[dougms3]

Covering the top bass ports seem to have a big effect on the bass response. Wonder if anyone had tried to mod their 1Am2 bass ports?

Covering the bass ports will kill the bass.

If you want more bass, I've found that stuffing the earcups with lambswool especially right behind the driver increases the bass level significantly and also makes it cleaner and tighter with better impact.

I have both the Fiio BTR5 and Shanling UP4. The Shanling UP4 amp tuning favors bass.

Btw the MDR1am2 really comes alive when you connect it balanced, both the fiio and shanling have 2.5mm balanced jacks.

 

[AlexCBSN]

Covering the bass ports will kill the bass.

If you want more bass, I've found that stuffing the earcups with lambswool especially right behind the driver increases the bass level significantly and also makes it cleaner and tighter with better impact.

I have both the Fiio BTR5 and Shanling UP4. The Shanling UP4 amp tuning favors bass.

Btw the MDR1am2 really comes alive when you connect it balanced, both the fiio and shanling have 2.5mm balanced jacks.

You’ve got any pictures of the end result in the inside? I would be really interested in checking it out

 

[dougms3]

I would take pics but its a pain in the ass getting the wool from poking out if I open it up again.

But its pretty simple, just pick up something like this, any local pharmacy usually carries this costs about $4-5 bucks.

https://www.amazon.com/Premier-Bran...keywords=lambswool+toe&qid=1610341655&sr=8-39

Its pure lambwool, loosely fill the earcup with it. I tried organic cotton initially, but it doesn't work as well. I tried filling two ways, just around the driver with the center empty and around the driver and the center filled with wool and the latter method produced the best result.

Just be careful when opening the cup because of the balanced wiring, the wires are very short on one side.

 

[AlexCBSN]

I would take pics but its a pain in the ass getting the wool from poking out if I open it up again.

But its pretty simple, just pick up something like this, any local pharmacy usually carries this costs about $4-5 bucks.

https://www.amazon.com/Premier-Bran...keywords=lambswool+toe&qid=1610341655&sr=8-39

Its pure lambwool, loosely fill the earcup with it. I tried organic cotton initially, but it doesn't work as well. I tried filling two ways, just around the driver with the center empty and around the driver and the center filled with wool and the latter method produced the best result.

Just be careful when opening the cup because of the balanced wiring, the wires are very short on one side.

Thanks man, will look into it. I think I’ll Just get to a barbacoa stand and ask em for some wool

 

[dougms3]

Thanks man, will look into it. I think I’ll Just get to a barbacoa stand and ask em for some wool

Haha, that works too!

 

[FYLegend]

Anyone noticed their in-line remote cable "go bad"? Mine still sounds good overall but I am noticing some occasional distortion. It wasn't obvious with the MDR-1AM2, but I was using it with my Anker LIFE Q30 and it was more noticeable than the latter's stock cable (which lacks a remote).

 

[ZoomB]

I'm using this now with an iFi Zen Dac and the balanced cable and its sounds so good. Not a huge difference but definitely noticeable from the regular cable to the balanced one.
So my question now is, what would be considered an upgrade from this if I wanted the same (or better) bass and a wider soundstage ? There's an extra bass button on the Zen Dac and sometimes it adds a nice amount of bass but sometimes it really makes them rattle and feels overpowering.

 

[dougms3]

I'm using this now with an iFi Zen Dac and the balanced cable and its sounds so good. Not a huge difference but definitely noticeable from the regular cable to the balanced one.
So my question now is, what would be considered an upgrade from this if I wanted the same (or better) bass and a wider soundstage ? There's an extra bass button on the Zen Dac and sometimes it adds a nice amount of bass but sometimes it really makes them rattle and feels overpowering.

I've also noticed using it balanced improves the sound too, particularly the punchiness in the bass, it definitely has more impact.

You can try opening up the headphones and try your hand at modding them to clean up that loose bloated bass and rattling.

