[mireque]

It's very interesting to see people consider 7520 much more clean / detailed, tighter, faster sounding and less distorted than Nad Viso HP50, Focal Spirit Pro, Shure SRH1540, etc.. which measure almost perfectly on paper.

Even Steve Guttenberg when he reviewed them said the 7520 were tighter / faster / more detailed than HP50 or SRH1540 - go read for yourself here -http://www.soundandvision.com/content/sony-mdr-7520-headphone ...

Also to point out - if these measurements are correct, one would need to drive them with very low impedance - this may very well explain why some people did hear them bass boosted...

I even wonder if Tyll hadn't measured their little brother - 7510 and or completely different headphone, rather than the real 7520...

Do you guys realize that if 7520 had no sense of accurate, deep bass (up to the lowest octave) and / or the the midrange / highend was somehow wrong, it just wouldn't translate?

Why would even Jude regard them as his preferred closed-back headphone?

Tyll should definitely give them a try again before writing such conclusions...

 

[c61746961]

Hey, don't get your panties in a bunch if Tyll doesn't agree with you. I don't always agree with him either (but I agree with him much more often than with CNET Audiophiliac Steve Guttenberg or Jude).

 

[dudlew]

"Sony MDR-1R
Like most sealed headphones, the Sony MDR-1R has a somewhat uneven frequency response. Bass response is probably the biggest problem suffering from a lack of extension into the lowest octave and being a bit bloated in the mid-bass. The mid-range is good, but has a slightly emphasized upper-mid making the sound, especially of female vocals, present and forward, though pleasantly so. The treble is very well behaved delivering good clarity and very little, if any, treble harshness. Even though the top octave is a tad laid-back, the sense of space and audio image is surprisingly good. The balance between the bass, mids, and treble is pretty good and, though a little uneven, the overall impression is of a fairly well balanced sound.
I found the problems with the sonics of the 1R got worse as they were turned up---the mid-bass bloat and forward upper-mids became somewhat overpowering. But at lower listening levels---where I prefer to listen---they sounded quite a bit better, delivering a good bass experience, a nice sense of presence in the vocals, and a good sense of space. I think most people will be quite satisfied with the sound, though audiophiles will find them a bit off the pace of the best cans in this category...but just a bit."
 
The above was taken off of the inner fidelity website for the MDR-1R review.
 
Now I own both, and in no way can the 1R hold a candle to the 7520 in anything but the midrange. The 7520 having easily deeper bass that hits harder and a more neutral quality. I have modded both, to remove a bit of their mid bass hump and also to add a bit more slam to the 1R's bass. But if the 7520 has no sub bass, then how can one say the 1R gives a good bass experience when the bass experience from the 7520 is easily better? Any way to each his own.
 
Also I have done a bit of amateur mixing and recording and just a few months ago did a mix for a friend. I tried with the 1R and it was not nice. The same song with the 7520 left me feeling much more satisfied that it was a MUCH better tool for that purpose and translated well to whatever else I listened to it on. All that was left to work on was my own skill .
 
So in conclusion, I guess I would have to disagree with Inner Fidelity on this one and go with my ears. I find the 7520 to better any headphone I have heard with regards to bass. Mind you I havent heard alot, but having heard the M50, Beats, DT235, HD497, 1R, ZX500, D1001, Q460, I havent heard a better can than the 7520 for bass. Closest I have heard to a full range speaker so far.

 

[mireque]

I just wanted to point out that even if I disagree with most of Audiophiliac's and Jude's opinions, they seem to correlate perfectly with most people's opinions (be it headfiers or pro audio people) with regards to 7520.

Interesting, isn't?

We, pro audio people, doing mixing/mastering for a living, can't make compromises in monitoring. For me, 7520 is the finest tool for monitoring (even better than HD800 in my experience).

Okay, hopefully my last post on this topic.

Enjoy the 7520!

 

[Mike F]

 

Well I can't say that I'm surprised to see it's another pair of Sony headphones that people like the sound of, which measure poorly.
If you consider that the MDR-7520 are a modified MDR-Z1000 design, the results do seem accurate to Tyll's setup.

