Sony MDR-1000X

[martinhdk]

Jumped the gun on this headset yesterday.
So here are my initial impressions.
 
Note: I've only tested with BT (AAC) and cable on an iPhone 6 Plus so far.
I am sure that MUCH better results could be achieved with better source/amp.
Så you may need to take my specific music observations with a grain of salt
 
The creak:
OK. Since this has been a major subject in this thread, let's get it out of the way from the start.
I experience none of the creak and squeak from the hinges or joints whatsoever - absolutely solid assembly.
What I do hear is a headphone somewhat prone to "Cabinet noise/microphonics" from the plastic ear cups - which seems perfectly natural to me.
Another issue that I initially mistook for the infamous "creak", was a squeaking sound that seemed to follow my every move.
Turned out to be the "leather" padding on the earcups rubbing against the stents of my glasses - feel free to laugh
Sennheiser and Bose have avoided this issue through the use of other materials on the cup.
Definitely not a big issue for me though - and seems to away when the cups "settle".
 
General character:
Not at all an in-your-face character. But rather a bit dialed back.
Natural, smooth, extended sound.
Reasonable detail despite rounded top.
Subjectively I might have preferred a bit more "Loudness" factor and attack for on-the-go listening.
But this is easier to obtain by EQ than toning down an overly enthusiastic headphone

Bass:
Agreed this is not at all a bass heavy headphone.
But the sonic balance seems (to me) more of a deliberate choice of "sound tuning" from Sony, rather than the drivers not being able to deliver.
When properly asked, it is definitely capable of tight, controlled bass.
 
Noise Cancellation:
Very good at filtering out engine noise and steady rumble from car.
Voices or soft snap of fingers go right through though.
Slight soft whoosh background noise - as opposed to rather sharp, stressful hiss from previous Parrot Zik 2.0.
Not sure if it's better than competition, but the character of the NC brings a sense of calm and ease
As good as it is with steady noise, the NC does seem to be overly eager or sensitive when compensating for sudden changes in noise - for example bumps or varying rumble.
Others have experienced this when walking or in a train with changing pressure and doors opening/closing
 
Music "tested":
Agnes Obel
 - Smooth and calm presentation with NC allows the proper sense of ease for this song.
Dave Matthews
 - A bit more sharpness to drums and crispness to acoustic guitars would have been desirable.
Deftones
 - Again, a bit more attack would have been nice. But nice vivid presentation.
De-Phazz
 - Bring out the smooth, warm character of this Electro-Jazz.
Jennifer Warnes
 - Good imaging and great bass extension on "way down deep".
Massive Attack
 - Mostly tested for the bass. Came through with flying colours.
Niels Lofgren (live)
 - Good ambience and crispness to guitar her.
Tool
 - Nice control and separation on the drums and bass.
 
Overall:
Very satisfied with the headset - although I still feel that the price is a bit high.

 

[stookpuk]

I received today the replacement. I have been using them for an hour, no creaking noises so far! I would be more than happy if it stays that way I really do like them. In an open office they are quite indispensable.
 
 
For those try to find any pattern in creaking issue, these are grey, used 100% indoors, I don't wear glasses, temperature mostly above 20C (if that matters). The P/D of the replacement is the same as on previous : 10 2016.

 

[davidmthekidd]

My xperia x performance consumes 17% of the battery for a full day of use with Ldac on, totally worth it, never tried ldac on sony Walkman. But, ldac puts APT-X to shame, best thing if you don't use wire. Like I said before, no creaking on my 1000x.

I did that when I owned the headphones for a couple of days (returned it because of the plastic creaking issue)
Overall it's the best sound quality I've heard over bluetooth (although not as good as wired from my NW-ZX2 but close, it is definitely better than apt-x), that said LDAC isn't that good in the long run because it's an awful battery hog, not to the headphones but the DAP itself. To give you an idea, after about an hour playback the ZX2 battery (which lasts about 20hrs playing FLAC or DSD wired) dropped to half its charge, in less than 2 hours my battery went from 100% to 5%, it's that bad. This doesn't make it very portable except for short trips, commuter uses or whatnot, you definitely want to keep your cable around for longer listening sessions.

I have a very hard time imagining people using LDAC with their Xperia cell phones as listening sources considering those even have less battery capacity than the NW-ZX2 DAP (or most other LDAC compatible high end walkman), their batteries would be flat in a matter of minutes.
I am guessing Sony engineers looked at sound quality over everything else including battery consumption when designing the LDAC protocol/specifications.