But thats a good question, what is the next step up from these because the MDR-1AM2 sets a pretty high bar.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

well thought out review:

 

[MRK1]

I bought these headphones after finding them for 130€ on Amazon Italy. Received them a week ago, and... I totally dislike them. The bass is thumping and loose while the highs are piercing, VERY fatiguing to listen to even at low volume where everything just sounds muddy. The mids are nowhere to be found, female voices sound bad on these, these are also bad for listening to casual videos on youtube, voices sound as if they are in the background. I got them because I thought they were going to be good with trance, eurobeat, hardcore and other fast, electronic, bassy genres like this but they just sound weird or bad most of the time. The only genres that sound good on these is bass heavy italo disco stuff and maybe industrial hardcore. Trance which is the main genre I hoped sounded good, sounds really bad because the bass is rampaging through everything, and female voices just sound boring on these. I'm also not sure why people say these are comfy, within 20 minutes my ears feel cooked to perfection (insert picture of italian chef here doing the "perfect" hand gesture here) and by the way, it is winter, I can't imagine using these things in summer or outside. They are also NOT circumaural, they're too small to be circumaural and too big to be supra-aural, so the top and bottom of my ears are crushed, and my ears are definitely smaller than average. ALSO on my phone they sound especially bad despite the 16Ohm, sound is dark and muddy more than when using with my computer (phone is a Sony XZ1, computer has the Asus S1120A, from what I can tell is one of the least bad onboard audio chipset, also I didn't install all the crappy Asus equalizers and other garbage, just the basic audio driver and believe me this board sounds good with the 599, very clean and not processed at all). And no, I don't listen to 128kbps m4a downloaded from youtube, all of my stuff is flacs or 320kbps that were converted from flacs to save space (mostly for my phone).

Oh well, maybe my hearing is messed up or I've become too used to the Senn HD599, but I do feel that those are bass light, I wanted something with strong and clean bass for my electronic stuff, but this sound is just muddy, thumping, congested mess. What a disappointment, I though I found a hidden gem but it just doesn't sound at all like I was expecting. I will keep using them for another week then it's back to Amazon if I don't suddenly begin to like them.

 

[flyer1]

I bought these headphones after finding them for 130€ on Amazon Italy. Received them a week ago, and... I totally dislike them. The bass is thumping and loose while the highs are piercing, VERY fatiguing to listen to even at low volume where everything just sounds muddy. The mids are nowhere to be found, female voices sound bad on these, these are also bad for listening to casual videos on youtube, voices sound as if they are in the background. I got them because I thought they were going to be good with trance, eurobeat, hardcore and other fast, electronic, bassy genres like this but they just sound weird or bad most of the time. The only genres that sound good on these is bass heavy italo disco stuff and maybe industrial hardcore. Trance which is the main genre I hoped sounded good, sounds really bad because the bass is rampaging through everything, and female voices just sound boring on these. I'm also not sure why people say these are comfy, within 20 minutes my ears feel cooked to perfection (insert picture of italian chef here doing the "perfect" hand gesture here) and by the way, it is winter, I can't imagine using these things in summer or outside. They are also NOT circumaural, they're too small to be circumaural and too big to be supra-aural, so the top and bottom of my ears are crushed, and my ears are definitely smaller than average. ALSO on my phone they sound especially bad despite the 16Ohm, sound is dark and muddy more than when using with my computer (phone is a Sony XZ1, computer has the Asus S1120A, from what I can tell is one of the least bad onboard audio chipset, also I didn't install all the crappy Asus equalizers and other garbage, just the basic audio driver and believe me this board sounds good with the 599, very clean and not processed at all). And no, I don't listen to 128kbps m4a downloaded from youtube, all of my stuff is flacs or 320kbps that were converted from flacs to save space (mostly for my phone).

Oh well, maybe my hearing is messed up or I've become too used to the Senn HD599, but I do feel that those are bass light, I wanted something with strong and clean bass for my electronic stuff, but this sound is just muddy, thumping, congested mess. What a disappointment, I though I found a hidden gem but it just doesn't sound at all like I was expecting. I will keep using them for another week then it's back to Amazon if I don't suddenly begin to like them.

It's all about synergie. My 1am2 truly shines from my WM1Z(FE+) in balanced.

