[kartik7405]

 
And I reeeealy likem now. Sounds like a little and closed version of the Senn. HD700 to me now.
 
Thanks for your mod ; )
 
Kai

Glad you liked.
 
i am also dissapointed with the sound quality of MDR-1A from day one;i find something missing.Though i tried surgical tap mod earlier but it forwards the mid much.i tried more than 50-100 times to mod it with different combination sometime port blocked;sometimes used different material.Finally before 2017 ;i find my eargasm with sony.
 
Different driver technology have their pros and cons.Now a days most headphone sounds bad due to bad acoustic treatment rather than the driver itself.
pads and cable only alter the frequency;in some case sounstage not the distortion, the airness/openness in headphone.
 
i urge other member also try it;its huge step up in sound quality from stock .Good thing is that the mod is reversible;if you do not like it.

 

[FastAndClean]

http://clarityfidelity.blogspot.no/2017/01/sony-mdr-1a-limited-edition-over-ear.html

 

[Ritu]

What is the difference between MDR 1A and MDR 1A LIMITED EDITION, in terms of sound quality, comfort?

 

[kartik7405]

  What is the difference between MDR 1A and MDR 1A LIMITED EDITION, in terms of sound quality, comfort?

From the 2 frequency responses graphs;i guess MDR-1A LE is quite opposite to MDR 1A.
 
1A has midbass boost while 1A LE has subbass boost
1A flat midrange response while LE has bit forward.
1A high mids are quite recessed while 1A LE has more forward high mids
Both have roll off treble in between 6khz to 10khz.
 
i find MDR-1A LE is quite intresting.But pricing around 299$ ;by investing extra 50$;Audioquest nighthawk will be best bet if closed back is not your priority.
 
Measurment links:-
http://goldenears.net/board/GR_Headphones/5532177
http://clarityfidelity.blogspot.in/2017/01/sony-mdr-1a-limited-edition-over-ear.html

 

[GrindedDown]

The LE's do look pretty nice. It seems they also have some different earpads with this black perforated leather look to it.

 

[ArchDragoon]

I'm going to get my MDR-1A LE at the end of this month. Hope it's worthy.
 
I will try to compare it with original 1A if I have a chance. 

 

[lasttodie]

I got my 1A's for over a year now and I still love them

 

[GrindedDown]

I got my 1A's for over a year now and I still love them :thumbsup_tone1:

They are a wonderful pair of headphones aren't they?!

Unfortunately, I must sell these to fund a new purchase (the Sony MDR1000X). If anyone is interested, they are listed in the classifieds and in my signature.

I'm sort of heartbroken to see them go....

 

[AndreiD]

Have been playing with the MDR-1A for the past two weeks and to be complete honest they sound awful to me. Bass is bloated, distorted/muddy and poorly defined in general which I feel overwhelms the mids; treble is there only to tick a checkbox, isolation is poor, detail is also poor, overall they're what I'd call bass murder and I honestly can't listen to them for more than an hour or so because I genuinely start feeling nauseous. They do improve with some HM5 pleather pads (velour made them worse), but since Sony uses a proprietary locking mechanism for the pads, I have to wrap the HM5 around the cups, which makes it a no-go for going out with them (looks quite awful, attached a pic bellow) and isolation also suffers. Amping didn't help controlling the bass much, they were still a bloated mess.            
Build quality is bad despite the initial impression I had given the decent outer materials they use. If you remove the pads off them a few times the whole proprietary locking mechanism starts creaking and I get more creaking when I move slightly from the right earcup joint, which for a portable headphone is a pretty big minus. Another annoying part is the cable which despite being 3.5mm Sony found a way to make slightly proprietary by having the 3.5mm connector slightly raised, none of my many 3.5mm cables worked with it annoyingly. The included cables are also very susceptible to microphonics, which again is another big minus for a portable.    
I gave them two weeks to see if I can maybe adapt to their signature and maybe start liking them, but they're just unredeemable, there's nothing I like about them and I'm starting to question pretty heavily the multitude of good reviews they have. Measurement, sound quality and build wise they don't justify their price at all. 
I was disappointed last time I tried Sony, guess I'm going to be disappointed again, these are definitely getting returned since thankfully I have the 30 day amazon return on them.       
Had to break my long years of lurking because these are genuinely awful and I honestly doubt any amount of modding can turn this turd into anything decent.     
           

 

[iancraig10]

Try covering one or both port holes on the top of the cups with tape. The bass bloat reduces.

If isolation is worse with the hm5 pads, then all it is doing is making a partial leak around the edges so bass gets reduced.

 

[AndreiD]

Yeah, I tried covering the holes, the bass is still overwhelming, I'd try modding them forther but I don't think I'd be able to return them if I did.     
I'm just going to return and try finding something better, I'm pretty much done with Sony for the foreseeable future if this is what they consider a $200~$300 headphone.

 

[iancraig10]

Audio Technica MSR7 might be the answer for you then. I have both and the AT is way less bloated. Sharper in the top though.

 

[kartik7405]

  Yeah, I tried covering the holes, the bass is still overwhelming, I'd try modding them forther but I don't think I'd be able to return them if I did.     
I'm just going to return and try finding something better, I'm pretty much done with Sony for the foreseeable future if this is what they consider a $200~$300 headphone.

Pads not help much.Apart from mid bass bloat there is "cup reverb coloration".So for that need dynamat/any acoustic damper.It has potential but have to use dynamat on the cups and remove .i myself used aluminium damping pads that used in cars;its works great for me.
 
If you do not want try these mod  go for senn momentum over ear original/ nad viso hp 50/ beyer dt1350 /focal spirit pro/focal classic/Master & Dynamic MH40 in within 200-300 price range.

 

[AndreiD]

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm probably going to make a jump to a DT1770, Beyer is always good for build quality (hopefully I won't have issues with bad drivers) which is what annoyed me a lot about the MDR-1A, more so than the sound which I think I could have lived with by modding them, the creaks just got to me.    

 

[DavidA]

  Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm probably going to make a jump to a DT1770, Beyer is always good for build quality (hopefully I won't have issues with bad drivers) which is what annoyed me a lot about the MDR-1A, more so than the sound which I think I could have lived with by modding them, the creaks just got to me.    

The dynamat really makes a difference in the bass and covering up about 1/2 of the top port.  I didn't find the stock cable microphonic but I did build my own since I needed about 8.5 ft for my listening table to couch and yeah the connector is a bit of an issue but found that the Double-Helix 3.5mm connector works great.