[ogodei]

  Curious, what is your "delivery estimate"?
 
I know its only an estimate, but I'm wondering if we match....

 
Same as yours:
 
"
Placed on Thursday, September 18, 2014
 
Shipment 1 of 2
                                Your estimated delivery date is:
               Wednesday, October 8, 2014 -
               Thursday, October 16, 2014
"

 

[mrenvy]

Does the ear pad on Z7 replaceable?

 

[zorin]

   
Wood fetishists seem to think that wood is magic. It is not.

It is, wood is indeed magic, that is why good sounding musical instruments have always been made from wood.
- http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/647253/wood/26165/Acoustic-properties
- http://www.amjbot.org/content/93/10/1439.full
Wood of different types of trees has different tonal qualities
- http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/all-about-tonewoods/14591
- http://www.mandolinluthier.com/wood.htm
 
How would Stradivarius instruments sound if they were made from tin can metal and not from tonewood ? What do you think ?
- http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22094279
 

                

 
 
The same can apply to headphones, to their 'tuning'. Depending on a type of wood used certain bands of frequencies can be 'damped' [think of shrill treble] or disharmonic overtones suppressed and harmonic overtones enhanced. The result is more pleasant tonality. Few of headphones makers bother to use wood in headphones construction; making good sounding "woodies" is a costly and laborious and time consuming process, one has to find the right type of wood of specific hardness, to find the right thickness and shape to fit the desired sound signature. It is a mixture of science and art to create musical resonance chamber made from wood within headphones cups. Just glue in or screw in wooden cups on a headphones frame would not guarantee the result. When a manufacturer really makes an effort and does not spare the cost of development the result can be headphones with beautiful tonality. My Audio-Technica W3000ANV with their Japanese cherry hardwood sound fabulous, like nothing else out there.
I hope Sony wants to go forward by way of the past and bring back resurrected and even improved MDR-R10 with wooden cups. Now that would be something worth to wait for and worth saving moneys for !

 

[john57]

One company that took wood cups to the next level was Fischer Audio. A Russian company that added a "Amphitheater" design inside the cups that involves putting in steps that mimic an amphitheater causing some delays at certain frequencies to create a sound stage of sorts. The headphone comes with a choice of woods that either reflect or absorb a bit at certain frequencies depending on the choice of wood used.  I know since I have one. Can wood make a difference? In some cases yes.
 
http://www.fischeraudio.com/index.php/en/products/master-series/master-series-wood/fa-003ti

 

[zorin]

  Where you from?  
 
I've heard of some people ordering it from japan and using a third party to have it sent to them.  I did this once but forgot who I went through as my third party.  

There is a very reliable guy in Japan who will do the work for you when you want to obtain something from there. I dealt with him, Craig at kuboten.com. You can email him - support@kuboten.com

 

[Makiah S]

  I get it, we all chase music differently.  I need these kind of desktop replacement transportables, as I can't always sit in one place too long.  But I was thinking about a Chord Hugo in 2015 used maybe new.  But now I can most likely have the Z7, PHA-3, Walkman and the Kimber Kable (or an alternate supplier) and most like spend the same or even less...
 
FYI all this talk got me all worked up and I did the pre-order with Amazon, for the Z7.  And right now the estimated delivery is between Oct 8 and Oct 16.  So we know which direction I'm choosing.....lol.
 
I was hoping Jude would chime in, but I guess its safe to assume he's not allowed to comment yet.  Or he's saving this subject for maybe Head-Fi TV?

Good point man! 
 

   
Oh it can be.  I know some people who pickle it in shoyu (soy sauce) with some sugar.  Tastes pretty good with a sweet and sour taste.  =)  I just don't like the ones soaked in vinegar.  I can eat onions pickled in vinegar.  Hehe.  Ya can you tell?  I'm Asian...

 

I'm a little envious, as an Itilian American, I got tired of the food in my culture real quick q.q, I blame my sea food allergy for that, but the crazy range of flavors in Asian food is pretty stellar. Chances are you've eaten better than I have thus far in your life 
 
 

Spoiler: Wood Fetish 101

  It is, wood is indeed magic, that is why good sounding musical instruments have always been made from wood.
- http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/647253/wood/26165/Acoustic-properties
- http://www.amjbot.org/content/93/10/1439.full
Wood of different types of trees has different tonal qualities
- http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/all-about-tonewoods/14591
- http://www.mandolinluthier.com/wood.htm
 
How would Stradivarius instruments sound if they were made from tin can metal and not from tonewood ? What do you think ?
- http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22094279
 

                

 
 
