[Sonic Defender]

So...for anyone that's been following my quest to z1r...I suffered a major setback today. My girlfriend thought I was after a z7 this whole time...and that it was a bit of a ridiculous endeavor at around 500 bones... So you can imagine her reaction when she figured out I wanted a z1r. I'd better just stay away from this thread for a while.

it's getting too dangerous for me to see all this positive feedback, especially now that the z1r has officially been verified as a bass slammer with eq/power.

I like my having my **** attached to my body and don't want the old lady to chop it off. So I'll dip back in here in a few months, either with a better paying job and a z1r and the same girlfriend...or with a sh** job and a z1r and a different girlfriend haha.

I appreciate all the feedback yal have given me on these headphones, enjoy for me!

Wise choice mate, and don't worry they will still be around when you get back. You may even get lucky and the odd used set show up for sale. No matter how good a headphone is, there will always be somebody parting with it for one reason or another.

 

[Naim.F.C]

I dunno I started to think the Z1R balance out of my Violectric V280 with silver cable is too dark. Went back to the Metrum Aurix singles ended and stock cable, sounded clearer / more like the WM1A. Now wondering more seriously about the Sony Desktop amp.

Not sure how similar the V280's signature is compared to the V200, but the V200 is not an ideal pairing for the Z1R in my experience, since I believe it colours sound just a touch by expanding sub bass and upper mids, two areas the Z1R's already have emphasised.

In all honesty I prefer the O2 and HP-A4BL paired with my Z1R's compared to the V200. Neutral sounding amps or DAC's with minimal colouring of sound would probably be more ideal for these headphones, and they're so easy to drive, with such low impedance, you really don't need mammoth power or anything absurdly priced to actually get the most out of them. Any additional equipment adding warmth or musicality runs the risk of tipping them over to being just a hair too dark, at least for my liking.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Not sure how similar the V280's signature is compared to the V200, but the V200 is not an ideal pairing for the Z1R in my experience, since I believe it colours sound just a touch by expanding sub bass and upper mids, two areas the Z1R's already have emphasised.

In all honesty I prefer the O2 and HP-A4BL paired with my Z1R's, compared to the V200. Neutral sounding amps or DAC's with minimal colouring of sound would probably be more ideal for these headphones, and they're so easy to drive, with such low impedance, you really don't need mammoth power or anything absurdly priced to actually get the most out of them. Any additional equipment adding warmth or musicality runs the risk of tipping them over to being just a hair too dark, at least for my liking.

There are times I think the Mojo for instance does tip the Z1R toward too warm, but most of the time it actually seems like a great pairing. My main NAD rig is also slightly warm, but very dynamic nonetheless; so again, it does seem to dodge the overly warm sound, but I totally get what you mean and I would agree that once the headphone has characteristics, doubling up on them can be too much of a good thing.

 

[beowulf]

So...for anyone that's been following my quest to z1r...I suffered a major setback today. My girlfriend thought I was after a z7 this whole time...and that it was a bit of a ridiculous endeavor at around 500 bones... So you can imagine her reaction when she figured out I wanted a z1r. I'd better just stay away from this thread for a while.

it's getting too dangerous for me to see all this positive feedback, especially now that the z1r has officially been verified as a bass slammer with eq/power.

I like my having my **** attached to my body and don't want the old lady to chop it off. So I'll dip back in here in a few months, either with a better paying job and a z1r and the same girlfriend...or with a sh** job and a z1r and a different girlfriend haha.

I appreciate all the feedback yal have given me on these headphones, enjoy for me!

 
If it makes you feel better, my CD3000 were a financial burden when I got them but are still here today, after three girlfriends. No regrets.

Now seriously, there's a perfect timing for everything. If this isn't the right one, just stay around and eventually you'll go for the Z1R (or an alternative, who knows)

 

[dnnaudio]

Excellent point. There is something about the Z1R sonic approach that is special, that makes listening to music a complete pleasure and makes it easy to forget whatever minor imperfection it has. And if you don't mind the slight darkness this could well be a holy grail, at least until the next Sony TOTL comes around. I was listening last night to Shirley Bassey platinum album and it was such a pleasure - her voice was full and powerful and the backup orchestra was portrayed with a sense of scale and realism that while not quite up there with decent speaker experience was still mesmerizing. After listening to that album I wondered why I would even want to change the stock cable.
 
