[xeizo]

I used the MDR-CD770 as my main headphone for many many years, the Z7M2 is like a really natural and more luxurious direct successor to CD770

 

[SolarCetacean]

It turns out that I actually have a modded Z7M2 originally from @dougms3 The earpads are third-party perforated pads and it is partially fo.q modded (the previous owner removed the tape over the earcups themselves, but left the ones over the headband arms). The inner earpad retaining screw has been removed, so swapping earpads is simple. I'll be getting the original earpads soon, so I'll compare the two earpads and see which one I like better.

 

[dougms3]

It turns out that I actually have a modded Z7M2 originally from @dougms3 The earpads are third-party perforated pads and it is partially fo.q modded (the previous owner removed the tape over the earcups themselves, but left the ones over the headband arms). The inner earpad retaining screw has been removed, so swapping earpads is simple. I'll be getting the original earpads soon, so I'll compare the two earpads and see which one I like better.

Theres alot more done in the inside of the earcups.

If he removed the circles on the outside of the cups, the bass will become looser and a little slower.

I had a very large large circle cutout on the cups initially but found it took away too much soundstage and lessened the impact of the bass. I tried to find a medium between texture and detail vs volume and impact in the bass. The smaller dots gave a better balance imo.

The headphones really had a nice voluminous, enveloping type of bass thats different from any other headphone I've heard.

 

[SolarCetacean]

Honestly, I'm not sure what to think about my Z7 now. The seller did not mention that it was a modded Z7M2, so I didn't expect to buy a modded pair. It's like stumbling upon some rare heirloom item, but my impressions will not reflect the regular, stock Z7M2. The fo.q mods still seem a bit snake-oily to me, but at minimum it should add more damping to the inside of the earcup, so it makes sense that it reduces boominess and improves control in the bass. Sony made a big deal about the washi paper inside the earcup on the Z1R acting as damping material, so the tape should act in a similar fashion. Ultimately, I like what I'm hearing from this modded headphone and it's probably a bit closer to the Z1R with the improved damping, but I don't know if I would have liked the stock Z7, or if my impressions would be representative of the Z7M2 in general. I'll do more comparisons once I get the stock earpads.

 

[dougms3]

Honestly, I'm not sure what to think about my Z7 now. The seller did not mention that it was a modded Z7M2, so I didn't expect to buy a modded pair. It's like stumbling upon some rare heirloom item, but my impressions will not reflect the regular, stock Z7M2. The fo.q mods still seem a bit snake-oily to me, but at minimum it should add more damping to the inside of the earcup, so it makes sense that it reduces boominess and improves control in the bass. Sony made a big deal about the washi paper inside the earcup on the Z1R acting as damping material, so the tape should act in a similar fashion. Ultimately, I like what I'm hearing from this modded headphone and it's probably a bit closer to the Z1R with the improved damping, but I don't know if I would have liked the stock Z7, or if my impressions would be representative of the Z7M2 in general. I'll do more comparisons once I get the stock earpads.

You should demo the stock z7m2, you will be quite disappointed.

While I believe sony has the tech to make an excellent driver, it seems like their accounting dept makes final decisions on what materials to use for the headphone. The driver sounds very different when removed from the housing btw, as with all headphone drivers I guess. When you hear the difference between the driver out of the housing and the in the headphone, you can kind of understand what the resonance and vibration does to the music.

If the fo.q tape seems snake oily, it won't be just me thats fooled by it. Look at jake's impression after using it.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/aliexpress-cables.963919/page-197#post-17438732

In that modded z7m2, I used 3 different kinds of fo.q tape in it and resoldered the driver side solder joint with mundorf supreme solder. I also wrapped the driver wire as far as I could with copper tape and teflon over it. Unfortunately, the connector part of the headphone is difficult if not impossible to remove without destroying the headphone, so I wasn't able to replace the driver wire, which I believe would have yielded even greater results.

