Sony PFR-V1: Misbegotten Lovechild

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by Lyander, May 24, 2019.

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  1. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    TL;DR: Comfort is immediately horrible except the headband, you need to be good at ignoring irritating pain to wear these for extended periods of time or have literal thick, unfeeling skin. Stock sound is thin with odd timbre. Good imaging, impressive soundstaging even relative to circumaurals (better width than depth). Fast, handles complex passages with grace. You can hear what goes on well into sub-bass with decent texture given quiet enough listening conditions, but you can't really feel it. Good macrodetail commensurate with $300 tier throughout (only this retailed for $500 I think?), and impressive perceived dynamic range likely influenced by masking of low-level detail giving impression of better contrast. It's also hard to get any sense of room cues even in quiet environs. Treble is as fatiguing as the ergonomics, but front filters help. Still need EQ on particularly aggressive music.

    Self-indulgent impressions below:

    [​IMG]

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    I got to try these briefly back in 2015 or '16 but it was too noisy to really bother listening to. I spent most of that meet enamoured by the HD650, which eventually led to my becoming an HD650 shill, which led to my eventually making an account here despite not having a single Sennheiser to my name....

    Efforts at low comedy aside, now that I'm at leisure to try this out on my own terms at home and wherever I so please I figure it might be vaguely useful to have a thread on it even though no one in their right mind would buy these except as a collector's item, not to mention I'm pretty sure these are long OOP.

    These have a headband and aren't exactly earphones or IEMs since the probe is the only bit that actually touches my ears, so I'm dumping this in the Headphones subforum. I'll start out with sound then go on to ramble about more lyer25.blogspot-reviews aspects like fit and all that later on. All comments on sound are made with the comes-with inline battery-powered amplifier, which boosts bass presence by way of arcane impedanse magycks; it's even more anaemic-sounding without, which does the sound no favours.

    [​IMG]

    Pure stock sans foam (these shipped with foam sleeves meant to fit over the metal rods to help with bass response, but those have long since disintegrated): unlistenable unless you absolutely loathe bass, and/or just like weird shiz in general. Don't bother. Really, don't. Forget its technical strengths, the fact that it feels like you're getting an uncomfortable ear probe only adds insult to injury.

    An aside: Not sure what purpose those crescent discs in front of the drivers serve. Scattering sound? Well they help keep front filters in place too so that's nice:

    [​IMG]

    With minor mods (rubber grommet wedged into rods, 2-ply pinned under open cell foam block): Surprisingly decent imaging in "ideal" position, comparable to DT880, though depending on the physiology of your ear you might have trouble keeping it in place. Wide soundstage albeit a weirdly shallow. Really good dynamics— macrodetail in midrange is on the level of the HD650 out of a mid-fi system, but can easily be masked by ambient noise for obvious reasons. Low level detail and room cues are near-impossible to discern even when it's quiet (~35dBA) at my normal listening levels, around 75dBA. This probably improves perceived dynamics since it's coming out of nowhere, as opposed to coming off background on regular headphones.

    Can keep up with busy passages (e.g. Amon Amarth, Machine Head) surprisingly well in part due to the lack of bass masking, but the driver also just seems competent— good transient response that I'd compare to the Meze 99 Classics sans the overbearing bass. Speaking of, bass levels are acceptable with rubber grommets wedged into the rods anyway, which someone on Head-Fi came up with as an alternative solution for when the foam sleeves wear out. I can't comment on bass levels relative to other headphones because all the headphones I have around are much bassier, including the DT880; you can hear everything going down to sub-bass given ideal listening conditions, but you can't feel it. Quality is alright— looking past the fact that there isn't very much of it you get a good sense of texture and crispness to the lower end, about a tier below TH-X00.

    Midrange is really weird. Even accounting for the bass rolloff there's a gramophone-esque quality to it that exaggerates overtones on instruments and makes everything sound off. I adapt to it after a few tracks but even taking short breaks and coming back to them requires reacclimitisation. I cheated and looked up squiggles to try and make sense of it, GoldenEars shows a narrow 6-7dB bump at 2kHz (http://en.goldenears.net/GR_Headphones/4285), and tamping down that spot via EQ does seem to help slightly at the expense of weakening centre image. Going off that graph v. my ears, I think the lower treble sounds more elevated, as does bass below 500Hz. Latter can be explained by mods, former is probably just differences in pinnae. On the whole it's coloured in an interesting way, I'm just not into hearing Jennifer Charles singing through a confessional booth.

    Going back to treble, there's something around 6kHz that makes my ears cry. At similar volume levels the opening to Twenty-0ne Pilots's Stressed Out is even more fatiguing on the Sonys than the Klipsch HP-3s without front filters. I can just about barely tolerate the Klipsches and Fostexes on most tracks at reasonable volumes so I count myself less treble-sensitive than some, but this is pushing it. Cymbal crashes on Sugarplum Arches are uniquely unpleasant. Resolution in upper registers is comparable to maybe a Grado RS1, based off memory, only less aggressive and grainy.

