[markl]

Thanks everyone for the kind words-- it took a lot of "work", but believe me, it was a pleasure. I do it because I like the people on this site, and I love music and the whole headphone experience. This IS my hobby.

What a fantastic collection of personalities we are! Yet there's never any real bickering, wars or flames here, despite our differences. Where else can you go on the web that can offer you that?

Guys at the Honolulu meeting-- it would be great if you could add your impressions of the R10s to this thread, even if they're just off-the-cuff observations under less than ideal circumstance ("hey man, are you done with those yet?" ). Let's add to the knowledge base. Feel free to challenge any of my observations. Cheers.

markl

 

[chych]

You keep talking about headphone fetishes and us having them or something markl... I think that really refers to a... different website...

Sorry, it just had to be said

(that link is a badie, so be warned)

 

[Gluegun]

Now for the big mystery....

will someone who uber-loves the ER4S, has godly amplification for them, and well made custom earmolds, and has fallen in lvoe with the headphones, please buy a set of MDR-R10's?

 

[headster]

markl,

Thank for the informative and thorough review. I know first hand this kind of review required much preparation and not to mention hard work. I'm truly appreciative for this hard to come by review.

Your overall summary of the R-10's tally with my impression of the Omega II's when I first compared them against many other 'phones. These two 'phones are indeed in a different category. Despite their hefty price tags, there are no perfect 'phones, just personal preferences(taste, music, design and etc..). If 'neutrality' is the ultimate goal, these two 'phones may not hit the mark, but unquestionably from striking distance. Well done.

 

[johnnylexus]

Incredible review Markl. Thank you for all your efforts. Very cool.

Question. How did you get them for $1600? Used?

Question. If somebody else on here wanted to spring the $1600 for them, is that possible, or was your *deal* unique and not capable of replication?

 

[markl]

"Question. How did you get them for $1600? Used?"

Simple, I come here every day. I have MRael to thank for drawing my attention to the availability of these headphones. They are beyond "good" into a whole other category altogether. Absolutely AMAZING. I am very, very happy.

I would be very surprised if you ever find them for $1600 again. They are worth MUCH more.


markl

 

[markl]

If you can find a way to get them BRAND NEW for $2500 USD through Japan, you would be gratified by the value per dollar, I can assure you of that.

I hope I encourage at least one person to take the plunge. You can thank me later!

markl

 

[markl]

BTW: Did I mention that my 6-month old LIKE NEW Sony CD3000s are now available for bid on e-bay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1309066737


Get a taste of the Sony R10 at a fraction of the cost. My true motives revealed!!!!!

Muah-hah-hah-ha-hah!

markl

Belive me anyway. I'm telling you the truth about the R10s!

 

[freethetree]

Wow that was a really good review. In part because the R10s are so amazing

but mostly because of the friendly feeling it has to it. Very enjoyable to read.

 

[markl]

So here are some quick follow-up observations that I'd like to be included with the rest of the review in the permenent area (moderator?).

So I was thinking a lot about how the participants in the Hawaii meeting who got to hear Vertigo's R10s all commented about a *perceived* lack of bass. The R10s through my MicroZOTL have at least as much bass as the CD3000s (no slouch) through the same headphone amp. However, I have to turn the ZOTL's volume knob up quite a bit more than I did with the CD3000s to attain the equivalent listening level. The ZOTL puts out a watt and a half, and that's actually A LOT of power for a headphone amp. I wondered if the R10s weren't actually power hungry headphones.

The R10s have a unique quality that I have come to associate with the better coimponents in my system. Namely, that it is so distortion free, you can turn it up and up and up and it just holds together without the mids and highs getting painful or hashy. In other words, turning the volume up on my ZOTL *seems to* impact the relatiove loudness of the bass more than mids and highs. Yet, you can turn it up up up and it refuses to clip! It's an industrial-strength driver on the R10, that's for sure! So, with the R10s, I have the volume up above the point I would have found optimum with the CD3000. This 25% increase in volume (or at least a quarter turn of the ZOTL's volume knob) gives me bass, mids, and highs equivalent to the CD3000.

To further test this theory, I plugged the R10s into the jack on my Marantz AV9000. I have no idea what kind of power this jack puts out, but I actually found its performance to be surprisingly competitive with the better Headroom amps with the power-hungry HD600, so its a pretty decent jack. To achive a satisfactory level of volume with the R10s required an extreme amount of volume out of the Marantz' headphone out just to produce some pretty anemic sound-- much, much more volume than the notoriously hard-to-power HD600. How can this be?

The R10s should be easier to drive given their specs I believe. Whatever the spec sheet says, my instinct tells me these phones require gobs of power to sound their best. Luckily, my ZOTL has it. Vertigo, and jatinder, can you confirm any of this?

markl

 

[Vka]

Well is there a possibility that your R-10 is too old? I wonder if old drivers have an effect on the volume output or bass output. Of course I may be wrong, but the R10 should have the same output as the CD-3000s exactly. In fact, Yohan said:
"Unlike Grado RS-1 when powered using a Discman, the bass is slow and muffled and boomy. The Sony MDR-10 is excellent with Discman. The Sony MDR-R10 sounds impressive even without amp, sounds better than a cosmic with HD-600 using discman."

Clearly, if thats the case, the R-10 are extremely efficient as it should be because of the specs ratings.

Also, Yohan said this:
MDR-R10 is almost like the Sennheiser HD-600 but its warmer, sweeter sounding and STRONGER, tauter bass.
Hmm, clearly, not the same response as the one in Honolulu meeting as some thought HD-600 was stronger in bass.

Here is the actual review:
http://headwize.powerpill.org/ubb/sh...fnum=1&tid=271

Ok, in terms of date,
Yohan R10 pair was made in 2000
Jatinder in 1998
Markl probably 1992
Vertigo 1989

 

[markl]

Well, I doubt very highly that the age of the phones has anything to with it. Do I think that in 8 years my PSB Stratus Goldi's will require 25% more power than they do today? Not a chance.

However, I do think that there is much more to amplifier/headphone synergy than we typically pay heed to. The CD3000 specs and the R10 specs ARE NOT the same. Also, with the unbelievably low number of R10 reviews available, it's hard to say we've got them "nailed".

All I can tell you is that I experienced no loss in bass going from the CD3000 to the R10 when plugged into my 1.5 watt ZOTL.

markl

 

[Xander]

Damnit, all of that hype in this review is making me want a pair myself. Heck, for a few minutes after reading that review I was ready to shell $4000. It wore off after a while, though.

 

[KR...]

Quote:

However, I do think that there is much more to amplifier/headphone synergy than we typically pay heed to.

Duh!

No matter how many times I post something like that, people never seem to care to listen

 

[KurtW]

Thanks for the great review, markl. I put off reading it as long as I could...thanks for trying to warn us with your descriptive title. I'm glad to hear it's such a nice match for the ZOTL.