[bleufalcon]

Great review, thanks! I pardon your French.

 

[thatonenoob]

  Great review, thanks! I pardon your French.

Fixed ahaha!

 

[Bill-P]

Wow, looks like they really thought the acoustics and design of the headphone all the way through, and didn't justmake a vent for the hell of it.

The Z7 seems like an interesting headphone, and that relaxed treble sounds right up my alley. Higher resolution can be fatiguing at times. A more relaxed treble would make for a better portable setup where the volume has to be cranked up all the time to combat environmental noise.

Well, I'll be closely monitoring this one. Looks like it'll be complimentary to my ES10.

 

[salanos]

Having also attended the Feel the Air event, I concur that the MDR-Z7 is an impressive pair of headphones. Sadly I didn't get much time with it, but I'd definitely rank it as one of the best headphones I've had the privilege to put on my head.

 

[HemiSam]

Thank you for the real world, experienced based review...much appreciated by this head-fi'er!
 
 

 
HS

 

[Makiah S]

   
In response to the claims of "transportability"...I can confirm with certainty that the MDR-Z7's are not meant to leave the home in general.  
 
There is a definite synergy between the PHA-3 and the MDR-Z7.  Speaking with Mr. Nageno, I came to understand that the PHA-3 was worked on primarily by electrical engineers, while the MDR-Z7 was worked on primarily by acoustics engineers.  However, these different engineers did collaborate together frequently while working on their respective products.  I wouldn't go as far as to say that the MDR-Z7 was built specifically for the PHA-3 and vice versa, 
 
Best Regards,
Thatonenoob

meh I used my DT 880 on the go so no worries about the transportability, anything and everything is "portable' with a large enough bag and case <3
 
On to the side, here we are once again hearing that the headphone is on the "warm" side of the Hi-Fi scale, my biggest issue with anything that even tilts that direction, is that I own an HM801, which is gawd awfully warm, and yea beautifully spacious. I would imagine the MDR Z7 would sound wonderful out of my NFB10ES2 which is cold n dry, how ever I don't need a Closed back for at home :/
 
Lastly the PHA -3 I'm really getting a sense that Sony is really pushing a "total solution" here, making an entire system that together sounds better then a mix n match of one product + what ever, which again doesn't much help me for portable use as I already have a system.
 
So let's hope we get a tour, so I can hear it and test it within my own rig

 

[salanos]

Yes, the HRA launch is Sony revealing an entire, complete lineup of High Resolution Audio products from source to delivery - the WALKMANs, home-audio receivers, speakers and headphones/earphones, DAC/amps and even cables.

Furthermore, they told us that any HRA-product purchased this month would entitle us to a free download of 20 high-resolution-audio tracks. Neat, huh?

 

[telecaster]

One has to come all the way to understand that every transducer that tries to emulate the reproduction of a sonor signal will always be in a way bound the physical and acoustical limit inherent of it structure and construction.
No headphone is lifelike neutral, all headphones are colored. It is the same with microphones. All microphones, even the most expensive ones in the world are colored in a way.
BUT, take good electronics cleverly designed, that is amplifying the signal, and take precise mechanics, assembly, and noble material for your tranducers, and in the end you might as well enjoy the hell out of your music reproduction system letting you enjoy what's more important, the music itself.
 
Just rambling about the so called laughable neutrality that is so so subjective.

 

[Makiah S]

  No headphone is lifelike neutral, all headphones are colored

Yeap, and the goal is to find the right mix of colors, that leaves you right in the middle as it were. 

 

[Saoshyant]

Or wherever on the spectrum you prefer.

 

[telecaster]

But in reality, a flat Spectrum is not the end of all. There is will always be a material (be it unicorn horn powder mixed with Zeus semen) vibrating to make the waveform, and thus will alway be coloration be it olympian.
All audio manufacturers claim to reach the neutrality but imho the bests are aiming to reach the musicality over one poorman's oscilloscope illusions.
 
And thanks very much for the beautifull photos! That is one sexy headphone for sure ^^

 

[Nomax]

My audiophile cat loves also to wear and listen SONY'S Z7




And she feel the Air lol

REGARDS NOMAX

 

[Wnuwk Siphon]

  ...The mids were powerful and smooth, but in my opinion could have been dialed back a little to create even more spaciousness.  In some songs, I did feel that the spaciousness was somewhat reduced by the slightly stronger than usual bass/mid presence.

 
Good. I need more mid in my life. Thank you for a great (p)review, mr. Noob. 

 

[john57]

I just wanted the headphones to be reasonable flat with great clarity and resolution. The soundstage quality is further down my list just because in order to have near perfect soundstage you need binaural recording which is harder to come by than DSD even. Concert halls usually do not have perfect frequency response. I sometimes use the J.River DSP processing for crossfeed or different concert hall effects if the recording is too dry for my taste. 

 

[Saraguie]

Originally Posted by thatonenoob /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
In response to the claims of "transportability"...I can confirm with certainty that the MDR-Z7's are not meant to leave the home in general.  
 
A fellow reviewer in the room at the time noted the rather large amount of leakage coming from the vents as I tested the headphones.  However, seeing that the MDR-Z7s aren't exactly meant to go anywhere but from room to room, I'm not too concerned with this issue.
 
Best Regards,
Thatonenoob

Well, i'm going to cancel mine. At my house LCD3 is King when I'm home.   I really, really want another headphone and justified the Z7 as being portable so I could use it, not on airplanes, but in public. It does to not fit the bill. I bought the MoFi and gave it to my son, did not even take out of the box
 
I wish I could give someone my place in line. I would be one of the first to get shipped from Amazon.