The same can apply to headphones, to their 'tuning'. Depending on a type of wood used certain bands of frequencies can be 'damped' [think of shrill treble] or disharmonic overtones suppressed and harmonic overtones enhanced. The result is more pleasant tonality. Few of headphones makers bother to use wood in headphones construction; making good sounding "woodies" is a costly and laborious and time consuming process, one has to find the right type of wood of specific hardness, to find the right thickness and shape to fit the desired sound signature. It is a mixture of science and art to create musical resonance chamber made from wood within headphones cups. Just glue in or screw in wooden cups on a headphones frame would not guarantee the result. When a manufacturer really makes an effort and does not spare the cost of development the result can be headphones with beautiful tonality. My Audio-Technica W3000ANV with their Japanese cherry hardwood sound fabulous, like nothing else out there.
I hope Sony wants to go forward by way of the past and bring back resurrected and even improved MDR-R10 with wooden cups. Now that would be something worth to wait for and worth saving moneys for !

 
 

  One company that took wood cups to the next level was Fischer Audio. A Russian company that added a "Amphitheater" design inside the cups that involves putting in steps that mimic an amphitheater causing some delays at certain frequencies to create a sound stage of sorts. The headphone comes with a choice of woods that either reflect or absorb a bit at certain frequencies depending on the choice of wood used.  I know since I have one. Can wood make a difference? In some cases yes.
 
http://www.fischeraudio.com/index.php/en/products/master-series/master-series-wood/fa-003ti

 
 

  There is a very reliable guy in Japan who will do the work for you when you want to obtain something from there. I dealt with him, Craig at kuboten.com. You can email him - support@kuboten.com

 

Gawd yes to all of that, my w1000x is the reason I got into the whole wood thing! My D2k was the next reason, those cocobolo cups ugh they were a step above the Plastics that are on the stock, wood can absorb and reflect depending on which, there for it's nice for tuning a headphone same as an instrument 

 

[up late]

[COLOR=4B0082]It is, wood is indeed magic[/COLOR], that is why good sounding musical instruments have always been made from wood.
- http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/647253/wood/26165/Acoustic-properties
- http://www.amjbot.org/content/93/10/1439.full
Wood of different types of trees has different tonal qualities
- http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/all-about-tonewoods/14591
- http://www.mandolinluthier.com/wood.htm

How would Stradivarius instruments sound if they were made from tin can metal and not from tonewood ? What do you think ?
- http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22094279

                

The same can apply to headphones, to their 'tuning'. Depending on a type of wood used certain bands of frequencies can be 'damped' [think of shrill treble] or disharmonic overtones suppressed and harmonic overtones enhanced. The result is more pleasant tonality. Few of headphones makers bother to use wood in headphones construction; making good sounding "woodies" is a costly and laborious and time consuming process, one has to find the right type of wood of specific hardness, to find the right thickness and shape to fit the desired sound signature. It is a mixture of science and art to create musical resonance chamber made from wood within headphones cups. Just glue in or screw in wooden cups on a headphones frame would not guarantee the result. When a manufacturer really makes an effort and does not spare the cost of development the result can be headphones with beautiful tonality. My Audio-Technica W3000ANV with their Japanese cherry hardwood sound fabulous, like nothing else out there.
I hope Sony wants to go forward by way of the past and bring back resurrected and even improved MDR-R10 with wooden cups. Now that would be something worth to wait for and worth saving moneys for !

keep seeing this in threads and it's kind of a bug bear of mine. headphones aren't musical instruments and it's flawed thinking to compare them. acoustic instruments resonate to produce sound. closed cans are damped to try and minimise unwanted back waves and resonances that distort or color the sound they're reproducing. it's a challenge for closed can manufacturers to achieve this. that's why open cans are generally regarded as superior coz they don't have those inherent design problems.

it's more sensible to compare closed cans to speaker enclosures. cans are just miniature speakers after all. musical instruments produce sound - headphones and speakers reproduce sound. if they do it competently then a stradivarius should sound more like a stradivarius than a singing saw.

i'd be surprised if fisher audio didn't use any damping material in their cups as well as acoustic steps but maybe they're the exception. think that denons had acoustic channels as well as damping material when fostex used to make them. figure that the th900's cups would be similar.

