Indeed. Sony is musical euphonic, not at all neutral or “reference” and I love how it just draws me into the music and let me enjoy it rather than analyze it. And to me it is great no matter what genre I throw at it
Yes, to be honest, this is what I'm seeking in my journey into the nether realms of Head-Fi - musicality, euphony, color, excitement, et al. I'm not a fan of neutrality and I shun away from absolute clarity. It's a bit of a misnomer if I consider myself an audiophile, if I think about it. Whilst I am seeking the best-sounding gear for my music, it's my music that gives me the impetus to spend/upgrade.
The very concept of audiophilia and its tenets of "quest for clarity" and "as the artist intended" are not my cups of tea, really. If my gear doesn't make me want to bop my head to my music, it's something that's not worth a discussion. In that context, Sony reigns as one of my favorite brands in this hobby; they take the path less travelled, often prioritizing melody and enjoyment over everything else.
Hey mate, apologies for the delayed reply. Work getting in the way of my downtime.
I was expecting an uncontrolled hot, muddy mess. There is no doubt that these things are for bass lovers, but never realised I was one until I picked up this headphone? I've been trying to identify the high end peak, but have been unsuccessful. I even checked my audiogram from less than 12 months ago to see if it was my hearing loss, still considered normal, but way down from what it used to be. I wish I was even more careful trying to protect my hearing, but that's life. Biggest loss is my left ear at 8kHz, only responsive at 20dB.
Maybe that's what is in play here, but I just can't find that uncontrolled top end, let alone the spike. There is no fatigue. I either run out of battery power on my source or end up with a numb bum before there is any danger of my ears giving up. Bass response doesn't seem inappropriate.
They aren't perfect. Occasionally I come across a song that does seem to sound recessed through these. Can't win them all. Maybe they should win them all for $2500, but then I wonder about those who buy the Focal Stellia at $4500 before remembering it's all subjective. To my ears, the Z1Rs do almost everything wonderfully and make the little stumbles forgivable. I don't think any headphone is "worth" the price at this end of the market, but we're really talking about Audio Jewellery here at this price point.
It was a shame that Denon's 7200 and 9200 series headphones were impossible to find. But after everything else I had a listen to, these are closed headphone end game. I don't have the words and I'm sure we're all sick of the audio world cliches. They have, without question, a very different sound but I continue to react with surprise and get a wide, stupid grin on my face listening to these. A Flagship headphone that doesn't take itself too seriously? Imagine that!
P.S. My lovely wife hates them. They're not as clear or good quality as the freebie earbuds that shipped with her Google Pixel phone. So remember to treat my opinion with the skepticism it deserves!
Yes, to be honest, this is what I'm seeking in my journey into the nether realms of Head-Fi - musicality, euphony, color, excitement, et al. I'm not a fan of neutrality and I shun away from absolute clarity. It's a bit of a misnomer if I consider myself an audiophile, if I think about it. Whilst I am seeking the best-sounding gear for my music, it's my music that gives me the impetus to spend/upgrade.
The very concept of audiophilia and its tenets of "quest for clarity" and "as the artist intended" are not my cups of tea, really. If my gear doesn't make me want to bop my head to my music, it's something that's not worth a discussion. In that context, Sony reigns as one of my favorite brands in this hobby; they take the path less travelled, often prioritizing melody and enjoyment over everything else.
Malevolent, you just took the words out of my mouth. I used to search for the elusive, true neutral sound. In my deadset honest opinion, if you want that you have to go to a concert hall and listen live. Generally speaking, recorded music has too many "middlemen" to be as the artist intended. All that neutrality searching got tiresome and really did get in the way of the music.
I have a truly love-hate relationship with Sony, but when they get their eye in, they really hit it for six.
Hey mate, apologies for the delayed reply. Work getting in the way of my downtime.
I was expecting an uncontrolled hot, muddy mess. There is no doubt that these things are for bass lovers, but never realised I was one until I picked up this headphone? I've been trying to identify the high end peak, but have been unsuccessful. I even checked my audiogram from less than 12 months ago to see if it was my hearing loss, still considered normal, but way down from what it used to be. I wish I was even more careful trying to protect my hearing, but that's life. Biggest loss is my left ear at 8kHz, only responsive at 20dB.
Maybe that's what is in play here, but I just can't find that uncontrolled top end, let alone the spike. There is no fatigue. I either run out of battery power on my source or end up with a numb bum before there is any danger of my ears giving up. Bass response doesn't seem inappropriate.
They aren't perfect. Occasionally I come across a song that does seem to sound recessed through these. Can't win them all. Maybe they should win them all for $2500, but then I wonder about those who buy the Focal Stellia at $4500 before remembering it's all subjective. To my ears, the Z1Rs do almost everything wonderfully and make the little stumbles forgivable. I don't think any headphone is "worth" the price at this end of the market, but we're really talking about Audio Jewellery here at this price point.
It was a shame that Denon's 7200 and 9200 series headphones were impossible to find. But after everything else I had a listen to, these are closed headphone end game. I don't have the words and I'm sure we're all sick of the audio world cliches. They have, without question, a very different sound but I continue to react with surprise and get a wide, stupid grin on my face listening to these. A Flagship headphone that doesn't take itself too seriously? Imagine that!
P.S. My lovely wife hates them. They're not as clear or good quality as the freebie earbuds that shipped with her Google Pixel phone. So remember to treat my opinion with the skepticism it deserves!
