[jaibautista]

Joining the bandwagon!

Between the OEM all-pleather pads and the YAXI hybrid pads (alcantara + pleather), i very much prefer the latter as they offer more space between the drivers and my ears. When I first tried them on, straight from the box, I heard some channel imbalance, perhaps because the drivers were resting on my rather large ears at a sub-optimal angle (the audio image i was getting was non-centered, even though the track i used to test the headphones had center imaging); I even thought that maybe something was wrong with the drivers themselves. But after replacing the OEM pads with the YAXI pads, the problem was immediately solved.

I'm coming from a pair of MDR-Z7M2s and I feel like I am able to get 80-85% of the enjoyment/experience with the M1STs minus the weight and size. And since I also have the MDR-1AM2s, I can just use the supplied 4.4mm cable with my NW-WM1A when outside the house (and I thought they sounded okay, but not as dynamic/punchy when paired with my desktop setup, i.e., an RME ADI-2 DAC FS paired with a Tom Christiansen HPA-1 amplifier).

I also have the MDR-CD900ST, a modded pair c/o Cartonode Engineering (the ones I have are the CE-02, with detachable cables and the hinge system a la MDR-7506), and I don't think the M1STs improve drastically over the CD900STs. That said, I welcome the slight bass boost with the slight smoothening of the treble (the latter made the CD900STs a fatiguing listen for long hours). If you already have the CD900STs, then getting the M1STs might be redundant. Even so, if you have the budget to accommodate both headphones, why not?

I can't recommend the M1STs enough. I should've bought them sooner!

 

[KingForKings]

Partially off-topic: Anyone with a DT1990Pro? How is the airiness and general sound compared to M1ST? The M1ST is still my analytical headphone but NDH20 was always truly my favourite and every flaw was based on bad DAC / old motherboard audio source.

 

[ArchDragoon]

So I just got my M1ST on Wednesday. Great headphones indeed but the pads are way too thin

I have brainwavz sheepskin earpads but they keep spin around the cup. Bruh... hope Dekoni make better one for M1ST.

 

[Tsiklon]

So I just got my M1ST on Wednesday. Great headphones indeed but the pads are way too thin

I have brainwavz sheepskin earpads but they keep spin around the cup. Bruh... hope Dekoni make better one for M1ST.

Big recommendations to Yaxi they make one specifically for this headphone “PRO M-ST”.

I’ve noticed the Fostex T50’s are also very lacking in the pad department, basically as thin and awful as these. I couldn’t imagine having to use either for a full work day with how lacking they are.

 

[equalspeace]

Big recommendations to Yaxi they make one specifically for this headphone “PRO M-ST”.

I’ve noticed the Fostex T50’s are also very lacking in the pad department, basically as thin and awful as these. I couldn’t imagine having to use either for a full work day with how lacking they are.

I didn't like the Yaxi pads. Using Dekoni sheepskin ones to good effect. The Yaxis to my ears sucked out the bass.

Still loving this headphone. Whenever I reach for it I feel like I'm reaching for a treat

 

[ArchDragoon]

Hmmm I didn't see Dekoni make one for M1ST... could it be other model's pad also work on M1ST ?

 

[KingForKings]

Hmmm I didn't see Dekoni make one for M1ST... could it be other model's pad also work on M1ST ?

Yes, because these oval pads are most likely the same size as any other studio monitor headphone except Sennheiser.

 

[KingForKings]

Sony MDR M1ST final review / impressions. I takes me about 7-12 months to fully comprehend headphones with quirks. Compared to KPH30i which I fully understood after 2 months. My ears are playing games with me like Pink-glasses trick. I do write again about these because there is only a few talking about the M1ST. TLDR here is DO NOT GET THESE if you are not wanting to toss money to try out weird headphones.

About myself. I am a retro gamer focusing on PC gaming from XP to present and PS1-3. I care about mostly neutral audio presentation. If the original intention is missing I gets on my nerves but I do understand and like fun headphones.
Started with Beyer, few tests and refunds, Neumann NDH20, Fiio Q5S DAC/AMP, Sony MDR M1ST and Koss KPH30i. The newest upgrade is to the Topping A90. Strangely the NDH20 pads were out of specs and were of timbre from the get-go. I have no clue why,
which made my patch back to my favourite sound, the NDH20 with Harman tuning, exponentially hard.

