[Freedomer]

 
Uhm, let's see, I'd say mostly electronica, alternative, also hip-hop. Some examples are Nine Inch Nails, Meg Myers, Robot Koch, Radiohead, Glass Animals, also some rock, Marilyn Manson and the like.

 
Good for you! MDR-1A works really well with this genres.

 
I'd like more clarity sometimes, but I discovered the hard way that my ears are very picky.

 
Oh, I know that feel. I like treble, but treble don't like me

 
 

 
the Momentums with detailed but very rolled off highs

 
Intresting. I need to find out how Momentums 2.0 work with fast music (metal). 1A not that good for that type of music, so I need additional headphones - something faster sounding (and yeah, with polite highs).

 

[Kabonfaiba]

  I need to find out how Momentums 2.0 work with fast music (metal). 1A not that good for that type of music, so I need additional headphones - something faster sounding (and yeah, with polite highs).

 
The MDR-1A isn't good with fast metal? I think double bass is just an enormous joy on the MDR-1A.
 
I only listen to great mastering though, so I can only say the garbage on youtube that sounds sloppy, isn't the fault of the headphone, when I have other stuff that sounds perfectly tight.
 
It's very important to me that I can feel the slam as well, I found the M2 only liked tapping on the kick drums without any authority. I certainly didn't notice it being any faster, just laid back with less bass quantity and no slam.
 
I need that bottom end air movement as a first priority, followed by extension, then speed and finally texture.
 
Maybe look at the Oppo PM-3 if speed is first priority, and move away from dynamic to planar magnetic. But you might miss all the warmth and soundstage as a sacrifice for the speed gains.

 

[Freedomer]

   
I think double bass is just an enormous joy on the MDR-1A.

Yes, it is. But metal tracks (by "metal" I mean mostly melodic death metal) on the MDR-1A sometimes sounds too smooth, too mellow, too bassy.
 
 

   
I only listen to great mastering though, so I can only say the garbage on youtube that sounds sloppy, isn't the fault of the headphone, when I have other stuff that sounds perfectly tight.

 
Well, I don't blame MDR-1A. They sounds spectacular with right material.
 
Momentums are just one of possible options with rolled of treble and different signature. Oppo PM-3 could be interesting option too, thanks. I also consider V-Moda M100, Sony MDR-Z7 and Audioquest Nighthawk. The more headphones, the better

 

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Yes, it is. But metal tracks (by "metal" I mean mostly melodic death metal) on the MDR-1A sometimes sounds too smooth, too mellow, too bassy.
 
 
 
Well, I don't blame MDR-1A. They sounds spectacular with right material.
 
Momentums are just one of possible options with rolled of treble and different signature. Oppo PM-3 could be interesting option too, thanks. I also consider V-Moda M100, Sony MDR-Z7 and Audioquest Nighthawk. The more headphones, the better

 

I had the MDR 1As as my portables for about 4 months and now use a PM3. The PM3 is an excellent choice, not perfect, but extremely good. At first I perceived the treble as a little rolled off, but as I became acclimated to the signature I have to say the treble is awesome on the PM3. I play drums and really pay attention to cymbals as you might expect and the PM3 has great treble. Like the 1A is slightly forgiving, so is the PM3, but as you would expect the PM3 is faster and has cleaner bass without sacrificing bass quantity. The 1As are still great sounding and they beat the Oppo for comfort. The PM3 are quite comfortable, but the 1As are still comfort champs without a doubt.

 

[Kalashnikirby]

Having jus got them for Christmas, I am finding them fantastic for everything, and I'm especially loving them for classical music - I've been list to Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony this morning and it sounds incredible. So warm and natural. Poked around with some EDM from Swedish House Mafia which was awesome, and then played around with some Dream Theater and Symphony X which were both awesome... Definitely has a hearty low end to them, but not overbearing for rock/metal.

If you go to Amazon.co.uk,they are currently £116, which translates to $170 American dollars roughly - this is where my wife got them from, delivered to the United States.

On a side note, has anyone noticed that while Sony says they are 24ohm impedance, the actual instruction manual in the box says they're 48ohm?