 

[Jim Bobber]

Just returned for a refund, as I've already posted, mine had a knocking noise in the left ear cup with the slightest movement. They (Sony store) opened a new one, same issue!! Not as bad as they were new, but it took a day or so to kick in on my first pair so was not prepared to take them! Such a shame. I think they are just to delicate and Sony's QC is obviously poor! Had the Sony's for a week and the Bose for a couple of months. Impressions below:

Noise cancelling........ so similar, the Sony's may just pip the Bose, but it's so close that I would not base a decision on this factor, I did get some odd pressure sensations from the Sony's that I never got from the Bose, but using the recalibration option on the Sony's resolved it.

Sound, I have a SONY hires player with LDAC, using LDAC was a real improvement over standard bluetooth. But I'd say that was about it for my ears. I don't have great ears, but they both sounded very similar Wireless with no LDAC. With LDAC the Sony's win!! When wired however not much difference at all. had burned them both in as well. The Bose sounded so much better after a week or so. Bizarrely to me, I don't know the Sony's got better. I almost swear they lost some base, but I can't say I tested this I.e. Wired vs Wireless. I did like he Bose and on both of them had to turn up the mids and high end on the Sony's EQ

Comfort. Here the Bose are clear winners, Sony's are not uncomfortable for an hour or 2, but beyond that my ear felt pain. The Bose could be on for much longer.

Features and stuff. I actually prefer the Bose, they just work!! Connections to 2 devices was a breeze, and call quality was not even close on the Sony's to the Bose, so if that's a factor the Bose smash the Sony's!! Also I could not get used to the tap to
pause on the Sony's, just to difficult to find the exact spot. The Bose buttons had great feed back and worked exactly as intended every time. I could connect the Sony's to 2 devices, but it was haphazard. It often did not connect straight away to my Sony player!!

To sum up, it was the LDAC feature I got the Sony's for, had the build quality been better, I would have likely kept them, the sound on my flac collection sounded better with LDAC streaming, but when the Bose were on a wired connection this difference disappeared........ still a little mixed, but all up until Sony fix this stuff (MDR 1000x MK II anyone) then I'd go for the Bose.

For the record I have a pair of the oppo ha3's as well, not suprisingly they beat both!

Still waiting for the perfect NC, wireless headphones!!

 

[beowulf]

Also I could not get used to the tap to pause on the Sony's, just to difficult to find the exact spot.

 
I was finding your comments on the Bose quite interesting, but this one kinda ruined it for me. If there's something I like on the 1000X is how easy it is to use the touch panel. Saw some professional reviewers complain about it but that had to be impatience. I'm definitely not the biggest 1KX (let's call them that for laziness) fan, in fact I think I was the first or one of the first to complain about the squeaky frame, I like them a lot, but it's not a 10/10 for me..
 
Yet, the touch panel is just great. Without that functionality I would have probably returned them already, not that the rest is bad, but the offering would be weakened for the price.
 
I've scaled and gutted a big-ass fish listening to an audiobook with them and still had no trouble double tapping the cups with the clean back of my hand. A fast Tap-Tap >  pause - that easy. With a single finger, it's super easy, there's no need to even point. Volume? Just touch the bottom or top and slide down without releasing. Never fails. I've tried all commands and they're so easy to work out and get right almost 100% of the time even while doing stuff... once you get the hang of it. First hour might be weird.
 
The problem I can see happening with the panel is the same that get the Sennheiser PXC 550 so many bad reviews - it might be too easy to trigger it. So if you're wearing a hoodie while commuting or banging your head on the side of the airplane seat while half asleep, or on the couch, etc, it will trigger a function. Sometimes it feels as if it requires no conductivity, only pressure.
 
Anyway, there's no way it will be easier or cleaner to pause on the Bose while scaling a fish.

 
 
It would be almost 10/10 indeed, but that frame assembly... I had them on tonight for some time (again, while cooking, oops). NC was off, house was totally silent, it was just because of the wireless.... When I was done I just sat down by my desk , placed them on the headphone stand and grabbed the Z1R and the immediate feeling of peace and quiet was just so amazing. Move all you want, no sound.
 
And that quietness was not from NC or isolation, it was just the absolute flat silence of having no structural noises, no squeaking, no microphonics, nothing.
 
And no, the price differences do not justify it. At 400 EUR MSRP, hmm, one can't have even the slightest squeaks.

