[Dissonant]

I understand that the Z1000 blows the ZX700 out of water, whilst retaining the same characteristics. However, what I want to know is if the ZX700 can compare with stalwarts in the price range (i.e. SRH440, M50, V6).
 
I found the SRH440 slightly dry with a little V-Shaped response to me.
 
The M50 even more so. The bass gave me a headache (guess I am not a bass guy), and the treble noticeably metallic, with recessed mids.
The V6 was obviously for monitoring, with that upper-mid peak - made it sound airy, but slightly too piercing.
 
However, I understand that the ZX700 has sub-par extension on both ends. Can anyone who has tried all the aforementioned cans comment? There is nothing much on it with the search function - basically only Joker's, Djamtrax's and Astroid's reviews stood out.
Oh, and bump for a promising can, I guess.
 
That said, I was auditioning them all without any kind of dedicated amp/DAC, so that may affect them adversely, though, I never regarded cans of this price as being worthy of amping.
 
Thanks!

 

[jerg]

Quote:

I understand that the Z1000 blows the ZX700 out of water, whilst retaining the same characteristics. However, what I want to know is if the ZX700 can compare with stalwarts in the price range (i.e. SRH440, M50, V6).
 
I found the SRH440 slightly dry with a little V-Shaped response to me.
 
The M50 even more so. The bass gave me a headache (guess I am not a bass guy), and the treble noticeably metallic, with recessed mids.
The V6 was obviously for monitoring, with that upper-mid peak - made it sound airy, but slightly too piercing.
 
However, I understand that the ZX700 has sub-par extension on both ends. Can anyone who has tried all the aforementioned cans comment? There is nothing much on it with the search function - basically only Joker's, Djamtrax's and Astroid's reviews stood out.
Oh, and bump for a promising can, I guess.
 
That said, I was auditioning them all without any kind of dedicated amp/DAC, so that may affect them adversely, though, I never regarded cans of this price as being worthy of amping.
 
Thanks!

If you read the previous page, you'd have noticed that tdockweiler has.
 

 

[swbf2cheater]

why not just wear this on your head?  I found it to be poorly designed and have mediocre sound quality at best with an absolutely abysmal sound stage.  Whoever designed it never actually put it on their head, I can stick my entire hand through the gaps between the side of my head and the headband itself...just like most of the Shure headphones and the Ultrasones.  I returned it within 2 days  
 

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

why not just wear this on your head?  I found it to be poorly designed and have mediocre sound quality at best with an absolutely abysmal sound stage.  Whoever designed it never actually put it on their head, I can stick my entire hand through the gaps between the side of my head and the headband itself...just like most of the Shure headphones and the Ultrasones.  I returned it within 2 days  
 
 

Haha,I have that problem with the KRK.OK,maybe not my whole hand, but a few fingers. There's about 2" of space it seems like on each side. I think KRK was trying to make them fit for EVERYWHERE, but tried a bit too hard to make them fit massive sized heads.
 
My ZX700 didn't really have that issue and I liked the design, comfort and secure fit.
 
Ended up returning it. I don't like returning items, but I doubt Amazon is going to care. To me they also had mediocre sound. I can't even put them into the same group as the KRK, M50, DJ100 and V6/7506. I think it would take quite awhile and some side by side comparisons to figure this out.
 
People always say, such and such headphones are "all bass or "just mids" and it's ridiculous, but it felt that the the ZX700 was mostly the mids, a little bass and then what seemed like non existent treble. Ok, maybe not that far, but close. "Shouty" is the perfect word to describe the ZX700. Just not smooth at all. If I could find the Bose AE2 for $70 I would have used that instead. Don't hate me, but it's not bad at all and has a smooth signature. Totally not worth $150. I demoed them in my house a week before the ZX700, but couldn't compete with the KRK. If I could ever find them for $65 I'd buy them again. Used them for 2 days and felt they're not horrible if they were $65. Sound clarity of the ZX700 is about comparable to the Bose AE2. Not horrible, but a step down from even the V6.
 
