SONY MDR-Z1R WW2 Signature, Hi-Res Headphone, Black (International Version)

I've had these for a few days so I guess I'm still burning them in but I don't know if I believe in that. I think it is more about letting my brain adjust to the sound signature and just fall in love with them. Upon first listen, I wasn't blown away by much other than the bass. My other headphones include the HD800, HD58X, HD650 and HE-400i. I'm used to a brighter sound signature and my 800's have the DuPont mod to try and tame them a bit because I'm pretty sensitive to sibilance. I'm not afraid to apply a little EQ to help balance the sound and I have different presets for all my headphones, including the Z1R now.I'm giving this headphone a trial between my two amps: Audio-gd NFB28.38 and Little Dot MKIII. I don't like it as much on the tube amp. The bass seemed more muddy on the MKIII but it's also why I love the HD800's on it because it adds some punch and bass to them. The tube amp likes the higher impedance anyway which the Z1R doesn't have. In fact, the 64 ohm impedance rating seems high based on testing because these are very loud on the NFB28 at modest volume settings. All of my other headphones need a higher setting to make the same volume.In terms of sound quality, going from the brighter headphones to these is what creates some disappointment. These have plenty of treble, especially with EQ, but they don't have that immediate brightness that makes you feel like the response is wide and open. It's more of a sound through a hollow piece of wood which sounds awful, but it's not as bad as that sounds. It's just that all the lows and mids are super pronounced, but the highs don't resonate with the same forward energy. You can still feel the ear strain from the highs with the right music so highs are not lacking, they just aren't as forward or complete.These cans are really tuned for certain music. Dance music really pops on these but I don't really like that stuff. Live music is absolutely amazing. It's like these were tuned for it and I couldn't believe how well it brought that stuff to life. Metal and rock guitar really crunches and sounds amazing with that emphasized low end. I've never heard bass guitars sound so forward and present on some of my music until these headphones. That totally blew me away. Overall, I'm falling in love with the sound signature and you quickly adapt to what I don't want to call a dark sound (because it isn't dark like the HD650) but a bit more of a bass/mid-centric sound with highs present to no extreme level unless a track is screamingly high. I'm going to listen to these when I want an easier, full sound and I will use my HD800's when I want a wider, more treble present, more explosive sounding playback but with less bass. That's about all I can say. The Z1R is a unique headphone compared to the others I have and fits well by being so different. Is it the headphone to replace all the others? Nope. It's just another tool in my arsenal to try and find the right sound that matches my mood that day. I think my next headphone to try will be the Fostex TH-900mk2 but I have to let the wallet cool down for a while!

I don't consider myself an audiophile by any standard, but just love listening to music. My best analogy is that Jay Leno isn't a race car driver, but he does own and enjoy driving a lot of fast cars. These headphones deliver that in spades. Going from a $300 pair to an $800 pair to these I can tell the difference immediately. I forgot to bring these to work today and had to 'suffer' with my Bose QC25s (the at the time $300 pair) and it was brutal. That's how spoiled these make you. Listening to Z1Rs after either of my previous cans is like OMG. Despite how large these are, they are extremely comfortable. These are the first pair of headphones I've owned that have 'new car smell.' Sound quality and detail is excellent and you don't need an amp to use them on your phone. However, I'm using a Dragonfly Red and it just makes them even better. If you're willing to drop a few mortgage payments on a set of cans, get a Dragonfly because at this point lol. My amp on my PC can make these bang if I choose to, but it's not really a great idea. They have a very relaxing feel to them - you can have music blasting and fall asleep with these on. Don't get me wrong, if you listen to something like metal or hardstyle these can still deliver, but it's kind of like being knocked out by silk gloves instead of a baseball bat. If you plan on going deaf and absolutely blasting music these are not ideal, my $800 Audeze pair does much better at this. If you blast music sound quality will fall apart, but again I'm talking deafening levels. Anything else, just wow. You'll listen to genres you never listen to just because how good these sound. Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture, Indiana Jones - Theme Song, Technotronic - Move This, etc. I listen to a lot of trance music and one of my favorite DJs is DJ Tiesto from the late 90s/early 2000s. I find most of his recent stuff unlistenable. Driving to work the other day I listened to his Ultra set at Miami 2018 in my car. Bad at best. I put the same set on these headphones and thought, "yeah this is pretty good." That's what these things do, they make you love listening to music. The other feature that I love with these is the *option* of your wires locking into the headphone or being detachable. This is almost the sole reason I didn't buy a pair of Mr Speakers Ether C Flows. Snag the wire once and you're done. I go the the gym every other day and I don't want to worry about losing a few mortgage payments because I snagged a stupid wire. Yes it's happened since purchase.The negatives to these are the wires. The wire quality is excellent, but the user friendliness is nonexistent. You have two wires - a 10 foot wire with a traditional headphone jack and a ~4 foot wire with a 4.4mm Sony headphone jack. This means for portable use, you have to either buy a custom made wire elsewhere for at least $150 (generally twice that) or have this massive 10 foot wire. Awful. The other wire won't connect to anything except Sony products and buying a converter cable is difficult and costly. Etsy currently has a converter jack that's $169. Just for the jack. The Ebay wires I bought for $50 from China don't work with an iPhone as you'll only get sound through one ear. Out of spite, I will never purchase any Sony product made for this wire. If you are purchasing these for home use, the wire length doesn't matter, but if you want to use them elsewhere keep that in mind. I currently have a Moon Audio Dragon wire, and I think the entire 'wire will bring better sound' is complete crap, but I don't want to have some 10 foot wire when working out and other options are closer to $1000 - *for a wire*

If the HD800S are the Alpha, these are the Omega.Best closed back headphone I have ever heard - and I've heard just about all of them.Note: these are not for mastering.. these are the ultimate headphones for listening.-Mid-range is extensive, full, present-forward and absolutely intoxicating-Treble is exactly where it needs to be.. Sparkly but never fatiguing.-Bass - they have mid-bass and sub bass that are both just right where they belong without being boomy. Powerful, deep, mesmerizing.-Balance is slightly warm but these headphones honestly work for just about every genre of music. I find them quite similar to the Audeze LCD-4 sound signature.Build quality is perfect. The most comfortable closed back headphone I've ever worn by leagues and bounds.Isolation is very good.Headphones I've owned or extensively auditioned (only listing closed backs):-Audio Technica ATH-W5000-ZMF Eikon and Atticus-Mr. Speakers Aeon Flow - Closed-Mr. Speakers Ether C Flow-V-Moda M100's and Crossfade-Shure 1540's-Pioneer SE-Monitor5-Oppo PM-3-Audeze Sine-Audeze LCD-XC-Fostex TH-900 MK2 and other Fostex TH Models (won't really count them since they're semi-open)-Beyerdynamic T5P Gen 2-Many more that are just too much to list.I would take the Sony MDR-Z1R over any of them PERIOD (and have chosen to).Buy these, they are the TOTL headphones you're looking for.My current setup for reference:Closed Back - Sony MDR-Z1R > Balanced 2.5mm Silver Plated Copper Cable > HiBy R6Open Back - HD800S > Balanced 4pin-XLR > Topping DX7