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SonyMDR7520.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SonyMDRZX1000.pdf

Only the Z1000 measures flatter - which is generally the opposite of what people have reported when comparing the two, and doesn't make much sense considering the 7520 are sold as the "monitor" while the Z1000 was the "hifi" version.

I do think it would be interesting to send in a couple of pairs to see how they differ, as myself and others have reported changes over time - and I still have a pair that is completely unused as a point of comparison. Unfortunately I'm not really able to ship these in to Tyll.
But I don't know that it would be a drastic change. Probably similar to his previous results on headphone break-in.

However it does make me question headphone measurements more than ever.
If we compare the graph of the Bose QC20 to the 7520, it measures flatter and extends deeper into the sub-bass - it even has lower distortion.
But if I compare the two - and I use these as the example because I use both for several hours each day now - well, if the 7520 is "mid-fi" (which it may well be - because I don't think Tyll is using that in derogatory sense, and I do think it's been hyped up more than it should be here) then the QC20 is lo-fi and it certainly does not have deeper bass extension.
Now I love the QC20 when noise cancellation and portability is more important than fidelity, but I rarely ever find myself sitting at home using them to enjoy music.

I am not trying to say that Tyll's measurements or impressions for the 7520 are wrong - he has a lot of experience doing this - but it does make me question how useful the measurements are in general.
There are many cases of headphones which measure very similarly, but sound quite different from one another - in ways which the measurements don't seem to explain.
And as a test, I set up an EQ which was the inverse of Tyll's measurements and it sounds awful.

So I'm not really sure what to make of it.
I don't mean to suggest that the measurements are invalid - because I'm sure they're not.
And I would like to use objective comparisons wherever possible. I have been thinking about purchasing a high-end open-back headphone recently (potentially the HD800) and objective comparisons are very important to have.
But I just don't know that the measurements at InnerFidelity match my perception.

 
 
StudioSound, I agree with much of what you say, and you’ve raised some very good points.
 
Like you, and as I stated in my earlier post, I’m not at all surprised that the 7520’s don’t measure well. I could say I’m disappointed - I think we all like our opinions backed up by fact - but in many ways I’m not surprised, and in some ways I’m somewhat reassured. I’m not surprised because if it had measured well, it would be the first recent Sony headphone to do so (as far as I’m aware). None of Sony’s recent top-of the line Hi-Fi and Studio hp’s have faired well when measured in the conventional way. And, I’m somewhat reassured because, although I think the 7520’s sound very good, they measure as I would expect when I compare them to the 7509HD which I also have (and also very much like!) What I hear in comparison to the 7509HD is better bass extension with an upper bass hump and a somewhat subdued mid (relatively), and that’s exactly what the measurements show.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SonyMDR7509HD.pdf
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SonyMDR7520.pdf
 
The 7509HD was the predecessor of the 7520, and is still widely used in the music industry. I’ve always thought that it sounded excellent, with a particularly revealing mid-range, and I happen to know for a fact that it is still Mike Senior’s (Sound On Sound) preferred closed back headphone. However, it’s usually derided here (by people who haven’t heard it) because of this:-
 
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=2371&scale=30
 
which it has to be said, looks truly horrible. There HAS to be more to it than the measurements suggest if experienced and respected sound engineers use these, and the 7520’s, for mixing in preference to other closed back headphones which measure flatter.. Mike Senior has written a book and countless articles about mixing, so he knows his stuff:-
 
http://www.cambridge-mt.com/MikeSenior.htm
 
Perhaps some of the discrepancy of opinion can be accounted for by the different demands and expectations of Studio professionals and HI-Fi enthusiasts, but that can’t be the whole story.
 
On a point of complete conjecture, I have to wonder whether Sony doesn’t know a thing or two about producing a good studio headphone that isn’t revealed by conventional measurements (or our understanding of them). Sony surely know how to make a good headphone, and I’d be very surprised, given their already good reputation in the field, if there hadn’t been a considerable amount of RD into the ZX1000 and 7520 (the ZX1000 is considered a professional studio headphone in Japan). 
I find it very hard to believe that Sony produced the 7520 as it is, and measuring as it does, through any inability to make it measure better. No, more likely IMO that they are as they were intended by Sony, because that’s what works well in the application for which they were made. The plaudits that it has from the many professionals who trust it for mixing is testament to that.
 