The Sony MDR M1ST are live-recording headphones with no value in mastering for anyone who has no knowledge on who to do music.
Professionals might like these especially in Asia when other brands might be a lot more expensive due to import tax / shipping. Got HartAudio Cables for free because the previous NDH20 proprietary cable was too big. Brainwavez pads to remove explosive treble spikes and add soundstage.

I keep it it quick and easy because I had enough time with my Topping A90 to notice that power was the big part holding back my Neumann NDH20.
Along the way I also got the Koss KPH30i which confirms the ideas I have since December (getting the M1ST).

The headphone is a really bright headphone. I only had the 1770pro for few days but that was nowhere this bright.
I assume there is some airy trickery with way too much brightness.
Bass is defined and narrow. Every resolvable note can be heard like it is separated from the rest of the songs. No big stage for the bass, mainly centre
and does not bleed into other regions I think but that is mainly because of the airiness which I find dangerous.

Mids are really great. Especially for classical and game OSTs. Not much to say. Depending on the music voices can be elevated more than with the NDH20.
Voices can be really peaky. S sounds are the worst. I think I can also remember E-sounds in Japanese songs being really loud. I do not hear any real difference
between male and female voice quality.

Treble on the other hand is the downfall for me. I in theory still love the headphone but the insane sensitivity can mean some games and media jump from normal
playing volume to up to 30db according to my iPhone. A good example is Phasmophobia where the switch-sounds of any handheld device is just pure treble to
begin with and in the original Thief trilogy normal foot sounds made by your character are just loud.

I am bad distinguishing volumes since ever but that is not the problem. The problem for me lies in the airiness. The airiness hides ear fatigue when not focusing on it when not focused on it.
After 30 minutes max, I already feel the effects of unprotected noise levels. NDH20 or any other headphone I've tried including 58x do make the ears protect itself and are more intimate so that you just hear quieter
when the music is too loud to begin with and I can adjust to the volume more easily and keep on a quieter volume.

Gaming-wise the bass is kinda like a sub-woofer like in 007 films or Edge of Tomorrow but it is no real bass like most headphones and all real speakers do. It lacks depth and is separated.
Guns in games can sound real nice with the bass, noticed in DaysGone. It reminds me of the fake iPhone XS bass. It can not replicate the full bass range or normal sound of bass I don't know
Soundstage and imaging is great. Audio is not necessary inside your head all the time and can be 2-3x of the size of the 58x. The soundstage is somewhat faked. I prefer proper soundstage
with no tricks like the Senn's and NDH20 (beyers, Koss etc. too). If I want to listen to music. I mainly try to keep myself in the 12o'clock area. Compare that with the Sony's it sounds like the 3o'clock volume if I want to match the NDH's volume to the M1ST but the airiness hides it.
Simple volume changes in-game on first startup are impossible to match for me.

Games with good audio like Squad and Escape from Tarkov which I do not play btw. but know offer a good advantage with the M1ST over other headphones but the hidden volume really makes tinnitus jump temporary up to a week which is why I do not use the M1ST at all.

PS I missed the balanced part. It just narrows the whole frequencies and to be bassy and no sound stage, no imaging.

TLDR The headphone is only good for live recording, no editing and are useless when headphones like DT770 pro for some reason do the job already (or Senn HD300pro or AKG371). If I would have known that I need brainwavez pads to make it sound properly I would have said no. Explosive Treble without pad swap for my preference. Too sensitive volume wise and V-shaped / Treble boosted. Volume gets hidden behind faked airiness. Games give an advantage but hearing damage from voice chat or extremely loud sounds can occur in theory. I do no EQ because I am lazy.

 

[alpha80]

Well got a chance to try these at the Sony store and here are my impressions based off listening with my Xperia phone:

First off the Positives

The build quality of the M1ST is indeed very nice, good looks and nice feel to them. No creaking or groaning of the joints. The earpads are nicely made and very comfy. It is slightly heavier than the MDR-1AM2 but still very light weight and comfortable. You could wear these for a long time and not get ear pain. Heat build up is an issue though as they are leather pads and they retain heat, not the best for summer!

The soundstage was pretty wide for a closed back headphone it sounded like it went a bit past the edge of the earcups which is about as good as one can expect from a closed back unless they are doing something crazy like the Argon modded T50s apprently do. It was about as wide as my Yaxi Pad Porta Pro which is plenty.

The imaging was outstanding, really impressed by it. I used Yosi Horikawa's Letter to test it and the sound of him writing the letter went all the way from the edge of its soundstange traveled through my head and came out the other side. Very impressive. It sounded about as good as a T60RP which to date is the best imaging I have heard. Not sure it can get much better than that on a closed back.

