[Hinomotocho]

Just quote @Damz87 :

"
I had both IEM’s together for quite some time until finally selling the Z5’s earlier this year.

Z1R sounds a lot more prominent and detailed basically from the upper mids all the way through to the upper treble. On the other hand the Z5 has more mid and upper bass which can sound a bit bloated in comparison to Z1R and has a tendency to bleed into the midrange, but it also gives the lower mids more body compared to the Z1R’s relatively thin lower mids.

The Z1R has better detail retrieval and has a taller and deeper soundstage, but the Z5 has more stage width. The Z1R’s presentation is generally more three dimensional compared to Z5’s.

The thing that really puts the Z1R in a different league to the Z5 is just how much more clear and defined it’s overall sound is. The Z5 sounds a bit veiled when you listen to it side by side with Z1R. It’s like going from 1080p to 8K on a TV. The Z5 is still a great sounding iem especially for its price, but the Z1R is in a different class
"

Hope it won't ruin your jive with Z5 .

I think he's owned them several times, the second time I owned them I bought from Damz87, I sold those and bought them for a third time late last year.
Sony iems have always hit the sweet spot for me: the EX, the XBA, IER. When the Z5 was the flagship iem and I finally acquired a secondhand one I thought they were the bees knees. I reluctantly sold them after struggling for a solid fit, then eventually clawed my way up to the Z1R.
The Z1R is an excellent iem that exceeds the Z5 technically, but the Z5 when driven adequately is an entirely satisfying iem, and for preference of tuning may be a better choice.

 

[Kashtan]

Tried my collection eartips - acoustune 06, Fiio HS18, Azla xelastec, Final Audio Type E - but bass is go on. Only stock eartips from Z1R gave me low.
Now I'm thinking hard whether to buy the rest of the eartips, which are not cheap, or leave them as is, or take the Sony EP-NI1000

 

[Polky74]

I tried the Spinfit W1 for a while, but when I took the IER-Z1R off they almost stayed in my ears and the bass was no longer as present as with the Final E and so I went back. Now I'm listening to the iems with the Shanling H7 and they seem made for each other... great!

 

[Kuuukko]

You have z1r and didn’t have problems with it in terms of fit? I have heard a lot of people say that these iems have bad fit but with included silicon tips, m size, the comfort was perfect and it sealed (I think). I maybe don’t get perfect seal as these dont have much rumbly sub bass as compared to mid bass, but the comfort was spot on so I didn’t bother tip rolling yet. My ears have good anatomy for these, because they don’t potrude a lot so The 16mm driver housing can fit almost normally without causing discomfort (atleast for couple hours if I remember correctly).

 

[Kuuukko]

Whats your fitting preference between the two and why if I may ask? I have small ears canals so most of my iems fit me poorly because too wide nozzle makes sound get muted weirdly when I move my jaw. That’s why only iem I might be after are Nightjar singularity because i think people have complained its small nozzle so tip rolling has been issue with their fit. sound perfect for me though.

 

[Kuuukko]

Z5 is the only iem ever I could not get a good fit with

First of my 2 replies was for you. (Don’t know if I can edit messages afterwards and @ them at people)

 

[Kuuukko]

Presently listening to my Z5 in preference to my Z1R... This thread may have made my expectations of the Z1R too high. Z5 under promise and over deliver - a good place to be.

Second one of my 2 posts above is directed to you.

 

[Kuuukko]

On my Z5 i use my the custom art tipa and they feel like a globe

Those are like under 100 euros if they are ”the custom universal fit” ones right?? How did sound change compared to original tips and did you get more sub bass and bass extension? How about other sound properties, how did they change? I assume the housing goes a little further from ear when using these silicon tips so discomfort lessens for most?

 

[nc8000]

You have z1r and didn’t have problems with it in terms of fit? I have heard a lot of people say that these iems have bad fit but with included silicon tips, m size, the comfort was perfect and it sealed (I think). I maybe don’t get perfect seal as these dont have much rumbly sub bass as compared to mid bass, but the comfort was spot on so I didn’t bother tip rolling yet. My ears have good anatomy for these, because they don’t potrude a lot so The 16mm driver housing can fit almost normally without causing discomfort (atleast for couple hours if I remember correctly).

