Hinomotocho
Headphoneus Supremus
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.Just quote @Damz87 :
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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
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Hope it won't ruin your jive with Z5 .
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.