If you open up the headphone, you will see alot of strategically placed bits of tape everywhere where I thought would need some dampening then tested with trial and error listening to ensure that it yielded a positive result. Sometimes I removed the tape after listening then reapplied to make sure it wasn't placebo, I wasted many packets of the fo.q tape in this way.

There were a couple times where I returned it to stock and trust me, the mods are a huge improvement. If you want, you can return it to stock fairly easily, except for the solder.

The mod is originally from cdacosta and I just built upon it.

 

[SolarCetacean]

There were a couple times where I returned it to stock and trust me, the mods are a huge improvement. If you want, you can return it to stock fairly easily, except for the solder.

The mod is originally from cdacosta and I just built upon it.

Thanks for going into detail on the mods. I don't argue against the final result of all of these mods and I stand by the impressions I made a few posts ago. Part of my apprehension is that on another forum, some users were interested in reading my impressions on the Z7M2, and since I have a one-of-a-kind item on my hands now, I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking that this improved sound is the same sound they'll get if they buy a Z7M2 straight from Sony.

 

[dougms3]

Thanks for going into detail on the mods. I don't argue against the final result of all of these mods and I stand by the impressions I made a few posts ago. Part of my apprehension is that on another forum, some users were interested in reading my impressions on the Z7M2, and since I have a one-of-a-kind item on my hands now, I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking that this improved sound is the same sound they'll get if they buy a Z7M2 straight from Sony.

If you do get a chance to demo the stock version, I'd love to hear your comparison. I think the biggest difference between the two is the modded version has much more control, detail, texture to the bass. Its also less peaky than stock in the treble yet more detailed, nuanced and resolving, mids are also a bit more prominent.

While I'm a sony fanboy, I think they dropped the ball on the z7m2 in stock form. Luckily with cdacosta's help, I was able to tune to it more to my liking.

I will tell you that I spent hundreds of hours of critical listening and opened the headphones at least 50 times to adjust and readjust things. I think its a highly capable driver and to me sony seemed to discontinue tuning it so it doesn't compete with the z1r (I also think its the same driver).

There are some things that I still wanted to try with the headphone that I never got around to, such as using a large circle of the thinner ta32 tape on the outside of the earcup. The earcups are weak point of the design. While it is aluminum, its very thin and is prone to excessive resonance and vibration. Enough to the point where it will slow down the driver.

The previous owner shouldn't have removed the dots on the earcup, its immediately noticeable that the bass gets flabbier and slower without it.

 

[Craig Arnold]

Without having read all 150 pages.

I have had the Z7M2 for a couple of years now and find it to be one of my favourite sets - in stock form.

Not specifically an "audiophile" set, but supremely comfortable and very pleasant for listening to TV/Movies when my partner has fallen asleep on the sofa. Compared to a lot of other mid-level sets it lacks in some areas but I really like it as an all-rounder.

If I had to just have one set of headphones I would take the Sony above these other mid-level sets that I own: HD6XX, Fostex TRX00 , Beyerdynamic T5Pmk2, Focal Bathys & Elex. I would just the Z72 because it is so much more comfortable and sounds good enough.

I would still choose my LCD-XC because the sound quality is a fairly big step up and they are comfortable even though a bit heavy.

 

[SolarCetacean]

The original earpads arrived today. It took a bit of finagling to get them on, as the lip of fabric around the earpad is longer than on the aftermarket ones, but I got them mounted. From my initial listening impressions, I think I like them more than the aftermarket ones. Vocal timbre isn't as messed up to my ears, and when I ran a sine sweep, the aftermarket ones produced a dip around 2.7 KHz that affected vocals while that dip doesn't appear with the stock pads. Bass is reduced, but still full and punchy, and there were times when I thought the aftermarket pads over-emphasized the bass. The soundstage and vocal placement aren't as wide and deep as with the aftermarket pads, but the qualities aren't gone, just reduced. And finally, it seems that there is more treble. Upper treble and air is the thing that I was missing with the aftermarket pads, and now there's more definition and body to hi-hats and other high-hitting instruments. Importantly, to me it doesn't seem like the increase in treble has diminished the musicality that I first noticed when I listened with the aftermarket pads. There's a bit more spice to the sound, but it doesn't overtake the fundamentals and lower harmonics.