Now on to the mixed part, the frequency response has some issues ( though some intentional I am sure as I will elaborate later)

The subbass extension is rather poor on the M1ST. It goes down to around 34hzish (though not as loud as it should be) and then falls off really rapidly becoming almost inaudible around 28hz. This is the biggest technical negative for me, as it really should be able to go all the way down to 20 at a reasonable loudness and it didnt do that. Obviously if you crank the volume the subbass becomes loud enough to be plenty audible but the rest of the frequency range will be destroying your hearing at that volume! I didnt have a chance to mess with EQing up the subbass but I would guess it would take EQ well.

The bass above 34hz is very much more impressive, from around 50hz on up its very flat sounding. It doesnt have much of the dynamic midbass hump at all which is really impressive for a closed back dynamic if you are looking for a neutral sound. The bass sounds clean and is very well controlled, there is zero bleed into the mids or rest of the frequency response. It sounded excellent other than the subbass issue.

The lower-mid midrange was very neutral sounding. It was neither warm nor cold sounding to me, though I guess many people may find it cold if you are used to Hd 650 or Porta Pro style mids. It reminded me of the DT1990s mids which is a very good place to be.

The upper mids are a very different story and are the worst part of the headphone for me personally. They are very dipped from past 1k to around 4.3k. Substantially. I just returned a Brainwavz alara for having this same issue, and while they arent as dipped as the Alara overall its very noticeable. The 3.5-4.1k range in particular was really dipped, and I am someone who is quite sensitive to that range. This really softened the attack of most instruments and female vocals in particular which sounded a bit muted because of this dip. It gave the headphones a somewhat dull character.

The treble however is really well done. The dipped upper mids smoothly transition back into the treble being quite neutral sounding. There was a little extra energy in the 8k and the 10k region which gives a little more clarity to its sound but for the most part everything sounded at the proper level. I would guess people who are used to darker treble will think it bright, but to me it again reminded me of the DT1990 but without the harsh peaks.

The dip in the upper mids combined with the rest of the frequency range being pretty neutral overall gave it a quite unique sound. Everything sounded clear and clean with kind of an airy sheen around it but very soft in attack. Male vocals sounded really good and there was very little of the cupped hands effect you find on closed backs. Female vocals were a bit lacking for my taste as they just sounded overly soft, but still quite pleasant.

The vocals are also pushed a bit back compared to things like the HD 650 which give you that nice vocal intimacy. The vocals kind of sit in the middle of everything with instruments jumping out a bit at you and coming close to your ear. Everything is just kind of left and right of the vocals if that makes sense. A vocal sandwich..if you will!

The MDr-m1ST did improve the longer I listened to it as my ears got used to the dipped upper mids and compensated but it was still not really to my taste. I like a good amount of energy in the upper mids to make guitars exciting and female vocals pop. Maybe if I had more time with them I might end up really enjoying the softer sound. I am kind of tempted to get them as late night headphones as they would be very nice for chilling out before bed.

It may seem I am being negative with these but I actually think Sony has made some of the finest monitor headphones to date with the MDr-M1St. While I dont know if I would buy them for personal listening as its not to my taste, I think this frequency response is absolutely perfect for someone doing audio work all day.

Our ears are most sensitive to the upper mid range and that is the area that is mostly likely to cause fatigue over time. The way these are tuned you could easily use these all day at a reasonable volume, be able to hear everything you need to hear and take them off at the end of the day with no ringing or discomfort of any kind.

I think these would also be perfect for someone who listens to music all day in the background while doing work or not really focusing on the music and its neutral enough to not fully rob music of its joy but it wont fatigue you.

Well said. Are you someone who has spent a decent amount of time using some or all of the following?:

BeyerDynamic DT250
Sony MDR-V6
Sennheiser HD600

 

[Sheep3000]

So, I got the MDR-M1ST back in December, and LOVED the stock sound. Super natural treble, super relaxed mids. But, they weren't perfect though - I found them to be slightly muddy in the low mids and too bass leaning for my tastes. I also found the actual quality of the bass to be rather lackluster and boomy. So I made a blind purchase for the Brainwavz pads that several of you have recommended, and.. didn't like them. The mids felt very washed out, and the bass and treble were way too forward for my liking. The mids felt like a tiny ship being knocked around by an entire sea of bass and treble when compared directly to the stock pads.

