[NickleCo]

FR is rather off with Z7M2 but it has very good macro dynamics and very little compression which makes them sound "alive", I can relate to real music being performed in a real room, most other cans compress too much. Not natural FR or timbre, but natural dynamics. And, yes, the timbre or sound character is like a high-end stereo system with a beefy amp and large speakers from the eighties. They sound the best on classic rock imo.

And yes, the cups could need some damping as there is a sense of resonances, I haven't done that myself, but I would expect it to be a good mod.

To me they sound more like im in the studio where the song was recorded due to how little resonance there is.

 

[xeizo]

To me they sound more like im in the studio where the song was recorded due to how little resonance there is.

A studio is also a great analogy; for myself I can relate to when rehearsing with a band much the same thing. Maybe you think there are little resonance, depends on what you compared to, but I think it can be even less and would make the sound a notch better.

I would say that the studio/live feel is because of the excellent macro dynamics, but yes, in a way its related to some resonance too.

 

[purk]

The Z7M2 needs a quality amplification and a good upgrade cable to sound right. The Z1R has a grander soundstage and better spatial cues and more micro details. I prefer the bass on the Z7M2 because it isn’t as elevated and boosted as the Z1R.

 

[XP_98]

What "Good Upgrade Câble" do you use ?

 

[purk]

I enjoy the Moon Audio Silver Dragon with these.

 

[MatthewWeflen]

I posted a Z7M2/Z1R comparison review:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/sony-mdr-z7m2.23953/reviews

 

[Sonic Defender]

What "Good Upgrade Câble" do you use ?

I have never experienced a cable changing the sound of anything and I have been using better quality audio devices since the mid 1980s. I used a printer USB cable with a $3000 DAC. It was perfect.

 

[purk]

I have never experienced a cable changing the sound of anything and I have been using better quality audio devices since the mid 1980s. I used a printer USB cable with a $3000 DAC. It was perfect.

Lucky you. I make my own USB cables and they do make a difference to me. I don’t pay crazy money for these cables though. DIY does save me $$$.

 

[dougms3]

I enjoy the Moon Audio Silver Dragon with these.

I also use the moon audio silver dragon with them. Sounds great.

I also have a few others that I've paired with the z7m2 but the silver dragons sound the best. My wywires platinum sounds a little too bright with the z7m2.

 

[NickleCo]

This thread be poppin out of nowhere!

 

[xeizo]

Still very good cans for any music lover, I recently bought a modern headphone amp and a dedicated DAC(SMSL SH6 and D6). I have always used what's inside my gear up to now, as I thought it was good enough. What triggered my purchase was that I bought a planar headphone, which is hungry for power and inefficient, and I didn't want it to be bottlenecked. But one can that is benefitting from this "upgrade" is the Z7M2. Everything is a notch more clean and better controlled. It's the kind of sound you can be sitting for hours without being tired of listening. This is now one of my absolute favorite cans.

 

[ljnew]

I used the Z7M2 with the WM1A (balanced port) without an additional amp, and I've had great experiences.

The upcoming update for the Walkman One firmware will bring a way to increase the output volume, which could help if you feel like just the WM1A is not enough.

Is there a way to increase the max volume output on wm1a? I have hard to drive iems that sounds superb with your software, but I need more volume.

 

[NickleCo]

Is there a way to increase the max volume output on wm1a? I have hard to drive iems that sounds superb with your software, but I need more volume.

The only way im aware of (at least when i still had it). Aside from hi gain there's mr. Walkmans custom fw which has settings to increase the loudness.

 

[Sioban]

Any EQ-preset recommendations for progressive house and darkwave?

 

[SolarCetacean]

I've joined the Z7M2 club! There was a good sale in the classifieds section earlier this week and as I've been interested in the Sony line for a while, I picked it up. I've been quite impressed with it thus far. Generally, my preferences are for brighter headphones, like Hifiman and modern Stax, and the first few minutes of listening to the Z7 yesterday (after listening to the Aeon 2 Noire for much of the day), I thought the Z7 sounded dull, muddy, and unrefined. Had this been at a meet, I would have walked away and written it off. But I decided to mentally take a step back and listen to what the Z7 was actually trying to do with the music, rather than judging it based on what I wanted to hear from it.

And I liked what I heard after that mental readjustment. I was listening to the track "Echoes" by Lola Marsh and I noted how the main vocal was projected further in front of me than on the Aeon. The Z7 has really good forward image projection for vocals. It messes with vocal tonality, but that seems to be the cost of that imaging. Bass was also very punchy and enjoyable.

But beyond just the imaging and tonality was a layer of detail that I wasn't used to hearing on my brighter headphones. In "Echoes", my mind was drawn to noticing some background vocals that I hadn't consciously focused on before despite hearing that song on headphones with greater apparent detail retrieval. It's like my mind wasn't distracted and pulled towards noticing the technical aspects (attack, decay, transients, texture, etc.) of each note being produced, all things that live in the treble which are emphasized by bright headphones, so it could more easily focus on the role that each note plays in the music. After 5 years in the headphone hobby, I think I'm finally understanding what people mean by "musicality". I'm excited to listen more and hear how my favorite tracks are rendered on the Z7.

Comfort-wise, the Z7 is one of the few headphones where my ears aren't touching or pressed against the driver. This occurs on most headphones for me because of how much my ears protrude from my head. Even headphones like the Meze Elite, widely regarded as super-comfortable, had the issue of my ears touching the unpadded metal driver. The angled drivers and thick earpads are doing work here. Clamp force is fine; not too loose and not too tight. The pleather pads don't tug at my skin like the Aeon earpads do, which I appreciate. I wish the soft plush part of the headband at the top was wider. My head is longer and narrower, so the sides where the plush gives way to the thinly padded metal touch my scalp and occasionally cause two hotspots on either side of my head. I'll probably use a headband cushion to relieve some of that problem.

Design-wise, this headphone is what I would regard as a classic Sony design. If I were asked to describe what a generic Sony headphone looks like, I would have said a black headphone with round earcups that say "Sony" on them, and that's exactly what these are. I like it - while the Z1R has a more unique bulbous design, I like the "classic Sony" look of the Z7M2.

Update: the Z7M2 I have is actually a modded version that has damping tape applied to the inside of the earcup to reduce vibrations and resonances and thicker perforated earpads.