[PeteSTRADAMUS]

And I was thinking of Illmatic this afternoon. We live about ten miles away from each other.
A real Sony guy!

I'm converted to the Focal side. After hours upon hours of listening, that sound signature from Focal is truly unbeatable. I did love the Sony and still love it until this day... But I grew into a different taste. In the end, we will love the sound that makes us happy.

 

[Rchandra]

Focals elear were a great headphone. Getting the utopia was a big step up. I wish I had purchased them when they were at $3,000 but none the less worth every bit of the $4,000. The Sony's are still a awesome set of cans and in terms of isolation is gonna be a good option. The zmf eikons so far have been great for me. I kinda sort of wish the z1r had the eikons sound because they are hideous.

 

[nc8000]

my understanding from the video is that tyll will make a judgement call on whether to review a headphone or not based on his first listen. if he decides to review the headphone then presumably it is subjected to the process that he explained in the video, which takes about a week. like any other reviewer, he can only judge a product as he finds it.

to say that the z1r just wasn't to tyll's taste glosses over the reasons why, which he provided in the review following his subjective and objective evaluation of it. it wasn't simply a matter of him listening to the z1r for five minutes, saying "i don't like it" and then moving on - anyone can do that.

in the end, you obviously like the z1r so tyll's assessment of it should be of little consequence to you, which is just another way of saying "whatever".

It should indeed be of little consequence, it’s just that I don’t like being called deluded and not knowing how to listen since I like the Z1R

 

[Rchandra]

M50x is a good headphone though.

 

[up late]

It should indeed be of little consequence, it’s just that I don’t like being called deluded and not knowing how to listen since I like the Z1R

for the sake of context, i think that you're referring to this article: https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/approaching-neutral

i suspect that he didn't enjoy seeing his reputation trashed by indignant z1r owners either

now can we move on from this pettiness over one reviewer's opinion and share our own impressions of the z1r? that is the purpose of this thread after all.

 

[Rchandra]

for the sake of context, i think that you're referring to this article: https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/approaching-neutral

i suspect that he didn't enjoy seeing his reputation trashed by indignant z1r owners either

now can we move on from this pettiness over one reviewer's opinion and share our own impressions of the z1r? that is the purpose of this thread after all.

I agree bro. I think I'm gonna start using my z1r for cardio. I really am interested in seeing how this headphone can last through just sweat and a little bit of abuse. Life is short makes no sense keeping this headphone in a case and letting it sit.

 

[up late]

no, not cardio workouts. please say that you're not seriously considering doing that.

 

[Rchandra]

no, not cardio workouts. please say that you're not seriously considering doing that.

I'm gonna give it a shot brother I will say I am doing it for curiosity more so then anything else. I think I will have to replace the ear pads for sure. I'll also use a cheaper shorter cable also.

 

[pietcux]

I'm gonna give it a shot brother I will say I am doing it for curiosity more so then anything else. I think I will have to replace the ear pads for sure. I'll also use a cheaper shorter cable also.

Maybe the Fibunacci spirals can improve you gym performance. But I think they are too loose fitting for workouts. Here I suggest trying a Beyer DT1770 or Sennheiser from the HD6xx line. I personally don't workout with music, i listen to my body, which is more important to me.

 

[rgs9200m]

I find the Z1R is very system dependent. (I suppose all headphones are, but for some reason the Z1R changes more so.)
On my EMM/Pinnacle amp system, the Z1R is the best I ever heard, with solid transparent bass and awesome, perfect, non-fatiguing but not dull highs.

On my Hugo TT/ Rudistor amp system, the Z1R bass is too soft.

But directly through the Hugo TT, the Z1R is very good and the bass is fine and controlled, but it does not have the real magic and superb midrange/vocals/highs that are vivid and real and natural and bloomy on the tubed Pinnacle/EMM system.