Perhaps some of this is just the novelty of hearing the different pads, but as someone who likes having "air" and "shimmer" in the sound, I prefer the stock pads. But I'm glad I have the aftermarket ones to be able to switch to that darker, wider, and bassier sound when I feel like it. Oh and comfort-wise, I don't find it to that that much worse than the aftermarket ones. The foam in the stock pads is firmer, maybe due to lack of use, but my ears still don't touch the driver despite the reduced thickness.

 

[dougms3]

The original earpads arrived today. It took a bit of finagling to get them on, as the lip of fabric around the earpad is longer than on the aftermarket ones, but I got them mounted. From my initial listening impressions, I think I like them more than the aftermarket ones. Vocal timbre isn't as messed up to my ears, and when I ran a sine sweep, the aftermarket ones produced a dip around 2.7 KHz that affected vocals while that dip doesn't appear with the stock pads. Bass is reduced, but still full and punchy, and there were times when I thought the aftermarket pads over-emphasized the bass. The soundstage and vocal placement aren't as wide and deep as with the aftermarket pads, but the qualities aren't gone, just reduced. And finally, it seems that there is more treble. Upper treble and air is the thing that I was missing with the aftermarket pads, and now there's more definition and body to hi-hats and other high-hitting instruments. Importantly, to me it doesn't seem like the increase in treble has diminished the musicality that I first noticed when I listened with the aftermarket pads. There's a bit more spice to the sound, but it doesn't overtake the fundamentals and lower harmonics.

Perhaps some of this is just the novelty of hearing the different pads, but as someone who likes having "air" and "shimmer" in the sound, I prefer the stock pads. But I'm glad I have the aftermarket ones to be able to switch to that darker, wider, and bassier sound when I feel like it. Oh and comfort-wise, I don't find it to that that much worse than the aftermarket ones. The foam in the stock pads is firmer, maybe due to lack of use, but my ears still don't touch the driver despite the reduced thickness.

I agree with the improvement in the top end with the stock pads. They did have better nuanced treble and less bass than the aftermarket pads.

I didn't have any problem with the stock earpads except that they were so hot.

I have large ears and the material its made of, caused my ears to get extremely hot, heat bite if you will.

 

[SolarCetacean]

I didn't have any problem with the stock earpads except that they were so hot.

I have large ears and the material its made of, caused my ears to get extremely hot, heat bite if you will.

There's a cold snap in the US northeast right now, so the added warmth from the stock pads is actually welcome, but that will likely change in the summer. Perhaps the aftermarket pads will be summer pads and the stock ones will be winter pads, lol. Changing them with the season, like snow tires.

 

[kamvai]

SONY MDR Z7 M2 + S

SONY MDR Z7M2 + SONY WM1AM2 + SONY PHA-3

 

[kamvai]

Looking for plain carrying case for my SONY MDR Z7M2 any sugestions? Best regards.

 

[NickleCo]

Looking for plain carrying case for my SONY MDR Z7M2 any sugestions? Best regards.

the brainwavz molded large headphone case should work with them

 

[jb2unique]

Looking for plain carrying case for my SONY MDR Z7M2 any sugestions? Best regards.

I use this case for Z7M2 since I threw away the box due to moving.

https://www.amazon.com/Geekria-Full-Size-Headphones-Protective-Accessories/dp/B06VXYSH2B/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=8ZH85XZ7MQ4F&keywords=sony+mdr-z7m2+case&qid=1680630958&sprefix=sony+mdr+z7m,aps,208&sr=8-3