 
Hah, I listened to nos. 4+5 and I'm really liking them a lot! I think it's interesting, that many people say these are for pop etc., because I just don't see why I'd use them for either symphonies (especially such "gigantic" ones like mahler's) or chamber music. It is true, they aren't exactly studio headphones and that is not their purpose anyways, but I found them much more enjoyable than the Shure SRH 440 I've also ordered, besides being much more comfortable and just a tad better in terms of build quality
 
It is hard to describe what makes it the better headphone for fun-listening to the music you like, but it seems like throughout all frequencies, the tone seems a bit warmer. It's stereoscopic capabilities are also better. Some would still say that these headphones are more analytical than others, I suppose. In terms of resolution and timbre of each instrument, I couldn't find much to critizise (protip: Use an equalizer if they've got too much bass for ya!!) and typical for some better quality headphones, they make it impossible to listen to low quality mp3's, as you can very much hear how unnatural and "flat" the instruments sound, thanks to low bitrates. Given the fact that you can hear all the details and that, least in my opinion, it doesn't have a too "biased" sound in the lows or mids for pop etc, it comes down to a a few other aspects anyways.
 
And that's their extremely good wearing comfort Also, I needed them with short cables anyways and even found some spare ones that happen to fit this weirdly designed female connector.
 
I've got the Sonys for 168€ from Amazon.de. Pretty decent value, I'd say.

 

[Kalashnikirby]

Regarding the cable, I'll make a seperate post:
 
It just so happended that I had something laying around. Free spare cable, yay!!!
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Kkppcey2L._SL1000_.jpg
 
These are availabe on amazon.de and are from some kind of german brand, but you'll find the exact same design on amazon.com ("FosPower". There might, in fact be better options out there!
For you see, the female plug on these headphones requires a cylinder below the actual stereo jack to make it fit all the way down.
Width is (on the original Sony part) 5,25mm, and length is. 3mm
 
This cylinder on my non-Sony cable is acutally 5,15mm wide and 2,7mm tall. They still fit with an almost as nice click as the original Sony cable. Both were measured with a digital caliper
 
My point here is, you can one of these "smartphone" cables out there and try! For example, the 3,5mm amazonBasics (yeah, amazon dominates everything xD), looks like it's even taller than necessary. I really can't tell why so many stereo cables have these cylndrical design, but it just so happens that it fits to the MDR-1A!

 

[halcyon]

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

Did anybody remove and try other pads, perhaps angled (like the Brainwavz Memory Foam Angled)? Which pads are a good fit? The standard pads are just too small for me.

 

[seeler]

I have walkman A17 +mdr-1A with MUS-S12SM1 cable for over a year now. The A17 is filled with loss-less flac files and some hi-res audio.
Last week I went to a sony store and tried an 1adac with my xperia z5p. Although I only have 256kpbs ACC in my cell-phone, 1adac has impressed me a lot with its tight bass and clear sound stage. After a short while I made the decision to purchase a silver 1adac and a 64GB micro-SD to equip my z5p for commute/office usage. I really like 1adac more than A17+1a.

 

[Sonic Defender]

The 1ADAC sounds like a well designed piece of gear. Do you really find it sounds better, or might some of this be new toy syndrome? I don't mean that in a negative way, we all are subject to the desire to try new signatures out and typically at first blush we prefer the new signature as it is intoxicating to hear them. I'm terrible for this, I rarely keep gear for even a year. It seems I'm always trying a new signature. Anyway, I like the Sony signature sound quite a bit. Recently I have bought, used and sold a Z7, PHA3, A17 and a MDR 1A.

 

[seeler]

  The 1ADAC sounds like a well designed piece of gear. Do you really find it sounds better, or might some of this be new toy syndrome? I don't mean that in a negative way, we all are subject to the desire to try new signatures out and typically at first blush we prefer the new signature as it is intoxicating to hear them. I'm terrible for this, I rarely keep gear for even a year. It seems I'm always trying a new signature. Anyway, I like the Sony signature sound quite a bit. Recently I have bought, used and sold a Z7, PHA3, A17 and a MDR 1A.

