I am really suspicious of pure silver cables, though they may work in a few situations. I know nothing of how they would work with the Z1R? But using pure silver interconnection cables changed my Woo 5LE and AKG 701s to pure mayhem. At that point I realized the power of cables and the power of pure silver.
Yes - I wouldn't mind silver plating however I don't see anyone doing it. It looks like only pure silver is available. I guess Sony also likes silver plating based on the included cable. It is just a shame it is so single stand and thin.
I do like my Axios copper however I continue to wonder about a touch more silvery sparkle which wouldn't be bad
Yes - I wouldn't mind silver plating however I don't see anyone doing it. It looks like only pure silver is available. I guess Sony also likes silver plating based on the included cable. It is just a shame it is so single stand and thin.
I do like my Axios copper however I continue to wonder about a touch more silvery sparkle which wouldn't be bad
Well, that’s the upgradeitis at hand. Yes? Looking for the slight thread of improvements? I’ve been the copper guy for awhile, and it started when my cheap copper “Monster” interconnects won out over silver, while using decidedly bright k701s. Though even with Denon AHD7000s I started to love copper cables, even to get some truly expensive solid strand copper interconnects. Now it seems I at times notice a difference and at times don’t? Though I’m pretty happy with the Z1R top end treble. It seems airy, detailed and has soundstage just how I like it with the Z1R in place. Though I surly hope I don’t start to change my mind!
I’m sure you could get some Silver Dragons, and if they don’t fly right reterminate them and alocate them to other headphones. But myself, I’m scared of pure silver.
My friend recently changed his for a new one, SN around 4000; the earpads are slightly different in shape, and unfortunately one of them has a minor fabrication defect. As for the sound there seems to be a little more highs and less bass, but we don't think there is change in quality. So the build pretty much remain the same.
That’s the cool thing about flagships, many people buy them then in two years there ends up being some on the used market. Always a good time to get a back-up pair from someone who does not get the signature. I figure this year we will see a bunch drop into the used market. A great time to get your own second pair for comparison.
Just spent the last day and a half listening to these on my main rig and I'm struggling to explain why I both like and don't like them. I'm using a Metrum Pavane Level 3 -> Liquid Carbon X (SE). I prefer a slightly warmer tonality and the bass->mids sound perfect to me (maybe a slight less mid-bass would be better but I like the sub bass extension), but from upper-mids/low-treble on up somethings just seems "off" tonally especially with certain cymbals. Also pretty sure there's a strange reverb/reflection thing going on. I also get sibilance on these where other TOTL headphones I've heard don't. These sound similar to the HD650 to me with a bit more bass, a touch more air (albeit unevenly) and a much larger sound stage.
That being said of all the closed backs I've heard I'd probably take this over all of them.
For reference I compare my headphones tonality against my speaker system (pavane -> parasound halo -> Ascend Sierra 2 + Rythmik L12)
Just spent the last day and a half listening to these on my main rig and I'm struggling to explain why I both like and don't like them. I'm using a Metrum Pavane Level 3 -> Liquid Carbon X (SE). I prefer a slightly warmer tonality and the bass->mids sound perfect to me (maybe a slight less mid-bass would be better but I like the sub bass extension), but from upper-mids/low-treble on up somethings just seems "off" tonally especially with certain cymbals. Also pretty sure there's a strange reverb/reflection thing going on. I also get sibilance on these where other TOTL headphones I've heard don't. These sound similar to the HD650 to me with a bit more bass, a touch more air (albeit unevenly) and a much larger sound stage.
That being said of all the closed backs I've heard I'd probably take this over all of them.
For reference I compare my headphones tonality against my speaker system (pavane -> parasound halo -> Ascend Sierra 2 + Rythmik L12)
The Sony TA-ZH1ES/1Z/1A and Z1R combo does not produce any sibilant artifacts. IMO. You also may take more than a day to figure the Z1R out? They are not with-out their falts and different character traits, but after time much of the “hay-what’s-that” stuff seems to go away. Probably the slight back placement of male vocals took the longest for me to get used to. Though Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) and Geddy Lee (Rush).....seem to be above the frequency in question. And there is a strange reverb reflection, which could be “just-that” or driver distortions, though if you read much of this thread, folks simply either get used to it or don’t hear it anymore if they truly get onboard with the Z1R. I have learned that I’m probably a “lower-mid-head” other than a bass head, and at first the Z1R had too much of a lower mid-response.........even for me? Still in time I learned to love the headphone completely, and it became the stuff of dreams.
The whole conflicting like/dislike conundrum has been a facet of life for almost every owner here on the thread. The headphones are so weird on first listen that it challenges the ideas we have learned about playback. And.....I can’t tell you how or why the “fairy of SQ” comes along and magically settles all the artifacts down to a both tolerable and loveable level with time?
Why am I defending the headphone?
Because most of my review after one day would parallel your review in every word, except the sibilant character trait. Lol
Most members here who own and like or love the Z1R know that one of the most respected reviewers of headphones (Tyll Hertsens) disliked the Z1R after considerable listening time.
Still the question always arises if reviewers judge the Z1R with a mismatch of equipment? That one question borders on insanity as most would say their test equipment is fine. Tyll never used the complete Signature Series when reviewing the Z1R, and few reviews are even made with the complete system at hand! Some now are reporting even greater sonic results with $600-$1000 aftermarket headphone cables, as if the Z1R can strategically climb even higher and higher, where the sky is the limit.
And..... there is maybe no group of headphone reviewers who would question the stability and “flatness” of their test rig. What reviewer is going to question their test bench?
I personally think the Z1R was only made to go with the Signature Series. The headphone only sounds correct for myself with the Signature Series in place, though you do have a few Head-Fi members getting even better sound results with special upgraded hand matched gear.
But after a couple of days (4-5) I became aware of the good parts and was able to start looking past or maybe ignoring the Z1R drawbacks? It’s really strange as most of the time I can get a pretty good idea of most headphones instantly? But the Z1R isn’t like most headphones.
The Z1R ruined my ears. When I heard the HD800S, I thought it was great. Then I started listening to the Z1R which I thought was better. After a while it didn't seem special anymore and I listened to the HD800S again. It was worse than I remembered!
I've heard the Z1R plugged directly into a sound card through the stock cable, and the Z1R through Kimber Cable to that fancy gold SONY DAP as well as the large SONY amp and I didn't notice any differences.
The Z1R ruined my ears. When I heard the HD800S, I thought it was great. Then I started listening to the Z1R which I thought was better. After a while it didn't seem special anymore and I listened to the HD800S again. It was worse than I remembered!
I've heard the Z1R plugged directly into a sound card through the stock cable, and the Z1R through Kimber Cable to that fancy gold SONY DAP as well as the large SONY amp and I didn't notice any differences.
The Z1R sound really makes the HD800 sound become thinner, veiled and more distorted. But it's still tolerable for me to listen to the hd 800 under lower volume for a long time, it's less energetic as well.
The Z1R sound really makes the HD800 sound become thinner, veiled and more distorted. But it's still tolerable for me to listen to the hd 800 under lower volume for a long time, it's less energetic as well.
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