[Sonic Defender]

That is why I ultimately trust my ears. I still like measurements and will never disregard them, but they are simply part of the picture, not the picture itself.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

Send me a PM if you are interested in the trade. Even trade, I'll pay the shipping costs. Serious traders only.

 

[gto88]

seriously, are you trying to show a humor sense.

 

[Maelob]

Duhhh

 

[gto88]

Listening to Japanese Guitar Master -Yoshio Kimura, the bass guitar sounds so full and with good quantity.
I like bass and this Z1R pairing with iFi Pro iCAN really shine the headphone, BTW, my XBass+ is OFF.
I guess that may be Z1R is tuned for Japanese music, it is created by Japanese after all.

 

[ubs28]

Send me a PM if you are interested in the trade. Even trade, I'll pay the shipping costs. Serious traders only.

I'll take it if you add an envelope containing $6000, because it sounds so good.

 

[Maelob]

Today had the pleasure of visiting e-earphone in Japan. Listened for a couple hours to the Hex2, elear, PM-1, night owl, Hd-800s, Audeze El-8, ether 1.1, and Pioneer Se monitor 5.

As one who love the z1r sound signature with a taste for warmer/relaxing side of things - the two I enyoyed most where the hex V2 and Elear - both with really good bass and oomph for my taste. I think elear had a little more sparkle. But I really like how light the HEx 2 felt and the more relaxed sound signature. I could live with both. I also liked the PM1 and the 800s- I was scared of the treble on the 800s after listening to the original - but they were not bad- I wish they had a tad more bass. The pm-1 also had a good fun signature.
This was my first experience listening to so many headphones- wow what an experience- I didn't see utopias, LCD-4 or ether flows on display - but I still had a lot of fun- i think I will probably get the HEX v2 .
Saw a couple used Z1r for around 1500 usd-

 

[up late]

Great post.

The 10k spike.

I'd just like to chime in with what I've already said previously, that I've had multiple MDR-Z1R's in my possession now and can confirm that not only did I not perceive any notable 10k spike in any of them, the headphones are actually among the most inoffensive I've actually ever used among high end cans. All the MDR-Z1R's I had in my possession were easy to listen to and completely unfatiguing except at ear piercing volumes, unlike for example my HD800, HD800S and at times, T1.1's. Really the only high-end headphones I've used in recent memory that were less fatiguing or harsh than the MDR-Z1R's, are the LCD-2's and LCD-3's, both of which I felt lacked a tad in upper-frequency sparkle.

Differences between copies.

Regarding differences between copies, the ones that I had all sounded almost identical. The very, very slight differences I could percieve, I felt could be down to differences in the earpads, not necessarily the actual headphones themselves. The earpads are all hand made and stitched, and as such there are differences among them. One pair I had, in particular, had far slimmer earpads, which I felt might have made them sound a touch more forward, intricate and a touch less bassy.

An image showing the sort of thickness differences possible.

I should stress though that even when A/B'ing between the different pads, where the extremities between certain pads were quite dramatic, there were still only very, very subtle differences in sound. Very hard to pick up, including in blind A/B'ing. Ultimately of the MDR-Z1R's I used, the actual units themselves sounded near enough the same. Certainly, none exhibited anywhere near the huge 10k spike that Tyll has in his measurements.

Other spikes.

Regarding picking up other spikes and responding to Marv specifically, who wrote;



The answer to this is context. If you actually compare Jude's measurements of the Z1R's to other high-end headphones, you'll notice other prominent headphones actually have bigger spikes in the 5k to 20k range, including the HD800 and Utopia, which both have a fairly big spike or bump around the 6k and 14k regions. The biggest difference, however, and why I mention context, is that these other headphones also have less prominent db in almost all other areas of frequency comparative to the MDR-Z1R. So the reason these 3k, 4k etc, bumps that Marvey mentions, aren't as glaring or notable in the MDR-Z1R is likely because there's more emphasis on bass, mids etc, to balance things out. No doubt these bumps elsewhere in the frequency range, were included to compensate for the added bass presence and quantity, which is probably why the Z1R's still maintain a surprisngly wide soundstage, high level of imaging, and overall tonal honesty, despite being overall somewhat bass emphasised. I don't personally find them as shrill, thin or high frequency hot as cans like the TH900's and LCD-XC's can sometimes sound, both of which I'd say are also fairly bass emphasised headphones.

I'll just refer back to my rough mega comparison which uses N00b's MDR-Z1R measurements (which are extremely similar to Jude's) to highlight some of the above.

EDIT: Didn't realise Jude's post was in this same thread. I thought I was responding to a different thread altogether, hence some of the repetition of some of the points!

leaving your subjective impressions aside and looking at the comparative frequency response chart, the Z1R has the most boosted bass, recessed midrange and prominent spikes at 2k and between 3k and 4k and then at 10k. the hd800 has the notorious 6k spike, but it's apparent that the z1r has the most uneven frequency response out of those four totl cans. isn't that why tyll was so critical of it or am I missing something?

 

[Marc Lian]

Frequency response aside I think it's also important to weight the other results like 300Hz square wave and impulse response which unfortunately seem to be a mess.

 

[larzy]

So today I finally got a pair of Z1R. Been reading this thread for months and have been very excited to listen to them. I'm coming from a pair of B&W P9 signature headphones which I have liked a lot. Will write more when I have had the chance to listen to them for a while

 

[sarinfuhrer]

leaving your subjective impressions aside and looking at the comparative frequency response chart, the Z1R has the most boosted bass, recessed midrange and prominent spikes at 2k and between 3k and 4k and then at 10k. the hd800 has the notorious 6k spike, but it's apparent that the z1r has the most uneven frequency response out of those four totl cans. isn't that why tyll was so critical of it or am I missing something?

i don't look it that way. How about recessed mids of LCD-4 and Utopia of that comparative FR?

p/s: Your Tyll's worshiped is quite apparent.

 

[Mediahound]

leaving your subjective impressions aside and looking at the comparative frequency response chart, the Z1R has the most boosted bass, recessed midrange and prominent spikes at 2k and between 3k and 4k and then at 10k. the hd800 has the notorious 6k spike, but it's apparent that the z1r has the most uneven frequency response out of those four totl cans. isn't that why tyll was so critical of it or am I missing something?

You're missing something.

 

[Whitigir]

I have never seen so much humors recently . I am sure this hobby is getting better and better every time

 

[Sonic Defender]

While I think it is fair to point out that measurements show an uneven frequency response, it isn't without merit; however, in isolation it is more important than it may be in practice. Again, it is relative to the overall tonality and how the person will respond to it. Because the relative low frequency information is also more prominent the other spikes that can be seen will not have the same impact that they might with a bass shy signature for instance. The headphone is used listening to music with full audio information so the totality of the sonic signature is what is experienced. It is easy to see this in principle. Take a headphone with a spike at say 8kHz. If you boost the bass up properly the effect will mask the spike. Do the opposite with that same headphone and cut out bass and that spike will then become even more prominent. It is the whole that we hear and experience, not the individual elements and those spikes aren't really that terrible anyway, depending of course on personal sensitivity/preferences.

 

[up late]

i don't look it that way. How about recessed mids of LCD-4 and Utopia of that comparative FR?

p/s: Your Tyll's worshiped is quite apparent.

but the z1r has a greater midrange depression in its frequency response relative to those two headphones. the utopia and lcd-4 both have flatter frequency responses overall.

and for the record, while I respect tyll's opinion that doesn't mean that i always agree with it.

You're missing something.

would you mind enlightening me?