 

[beowulf]

Alright, for those who missed it, here's the video with the guy reviewing the 1000X with a microphone inside the cups. I linked it to start at a point where the noise starts being more obvious. Follow from there and pay no attention to the review itself as that is not relevant in this case, but just listen to the sound when he has them on and moves.
 
You will notice little noises that sound almost like static. It's just plastic squeaks. The noise his microphone captures is exactly the sounds I hear with pressure on the structure. By "pressure" I include something as simple as clenching your jaws, speaking, smiling, turning your head. You hear the structure as if under pressure and about to crack. I actually don't recall ever hearing closed headphones sound like this while moving, even at $100 like the XPT100, which as some know, I'd gladly kill in a fire and think are $75 more expensive than they're worth.
 
That's the 1000X noise. Some might not have it, but others do. And it's annoying... For the price...
If you can't hear it in the video, than I'm not surprised you can't hear it while wearing them.

 
 
Give it a listen.
 
 
edit: Just heard it again. I guess just the beginning is enough. When he forces the "WHOAA That's crazy!" his facial muscles are enough to make a lot of squeaking. That's what I hear when moving around. Fellow squeakers, do you get the same?

 

[GermanguyUS]

Alright, for those who missed it, here's the video with the guy reviewing the 1000X with a microphone inside the cups. I linked it to start at a point where the noise starts being more obvious. Follow from there and pay no attention to the review itself as that is not relevant in this case, but just listen to the sound when he has them on and moves.
 
You will notice little noises that sound almost like static. It's just plastic squeaks. The noise his microphone captures is exactly the sounds I hear with pressure on the structure. By "pressure" I include something as simple as clenching your jaws, speaking, smiling, turning your head. You hear the structure as if under pressure and about to crack. I actually don't recall ever hearing closed headphones sound like this while moving, even at $100 like the XPT100, which as some know, I'd gladly kill in a fire and think are $75 more expensive than they're worth.
 
That's the 1000X noise. Some might not have it, but others do. And it's annoying... For the price...
If you can't hear it in the video, than I'm not surprised you can't hear it while wearing them.

 
 
Give it a listen.
 
 
edit: Just heard it again. I guess just the beginning is enough. When he forces the "WHOAA That's crazy!" his facial muscles are enough to make a lot of squeaking. That's what I hear when moving around. Fellow squeakers, do you get the same?

Yes. I can hear it too. Does not bother me enough though to consider returning then.

 

[Jim Bobber]

I was finding your comments on the Bose quite interesting, but this one kinda ruined it for me. If there's something I like on the 1000X is how easy it is to use the touch panel. Saw some professional reviewers complain about it but that had to be impatience. I'm definitely not the biggest 1KX (let's call them that for laziness) fan, in fact I think I was the first or one of the first to complain about the squeaky frame, I like them a lot, but it's not a 10/10 for me..

Yet, the touch panel is just great. Without that functionality I would have probably returned them already, not that the rest is bad, but the offering would be weakened for the price.

I've scaled and gutted a big-ass fish listening to an audiobook with them and still had no trouble double tapping the cups with the clean back of my hand. A fast Tap-Tap >  pause - that easy. With a single finger, it's super easy, there's no need to even point. Volume? Just touch the bottom or top and slide down without releasing. Never fails. I've tried all commands and they're so easy to work out and get right almost 100% of the time even while doing stuff... once you get the hang of it. First hour might be weird.

The problem I can see happening with the panel is the same that get the Sennheiser PXC 550 so many bad reviews - it might be too easy to trigger it. So if you're wearing a hoodie while commuting or banging your head on the side of the airplane seat while half asleep, or on the couch, etc, it will trigger a function. Sometimes it feels as if it requires no conductivity, only pressure.

Anyway, there's no way it will be easier or cleaner to pause on the Bose while scaling a fish.  

It would be almost 10/10 indeed, but that frame assembly... I had them on tonight for some time (again, while cooking, oops). NC was off, house was totally silent, it was just because of the wireless.... When I was done I just sat down by my desk , placed them on the headphone stand and grabbed the Z1R and the immediate feeling of peace and quiet was just so amazing. Move all you want, no sound.

And that quietness was not from NC or isolation, it was just the absolute flat silence of having no structural noises, no squeaking, no microphonics, nothing.

And no, the price differences do not justify it. At 400 EUR MSRP, hmm, one can't have even the slightest squeaks.