    Kinda wish I could do riskier mods to try and improve bass quantity, maybe invovling a fine dremel, but the headphones (?) aren't mine and the owner's a nice guy I don't want to cause any grief. Ah well.


    [​IMG]

    Fitting is easy— numbered clickers on either side with loads of leeway and a hinge mechanism that flops outwards to accomodate a wide variety of ear shapes and sizes. My head's fairly average, I'm 5 clicks on both sides on the HD650 (with nonexistent headband foam...), but I'm only 2/10 notches on the PFR-V1. People with large hats need not worry. Comfort is another story entirely, it sucks unwashed tyres after an offroad jaunt through a swamp. Besides the metal rods poking a bruise into my concha, the headband clamps to your skull using hard plastic bits just above the ears. Because of how the form factor is the headphones need high clamping force, so why Sony chose not to pad the damn vise with something is beyond me. I honestly get massive headaches if I'm not careful to avoid certain spots around my temple. Build quality is excellent, by the by, despite how slim and delicate-looking everything is. You get some lateral wobble around the hinge mechanism, but I'd say it was necessary so more people could get better fit without having to add a proper swivel hinge.

    Another thing of note is you have to be careful of reflections if you're wearing these while lying down, leaning against a wall, or even just resting your head in a swivel chair. Just comes with the territory when you're literally strapping mini speakers to the side of your head.

    Lastly, yes you look like a complete goober wearing these (dummy head modelling in link): https://imgur.com/a/07XrUVc

    ************
    Context: I don't give much of a bother about neutral sound and have turned into something of a bass lover lately. Excess amounts (current Meze 99 pads, stock Klipsch HP-3) give me headaches on certain songs and while I'm (oddly) not as put off by the treble of the DT880 as most, the sizzle of stock TH-X00EB and HP-3 are bad enough to make me wince, again on certain tracks; I never regret not picking an HD650 up on the cheap as much as when I feel like listening to crappy pop music.

    That's what you get for listening to Paramore I guess.

    I'm going back to my headphones. The Sonys are cool, I'd pick a pair up on the cheap for fun and potential mods if I could afford to, but I just miss bass.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2019
  2. Lurker

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    Japanese release was 20th October 2007 and the MSRP was 53000 yen (460USD back then).

    The concept is genius but as you mentioned the comfort is non-existent. A product that everyone tried in the store but nobody actually bought. Sony's own SA5000 from the same time was barely more expensive, arguably better sounding/looking and actually comfortable. A shame, because a PFR-V2 with fixed ergonomics and a better driver could be pretty nice and unique in a market where everyone just makes the same planar/dynamic for the umpteenth time.

    For those interested in the techincal aspects and some background I recommend reading the good old Rin Choi analysis:
    Part 2: http://rinchoi.blogspot.com/2013/06/sony-pfr-v1-part2-general-analysis.html
    Part 3: http://rinchoi.blogspot.com/2013/06/sony-pfr-v1-part3-in-depth-analysis.html

    Anything below 100 Hz is only audible as distortion which is why you don't really feel anything.
    Part 3 describes a Mod where you remove a screw that gives you a good 5dB boost at 100Hz.

    Would love to try one.
     
  3. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    @Lurker
    Hell yeah, I'm excited at the thought of what an even more competent driver could manage with the form factor! This was a "fun" listen after I got used to the thin signature. Makes sense re: bass being a distorted mess given the medium of transportation through those metal rods. Also, going by the illustrations in Part 3 the crescent-shaped disc over the driver helps amplify certain frequencies?

    I somehow missed this blog. Comprehensive set of measurements, much cool! Also far more useful than this thread, so at least it's getting more eyeballs now :p

    Huh, looking for a tiny Phillips head. Curious to try that bass port and see how it fares v stock. I'd really love to own one just for the odd form factor and its ~interesting~ presentation, but yeah these aren't as easy to come by now and are as comfortable as you'd expect.


    P.S.
    This is going to betray my ignorance but not extremely familiar with Rin Choi. That's all sorted now though.
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2019
  4. mdr30

    mdr30 Acquaintance

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    This is a strange animal, but proof of days when imagination and experimentation were given ample space. I think with further development this could have turned into something really exciting, especially when amplification and frequency correction is so much easier and cheaper these days. Hung on to mine a few years but then decided to let them go.
     
  5. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Yeah, I probably would't be able to justify keeping a pair around as anything more than an extreme change of pace, or just for how interesting they are. I'm hoping a manufacturer with decent backing picks up the form factor some day or another just because they're more "interesting" than a lot of other headphones I've tried, even if they're a far cry from being technically great.
     

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