[Sound Eq]

   
I haven't heard the Oppo PM-3, but if you don't really need the closed back, can try also the Oppo PM-2.
If you don't mind the V-shaped SQ, can also try the Fostex TH600, good bass with detailed treble, but suck-out mids. Not really what you consider warm nor neutral

i think then my search will still continue as i already have the lcd2rev2, so until a great headphone for edm music is out there, that gives a warm, rich, smooth, detailed sound signature, i will not fall trap again as i am tired of spending money and always find something lacking, when i bought the chord hugo and paid so much for it, i regretted it as it to me lacked in bass and warmth, and people kept telling me about the annoying neutral sound signature which is very boring to me, and i am happy now with my denon da10, but my adduces needs more juice so I was hoping to find the ultimate headphones to go smoothly with the denon da10. although the da10 can drive the audeze but it needs more power.
 
this hobby is getting way too expensive

 

[ogodei]

 
I will try to describe the sound. The album Island by Bear's Den (stream here) is an album where the band uses background instruments to plan a mosaic of sounds that frame the vocals. Bear’s Den wraps the music in dense reverberation on songs that include keyboards or strings often with low frequency sounds, some of them subtle, but present.
 
A decent headphone (and I have tried several like B&O Beoplay H6, VModa M-80, Sony XBA-2, Beyer T70p, Ety ER4P), will be able to separate the various sounds of the background music while keeping the voices upfront and dominant as it is the singing what drives the melody of the song.
 
When you play this album with the Z7 it highlights all the defects of this can. First, the background mosaic of sounds become a monotone sound where instead of appreciating the beauty of the mixed sounds you just get a constant blur of sound. This is due to the enhanced frequency range of the Z7 from 40-200 Hz that screws up the texture of sounds in the album. In addition, the receded mids in the Z7, due in part to the resonance of the low frequencies and bleed into the mid range, will present the voices lifeless and flat, without any presence, blended with the blurred sounds in the background. In addition, the "polite" high frequencies of the Z7 don't help much to add any spark to the music. So, the result is a blur of monotonic sound with terrible instrument separation, continuous resonance, and lifeless music. On top of this the Z7 gets to do the impossible, it makes good music to feel boring.
 
This is what I describe as intolerable for a $700 can. Any other one of my headphones, with different degree, are able to play this album with a different style between them, but much better than the Z7. 
 
The Z7 is a flawed can that will be forgotten very soon. As soon as the hype passes away it will be remembered as a failed intent by Sony to make an audiophile headphone.
 
I am amazed about anyone who describes this can as an audiophile headphone and claims that it has very good resolution, dynamics and technicalities. I appreciate that we all can have different opinions, and each one's brain and ears integrate the sounds differently, but this is not an audiophile headphone worth its price.
 
And believe me I don't have anything against Sony, I love Sony as a brand and I have several Sony headphones. I also cherish their desired to get serious into High Res audio and make better products for people like us, who get nuts about quality sound. This is what makes the Z7 so disappointing. It is a beautiful headphone, very well crafted, extremely comfortable, made in Japan, a land of good taste for quality sound, and they designed a flawed product. So disappointing.
 
I said enough and I don't want to become the "bad boy" against the MDR Z7, so this may be my last post in this thread. I have the headphone in my home, and gave it a good try, and much to my dislike I will return it. I hate to return things, and I try to convince myself of a single reason to keep it but I can't find any.
 
My last pice of advise. For anyone burning in desire to buy the MDR Z7, please make sure to get it from a vendor with a good return policy, you may need it.

 
I agree with this write up almost point for point, except for the final entire dismissal of the headphone.
 
Sony is following the current trend of making portable gear with slightly better materials, slapping the term "high-resolution" on them, then charging crazy prices.  The tuning of the gear isn't for the audiophile market, it seems to be for people graduating from their car stereo or their first stereo system.  Someone coming from TOTL gear would be disappointed.
 
That said I am sitting here listening to the cans with 70s rock and quite enjoying them.  Very comfortable and fun.  Street price seems to be $560 U.S. these days (I paid only slightly more for my pre-order with shipping from Japan, and several posts here state Sony will sell them for that). Still seems high to me, I would expect it to drop a bit further.