So.. as a solution, I purchased the Yaxi Pro M-ST pads; as I've heard that they lower the bass a little and improve its extension into the sub bass. They are also said to improve separation of individual elements of songs, as well as comfort, but comfort wasn't an issue for me with these headphones in the first place. They have not come in yet, but I will update you all with my thoughts when they do!

TL;DR: Stock pads very good but low mids and bass too forward for my tastes. Getting Yaxi Pro M-ST pads soon, with hopes that they will improve those things about this headphone. But overall, worth $450 CAD AND the blind!

 

[alpha80]

Joining the bandwagon!

Between the OEM all-pleather pads and the YAXI hybrid pads (alcantara + pleather), i very much prefer the latter as they offer more space between the drivers and my ears. When I first tried them on, straight from the box, I heard some channel imbalance, perhaps because the drivers were resting on my rather large ears at a sub-optimal angle (the audio image i was getting was non-centered, even though the track i used to test the headphones had center imaging); I even thought that maybe something was wrong with the drivers themselves. But after replacing the OEM pads with the YAXI pads, the problem was immediately solved.

I'm coming from a pair of MDR-Z7M2s and I feel like I am able to get 80-85% of the enjoyment/experience with the M1STs minus the weight and size. And since I also have the MDR-1AM2s, I can just use the supplied 4.4mm cable with my NW-WM1A when outside the house (and I thought they sounded okay, but not as dynamic/punchy when paired with my desktop setup, i.e., an RME ADI-2 DAC FS paired with a Tom Christiansen HPA-1 amplifier).

I also have the MDR-CD900ST, a modded pair c/o Cartonode Engineering (the ones I have are the CE-02, with detachable cables and the hinge system a la MDR-7506), and I don't think the M1STs improve drastically over the CD900STs. That said, I welcome the slight bass boost with the slight smoothening of the treble (the latter made the CD900STs a fatiguing listen for long hours). If you already have the CD900STs, then getting the M1STs might be redundant. Even so, if you have the budget to accommodate both headphones, why not?

I can't recommend the M1STs enough. I should've bought them sooner!

In comparison to the

CD900ST stock
CD900ST with alternate pads
M1ST stock
M1ST Yaxi hybrid pads

Where would you rank each in terms of mid/upper-mid/lower treble prevalence ?

 

[alpha80]

So, I got the MDR-M1ST back in December, and LOVED the stock sound. Super natural treble, super relaxed mids. But, they weren't perfect though - I found them to be slightly muddy in the low mids and too bass leaning for my tastes. I also found the actual quality of the bass to be rather lackluster and boomy. So I made a blind purchase for the Brainwavz pads that several of you have recommended, and.. didn't like them. The mids felt very washed out, and the bass and treble were way too forward for my liking. The mids felt like a tiny ship being knocked around by an entire sea of bass and treble when compared directly to the stock pads.

So.. as a solution, I purchased the Yaxi Pro M-ST pads; as I've heard that they lower the bass a little and improve its extension into the sub bass. They are also said to improve separation of individual elements of songs, as well as comfort, but comfort wasn't an issue for me with these headphones in the first place. They have not come in yet, but I will update you all with my thoughts when they do!

TL;DR: Stock pads very good but low mids and bass too forward for my tastes. Getting Yaxi Pro M-ST pads soon, with hopes that they will improve those things about this headphone. But overall, worth $450 CAD AND the blind!

Any updates on the Yaxi M-ST pads ?

 

[Sheep3000]

Any updates on the Yaxi M-ST pads ?

Still in japan..

I'll let you guys know when I get it. In the meantime, I'm giving the Brainwavz another chance.

So far, the bass is not quite as bad as I remember, but the treble is still as hissy as it was the last time I tried these pads.

Hopefully the Yaxi's have more detailed treble and bass..

 

[Sheep3000]

I might go back to the Dekoni pads. Listening from the ZX300 and the exp with the Brainwavz isn’t as good as when I had the Dekoni pads on. Brainwavz is better from the SA-1 though. Weird how these factors interplay. The ZX300 will be the M1ST primary partner. It’s like they were made for each other lol

Question: How would you compare the sound between the Brainwavz and the Dekoni pads? Would you say they are similar?

 

[equalspeace]

Question: How would you compare the sound between the Brainwavz and the Dekoni pads? Would you say they are similar?

From memory i'd say they are somewhat similar. The Dekonis were clearly better to my ears though