[goodyfresh]

   
  No, hate the XL because i listen at max volume and it doesn't get loud enough for me. Also the bass breaks up when I crank it. The regular On-Ear Urbanite I like a lot better, whether I like it better than the MDR-1A I don't know, haven't directly compared them. I didn't bring my MDR-1A's or Urbanites with me on this trip to visit family.

You and your crazy volume-levels, man

Listening to Evanescence right now and I think Amy Lee's voice (SO gorgeous *blushes* I like have a huge crush on her, haha) sounds better from my Trinity Delta IEM's than from the MDR-1A, by a narrow margin.  They do female vocals better, not by a huge amount but its noticable.  Overall though I like the MDR-1A's dynamics and attack better than the Delta IEM's with the sum-total aspects of most music.  Also it of course has significantly better soundstage than the IEM's and is more comfortable.  I mean duh, the Sony MDR-1A are some of the most comfortable over-ear headphones in the world, so of course they'd be more comfy than ANY IEM's   Haha.

But even so, I prefer Evanescence or Fleetwood Mac from my Delta IEM's rather than the MDR-1A!

 

[heraldo]

   
  No, hate the XL because i listen at max volume and it doesn't get loud enough for me. Also the bass breaks up when I crank it. The regular On-Ear Urbanite I like a lot better, whether I like it better than the MDR-1A I don't know, haven't directly compared them. I didn't bring my MDR-1A's or Urbanites with me on this trip to visit family.

For me it is quite the opposite, the MDR-1A cannot be played at loud volumes,  the sound quality on more complex tracks just falls to the floor on higher volumes. With Urbanite XL on the other hand I can crank up the volume without any notable issues, also on bass heavy rap & electronic music. The XL are just better than MDR-1A in everything except for cable and comfort in my opinion. Perhaps I should have a look at the on ear version for better comfort.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  For me it is quite the opposite, the MDR-1A cannot be played on loud volumes,  the sound quality on more complex tracks just falls to the floor on higher volumes.

I agree, and I have mentioned this in past posts. The 1A does get strained at high playback volumes for sure. Now I listen quite a bit louder than almost anybody I have ever met so it isn't like the average listener would notice as much of this trait. That said, it is of course a progressive occurrence so as you go louder the sound quality can still start to degrade somewhat without earth shattering volume required. I'm quite sure this is a common enough trait, but to my ear the 1A is more susceptible to this than some other portables I've used.
 
Again, just to be fair and balanced, it isn't likely to be much of a factor for those who like low to mid-loud volume playback.  

 

[goodyfresh]

  I agree, and I have mentioned this in past posts. The 1A does get strained at high playback volumes for sure. Now I listen quite a bit louder than almost anybody I have ever met so it isn't like the average listener would notice as much of this trait. That said, it is of course a progressive occurrence so as you go louder the sound quality can still start to degrade somewhat without earth shattering volume required. I'm quite sure this is a common enough trait, but to my ear the 1A is more susceptible to this than some other portables I've used.
 
Again, just to be fair and balanced, it isn't likely to be much of a factor for those who like low to mid-loud volume playback.  

Yeah see it hasn't been an issue at all for me since I never crank the volume up super-loud

 

[inthere]

  For me it is quite the opposite, the MDR-1A cannot be played at loud volumes,  the sound quality on more complex tracks just falls to the floor on higher volumes. With Urbanite XL on the other hand I can crank up the volume without any notable issues, also on bass heavy rap & electronic music. The XL are just better than MDR-1A in everything except for cable and comfort in my opinion. Perhaps I should have a look at the on ear version for better comfort.

 
 On smartphone, max volume, MDR-1A sounds sensational. On DAP, I'll have to test it next week when I get home. On headphone amps, Urbanite XL absolutely can't handle bass. Maybe the MDR-1A can't either. 

 

[Arvan]

   
 On smartphone, max volume, MDR-1A sounds sensational. On DAP, I'll have to test it next week when I get home. On headphone amps, Urbanite XL absolutely can't handle bass. Maybe the MDR-1A can't either. 