Prefer this combo now over my EX1000 and HD660s.

 

[dougms3]

I bought these headphones after finding them for 130€ on Amazon Italy. Received them a week ago, and... I totally dislike them. The bass is thumping and loose while the highs are piercing, VERY fatiguing to listen to even at low volume where everything just sounds muddy. The mids are nowhere to be found, female voices sound bad on these, these are also bad for listening to casual videos on youtube, voices sound as if they are in the background. I got them because I thought they were going to be good with trance, eurobeat, hardcore and other fast, electronic, bassy genres like this but they just sound weird or bad most of the time. The only genres that sound good on these is bass heavy italo disco stuff and maybe industrial hardcore. Trance which is the main genre I hoped sounded good, sounds really bad because the bass is rampaging through everything, and female voices just sound boring on these. I'm also not sure why people say these are comfy, within 20 minutes my ears feel cooked to perfection (insert picture of italian chef here doing the "perfect" hand gesture here) and by the way, it is winter, I can't imagine using these things in summer or outside. They are also NOT circumaural, they're too small to be circumaural and too big to be supra-aural, so the top and bottom of my ears are crushed, and my ears are definitely smaller than average. ALSO on my phone they sound especially bad despite the 16Ohm, sound is dark and muddy more than when using with my computer (phone is a Sony XZ1, computer has the Asus S1120A, from what I can tell is one of the least bad onboard audio chipset, also I didn't install all the crappy Asus equalizers and other garbage, just the basic audio driver and believe me this board sounds good with the 599, very clean and not processed at all). And no, I don't listen to 128kbps m4a downloaded from youtube, all of my stuff is flacs or 320kbps that were converted from flacs to save space (mostly for my phone).

Oh well, maybe my hearing is messed up or I've become too used to the Senn HD599, but I do feel that those are bass light, I wanted something with strong and clean bass for my electronic stuff, but this sound is just muddy, thumping, congested mess. What a disappointment, I though I found a hidden gem but it just doesn't sound at all like I was expecting. I will keep using them for another week then it's back to Amazon if I don't suddenly begin to like them.

The headphone is heavily v shaped no doubt but you can clean it up a little. The highs were too bright and sharp for me too, I played with several different materials to soften the treble in the earpads, various thickness of felt, tissue, various layers of a surgical mask. I ended up using all 3 layers of the mask.

Sony seems to believe bass should bleed heavily into the mids, I don't hate it but I dont love it either, but it tends to get boomy if the headphone is not dampened properly. It helps if you try dampening the inside of the earcups, I used some arts and crafts closed cell foam and wool and it cleaned up the bass nicely.

And also mentioned before its finicky with amps.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

These Sony do sound quite stiff brand new out of the box, they require between 150 to 200hours of music playback for the liquid crystal polymers diaphragms and surrounding adhesive to loosen up. They will sound better after burn in, vocals will not sound congested, improving in clarity and bass will get more rumbling instead of a one noted thump.

 

[xeizo]

Also, they are very sensitive to amps and can sound completely different depending on which amp. Doesn't have to be a expensive amp though, they sound really good with my cheap Topping NX-1. The Topping NX-1 has 1 Ohm output impedance, which I believe is an important factor as these are very low impedance headphones. A too high output impedance amp will seriously affect the tone curve. Heck, the Topping/Sony combo sounds good even when fed with a Xiaomi USB-C dongle DAC from the phone. The DAC without the Topping sounds extreme boring and weak.

 

[gummybear408]

Had this headphone for a while but returned it for an "upgrade" to Fostex TR-X00 purplehearts. Boy was I disappointed. The PHs sound a bit more clean but bass is distant, controlled and deep but the quantity isn't really there at all. These 1am2 with some EQ produce tons of bass while maintaining their clarity. I'm gonna give the PHs some more time before I buy another 1am2... They sound great with the balanced cable because the signal is louder. I don't like my music too loud, but I EQ up the bass and the PHs don't respond well to EQ at all while a lot of Sony headphones do.

PHs are a large downgrade for bass.