Talk me out the Sony MDR-Z1R's

[Jumpwire]

Looking to upgrade my THX-00 PurpleHearts. Enjoy the sub bass tremendously.
I'm currently running a THX789 with a Pro-Ject S2 Digital with a LPS connected to a Schiit Loki.

Listening Preferences:
-Hip-Hop
-Dance/Electronic
-Alternative
-Pop

Have been eyeing a used pair of Sony's MDR-Z1R's. Something one step closer to some TOTL cans.

Finding allot of conflicting opinions. They are commonly being described as 'veiled' and 'overpriced'.
Some people recommend ZMF's Eikons or Atticus or TH900 MK2's.

What should I do?

 

[ZolaIII]

Try to find Pioneer Monitor 10 II in good condition for 40~60$ & restore them. Avatar picture is a funny one as Foster drives go traditionally in opposite direction (low & sub bass roll of).

 

[maverickronin]

It looks like the price on those spiked again...

The ~$1.8K MSRP is nuts. They aren't bad if you can score a used pair for a few hundred dollars. B&H had a used pair (pairs?) at the top of their used headphone listings for $350 for like the last year or something but it's gone now.

 

[Fluffy]

Have you listened to the Sony MDR-Z1R? Opinions don't really matter, your ears does.

 

[Jumpwire]

Have you listened to the Sony MDR-Z1R? Opinions don't really matter, your ears does.

Unfortunately not. Also getting allot of mixed responses on other forums. Potentially looking looking at some used IER-Z1R's, I know its an IEM but it might get me closer to that TOTL sound signature for a little bit more.

It looks like the price on those spiked again...

The ~$1.8K MSRP is nuts. They aren't bad if you can score a used pair for a few hundred dollars. B&H had a used pair (pairs?) at the top of their used headphone listings for $350 for like the last year or something but it's gone now.

Good to know. Another check mark for overpriced.

 

[majingotan]

Unfortunately not. Also getting allot of mixed responses on other forums. Potentially looking looking at some used IER-Z1R's, I know its an IEM but it might get me closer to that TOTL sound signature for a little bit more.

IER-Z1Rs are nowhere near neutral in sound signature. Epic fail for me unless you're into hyped subbass and treble sort of thing. IMO a more refined tuning would be the Etymotic ER4-SR or XR and would certain sound more tonally correct than the IER-Z1R due to FR curve

 

[JohnYang1997]

The issue is mainly the 2-4khz. It sounds like sea snail sticking up against your ears. The 10khz peak is there but not as annoying. I think you will like the focals(elex clear) They do have nice bass and more natural presentation than z1r.

 

[MZKM]

Here is it compared to the Harman target:

Now, you may not be exactly the same as the Harman target, so you can go on Crinicale’s site and load up any other speakers you may have heard and see how they compare.

 

[Jimbob54]

The issue is mainly the 2-4khz. It sounds like sea snail sticking up against your ears. The 10khz peak is there but not as annoying. I think you will like the focals(elex clear) They do have nice bass and more natural presentation than z1r.

Not an experience I have either had or wish to try. I think I'd pass on these based solely on that description though.

 

[Benesyed]

I auditioned both the Focal Clear and Sony MDR and preferred the latter but I wouldn't consider myself to have pure audiophile taste

 

[imas69]

Listen to the headphones and not other people that seem to think a frequency graph is more important than the sound of the headphones, you should also give the HD820 a go, they are a fantastic headphone despite what the frequency response reviewers like Joshua Valour say, if everyone took notice of them we'd all be listening to the HD600 and nothing else

 

[markanini]

Oratory1990's sample measured with a large bass emphasis and a upper mid recession. They might sound dull in person. If you're lucky it fits your personal preference, chances aren't high though.

 

[Benesyed]

Oratory1990's sample measured with a large bass emphasis and a upper mid recession. They might sound dull in person. If you're lucky it fits your personal preference, chances aren't high though.
View attachment 259696

I didn't think they would either based off of the frequency response but I was curious to try them given the tumultuous history.

So far they have been my favorite pair. every once in a while there's a track where I want a little bit more mid forwardness and so I just use the EQ to bump it up.

The bigger issue for listeners arguably is the relative peaks in the highs.

 

[Axo1989]

Looking to upgrade my THX-00 PurpleHearts. Enjoy the sub bass tremendously.
I'm currently running a THX789 with a Pro-Ject S2 Digital with a LPS connected to a Schiit Loki.

Listening Preferences:
-Hip-Hop
-Dance/Electronic
-Alternative
-Pop

Have been eyeing a used pair of Sony's MDR-Z1R's. Something one step closer to some TOTL cans.

