Sony MDR-Z1R

Having heard both at RMAF, with the Atticus and Eikon still going through driver and tuning revisions, the ZMF stuff will sound more akin to a bassier HD650, where as the Sony sounded even thicker, more full-bodied, and brighter. Again, more of a tasteful U-shape curve. Personal tastes will play a role in who prefers what.

 

There are a lot of other good tastefully done U-shaped headphones out there for much less money.

 

Interesting. FWIW, most "trained listeners" here feel that Dr. Olive can go f**k himself with his shitty overly bassy Harmon target curve. There is no sub-mid-bass emphasis in B&K curve. B&K is flat out to a few hundred Hz before slowly rolling off. I hope to the gods that no headphone manufacturer ever follows the Harmon curve.

No. I listen primarily to speakers. I have two speaker rooms. This has nothing to do with high fidelity, but everything with do muddy craptastic unnatural overly bassy sound. And this is coming from someone who likes bass - bass from big 12" or 15" woofers.

Calling it bassy and saying that you like it that way is fine. There's no need to justify it with appeals to Dr. Olive's research, imaginations of what "high-fidelity" speaker reproduction sounds like, or natural less fatiguing sound.

 

Could you gather anything in terms of technicalities: distortion (clarity), resolution, macrodynamics? Was the treble elevated and smooth, or spotlit / peaky?

 

I remember the Z7 sounding noticeably more fatiguing right away than the new big boy. Z7 just didn't mesh with me right overall, kinda funky sounding, whereas the big boy didn't seem to bother me much in that way. HOWEVER...due to loud environment, unfamiliar gear setup, and lack of recognizable music other than Random Access Memories, yadda yadda, which still I'm not intimately familiar with, it was really too hard to tell with certainty. I think maybe it was a little hard and glaring up top, maybe a couple minor spotlights for extra edge, and definitely bass heavy (not like the bass on MDR-R1, which was yucky). I didn't think, "Wow, this is reference listening," but I overall had a positive experience listening to them. Again, take with a grain of salt due to points mentioned above. I can guarantee you they are not worth anywhere near the asking price, though. That I am certain of, and it is an aspect that matters to me a lot.

 

Good to know. So pass on SuperBAF funds then? The Z1R sounds like it will be $1299 before they discontinue it next year.

LOL, it sounds like they crammed a Fostex X00 driver, maybe with slightly bigger magnet in their speshal sexy cups. What's the SuperBAF PPP (proper price point) you think? $550?

 

Yeah, no more than $500-$700. But you know how I am with how much I think things are worth. Z7, in comparison, would be more like $200 or less.

 

Give the Z7 a few more bucks. The build is pretty good.