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New Sony MDR-MV1 - Professional Open Back Headphones

It is threaded.
It is indeed.
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...Closer look there:
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I'm really tempted to buy one... I hope @solderdude or @amirm could put their hands on this.
 
Looks like the same headband on the MDR-Z1R which is great news since that one is really comfortable.
Will be interesting to see if this is better or worse than the soon to be released Audeze MM-100.
 
That seemed like such a nice review, going through the FR and sharing insights, talking about variations caused by different placements, detailed conversation about distortion etc. I "rewinded" the video a bit, there is a comparison to MDR 7506, a conversation about power requirements and which devices can supply it with enough power. A level of magnitude better than any English language review I came across.

On top of that, it was interesting to learn studio monitor is also studio monitor in Korean :)
 
Amir would have a comment or two on that H2/H3 distortion :D

Bass output isn't too bad to begin with though, for a presumably fully open dynamic. Solderdude has often noticed that elevated H3 is accompanied with compression with level though, so hopefully the MV1 won't be affected at a reasonable level.

Personally I quite like the smoothness of the response, and I'm assuming for now, given the design, that it's going to be fairly insensitive to coupling issues up to a few kHz. Conversely I have some concerns about the EQability of the 5kHz dip and the treble response in general, as well as pad wear over time.

MDRMV1.jpg
 
Bass output isn't too bad to begin with though, for a presumably fully open dynamic. Solderdude has often noticed that elevated H3 is accompanied with compression with level though, so hopefully the MV1 won't be affected at a reasonable level.

Personally I quite like the smoothness of the response, and I'm assuming for now, given the design, that it's going to be fairly insensitive to coupling issues up to a few kHz. Conversely I have some concerns about the EQability of the 5kHz dip and the treble response in general, as well as pad wear over time.
Do you know what measurement gear he is using? How much can we read into the graphs?
 
Do you know what measurement gear he is using?
GRAS 45CA-8:
Screenshot_20230419-095325~2.png

How much can we read into the graphs?
As far as I can tell, the only difference between his GRAS and Amir's is the use of an ra0045 coupler instead of the ra0402. That means that high frequency resonances above ~7kHz will be more pronounced.
 
24Ω seems to be an odd choice for a dynamic headphone built for studios, where high output impedance headphone amps are still pretty common.
It is strange but it seems to be more common now w/ low impedance design being released for some reason. Austrian Audio and late model AKG seem to be all 32ohm and under nowadays.


On a side note, Anyone notice that the MDR-7506 image has been replaced w/ the MV1 on Sony's website.


Im genuinely hoping the. MV1 sounds better than the M1ST though. I was really disappointed w/ the M1ST and went back to my beloved CD900ST. M1ST Sounded really kinda flat and dark / void of life, which may be a studio niche use case thing, but it was not usable like the rest for audio enjoyment.
 
Response doesnt look too bad, tho it actually kinda looks similar to Dolby Atmos' elevation curve where the 6-7 khz range is boosted and 11-12khz range is dipped. Maybe there was some truth to the Elevation Curve HRTF and Sony's engineers think the same but for headphones instead of speakers. They do have a background in Spatial audio algorithms and their latest room correction in the ES AVR are supposedly really good in creating spatial cues. According to Sony these are intended to give you a spatial nearfield monitor replacement for your headphone mixes. Their distortion metrics have improved immensely since 7506 over 30 years ago which it should be~ For an open back it does seem bassy, but that broad band of bass looks like it might be its downfall somewhat unless it was done w/ some intention.

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According to Sony these are intended to give you a spatial nearfield monitor replacement for your headphone mixes. Their distortion metrics have improved immensely since 7506 over 30 years ago which it should be~ For an open back it does seem bassy, but that broad band of bass looks like it might be its downfall somewhat unless it was done w/ some intention.

If the use case is similar to what Sony's marketing for their 360 Virtual Mixing Environment is (measure a studio's speakers with in-ear mics, equalise the output to the HPs to match it after measuring the HPs in situ with the same microphones), then the MDR-MV1's basal curve is less important than its EQability, in which case a coupling insensitive design (which given how open the front volume is we can presume is the case here, up to a few kHz) and a smooth curve (up to 4kHz or so it's quite a bit smoother than most headphones, and while I have some doubts about the EQability of the 5kHz dip, at least the peaks around 6-10kHz are shaped in a way that won't be excessively hard to EQ) can be positive attributes. Perhaps that use case can explain some of the choices Sony has made with these headphones... or perhaps not, who knows.
 
Now in stock in EU:
 
If the use case is similar to what Sony's marketing for their 360 Virtual Mixing Environment is (measure a studio's speakers with in-ear mics, equalise the output to the HPs to match it after measuring the HPs in situ with the same microphones), then the MDR-MV1's basal curve is less important than its EQability, in which case a coupling insensitive design (which given how open the front volume is we can presume is the case here, up to a few kHz) and a smooth curve (up to 4kHz or so it's quite a bit smoother than most headphones, and while I have some doubts about the EQability of the 5kHz dip, at least the peaks around 6-10kHz are shaped in a way that won't be excessively hard to EQ) can be positive attributes. Perhaps that use case can explain some of the choices Sony has made with these headphones... or perhaps not, who knows.
They do offer some Personalized HRTF service thats supposedly coming soon to a few stores in the US. Could even have something to do w/ the base line of the personalized HRTFs granted not everyone will be able to go to the stores offering the service.
 
Bass output isn't too bad to begin with though, for a presumably fully open dynamic. Solderdude has often noticed that elevated H3 is accompanied with compression with level though, so hopefully the MV1 won't be affected at a reasonable level.

Personally I quite like the smoothness of the response, and I'm assuming for now, given the design, that it's going to be fairly insensitive to coupling issues up to a few kHz. Conversely I have some concerns about the EQability of the 5kHz dip and the treble response in general, as well as pad wear over time.

View attachment 280198
Well, this is a horrible peak at 6kHz (and a huge dip at 4.5kHZ). Generally it seems that it is on the bright side, even big time. Also the overall look appears to be very plasticky. Without having listened to it, I would most probably prefer the HD 650 with it's much smoother response, just EQ some bass in.
 
Well, this is a horrible peak at 6kHz (and a huge dip at 4.5kHZ). Generally it seems that it is on the bright side, even big time. Also the overall look appears to be very plasticky. Without having listened to it, I would most probably prefer the HD 650 with it's much smoother response, just EQ some bass in.
Did you compare HD650 under the same test bench? Otherwise, any comment on FR is pointless... ;)
Measurements processes and instrumentations are so different between reviewers that you may not fairly compare one FR to the other. BTW, the "HD650" dashed line on the graph quoted seems to be simulated FR with Oratory EQ. So hardly any comparaison to speak about here.
 
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