Labeling the ZX700 a "Studio Monitor" is just silly IMO considering it's signature. I guess these days anything can be called that.
 
The next headphone I got in was the AD300 and I love it. Ad700 rarely was on my head, but the AD300 is quite nice and lately I've been addicted to it. The mids are really engaging. It's a laid back headphone that's still fun and engaging. I don't know how they pulled that off. The mids aren't even close to being as forward as the HD-598.
 
As far as overall sound quality goes, I'd give the ZX700 a 6.25/10 (which isn't too bad really). The M50 from what I recall was an 8. SRH-840 an 8.5 and DJ100 a 9. My KNS-6400 might also be a 9 or maybe even a 9.5?!
 
For those that are looking into the ZX700, I'd suggest the MDR-7506 instead. That's not a bad headphone at all and I prefer it to the ZX700.
 
One thing that's strange about the ZX700 is that it has forward mids, but yet it still quite dull to listen to. This doesn't make sense to me.

 

[BattleBrat]

@swbf2cheater why did you buy two pairs then?

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

People always say, such and such headphones are "all bass or "just mids" and it's ridiculous, but it felt that the the ZX700 was mostly the mids, a little bass and then what seemed like non existent treble. Ok, maybe not that far, but close. "Shouty" is the perfect word to describe the ZX700. Just not smooth at all. If I could find the Bose AE2 for $70 I would have used that instead. Don't hate me, but it's not bad at all and has a smooth signature. Totally not worth $150. I demoed them in my house a week before the ZX700, but couldn't compete with the KRK. If I could ever find them for $65 I'd buy them again. Used them for 2 days and felt they're not horrible if they were $65. Sound clarity of the ZX700 is about comparable to the Bose AE2. Not horrible, but a step down from even the V6.
 
Labeling the ZX700 a "Studio Monitor" is just silly IMO considering it's signature. I guess these days anything can be called that.
 
The next headphone I got in was the AD300 and I love it. Ad700 rarely was on my head, but the AD300 is quite nice and lately I've been addicted to it. The mids are really engaging. It's a laid back headphone that's still fun and engaging. I don't know how they pulled that off. The mids aren't even close to being as forward as the HD-598.
 
As far as overall sound quality goes, I'd give the ZX700 a 6.25/10 (which isn't too bad really). The M50 from what I recall was an 8. SRH-840 an 8.5 and DJ100 a 9. My KNS-6400 might also be a 9 or maybe even a 9.5?!
 
For those that are looking into the ZX700, I'd suggest the MDR-7506 instead. That's not a bad headphone at all and I prefer it to the ZX700.
 
One thing that's strange about the ZX700 is that it has forward mids, but yet it still quite dull to listen to. This doesn't make sense to me.

Aren't these two bold parts contradictory to the underlined part?  You're saying smooth and not smooth, but also shouty doesn't match with having no treble and being all midrange IMO unless it has upper midrange peaks but not much treble which would be sad. 

 

[astroid]

Your description of no treble is confusing , i listen to a wide range of genres and a lack of treble would make itself known to me very easily and it just is not the case with the ZX700.
 
The innerfidelity review (http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/sony-mdr-zx700) has measurements for the Sony and while they are not technically great they show no issue with the treble.
 
Tyll describes the Sony as :
 
"I heard the ZX700 as having a moderately forward mid-range; slightly below average bass extension, but good articulation; and slightly grainy, but well-balanced, highs. For a headphone of this price, I felt the Sonys delivered a very nicely balanced sound. When compared to the M50 and SRH440, I found the ZX700 to have a better overall balance. The heftier mid-range did a lot to bring the music together into a unified whole. While it didn't have the meaty bass, it also didn't suffer from the somewhat more strident highs of the other two cans."
 
My milage is more in line with this.
 

