beowulf
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2001
- Posts
- 1,807
- Likes
- 495
Google Chinese-English translate of a "not so positive" 1st impression:
https://translate.google.com.hk/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=zh-TW&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.andaudio.com%2Fphpbb3%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D25%26t%3D115589%26start%3D5175%23p1171257&edit-text=
The reviewer thinks the Z1R should worth only Yen60,000 (slightly more expensive to the Z7)
I had a lot of difficulty parsing this review in Engrish, but got the impression that one of the things he disliked was a sense of harsh reverberation and too much brightness.
If that is the case, I have the opposite impression. My main problem with the Z1R at the moment is that I'd prefer a slightly brighter sound in general. They're probably neutral enough, but my ears tend to prefer a brighter signature. I miss that more often than more tamed bass. They could also have slightly more air, even being closed, but I guess that's the price to pay for the excellent seal and isolation.
After one week of ownership (exactly one week tonight) I'm not firmly in a "must keep" state. They are very good, but I have to agree that I'm not sure they justify the cost. Then again, the build quality of the whole product (including case) justifies a premium compared to something like the HD800S, just not to this extent.
Still have three more weeks to test it in the return window. Right now I'm leaning towards keeping because well... they sound bloody good, look bloody good and feel bloody good, but I'd prefer to see it in the ~1600 EUR MSRP price band instead of 2200, especially because the expectations were incredibly high and I expected an almost flawless product, which turned out to be merely good, not perfect.
Edit: Just did the Yen conversion. The reviewer thinks they should be worth 530 EUR. Given the sound and overall materials/build construction, I find that totally unrealistic. Good luck finding something in that price range coming even remotely close to the Z1R. I can't think of a single model.
As for the subjective sense of what "sound is worth" and excluding all the rest, then it is of course subjective, so it's a respectable opinion.