It’s interesting that you included the quote from Tyll’s review of the MDR-ZX700 because I was thinking about that before Tyll measured the 7520. As most people know, the ZX700 is the little brother of the ZX1000 in the same way in which the 7510 is the little brother of the 7520, and whilst it’s well established that the 7520 is not the same headphone as the ZX1000, I was confident that as Tyll liked the ZX700, and the ZX1000 is considered better than the ZX700 and that most people seem to prefer the 7520 to the ZX1000, that he would almost certainly like the 7520(!). 
 
I strongly suspect that what happened in the case of the 7520 is that Tyll gave them very little listening time before he did the measurements (he did measure a record number of headphones this month which implies that perhaps he had less time with each one than might otherwise have been the case). Without questioning Tyll’s integrity in any way whatsoever, I have to wonder how easy, or rather perhaps how hard, it is for him to be completely subjective when assessing the sound quality of a headphone whilst looking at the measurements. I believe that his measurements are accurate, but as he himself admitted at the end of his review of the ZX700, in which he had formed an opinion of the sound of the headphone before he did the measurement, ‘Measurements aren't everything, eh?’
 
I think that is also the most accurate thing that can be said about the 7520.
 
 
My personal opinion of the 7520 is unchanged by the measurements, and that is that it is a fantastic studio headphone which is also extremely enjoyable to listen to music on!
 

 

[c61746961]

Do you guys realize that if 7520 had no sense of accurate, deep bass (up to the lowest octave) and / or the the midrange / highend was somehow wrong, it just wouldn't translate?

You know what?, if you look closely in Tyll's plot, the raw measurements show a variance of up to 15 dB at 20 Hz, so the FR is very seal dependant, it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't seal properly in Tyll's head-time.
Flat headphones often sound bass-shy, so the bass hump probably translates well with speakers in a room, plus the debated 'missing 6 dB effect' can come in play.

I just wanted to point out that even if I disagree with most of Audiophiliac's and Jude's opinions, they seem to correlate perfectly with most people's opinions (be it headfiers or pro audio people) with regards to 7520.

Interesting, isn't?

Not really, I haven't read any kind of dissent from either Steve or Jude for years regarding popular gear, I honestly think it's even part of their job. They are not critics, they are modern-day (selective) advertisers.

Enjoy the 7520!

That's what it's all about, isn't it?, enjoy the 7520, and if it helps you make better work, then great.

 

[pcf]

Hi there,
 
I am looking for a short, straight cable for my 7520 (I am in UK).  Any suggestions ?
 
Thanks!

 

[naimless]

Hi there,

I am looking for a short, straight cable for my 7520 (I am in UK).  Any suggestions ?

Thanks!

I bought some cheap cables off of eBay I think they were listed for the Philips X1,£20 for a 3m and about £15 for a short cable they came from China(of coarse)but didn't take to long to arrive.I couldn't hear much of a difference between them and stock but I don't like coiled cables so had to find some replacements,I think these cables were mentioned earlier in the thread.

 

[pcf]

Thanks a lot! Will look it up.

 

[jsblack]

The V-Moda straight cable will do the job in an awesome way..
Plus you'll never feel it... it's so light
 
 
http://v-moda.com/audio-only-cable/

 

[pcf]

  The V-Moda straight cable will do the job in a awesome way..
Plus you'll never feel it... it's so light
 
 
http://v-moda.com/audio-only-cable/

Don't know where to get them in London...

 

[jsblack]

For me they came straight from LA to Paris for 17$... shiping included.. 4-5 days max...! 
I did this 3 times, it flies in a slim envelop so... it's quick safe ans easy.

 

[naimless]

I've decided to sell my 7520's so if anyone's interested please pm me.

 

[Mike F]

I've decided to sell my 7520's so if anyone's interested please pm me.

Yeah! Fantastic! I knew it would happen after Tyll published his measurements. Lot's of cheap spare 7520's coming up for those of us who know how good they really are!

 

[naimless]

I wasn't particularly bothered that these didn't measure very well,I still think they are excellent sounding headphones but I have just bought a pair of Oppo PM3's and while the sony's are the better sounding hp they don't beat the pm3's by much and the oppo's are a lot more comfortable and have better isolation.