 
It´s all good here on my humble fiio E10K, atleast to the point my ears are about to burst into flames 

 

[goodyfresh]

   
It´s all good here on my humble fiio E10K, atleast to the point my ears are about to burst into flames 

The Fiio E10k isn't especially powerful though.  It's pretty decent (for the price, great) as a DAC, but only mediocre as an amp.  But what can you expect for less than 70 bucks?  Haha.
 
That's kind of the point anyway though.  The MDR-1A are low-impedance, high-sensitivity for full-sized headphones, and thus have no need whatsoever for a really powerful source amp.  The crazy thing though is that they apparently have a power-handling capacity all the way up to 1500mW.  Considering their sensitivitiy is something like 105dB-per-mW, that means they are capable of getting so loud they could literally ALMOST KILL you by scrambling your brain via soundwaves throguh your ear-canals.  Lol.

 

[Arvan]

 
The Fiio E10k isn't especially powerful though.  It's pretty decent (for the price, great) as a DAC, but only mediocre as an amp.  But what can you expect for less than 70 bucks?  Haha.
 
That's kind of the point anyway though.  The MDR-1A are low-impedance, high-sensitivity for full-sized headphones, and thus have no need whatsoever for a really powerful source amp.  The crazy thing though is that they apparently have a power-handling capacity all the way up to 1500mW.  Considering their sensitivitiy is something like 105dB-per-mW, that means they are capable of getting so loud they could literally ALMOST KILL you by scrambling your brain via soundwaves throguh your ear-canals.  Lol.

 
The E10K is way better than anything atleast up to 3-4 times the price ( that i have tested myself ) It´s buss powered by 5 volt´s and 500 mah of current. It can´t be much better than this. I would say that the power runs out at about 250 ohms ( beyers ) but for any "normal" headphone and for this little MDR-1A it´s way plenty, even on low gain. At volume 3/8 it´s rather loud. At 4 it´s blasting.

 

[goodyfresh]

   
The E10K is way better than anything atleast up to 3-4 times the price ( that i have tested myself ) It´s buss powered by 5 volt´s and 500 mah of current. It can´t be much better than this. I would say that the power runs out at about 250 ohms ( beyers ) but for any "normal" headphone and for this little MDR-1A it´s way plenty, even on low gain. At volume 3/8 it´s rather loud. At 4 it´s blasting.

There are some companies that make stuff that's better than the E10K within the range of 3 to 4 times the price that you mentioned.  SMSL makes some.  There's the lower-end stuff from Audio GD.  Aune Audio's products.  Etc.

But for the under $100 price range, no, there isn't anything better.

 

[FastAndClean]

I have the urbanite xl and the mdr1a, there is no comparison whatsoever, the 1a is alot better in every aspect, urbanite xl sound unnatural in comparison, with to much mid and upper bass, not enough sub bass, and some nasty dip in the lower treble and after that a nasty peak in the middle treble, 1a can handle lots of power without distortion, xl too, but not as much as mdr1a.

 

[Arvan]

 

[Sonic Defender]

 
The Fiio E10k isn't especially powerful though.  It's pretty decent (for the price, great) as a DAC, but only mediocre as an amp.  But what can you expect for less than 70 bucks?  Haha.
 
 

I wonder how most people are getting use of the DAC section given that most sources make it very difficult to bypass their DAC and output the signal so another DAC can do the work. Have you managed to do this, or were you just speaking theoretically as opposed to from experience? Nothing wrong with speaking theoretically by the way.

 

[goodyfresh]

  I wonder how most people are getting use of the DAC section given that most sources make it very difficult to bypass their DAC and output the signal so another DAC can do the work. Have you managed to do this, or were you just speaking theoretically as opposed to from experience? Nothing wrong with speaking theoretically by the way.

I'm just speaking in terms of the known quality of the particular chipset that they chose to use in the DAC section.  So yes, theoretically.

 

[Arvan]

I want to give HM5 pads a go, but i feel that  snapping off the stock pads is kinda wonky, don´t want to break anything  
 
Anyone have some pointers?

 

[DavidA]

  I want to give HM5 pads a go, but i feel that  snapping off the stock pads is kinda wonky, don´t want to break anything  
 
Anyone have some pointers?

Go here for how to remove pads: http://www.head-fi.org/t/665529/dynamat-mod-for-sony-mdr-1r