I guess it works for some, volume and skipping tracks was easy enough, but nope, pausing for me was a pain, and tap to hard and boy you can hear it in your ear, I always ended up sort of putting my whole hand around the ear cup so I could then figure out the centre so I could then tap the middle. But yep if you're got it then yes easier to pause whilst scaling a fish than pressing the button on the Bose. For all the lucky ones out there that don't have a creaking or in my case left ear cup that seems like it has a loose part in it. Then good on you. I really wanted the second pair to be fine, alas, was not to be!!

 

[Graham Baker]

   
That's the 1000X noise. Some might not have it, but others do. And it's annoying... For the price...
If you can't hear it in the video, than I'm not surprised you can't hear it while wearing them.

 
 
Give it a listen.
 
 
edit: Just heard it again. I guess just the beginning is enough. When he forces the "WHOAA That's crazy!" his facial muscles are enough to make a lot of squeaking. That's what I hear when moving around. Fellow squeakers, do you get the same?

 
It's very very obvious to me - there's a clicking/knocking noise all the time he talks, just from his jaw movement...
No way could I put up with that, it would drive me crazy...
Surely it's easily fixed though? Some dry lube on the joints?
So now I need to check out the Senn 550's - the Sony's are NOT for me...

 

[Chris Aubeck]

That's the 1000X noise. Some might not have it, but others do. And it's annoying... For the price...
If you can't hear it in the video, than I'm not surprised you can't hear it while wearing them.  

I can hear it on the video but not in real life. If I had that issue, I'd return them.

 

[ledzep]

Are the pads replaceable ?

 

[jagu]

I've read this thread with great interest. I decided to try the 1000X's and the Senn 550's and I could A/B test them. No creaking sound on the Sony's, 550's more comfortable, ANC somewhat better on the Sony's. I I preferred the Senns sound signature which to me was more natural sounding. So my money goes to the Senns! I've also tested the QC35' s and the Sony's are better. Now, just hope that Black Friday will have good offers for all of us!

 

[Yappadappadu]

Bought the 1000X when I saw them for a good price (impulse buy), but still have to remove the shrinkwrap.
Was looking for a nicer looking and foldable replacement for my (bass heavy) Plantronics Backbeats Pro.

I read a amazon review that complained about the LED lights blinking when the Sony headphones are turned on. I don't want to look like an idiot walking down the street at night, so how noticeable/annoying are the lights? Any way to turn them off?

 

[Dreadbear]

Hello There,
 
I tested briefly all the Sony wireless top bluetooth headphones (the european versions), i tought they would be a perfect match for a NW-A25.
 
In all the 3 models; 1) MDR-1ABT , 2) MDR-100ABN and yesterday i tried the 3) MDR-1000X.
 
I was dissapointed in all models with the maximum volume output, it is DAMN LOW, via the bluetooth connection in all the 3 models it is the same...yesterday i tried the MDR-1000X with the cable in, and it shined complety, it complety satisfied me, making my FLACs sound amazing trought the NW-A25, but as i said it was a CABLE connection.
 
So if anybody has both of this products i would like to have their toughts and fellings about the pair of these two. For me it seems that the one at fault is the NW-A25 bluetooth connection, which is pretty ****ty... And i have an asian version of A25, and when i jog the volume is always around level 20 out of 30, but the bluetooth volume seems to be its achiles heel, I also wonder if anybody has both MDR-1000x and the new NW-A35 if its sounds as good the connection trought cable.

 

[Buddhahacker]

  Hello There,
 
I tested briefly all the Sony wireless top bluetooth headphones (the european versions), i tought they would be a perfect match for a NW-A25.
 
In all the 3 models; 1) MDR-1ABT , 2) MDR-100ABN and yesterday i tried the 3) MDR-1000X.
 
I was dissapointed in all models with the maximum volume output, it is DAMN LOW, via the bluetooth connection in all the 3 models it is the same...yesterday i tried the MDR-1000X with the cable in, and it shined complety, it complety satisfied me, making my FLACs sound amazing trought the NW-A25, but as i said it was a CABLE connection.
 
So if anybody has both of this products i would like to have their toughts and fellings about the pair of these two. For me it seems that the one at fault is the NW-A25 bluetooth connection, which is pretty ****ty... And i have an asian version of A25, and when i jog the volume is always around level 20 out of 30, but the bluetooth volume seems to be its achiles heel, I also wonder if anybody has both MDR-1000x and the new NW-A35 if its sounds as good the connection trought cable.

You may want to check the volume on the source but what is loud is subjective.  I find that my 1ABT can get painfully load if my MAC volume is set high.