 

[cjfrbw]

I find the Z1R is very system dependent. (I suppose all headphones are, but for some reason the Z1R changes more so.)
On my EMM/Pinnacle amp system, the Z1R is the best I ever heard, with solid transparent bass and awesome, perfect, non-fatiguing but not dull highs.

On my Hugo TT/ Rudistor amp system, the Z1R bass is too soft.

But directly through the Hugo TT, the Z1R is very good and the bass is fine and controlled, but it does not have the real magic and superb midrange/vocals/highs that are vivid and real and natural and bloomy on the tubed Pinnacle/EMM system.

I made a similar observation with the Z7. On Manley 300b preamp, with a 1 watt headphone output, the Z7's variously reported bass heaviness etc. evaporated and the sound became extremely clear, detailed and almost stat like, and the bass became powerful but proportionate. The Z7 is efficient and makes a lot of volume out of ordinary sources, but likes some power to become a much more balanced and clear sounding headphone.

Haven't heard the Z1R yet, but plan to.

 

[ervin192]

I do think many new cans in these years have gone beyond the ability of many ordinary amplifiers, and those in the measuring kits, so usually I'm not surprised at all when some cans are 'measured' poor but described as powerful and balanced by users. The Z1R strengthens this belief of me after I've become its user.

 

[MacedonianHero]

for the sake of context, i think that you're referring to this article: https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/approaching-neutral

i suspect that he didn't enjoy seeing his reputation trashed by indignant z1r owners either

now can we move on from this pettiness over one reviewer's opinion and share our own impressions of the z1r? that is the purpose of this thread after all.

To Tyll's credit, he posted this where Paul Barton offered some advice on changing to a canal with a bend in it in his dummy head to offer more accurate treble readings. Jude's dummy head has this and totally explains why one measured a peak and the other didn't.

https://www.innerfidelity.com/conte...psb-m4u-8-wireless-noise-canceling-headphones

I think this case is closed now as a result, Paul's words where that based on a straight inner canal, the peak wasn't there really...and my listening sessions to a half dozen Z1Rs fall in line with this. Measuring treble is really hard to get both precision and accuracy, glad to see folks are still working on improving this.

 

[up late]

we both posted about this a few pages back:

So here's a great video with Tyll talking to Paul Barton (a great guy who's been around audio for 46+ years with PSB) with regards to measurements, dummy heads AND how they regard to the Z1R:

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/canjam-rmaf2017-people-i-love-paul-barton

Makes sense why several of us never heard a peak, or why Jude didn't measure one. Most heads have "curved" ear canals as did Jude's dummy head...but Tyll mentions his is a straight cylinder. Paul mentioned that he thought that a peak measured at 9kHz ish likely wasn't there, but the straight cylinder might have had a cause. At least we have a plausible reason for this issue.

yes, that was most interesting. i think it's also worth mentioning that the 10khz peak on jude's pre-production pair is not as pronounced as it is on tyll's review sample, according to tyll's measurements. so another plausible suggestion for the differences between the measurements could be unit variation. it will be interesting to see how tyll's pair measures on jude's rig.

i think that it's premature to suggest that the "case is closed" on the 10khz controversy until we see jude's measurements of tyll's review sample. we need to see all of the objective evidence before we can come to that conclusion don't you think? a dedicated thread in the sound science forum seems like the appropriate place to examine and discuss tyll's and jude's measurements for both z1r units rather than here.

 

[Tentacles]

a dedicated thread in the sound science forum seems like the appropriate place to examine and discuss tyll's and jude's measurements for both z1r units rather than here.

Quite right. I'll have been enjoying the Z2R for a few months by the time this silliness has settled down over the Z1R.

In other news: I've always been pretty adamant for a while that "break in" is absolute twaddle, but I swear my Z1Rs are sounding more pleasant than when I first got them. They've always sounded great to me, but the seem to be more relaxed sounding now, for lack of a better word. They're definitely a purchase I don't regret, although now I have the problem of knowing that expensive headphones may actually be worth the money and I won't want to go back.