No I have no fit problems with the Z1R and can wear them a whole day if needed. Only issue is that I have to use 3rd party tips as none of the Sony stock tips are big enough to get a propper seal as I have huge ear canals, my shells for my custom JH13 are about the same size as the entire Z1R house. My problem with the Z5 was that because of the shape of the house, even with LL tips I could not get it deep enough into the ear canal to get a good fit/seal

 

[MudEnjoyer]

Tried my collection eartips - acoustune 06, Fiio HS18, Azla xelastec, Final Audio Type E - but bass is go on. Only stock eartips from Z1R gave me low.
Now I'm thinking hard whether to buy the rest of the eartips, which are not cheap, or leave them as is, or take the Sony EP-NI1000

I love the Sony foams. But I prefer how the NI1010 sound with the Z1R over the NI1000, and you get to protect against wax. I’d give them a try as they are cheaper than the NI1000 out of the service center.

 

[sanakimpro]

No I have no fit problems with the Z1R and can wear them a whole day if needed. Only issue is that I have to use 3rd party tips as none of the Sony stock tips are big enough to get a propper seal as I have huge ear canals, my shells for my custom JH13 are about the same size as the entire Z1R house. My problem with the Z5 was that because of the shape of the house, even with LL tips I could not get it deep enough into the ear canal to get a good fit/seal

+1 Love my IER-Z1R and no fit issues - used Pentaconn Corier and Final Type E with good success. Subjectively, I hear minor differences with Type E slightly bringing fuller bass and Corier more balanced with slightly better details. But without close A/B, either works for me.. even the stock Sony is good haha.. Guess I'm not really picky or don't have golden ears

 

[fidgeraldo]

+1 Love my IER-Z1R and no fit issues - used Pentaconn Corier and Final Type E with good success.

I have no fit issues as well...actually, Z1R fit perfectly! I tried stock silicon tips, and they were fine, too...
then I took Final's that I got with E5000, and it was an even better seal.

So I left these...perhaps I will try Azla and Penon when I get them...but overall...Z1R sit firmly, and the seal is great. No complaints...

BTW...I have smaller ears...I was really sceptical about whether it was wise to purchase Z1R blindly, but surprisingly, they're perfect.

So, you are not alone.

Joining the club as a happy owner of the best IEMs that exist

Cheers!

 

[DynamicEars]

Mostly owner of the Z1R won't have problem because they have time to ear tips rolling and find the best position with the fit while people that only "demo" them in store or from friend's couldn't find the great fit in an instant, they just "too early to give up" and leave the impression with bad fit.

 

[Polky74]

After years of using the Final E tips, in addition to a small parenthesis with the Spinfit W1 which however do not fix well on the nozzle, thanks to your discussion, I wanted to try other tips. I started with the Azla Sedna Eartips short thinking that being shorter would help the IER-Z1R fit deeper and that was the case. But by bringing the iem so close to the ear canals I found greater confusion of the frequencies and a considerably lower amount of bass than those developed with the Final E, so I switched to the Azla Sedna Earfit standard. Indeed, even with these the bass is less prominent than with the Final E, but there is no longer the overlapping of frequencies that instead occurred with the shorts. Unlike the Final E, the mids came out in an incredible way and the bass, although smaller in quantity, became much drier and more focused thanks to the length of the tip. The iem loses a bit of its presence in the bass, but acquires a perfect (for me) balance. I must say that if it hadn't been talked about here lately, I would never have tried to replace the Final E, and instead in my opinion it should have been done because the gain in cleanliness, presence and definition of the mids that I had with the Azla Sedna Earfit repays the small lack of bass quantity. In the end, the IER-Z1R remains an extraordinary iem after years and its price, which a few years ago made it almost unattainable, today, given how things have turned out, makes it one of the iems with an excellent price/performance ratio. On the one hand this means that when a project is excellent it remains so over time and on the other hand it also means that sometimes looking for the latest IEM released on the market accompanied by an immense and most of the time unjustified hype is absolutely and necessarily not an excellent choice to make. (personal opinion)

 

[gerelmx1986]

I will never remove the foam from the body. I did that with my first set of Z5 and i ruined tgem. As moisture abs debris got inside