Quote:

  You can't ask a headphone design to be everything, for everybody, not at any price. There will always be a design decision that somebody finds less than ideal, sometimes they will hate it. Look at the TH 900, at one time it was heralded as the best dynamic, or at least pretty darn close, eventually people started to complain about sucked out midrange and sharp highs. There is even the odd voice of dissent about the Utopia with some being underwhelmed by it and feeling it can be too bright. My point remains that the Z1R or any headphone need not please everybody to still be a brilliant contribution to the hobby. For those that mesh with the sound signature, well they are in for a treat of course, a big engaging sound; for those less thrilled they are lucky we have so many fantastic headphones currently in the marketplace, and surely more to come.
 
First world problems for sure deciding how to spend disposable income on premium headphones.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

So...for anyone that's been following my quest to z1r...I suffered a major setback today. My girlfriend thought I was after a z7 this whole time...and that it was a bit of a ridiculous endeavor at around 500 bones... So you can imagine her reaction when she figured out I wanted a z1r. I'd better just stay away from this thread for a while. it's getting too dangerous for me to see all this positive feedback, especially now that the z1r has officially been verified as a bass slammer with eq/power.

I like my having my **** attached to my body and don't want the old lady to chop it off. So I'll dip back in here in a few months, either with a better paying job and a z1r and the same girlfriend...or with a sh** job and a z1r and a different girlfriend haha. I appreciate all the feedback yal have given me on these headphones, enjoy for me!

Thank goodness I don't suffer from the gf who tried stopping my love for music abyss. Be gone women lol

 

[tradyblix]

  such an enticing pair of cans to perhaps replace or compliment my senn 650s.
.....ugh...but i just shelled out 1k for a microrendu and uptone lps power supply.
then trying to upgrade my TT DAC (am considering a benchmark or new hugo 2 or sim 280d to replace my
''tt'' ifi micro idsd or dragonfly red or chord mojo.)
 
you know how it is in this gig: once you upgrade one part of your chain, then launches upgrades on the other parts
to avoid the FUD factor (fear uncertainty and doubt) 'from kicking in:
you're only as strong as your weakest link' 

I wouldn't worry too much about that. At the rate the pace of change is hitting the high end headphone market, in 10 years, there will be totally new headphone kings. 

 

[canali]

I wouldn't worry too much about that. At the rate the pace of change is hitting the high end headphone market, in 10 years, there will be totally new headphone kings. 

in 10 yrs? More like 2 at the pace of change.

 

[buzzlulu]

Isolation is average for closed cans, not all that bad. You can certainly do it. But I don't see the Z1R fitting that use case. The isolation isn't good enough to justify it, you won't enjoy the sound quality given the background noise and it's not even handy/easy to transport/handle (you'll want to be careful not to damage those awesome mesh cups).

@buzzlulu
, I think it's much easier to just grab some MDR-1000X with ANC or some IEMs with good tips for that. Unless you are really needing to move the Z1R with you to a different place...in that case, safer on the head than in the cargo hold.

i wont travel by air with the sony Z1r...they provide little to no isolation.

Thanks for the replies. Pretty much what I expected. I was just following up on Jason's comments about using them on a 5 hour flight

 

[L Zhao]

Hi Folks,
 
I currently using Schitt Biforst -> WA-2 (w/ updated tubes) to feed my Z1R, I am enjoying the sound however, it's a single end system.
 
The new SONY's amp TA-ZH1ES interests me. I would like to try the the balance output for Z1R. However, It doesn't seem that  it received very high review from What Hi-Fi (http://www.whathifi.com/sony/ta-zh1es/review), especially it says "lack a bit excitement" that concerns me. Does anyone here has the first hand experience on this amp? Does it sound clinic?
 
 
Also, Will the Japan version (100 volts?) works in US? Or is it universal like 100-220v?

 

[tradyblix]

Just to put some things into perspective, What Hi-Fi also gave the AQ Jitterbug 5 stars. 

 

[L Zhao]

  Just to put some things into perspective, What Hi-Fi also gave the AQ Jitterbug 5 stars. 

 
Serious question: How much improvement should i expect if I cascade 10x Jitterbugs?

 

[latestyle]

Anyone experiment with more aftermarket balanced cable for Z1R other than Sony-Kimber? I'm specifically curious about Wireworld's TOTL headphone cable as my USB wire will be Wireworld's Platinum Starlight 7. But also wonder about some other cable solutions synergiatic with Z1R.

 

[kefs]

Sony uk website now shows Z1R at £2000 !

 

[Rowethren]

Sony uk website now shows Z1R at £2000 !

That's pretty funny really considering not only is it £1470 on Amazon but they also have 12 in stock...