The bass of 1a is sometimes too booming. The house of 1adac is smaller than 1a and the air hole is also smaller, thus the 1adac has tighter bass and less quantity. Result is 1adac has more balanced sound. 
What's more, let's compare the DAC/AMP/Battery part of A17 and 1adac:
The weight of 1a is 225g and 1adac is 300g, that means the additional part is 75g. However, the total weight of A17 is only 66g, including the screen and shell.
Battery life of A17 is 66 hours and 1adac is 7.5 hours.
As for the sound, the horn of 1adac and 1a is same, and 1adac is more powerful than A17. So we can treat 1adac as a fully driven 1a, but less bass.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  The bass of 1a is sometimes too booming. The house of 1adac is smaller than 1a and the air hole is also smaller, thus the 1adac has tighter bass and less quantity. Result is 1adac has more balanced sound. 
What's more, let's compare the DAC/AMP/Battery part of A17 and 1adac:
The weight of 1a is 225g and 1adac is 300g, that means the additional part is 75g. However, the total weight of A17 is only 66g, including the screen and shell.
Battery life of A17 is 66 hours and 1adac is 7.5 hours.
As for the sound, the horn of 1adac and 1a is same, and 1adac is more powerful than A17. So we can treat 1adac as a fully driven 1a, but less bass.

Well that makes perfect sense, glad you took the time to dig into the design deeper for me. I actually rather liked the 1A so with less boomy bass (my major issue with the 1A) it does sound like the potential for sonic improvement is there. I'm not sure that weight in and of itself means a great deal, but I know what you mean and I suspect you are completely correct in the assumption. If there was going to be a company I would consider buying just such a headphone it would be Sony. It wouldn't be a powerhouse of an amp of course, but given the sensitivity of the headphone it should be able to drive them well. Really glad you brought this up. Cheers.

 

[dbdynsty25]

I'm looking for a new set of headphones for mostly hip hop, southern rock and a bit of country.  It seems like these would be a pretty good option.  I've currently got the V-MODA CFW, but I just can't wear them for very long, and they are rather big for putting in my laptop bag to carry to and from work.  So an ultra comfortable, flat folding headphone is on my list of must haves.  I'll be watching some movies/tv, but mostly podcasts and music.  Again, all day comfort is imperative, which is essentially what brought me to the Sony's.  The only other option I've come across in 150-250 range is the Audio Technica WSR7 but it doesn't seem like I'll be happy w/ the bass.  It doesn't have to have as much as the V-MODA, but an emphasis is nice.
 
Am I in the right ballpark w/ the MDR-1A?

 

[FastAndClean]

A1 is good headphone, if you dont mind that the bass is a little bit slow, is not the tightest bass out there but it has good impact and is deep

 

[DavidA]

  I'm looking for a new set of headphones for mostly hip hop, southern rock and a bit of country.  It seems like these would be a pretty good option.  I've currently got the V-MODA CFW, but I just can't wear them for very long, and they are rather big for putting in my laptop bag to carry to and from work.  So an ultra comfortable, flat folding headphone is on my list of must haves.  I'll be watching some movies/tv, but mostly podcasts and music.  Again, all day comfort is imperative, which is essentially what brought me to the Sony's.  The only other option I've come across in 150-250 range is the Audio Technica WSR7 but it doesn't seem like I'll be happy w/ the bass.  It doesn't have to have as much as the V-MODA, but an emphasis is nice.
 
Am I in the right ballpark w/ the MDR-1A?

Vmoda XS, really compact and fairly comfortable to me, MDR-1A very comfortable, gets too hot for me here in Hawaii, bass is a little flabby but not that bad, can be tightened up with some dynamat in the ear cup.

 

[dbdynsty25]

Vmoda XS, really compact and fairly comfortable to me, MDR-1A very comfortable, gets too hot for me here in Hawaii, bass is a little flabby but not that bad, can be tightened up with some dynamat in the ear cup.

No on ears. They are the devil. I actually have a pair of XS. I just don't use them.