Finding allot of conflicting opinions. They are commonly being described as 'veiled' and 'overpriced'.
Some people recommend ZMF's Eikons or Atticus or TH900 MK2's.

What should I do?

Listen if you can. Hard I know if you are looking at a used pair, but obviously that's the most straightforward way to find out how your pinnae interact with the headphone FR. We have broadly similar musical taste genre-wise (in other words, not classical/blues/jazz listeners). I like my Z1R. Bought them new a few years back when the street price was half the retail price. Noticed (as other have mentioned) street price appears to have gone again up lately.

For comparison I have Senny HD650 and AirPods Max. Never enjoyed the Sennys much and bass is a bit weak [edit: I bought them for work and use them as a reference]. APM are great and subjectively more neutral than the Sony in the mid-treble to my ear. If the recording leans bright they are preferable. But the Sony have very enjoyable timbre. They don't strike me as veiled, at least they don't lack detail, but their sonic flaw is the well-known voicing in the treble. You'll find that enjoyable or not depending on your taste and your ears. You can EQ to taste of course, on some recordings you may want to: the hazy fizz that often comes with processed vocals is accentuated. I think what @Benesyed says above is spot on.

To my ear the bass is just right, well-delineated, extended, not boomy. Rendition of bass decay is pretty delicious actually. For me, the warmth/boost that you can see around 90-200 Hz (which I wouldn't go for in speakers) helps balance the lack of tactility that headphone bass necessarily suffers from. And it isn't at the expense of the sub-bass.

As for the non-sonic aspects, the Z1R are comfortable, feel lighter than they weigh and while the industrial design is somewhat subtle, the build quality and detailing is exquisite, I reckon.

 

[sq225917]

A fatally flawed headphone. Ignore them if you prefer neutral, much better exists elsewhere

 

[Benesyed]

A fatally flawed headphone. Ignore them if you prefer neutral, much better exists elsewhere

yeah they are not neutral. I agree that if you want a neutral sound profile these will not do that.

fatally flawed? that I cannot say for sure. I don't have enough experience with pinnacle headphones to say. I can compare them to my IEMs that have much better measurements (monarch mk2) and I think the tonality is more enjoyable to me on the Sony. perhaps very peculiar and colored is a better statement?

definitely a tough blind buy!

 

[imas69]

Perhaps ask the question to yourself, what is neutral to you, people seem to think that the harman curve is the be all and end all of headphone listening, when in truth the experiment was conducted with a few people with 6 pairs of lo fi headphones, considering the headphone population boom and rise in quality since 2012 or even the newest iteration from 2017 it is highly unlikely that it even suits 10% of headphone wearers. Also if you can get past the noisy headband the Gjallahorn GH50 would be a great fir for your preferred genres

 

[markanini]

Perhaps ask the question to yourself, what is neutral to you, people seem to think that the harman curve is the be all and end all of headphone listening, when in truth the experiment was conducted with a few people with 6 pairs of lo fi headphones, considering the headphone population boom and rise in quality since 2012 or even the newest iteration from 2017 it is highly unlikely that it even suits 10% of headphone wearers. Also if you can get past the noisy headband the Gjallahorn GH50 would be a great fir for your preferred genres

More like hundreds of participants. Despite sounding confident apparently you didn't pay attention to the full output of Sean Olive. BTW People liked Harman tuned headphones years before Harman published their papers, it's nothing like Harman coming from left field telling people what to like.

 

[Benesyed]

Perhaps ask the question to yourself, what is neutral to you, people seem to think that the harman curve is the be all and end all of headphone listening, when in truth the experiment was conducted with a few people with 6 pairs of lo fi headphones, considering the headphone population boom and rise in quality since 2012 or even the newest iteration from 2017 it is highly unlikely that it even suits 10% of headphone wearers

More like hundreds of participants. Despite sounding confident apparently you didn't pay attention to the full output of Sean Olive. BTW People liked Harman tuned headphones years before Harman published their papers, it's nothing like Harman coming from left field telling people what to like.

It's a lot of great research is there anywhere is easily accessible, do we have a journal club for audio research on this site?

It would be interesting to see the study design and variable parameters.

 

[imas69]

More like hundreds of participants. Despite sounding confident apparently you didn't pay attention to the full output of Sean Olive. BTW People liked Harman tuned headphones years before Harman published their papers, it's nothing like Harman coming from left field telling people what to like.

Blah blah, 10s hundreds it's still not something that is not set in stone when there is a community of millions and just because people like you think that every headphone should sound the same it doesn't mean that they should and just because a certain headphone doesn't conform to your supposedly perfect curve it doesn't make it a perfect headphone and you say a headphone may sound dull based on the frequency response without ever hearing it, at least I have the common decency to mention headphones that I own. Go back to your silly little graphs and I'll go back to actually listening.