[Toolman]

Anyones elses earpads beggining to crack?

Looks to me its the foam material that's compressed with wear, rather than a cracked leather. The leather quality of the earpads are top notch and with proper care it should last a long while. The foam will depends on how its used and stored, but as you wear them in, they should be more comfortable and last you quite a bit

 

[nanaholic]

Yep, that's the spirit! Will go that route as soon as my ZX1 fades away..... But it is still going strong.

 
Used to own the ZX1 (later sold cheaply to a good friend) and also recommended a few friends to buy them second hand and they are still using them after a few years, the unit is really quite nicely build and still looks modern with the design. 

 

[s82223]

Thanks, gold/silver combo is beyond my reach. I can only do silver but just wanted to know what to expect down the road? I have no experience with silver cables, all I heard is that it brings out more details and have crisp highs. But at the same time, I am not ready to lose any of the low end frequencies. So, anyone with a silver cable can pitch in and give their ownership impressions.

I had the same concern until I bought a large gauge silver cable(mine is 21awg, so 20awg might even better!).
 
The small gauge silver cable do reduce the amount of bass, but large gauge silver don't.
 
Z1R with silver cable is just amazing! Better top/bottom extension, tighter bass(but punchier), more detail, wider soundstage.
 
Just go get one!!

 

[TSAVJason]

I'm sure Jason will rebut this but I have successfully registered my Amazon U.K. Bought 1z and Z1R for warranties through Sony US. My warranty is in good standing.

The deals over there at times have been too good to pass up. And Sony at the time was allowing registration and apparently honoring the warranty. I'm sure people will say it's all going to end bad, but so far it was a much better decision than pay a grand more for the products in the US.

You assume too much. Registering your product doesn't include or exclude your warranty. You're only downside is the country of origin is where the warranty if needed will have to take place. I just spoke with the President of Sony US all those deals were below dealer cost, any dealer no matter how big. Sometimes things are too good to be true. You guys could be getting lucky in the sense that AmazonUK's price matching algorithm picked up a bogus deal, you get a good price and they lose a lot of money per unit. I'm ok with Amazon losing money and you getting a good deal. You'll never see those prices here in the US because we aren't in the business of losing money. AmazonUK's behavior is the reason AmazonUS can't sell the Signature products. If you're in the US you should be a bit pissy about that.

 

[Toolman]

Only place that I know you can purchase Sony product from one country and have warranty honored in another territory is if you purchase the "Sony Export Set" from either Sony showroom or from selected dealers in Japan. The problem for me is that Sony's products are often very expensive inside Japan by itself. I will be very surprised if you can purchase an item from Amazon UK and having the warranty honored in the US.
 
2 countries that I know where Sony are cheaper than elsewhere is in China and Malaysia. I am lucky in that the nearest Sony Malaysia outlet is a short 20mins cross border drive away from me, and my Z1R cost me US$1,360 

So keep in mind the question...how much are those warranty worth to you? and how much duty you'll be slapped with once it gets inside the US?

 

[Mfalcon]

I have had my 1Z and Z1R for about two months now.  I didn't get quite as low as the prices currently on Amazon UK.  
 
 
 
I just don't think it's as risky as it is being presented.  I don't anticipate actually having a problem during the warranty period but if I do I think it's pretty likely that mine would be serviced.  If not here then in the UK for expensive shipping.  Or I just have to pay which would suck but I would probably still be ahead based on the money saved from going to the UK.

 

[Toolman]

Just like our health...the problem with warranty is that it is often not fully appreciated until you really needed it...but to say it's not as risky as it's being presented is just taking a gamble and lying to yourself.
 
OTOH dang those prices from Amazon.uk sure are tempting 

 

 

[Fifty five]

@Rchandra
 
It is Leather creases. It normal can happen on natural leather. and i like leather with a lot of creases. it make leather look more organic ( and I like it )
I dont like perfect smooth leather it look synthetic. I squeeze my Z1R pad to make it creases.
 
Look back at R10 earpad it have a lot of creases to.

 

[Toolman]

  @Rchandra
 
It is Leather creases. It normal can happen on natural leather. and i like leather with a lot of creases. it make leather look more organic ( and I like it )
 
look back at R10 earpad it have a lot of creases to.