 

[Maxvla]

Well the first time I heard the HD 600, it was on a system I haven't heard my pair on. It's not necessarily misrepresntative as they were heard under different conditions. I'd have to hear both HD 600's on the same system to know. What the HD 600 does sound is very natural, I find it very true to it's description of natural sound. 

I'm curious how people are going view the Z7 in long-term. I wonder if it's going to be like the K812 which had a hype train as well at first but some bad initial impressions and reviews and iffy measurements hurt it's popularity. The K812 turned out to be one of my favorite headphones I have auditioned. I get the feeling I'm going to like the Z7 quite a bit as none of the impressions have really turned me off.

I too liked the K812. It didn't beat the HD800, but it was worthy of the comparison.

 

[DoctaCosmos]

I'm very curious to hear the 812. I really hope someone has one at the meet

 

[kman1211]

I too liked the K812. It didn't beat the HD800, but it was worthy of the comparison.

I found the two very comparable but different, they have both grown on me the more I listened to them. The K812 was love at first listen and that love never died but only grew more with each audition which is my general experience with higher-end AKGs. The HD 800 was honestly a headphone I sort of hated at first, yet it really grew on me every time I auditioned it to the point it became one of my favorite flagships. 

 

[sasbyte]

tried the sony z7 at the sony store. good looking, extremely comfortable although they are big. the bass is there but not boomy, the highs are smooth, but i found the midrange a bit recessed. i listen to mostly jazz and vocals, i wanted to buy them but something was holding me back. i have to there again and do extensive listening. i forgot these headphones were on my head.

 

[sneaglebob]

How do these compare to the mdr7520?

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

   
  The tuning of the gear isn't for the audiophile market, it seems to be for people graduating from their car stereo or their first stereo system.  Someone coming from TOTL gear would be disappointed.  
That said I am sitting here listening to the cans with 70s rock and quite enjoying them.  Very comfortable and fun.  Street price seems to be $560 U.S. these days (I paid only slightly more for my pre-order with shipping from Japan, and several posts here state Sony will sell them for that). Still seems high to me, I would expect it to drop a bit further.

 
The first point is me as I came from IASCA competition. The Z7 bass is not head throttling ( who wants that??) me and a lot of folks looking for that physical slam in the 30-60Hz region. I tried several times (3 using the extreme bass setup) not happening.
 
That red part....
 
I posted long ago in here before almost anyone including Jude had these as I know a person here in Japan and I got to listen to 70's rock..Boston's "Foreplay/Long time" track with the pha 3 and hi end sony dap and kimber...the whole set as it was intended to be used and it was amaaaaaazing.
 

 
I wrote in that post or the next it seemed clear Sony hopes you get the set as it is presented. It is very impressive. The Z7 only? That's a gamble. The full set. That's not a gamble.
These are not for car audio guys though.

 

[MacedonianHero]

   
And underpowered HD650 can sound veiled...

 
Agreed.

 

[Bill-P]

I got the chance to try the Sony MDR-1RA today.
 
If the Sony MDR-Z7 sounds the same tonally with a bigger soundstage, then I'm sold. Recessed midrange or overpowered bass don't bother me much since I know exactly what to do acoustically to fix those. All that's left is comfort.

 

[MacedonianHero]

  I got the chance to try the Sony MDR-1RA today.
 
If the Sony MDR-Z7 sounds the same tonally with a bigger soundstage, then I'm sold. Recessed midrange or overpowered bass don't bother me much since I know exactly what to do acoustically to fix those. All that's left is comfort.

I can live with overpowered bass as long as it's tight and well defined like on the TH-900s. The measurements of the bass distortion on the Z7s however have me worried.

 

[Bill-P]

  I can live with overpowered bass as long as it's tight and well defined like on the TH-900s. The measurements of the bass distortion on the Z7s however have me worried.

 
Well, after comparing my Audio Technica ATH-ES10 against the Stax SR-X today, I think I have an idea or two on how to make the bass of the Z7 extend further, have better definition, and also better tonality. It'll just require filling the back of the drivers with the right stuffs... instead of leaving the ear cups empty like stock.
 