 

[shamu144]

I am totally floored by the performance of the ZX700... I absolutely love them. Right, bass is a little fat and uncontrolled (though not excesive in quantity) when driven by portable devices, but hook it up to a good amp and bass will get tighter. Treble extension is slightly lacking, but that is above 10khz and not that noticeable if you ask me... For the rest, I find them just spot on... They have a smooth sound to them (biocellulose drivers ?) , balanced, and ultimately coherent and convincing sound, making them for a very engaging and involving experience. Simply put, I much prefer those to the DT1350.

 

[Kukuk]

Quote:

I am totally floored by the performance of the ZX700... I absolutely love them. Right, bass is a little fat and uncontrolled (though not excesive in quantity) when driven by portable devices, but hook it up to a good amp and bass will get tighter. Treble extension is slightly lacking, but that is above 10khz and not that noticeable if you ask me... For the rest, I find them just spot on... They have a smooth sound to them (biocellulose drivers ?) , balanced, and ultimately coherent and convincing sound, making them for a very engaging and involving experience. Simply put, I much prefer those to the DT1350.

****, I gotta hear these.
 
Anyone willing to let me audition these? 32 Ohm Audio doesn't carry Sony headphones.

 
EDIT: Haha, oh wow, you can't say the "D" word here?

 

[astroid]

Seems like there is an ipod mic version available now, the ZX700IP
 

 

[AudioRook]

Time to sell my M50s and get this. Thanks, astroid.

 

[kiteki]

Hmm the ZX700 is indeed pretty cheap.
 
I never liked the V6 that much, does the ZX700 sound very different?
 
Is it a safe assumption the best cheap headphones out there right now are the ZX700, Fostex T50RP, ATH-AD900?

 

[kiteki]

Ok nevermind the AD900 isn't that cheap, then again neither is the Z1000 Lol.
 
Nice to know the M50 hype will die down a bit now, go Sony! ;p

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Aren't these two bold parts contradictory to the underlined part?  You're saying smooth and not smooth, but also shouty doesn't match with having no treble and being all midrange IMO unless it has upper midrange peaks but not much treble which would be sad. 

Sorry, I was referring to the Bose AE2 when I said it had a smooth sound signature. Sometimes my terms don't always match what others define them as, but they usually do. To me, they seemed "shouty" due to how the mids were so forward. Even vocals felt as if the singer was shouting in my ears. It's quite annoying. I can't get over how annoying the mids are and it's not in the recording. I'm one who loves headphones with forward mids, but to a point. I don't think it's too forward upper mids, which makes it even more confusing.
 
I never meant to say they didn't have ANY treble, that'd be ridiculous and I probably went a tad overboard. My point was that they DID feel as if someone chopped off my treble slightly. I never thought I'd hear a headphone that didn't have enough treble for ME.
 
My goal isn't to criticize this headphone, but to just point out things I myself didn't like about it. This might give some an idea of what it sounds like if your hearing is similar to mine

 
As to charts of it's treble, charts are rarely accurate compared to what my ears hear. Best to take them with a grain of salt. Just look at the KRK KNS-8400 headroom graph and how it makes it look like some sort of bass monster.
 
My advice is that if you think you might like these, give them a try. That's what I do. Sometimes I find it better to just ignore what people say and try something with my own ears. I did that with the D2000 and was glad I did.
 
Has anyone done any side by side comparisons of these to other good headphones in it's price range? Did anyone do any side by side comparisons to the M50 at the same exact time?
 

 

[200poundsofamp]

Quote:

Hmm the ZX700 is indeed pretty cheap.
 
I never liked the V6 that much, does the ZX700 sound very different?
 
Is it a safe assumption the best cheap headphones out there right now are the ZX700, Fostex T50RP, ATH-AD900?

From the portable headphone shootout it seems like the Denon HP700, CAL!, Superlux 688b, AKG181 and M-audio Q40 are all right up there with it for about the same price.