 
Agreed. If the leather don't crease it's NOT a real leather. You'll get creases with the best of cordovan leather, more so with these soft calf leather on the earcups. This is a natural skin and it WILL crease. Important to take good care of it well and you're golden

 

[TSAVJason]

Only place that I know you can purchase Sony product from one country and have warranty honored in another territory is if you purchase the "Sony Export Set" from either Sony showroom or from selected dealers in Japan. The problem for me is that Sony's products are often very expensive inside Japan by itself. I will be very surprised if you can purchase an item from Amazon UK and having the warranty honored in the US.

2 countries that I know where Sony are cheaper than elsewhere is in China and Malaysia. I am lucky in that the nearest Sony Malaysia outlet is a short 20mins cross border drive away from me, and my Z1R cost me US$1,360 


So keep in mind the question...how much are those warranty worth to you? and how much duty you'll be slapped with once it gets inside the US?

The export set? Maybe you mean tourist version. Whatever yes there were a couple hundred made and they alone have global warranty service

 

[Mfalcon]

Just like our health...the problem with warranty is that it is often not fully appreciated until you really needed it...but to say it's not as risky as it's being presented is just taking a gamble and lying to yourself.

OTOH dang those prices from Amazon.uk sure are tempting   

I agree that a warranty is overlooked until you need it. But what is the value. What's the probability it's used times the cost of it being used. If a repair in the warranty period would average $700 and its 10% likely well that warranty is worth $70. Even if no one will repair it you would need a pretty high likelihood of failure to justify spending $600-$700 more. So I bought mine for $1500 all in. If there is a 20% chance I get zero value from it(impossible since I've already used and loved it for two months) then maybe I would start to consider the warranty but even then it's a bad investment. I also would put value in giving money to a local dealer. But not $100s in value.

I have rarely used warranties. Probably less than 10% of the time. So I would roughly value one for my Z1R at $100. Getting the headphone for $1500 vs over 2k with a (according to Jason) high risk of not being able to use the warranty is a no brainer from a money standpoint.

 

[s82223]

Just got my silver cable for my Z1R yesterday.
 
Very impressive sounding, the bass is tighten and the treble extension is better!
 
Just beating the stock cable in every aspect.

 

[Toolman]

Sorry double post

 

[TSAVJason]

I agree that a warranty is overlooked until you need it. But what is the value. What's the probability it's used times the cost of it being used. If a repair in the warranty period would average $700 and its 10% likely well that warranty is worth $70. Even if no one will repair it you would need a pretty high likelihood of failure to justify spending $600-$700 more. So I bought mine for $1500 all in. If there is a 20% chance I get zero value from it(impossible since I've already used and loved it for two months) then maybe I would start to consider the warranty but even then it's a bad investment. I also would put value in giving money to a local dealer. But not $100s in value.

I have rarely used warranties. Probably less than 10% of the time. So I would roughly value one for my Z1R at $100. Getting the headphone for $1500 vs over 2k with a (according to Jason) high risk of not being able to use the warranty is a no brainer from a money standpoint.

im sorry, maybe I've broken this out poorly today. The warranty, whatever! That's just a pimple of a problem. Some of these prices are so far enough below cost that is becomes very suspect. Sure you can return it if Amazon takes responsibility of fulfillment. You still have a warranty from the country of origin ....the price sometimes .......like the 1Z today, £680 is a little more than £1200 below what they pay for it. It's represented as new. That doesn't make you wonder? So it then goes up to £1000 a few hours later, that's still a huge loss. It makes me suspect so I tell you be smart and make sure your purchase is protected because there is something crazy about those kinds of deals.

 

[Toolman]

Just like our health...the problem with warranty is that it is often not fully appreciated until you really needed it...but to say it's not as risky as it's being presented is just taking a gamble and lying to yourself.

OTOH dang those prices from Amazon.uk sure are tempting   

I agree that a warranty is overlooked until you need it. But what is the value. What's the probability it's used times the cost of it being used. If a repair in the warranty period would average $700 and its 10% likely well that warranty is worth $70. Even if no one will repair it you would need a pretty high likelihood of failure to justify spending $600-$700 more. So I bought mine for $1500 all in. If there is a 20% chance I get zero value from it(impossible since I've already used and loved it for two months) then maybe I would start to consider the warranty but even then it's a bad investment. I also would put value in giving money to a local dealer. But not $100s in value.

I have rarely used warranties. Probably less than 10% of the time. So I would roughly value one for my Z1R at $100. Getting the headphone for $1500 vs over 2k with a (according to Jason) high risk of not being able to use the warranty is a no brainer from a money standpoint.

Haha unless one of us is a certified actuarial, there's no way we can accurately calculate the actual premium of a warranty...but I fully getting your point