If the Z7 is truly as comfortable as reviewed by many here, then they may just replace my ES10 as my go-to semi-portable setup.

 

[up late]

shows how much this hobby has changed when folks think nothing of spending several hundred bucks on a can for modding

 

[gordie]

Just got my pair. I'm listening to them through a Burson Conductor at home, and used one of the little FiiO rigs at work. for my point of reference, my main headphones these days are the TH-900 via the Burson Conductor, but I have a bunch of other gear I've accumulated over the years, my favorites being AKG K1000s (setup with a Benchmark DAC/Preamp and an ARC tube amp), and the sadly defunct closed back Stax 4070 (with EQ on the Stax to tame the upper mids/lower treble and punch the bass just a tad: -2dB at 4k, -1dB at 8k, +3 at 64, +1.5 at 128), a headphone that makes up for its flaws with a magic I can't describe once tamed with EQ. 
 
I absolutely love the Stax, but without EQ they are too piercing and aggravating. They have a ton of detail, and with the EQ set as I like it, they might just be my favorites. I can see why they stopped making them, though - without EQ they are tough to live with and I suspect those who bought them didn't add any EQ.
 
I also use Senn 580s at work (so velvety) and AKG K712 (with some slight EQ to drop the upper mid/lower treble not too dissimilar to what I do with the Stax 4070s). I hardly ever listen with a portable setup, in fact I just use Sony MDR-V6 or Sporta Pros in those rare cases since they are indestructible and my ears are used to their (wildly inaccurate) presentation. 
 
Most of the modern headphones sound very bright to me, thus the EQ on the Stax and the AKG 712 (for me, Senn 800s and AKG 812 are also too bright without dropping the EQ roughly in the same place). I like a decent punch in the bass region and I like lots of detail, but gotta tame the upper mids and top end. I expected something similar, just with a lot of bass from a pair of Sony headphones, but I got just the opposite of what I expect everywhere above the bass/mid-bass.
 
After a few days, I would have to say these Sonys have a lot of good qualities, but they are seriously scooped in the upper mids and treble. As in excessively, as in you must be kidding, Sony. I doubt any amount of time is going to change this presentation, and it also jives with other reviews I'm reading. Thus, I have been listing to them with the opposite EQ I usually use, which seems crazy, but they sound great to me with this: +1dB at 1k, +1.5dB at 2k, +2dB at 4k, +1dB at 8k, and +.5dB at 16k (just to smooth the transition coming off the 8k setting).
 
Without that EQ, they are so dull it's like listening to a lecture on the various types of insurance products you can buy. While the bass is nice and tight and clean, it is too overwhelming compared to the rest of the frequency spectrum, and the detail is shoved way too far back since the mids are so severely scooped out. They sound like speakers inside a suitcase trying to kick their way out. 
 
With the EQ, they really come alive, but it is a shame they need that much sound shaping. Most headphones I have would absolutely pierce my ears with the snare drum if I boosted the mids like this (and as mentioned above, I usually do just the opposite), but these don't have a harsh tone in their body.
 
The Z7s are very comfortable, and with EQ they don't need to be very loud to get satisfaction, and they also don't punish my ears if I crank them. A lot of the detail I expect from my other phones comes back when I have this EQ.
 
So... with the EQ, I am really enjoying them - I'm just focusing on the music and that's all that matters to me - I want the headphones to get out of the way and once I have these spiced to taste, that is exactly what they do. I am very surprised at their tonal profile, however, and without EQ I doubt I would ever listen to them. With the EQ though, they are superb.
 
But one shouldn't need to throw a lot of EQ onto a pair of $700 headphones. And they somewhat paper over warts on recording, making them unsuitable as a studio monitor, and robbing you of some of the detail you get with the other top tier cans (but a great companion when you don't want your system pointing out all the flaws in a recording: so you can just dial your brain into the music). If I didn't have easy access to EQ and the wherewithal to try and dial it in, I'd pick the AKG 712 over these in a New York minute.
 
So close, Sony. So close... 
 

 

[up late]

"seriously scooped in the upper mids and treble" lines up with tyll's fr measurements. enjoyed your post btw.