[up late]

@jude thank you for bringing more measurements to the table. I have always felt that this forum is a great place to express different perspectives and bring more measurements to the table, especially in a logical and reasonable manner. This is without a doubt, helpful. While my rig lacks the sophistication of yours, I would like to add my data here (from my review), as I think some may find it relevant too.

the trebles spikes at 3khz and 10khz in your fr measurements align with tyll's and with the measurements from the other source that i mentioned. there are variations in the thd from all three but none of them look stellar tbh.

 

[thatonenoob]

the trebles spikes at 3khz and 10khz in your fr measurements align with tyll's and with the measurements from the other source that i mentioned. there are variations in the thd from all three but none of them look stellar tbh.

Yes, I did notice that. However, I don't think that mine are quite as large as tyll's in terms of magnitude (looking at the uncompensated ones).

 

[up late]

Yes, I did notice that. However, I don't think that mine are quite as large as tyll's in terms of magnitude (looking at the uncompensated ones).

yes, variations in headphone measurements from different sources employing different measurement methodologies are to be expected, which is why comparing them isn't recommended.

we should regard headphone measurements as indicative rather than absolute. that said, the ringing appearing at the same two frequencies in three different sets of measurements is notable.

 

[Bansaku]

As someone who's 20 year career has been in manufacturing and OEM parts supply, all it takes is 1 small error in production and a few minutes for hundreds of units to be affected. A standardized test isn't needed rather a larger test pool spanning several production runs.

 

[Slaphead]

Personally I take frequency response charts with a pinch of salt. It seems that everybody who's in the measuring game gets different results for a given set of headphones - especially past 4KHz. However it is nevertheless interesting.

Any chance of seeing your squarewave tests, Jude. I find this often more useful than a frequency response chart as it gives me some idea of the general timbre of the headphones.

 

[thatonenoob]

yes, variations in headphone measurements from different sources employing different measurement methodologies are to be expected, which is why comparing them isn't recommended.

we should regard headphone measurements as indicative rather than absolute. that said, the ringing appearing at the same two frequencies in three different sets of measurements is notable.

Point well considered. One interesting note - I've noticed that most enthusiast measurements tend to land themselves in similar ballparks, likely due to the similarity of measurement rigs and potentially attempting to modify to match each other's target responses (whatever those may be). Whereas pro rigs sometimes produce large variations. Nothing particularly applicable here, just thought I'd mention it.

 

[up late]

Point well considered. One interesting note - I've noticed that most enthusiast measurements tend to land themselves in similar ballparks, likely due to the similarity of measurement rigs and potentially attempting to modify to match each other's target responses (whatever those may be). Whereas pro rigs sometimes produce large variations. Nothing particularly applicable here, just thought I'd mention it.

could be the radio shack factor

 

[Marc Lian]

If would help if Head-Fi measurements could include the raw data with the compensated curve.

Excited to hear more, this is good for everyone especially consumers.

 

[Arthur Li]

If Tyll's pair of Z1R is significantly deviated from the other units, it indicates poor quality control by Sony. I just can't understand why headphones with extremely high price tag (like the LCD4, Utopia and Z1R) are showing such inconsistency between different units.

 

[thatonenoob]

could be the radio shack factor

I call it the WD40-duct-tape postulate.

 

[thatonenoob]

If Tyll's pair of Z1R is significantly deviated from the other units, it indicates poor quality control by Sony. I just can't understand why headphones with extremely high price tag (like the LCD4, Utopia and Z1R) are showing such inconsistency between different units.

While this may be true, and I'm not saying it isn't - inconsistency based on a sample size of 3 units, if you include mine, 4, is inconclusive.

Early generation T1 sets the standard for "inconsistency".

 

[nanaholic]

If Tyll's pair of Z1R is significantly deviated from the other units, it indicates poor quality control by Sony. I just can't understand why headphones with extremely high price tag (like the LCD4, Utopia and Z1R) are showing such inconsistency between different units.

It indicates no such thing. Tyll may have gotten the "lucky draw" (statistically speaking winning the lottery is almost "impossible", but someone DO win the lottery - so just because the probability is low doesn't mean it doesn't happen at all - likewise, just a person happened to get that single defective unit that slip through doesn't indicate poor QC), or the headphone could be damaged during transportation etc, you don't know what happened and how Tyll got his headphones, which I also believe isn't new either.

Poor quality control is when you have, say, 5 out of 10 new unopened units fresh off the line being defective. Usually in small scale hand manufacturing anything between 1-5% is considered acceptable QC, but no one has that kind of statistics here to draw such conclusions.

 

[MH01]

Did not the same thing happen with the MDR Z7? I really enjoy listening to it.

 

[up late]

I call it the WD40-duct-tape postulate.

make that four sets of measurements. clarityfidelity's fr graph also shows treble peaks at 3khz and 10khz. that site's measurements most closely align with tyll's at a glance.

 

[Ra97oR]

I would say, there is far too much uncertainty at this point. Different sample, different source and amp, different test setups.

I wonder what is the measurement uncertainty of the test system at Head-Fi?