[TheManko]

 
The MDR-1A does not have a standard 3.5mm on the headphone side, the collar is aprox 1 - 1.5mm smaller than most collars that are designed to fit cases/holders.  I got the MDR-1A a few months ago and tried to use a custom silver cable I have for my X1, it didn't fit so I'm in the process of making a special 3.5mm TRS plug. 
 

I guess they didn't want people plugging in the wrong end of the cable into the headphone, with annoying consequences for everyone trying to use it with their PC sound cards. I wish more headphones would ship with either a good extension cable or an alternative long cable for situations like these.

 

[Koss02]

 
The MDR-1A does not have a standard 3.5mm on the headphone side, the collar is aprox 1 - 1.5mm smaller than most collars that are designed to fit cases/holders.  I got the MDR-1A a few months ago and tried to use a custom silver cable I have for my X1, it didn't fit so I'm in the process of making a special 3.5mm TRS plug.  I have some friends who work in a metal shop so they will mill the collar down to fit the headphone side of the MDR-1A.
 
I got the MDR-1A mostly for when I travel so finding that the exterior noise isolation is not that great I decided to keep it for home use playing games on my phone/tablet/computer.  This is where the problem of the short special connector became a PITA since my computer is under my desk and on the right side making the cable about 1.5ft short a well a having to go across my body.
 
The sound of the MDR-1A is not the greatest for this price range, I like the sound signature of the momentum on-ear a little better but the comfort of the MDR-1A is better and I feel even my M50x has a better sound signature for the type of music I listen to.

What type of music do you listen to?  
 
I personally can't stand the look of the momentum's, but I'd be willing to consider the M50x or X1's.  
 
Do you use these with an amp? or DAC ? 

 

[DavidA]

Koss02, I listen to jazz, soft/classic rock, current pop, classical, J-Pop, K-Pop, EDM, New Age, rock and some punk.  I know what you mean about the look of the momentum over-ear, with my friends its about 70% like and 30% dislike but with the smaller on-ear its about 60-40, most of the girls seem to like the colors available, pink, red and green, gave away a pink and green one.
 
As for the M50x or X1, for home the X1 is by far the better the headphone and I use it with my Fiio x1/x3 when I just want to kick back and not turn on my main rig.  The M50x has its place for traveling when I'm on the plane since it isolates noise about the best of all the headphones I own.
 
I will try and mod the MDR-1A the way that some were doing to the MDR-1R to see if it helps with the lows/bass area and hopefully get my custom cable so I can use it with my gaming rig.

 

[dazzerfong]

  I guess they didn't want people plugging in the wrong end of the cable into the headphone, with annoying consequences for everyone trying to use it with their PC sound cards. I wish more headphones would ship with either a good extension cable or an alternative long cable for situations like these.

Nah, it's because they wanted to separate the L and R grounds to "prevent crossfeed". If you like putting on tinfoil hats, it's so that you have to buy a cable off them if anything happens to yours.

  What type of music do you listen to?  
 
I personally can't stand the look of the momentum's, but I'd be willing to consider the M50x or X1's.  
 
Do you use these with an amp? or DAC ? 

Amen. I love Sennheiser designs in general, but the Momentums, while classy, doesn't resonate with me, both design-wise, comfort-wise and sound-wise. I will, however, acknowledge that it's flatter than the MDR-1A's, which doesn't really matter to me, and the bass is less flabby, but unfortunately for the Momentums, I like a flabby bass at for these type of headphones.

I have to say though, for most music genres (mainly stuff that has bass), it's a very exciting headphone. The moment you try to play classical or pretty much anything instrumental through it, the soundstage, while good, isn't quite impressive enough for it.
 
Then again, I'm comparing a HD700 to these, so it's not really a fair fight to begin with. Well, except EDM: I can't stand EDM on my HD700's, and only marginally tolerate it on these.

 

[acti0n]

  I've had the MDR-1A for a couple days now. The joints in the left earcup were creaking, which I decided to fix myself by opening up the cup and shoving some adhesive felt in the joints.