 

[winterandsummer]

one detail about wood :
instruments are mono
speakers are stereo
and you want your left speaker to sound the same as your right one..
if you are familiar with buying musical instrument made out of wood you know that no instrument sound exactly the same even if its the same model with the same spec
but thats great, your mono instrument has its own unique personality !
my studio monitor are made out of aluminum, they sound the same, i dont want them to have their own individual personality
humidity is another issue
 
but then i love my grado rs2i and i still miss my old studio monitor that were made out of wood
i love wood, even the fake wood panel on old analog synth but somehow i dont care about some z9 with wood cup
maybe i should
but i like the low profile of the z7
cant wait to read some first impression
but im pretty sure the close back design will be a issue in regard to sound quality
but those big bass port seem to allow a lot of air to breath through
so there is hope

 

[elnero]

keep seeing this in threads and it's kind of a bug bear of mine. headphones aren't musical instruments and it's flawed thinking to compare them. acoustic instruments resonate to produce sound. closed cans are damped to try and minimise unwanted back waves and resonances that distort or color the sound they're reproducing. it's a challenge for closed can manufacturers to achieve this. that's why open cans are generally regarded as superior coz they don't have those inherent design problems.

it's more sensible to compare closed cans to speaker enclosures. cans are just miniature speakers after all. musical instruments produce sound - headphones and speakers reproduce sound. if they do it competently then a stradivarius should sound more like a stradivarius than a singing saw.

i'd be surprised if fisher audio didn't use any damping material in their cups as well as acoustic steps but maybe they're the exception. think that denons had acoustic channels as well as damping material when fostex used to make them. figure that the th900's cups would be similar.

 
While it might seem sensible to to compare closed headphones to speaker enclosures there's a major difference, wood is generally not used in speaker design because it resonates and will color the sound, that's why most speaker enclosures use MDF or other materials that resonate far less than wood. Yes, headphone manufacturers use damping material to help tune the sound just like a speaker manufacturer, but the choice to use wood and not another less resonant material does seem to be more of a design decision to add a particular coloration.

 

[up late]

think mdr is a wood composite and wood veneers are used to make speaker cabinets look pretty. point is it's a more realistic comparison imo. think the choice of wood for use in headphones has more to do with cosmetics than acoustics tbh.

 

[elnero]

think mdr is a wood composite and wood veneers are used to make speaker cabinets look pretty but like i said, it's a more sensible comparison. think the choice of wood for use in headphones has more to do with cosmetics than acoustics tbh.

Yes, MDF is an engineered wood product but it is much denser and more rigid than standard woods. And yes, comparing closed headphones to speaker enclosures is a sensible leap but in doing so you also have to take into account that the use of standard woods in headphone design is going to have similar results to using standard wood for a speaker enclosure.

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

I was about to say "most engineered materials have benefits that can be taken advantage of, weather they are from natural origins like wood, or man made like plastics and resins"...
 
...but then I forgot that I'm sending out my TH600s to Mark Lawton for is wood ear cup modification.
 

 
So wood rules, and everything else drools...

 

[up late]

Yes, MDF is an engineered wood product but it is much denser and more rigid than standard woods. And yes, comparing closed headphones to speaker enclosures is a sensible leap but in doing so you also have to take into account that the use of standard woods in headphone design is going to have similar results to using standard wood for a speaker enclosure.

well the point of my post was that closed back wooden headphones aren't like wooden acoustic instruments and shouldn't be compared to them. but if you want to split hairs about the loudspeaker enclosure analogy then i think you kinda missed the point.

 

[elnero]

well the point of my post was that closed back wooden headphones aren't like wooden acoustic instruments and shouldn't be compared to them. but if you want to split hairs about the loudspeaker enclosure analogy then i think you kinda missed the point.

The point is, that flaw in your analogy goes directly against your argument and that seems to bother you.

The fact that some headphone designers are using wood enclosures instead of something more rigid suggests to me that they are purposely trying to color the sound in much the same way an instrument maker would use different wood to get a different tone. So while I'll agree it's a stretch to compare wood headphone enclosures directly to an instrument I also think there may be more to it than you think.

 

[ascension278]

At wangfujing Sony store in Beijing. They have a z7 and xba z5 on display for audition, but only open for preorders. I hooked both of them up to a uda-1 with a zx1 as transport..

I Can't explain those technical terms such as timbre and PRaT and stuff. My headphones are beyer t90, and have heard HD 800s, lcd x, beyer t1 and he 560.

Let's start with the z7,

Out from my LG g2, the z7 sounded good but not wow. Reminds me of the HD 800 with a more lower end presence. When I hooked it up to the uda-1, damn I was impressed. The sound stage widened but could not fight with HD 800. What amazedballs me was that it was so fricking realistic. I was listening to "dance with my father" and "my heart will go on" by Celine dion. The vocals were very intimate and realistic. They were the bright type of clarity I presume as it was quite painful during the High notes (25 year old guy).

The highlight of the pairing for me was the vocals. I dint have reference rigs though so YMMV. I would compare the sound sig as with the he560

More on the z5 later