’ve tried and owned both sonically and ergonomically, but I do prefer the all silver Dunu Blanche that I’ve now used with the Z1R for a couple of years

 

[r00t61]

(1) Is the bass on the Z1R as good as my trusty old Z5? My one disappointment with the IER-M9 was that BA bass just could not hold a candle to the whompage - yes, that is a audio technical term - of 16mm DD bass

(2) Now that the Z1R has been out for several years, is the next generation about to come out? Is it worth waiting for that instead?

 

[nc8000]

(1) Is the bass on the Z1R as good as my trusty old Z5? My one disappointment with the IER-M9 was that BA bass just could not hold a candle to the whompage - yes, that is a audio technical term - of 16mm DD bass

(2) Now that the Z1R has been out for several years, is the next generation about to come out? Is it worth waiting for that instead?

I think on pure whompage the Z5 is probably still better but to me the Z1R is overall a much better iem.

There is as far as I’m aware not even rumors of a replacement

 

[Hinomotocho]

(1) Is the bass on the Z1R as good as my trusty old Z5? My one disappointment with the IER-M9 was that BA bass just could not hold a candle to the whompage - yes, that is a audio technical term - of 16mm DD bass

(2) Now that the Z1R has been out for several years, is the next generation about to come out? Is it worth waiting for that instead?

I had the same experience demoing the M9.
The Z1R has excellent bass quantity and quality but as it has better treble extension than the Z5 the bass it may not seem as obvious at times.

 

[Sp12er3]

For me IMO My XBA A3/Z5 is still the better movie watching IEM due to its sheer bass quantity.

 

[DynamicEars]

Z5 bass is big, and more mid bass focus, from my wrecked set that i received (I post it on Z5 thread), turns out that the Z5 bass is backed up by 2 driver at the same time :
the 16mm DD bass that similar with Ex1000 and surprisingly they tuned just the same with EX1000 too, the boosted bass of Z5 is handled by other driver which is full range BA, that responsible to take from 20hz until high mids area ( I measure it with coupler on Z5 thread with the right unit having full range BA died).

so Z5 have good control of BA bass on mid and upper bass, but have air push from 16mm but the quantity isnt as boosted.

On Z1R the 12mm DD is reponsible for low, so big punch is actually from full DD, the driver is great, tight, punchy, can reach really low with very great texture here. I like the Z1R bass presentation more because of more sub bass focus with better bass shelf that suits my preferences, listening Z1R on loud volume is really astonishing, mids more forward, and bass really impactful, with 1 more caveat, the lower treble intense (6khz area) even though they are not harsh.

Oh, and 1 more thing, the BA on Z1R is new developed BA, that more toward open BA with holes which sound more natural to me, similar technology with TIA BA driver from 64audio, while Z5 still using traditional shape BA.

 

[Yatharth]

This combo sounds amazing → Hugo 2 + iPhone + IER-Z1R (using JVC Spiral dot ++ tips)