That's unfortunate. I went through like 5 1Rs due to creaking and jack rattle before giving up on them. It seems like they fixed the jack rattle with the 1A, but not the creaking. It's weird because their marketing materials go out of their way to talk about how silent the joints are, but they're really the only headphone I've ever encountered that creaks like this.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

  That's unfortunate. I went through like 5 1Rs due to creaking and jack rattle before giving up on them. It seems like they fixed the jack rattle with the 1A, but not the creaking. It's weird because their marketing materials go out of their way to talk about how silent the joints are, but they're really the only headphone I've ever encountered that creaks like this.

My sample of 1A didn't have any creaking.

 

[money4me247]

creaking depends on fit ithink (from my experience w em)

 

[DavidA]

  That's unfortunate. I went through like 5 1Rs due to creaking and jack rattle before giving up on them. It seems like they fixed the jack rattle with the 1A, but not the creaking. It's weird because their marketing materials go out of their way to talk about how silent the joints are, but they're really the only headphone I've ever encountered that creaks like this.

Haven't noticed any creaking on my 1A but then again I don't use it much.  Still waiting for my friend to make the slim collar 3.5mm plug so I can use it with my gaming rig.

 

[alwass89]

Has anyone tried these with the MUC-S12SM1 upgrade cable?  Would love to hear impressions if it is worth to get the cable. Thanks.

 

[alucard177]

  After hours of searching I finally found a great deal on the MDR-1A's. You can get them from Amazon Spain for $185.
 
See my Slickdeals post for further instructions

 
Freaaaaaking awesome mate, I just bought them for 147 euros plus shipping and taxes; total was 200 euros which I think It's still a pretty great deal. The product page list them for 179 euros but when I added the item to the cart the price changed to just 147

 

[Mickice]

Has anyone tried them with the HM5 pads?

Wouldn't fit I reckon.

 

[TheManko]

I did a dynamat mod on my MDR-1A. I didn't add any other material apart from the dynamat, because I quite like their overall balance. I just wanted to see if the bass distortion could be reduced. I added as much as I could on the cup, the rear of the driver and the baffle (wherever I could, as it isn't easy to find good spots where you don't risk covering vent holes). I'm very happy with the result! It sounds like there's more bass now than before, but the quality is undeniably better. It's less "one note" and more detailed. I have a MDR-1R as well which I modded at the same time, and there's just no comparison. The 1A is way better, and now modded it crushes the 1R. The 1R just isn't able to reproduce deep bass with any weight or authority at all. It has a lovely midrange, and the soundstage is good. But it doesn't have a full range sound. The 1A does.

 

[money4me247]

I did a dynamat mod on my MDR-1A. I didn't add any other material apart from the dynamat, because I quite like their overall balance. I just wanted to see if the bass distortion could be reduced. I added as much as I could on the cup, the rear of the driver and the baffle (wherever I could, as it isn't easy to find good spots where you don't risk covering vent holes). I'm very happy with the result! It sounds like there's more bass now than before, but the quality is undeniably better. It's less "one note" and more detailed. I have a MDR-1R as well which I modded at the same time, and there's just no comparison. The 1A is way better, and now modded it crushes the 1R. The 1R just isn't able to reproduce deep bass with any weight or authority at all. It has a lovely midrange, and the soundstage is good. But it doesn't have a full range sound. The 1A does.

never played with the dymat mod myself, so glad u like the results. the mdr1a sounded pretty bassheavy to me alrdy without any mods & i do feel like its fr graph sounds pretty colored (not in a bad way, i wld imagine the measurements not along the lines of flat line neutral). fun sound for sure & quite enjoyable. glad u were able to squeeze some xtra improvements to them for ur tastes w the mod

 

[Sonic Defender]

Yep, the 1A is fun and enjoyable. I would like to make the bass a little more articulate, which I think some cuts with a parametric EQ at 500 and 250hz would help.

 

[leebang]

Has anyone compared 1a and 1aDAC? Kinda struggling between them