So I am 43 and don't have very diminished hearing at all (I almost never went to concerts or worked in loud environments). I don't hear a spike either (sometimes I wonder if the vaunted spike is highly source dependent, or if Tyll Herstens had an mini-stroke or something). I lightly EQ'ed the vocal range up by 0.5 dB (and the midbass down by about the same, pictured) because I did hear a bit of recession in vocals, and that did the trick for me. I found I did not even have to bring the alleged "spike" region down at all. I recall initially it felt shouty in that range but either they broke in (dubious) or I got used to it. My overall take is "relaxing, rich, but still detailed." I occasionally wonder about the grass on the open back planar side of the fence, but then those thoughts disappear when I listen to the Z1R.
After close to 3 decades of having various home hi-fi systems in the $40k to 80k I went for my first headphone setup with the DMP-Z1 and MDR-Z1R even though for my every day listening it's still my home audio system.
I am used to the Sony ES house sound and have had quite a few Sony ES products over the years, so I went blindly with the Sony set. I think they they were meant to be played together all I hear is clean neutral, fatigue free, with zero hiss or background noise but just music coming out of the black. I don't know what dips or bumps you guys are talking about in the graph, I just love the sound they produce together. In the future I am going to change the balance cable for the MDR-Z1R with Kimber or something else.
After close to 3 decades of having various home hi-fi systems in the $40k to 80k I went for my first headphone setup with the DMP-Z1 and MDR-Z1R even though for my every day listening it's still my home audio system.
I am used to the Sony ES house sound and have had quite a few Sony ES products over the years, so I went blindly with the Sony set. I think they they were meant to be played together all I hear is clean neutral, fatigue free, with zero hiss or background noise but just music coming out of the black. I don't know what dips or bumps you guys are talking about in the graph, I just love the sound they produce together. In the future I am going to change the balance cable for the MDR-Z1R with Kimber or something else.
Yeah, the MDR-Z1R is certainly quite some distance away from the neutral path. I guess that's why it's such a polarizing headphone - the purists dislike it for its skewed, colored sound, whilst we, the fans, just can't get enough of that sonic gravy.
After close to 3 decades of having various home hi-fi systems in the $40k to 80k I went for my first headphone setup with the DMP-Z1 and MDR-Z1R even though for my every day listening it's still my home audio system.
I am used to the Sony ES house sound and have had quite a few Sony ES products over the years, so I went blindly with the Sony set. I think they they were meant to be played together all I hear is clean neutral, fatigue free, with zero hiss or background noise but just music coming out of the black. I don't know what dips or bumps you guys are talking about in the graph, I just love the sound they produce together. In the future I am going to change the balance cable for the MDR-Z1R with Kimber or something else.
After close to 3 decades of having various home hi-fi systems in the $40k to 80k I went for my first headphone setup with the DMP-Z1 and MDR-Z1R even though for my every day listening it's still my home audio system.
I am used to the Sony ES house sound and have had quite a few Sony ES products over the years, so I went blindly with the Sony set. I think they they were meant to be played together all I hear is clean neutral, fatigue free, with zero hiss or background noise but just music coming out of the black. I don't know what dips or bumps you guys are talking about in the graph, I just love the sound they produce together. In the future I am going to change the balance cable for the MDR-Z1R with Kimber or something else.
When the MDR-Z1R sound their best (which is all the time) they can actually sound neutral. I know it’s strange but it means your hearing the headphone sound also with the included room response. That’s what the Sony engineers wanted. They actually didn’t envision a dark headphone.
I have only used and heard the headphones with my DMP-Z1 and to my ears they are very neutral, the DMP-Z1 is fantastic on a different level so maybe the sound paired with it would differ if one tried the headphones with other gear. So much so when I first got them home and listened I was a bit underwhelmed I was expecting a lot of drama and there was none. After a few days of listening and burning in both the units there still was no drama just absolutely fatigue free, clean sound coming from a pitch black sonic background, the DMP-Z1 is truly a piece of marvelous engineering feat, it took me a while to fully appreciate the sound, to me thats neutral
I have only used and heard the headphones with my DMP-Z1 and to my ears they are very neutral, the DMP-Z1 is fantastic on a different level so maybe the sound paired with it would differ if one tried the headphones with other gear. So much so when I first got them home and listened I was a bit underwhelmed I was expecting a lot of drama and there was none. After a few days of listening and burning in both the units there still was no drama just absolutely fatigue free, clean sound coming from a pitch black sonic background, the DMP-Z1 is truly a piece of marvelous engineering feat, it took me a while to fully appreciate the sound, to me thats neutral
From what I’ve read and been told by a few people, it needs a minimum of 200 hours of play time to sound just right. It seems to improve even more after that point. I got to say, it looks awfully tempting, especially as a portable/second system kind of option. Did you audition it before buying?
There are so many even, correct and complete frequency response curves. All show neutrality in a different way. No one has ever totally agreed as to what is perfect. Each person has there own idea as to what is nice sounding, and what maybe neutral really is.
Also I feel it has a lot so so with the source. If a person only listened to speakers before it could totally be possible to arrive at neutral as a response to the MDR-Z1R. The only reason we choose to name them any other way is in reference to other headphone, amp/DAC combinations. If a person had no other past reference point to the DMP-Z1 and MDR-Z1R, they could be interpreted as neutral. IMO
In fact the speakers in a room (virtual approximate) would still be neutral speakers.
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To my ears, the Z1Rs do almost everything wonderfully and make the little stumbles forgivable. I don't think any headphone is "worth" the price at this end of the market, but we're really talking about Audio Jewellery here at this price point.
