The Bass is most likely what makes the show for most. Its as strong in terms of volume as the IER-M9, but the feeling of air, the impact, the physical sensation is much higher. The vast experience and sense of our engineers is the key to acoustic design, which delivers the most natural sound. The finely tuned IER-Z1R acoustic structure steers audio from the trio of driver units as though they were a single, ideal driver. The big elephant in the room: the fit. Without a deep, snug fit you’d have a hard time finding what makes the IER-Z1R so special, making it rather necessary to trial these beforehand. The IER-Z1R has a mildly v-shaped sound, with a slight emphasis to both the bass and the upper mids and treble. This generally fits with my preferences, although the mids are a little more recessed than I'd like. However, they're a wonderfully detailed pair of earphones, with great separation and imaging. There is rarely, if ever, any sensation of congestion, bloating, or resonance in any part of the frequency response. These look and feel stunning in the hands. The way Sony presented them in the little jewelry box really solidifies what Sony wanted these to be; a halo product that is one of a kind. They're built very well and can easily last generations with the machining being super precise.

Opening the carrying case reveals the Earpieces, below the earpieces there is a cable-holder, a shirt clip and a cleaning cloth which i found a bit rough and hard, prefer to use the one i use to clean my eyeglasses. The interior of the case is covered in some sort of veñvet. Transfixed at what the cans are now pouring into my ears: pure liquid audio gold. I can’t believe how different they are. As you do.........I still have unproven ideas and concepts. One is sound quality from files higher than 16/44.1. The equipment used in this test is on the edge of actually being able to maybe hear the improvements of Hi Resolution Audio. After all these years I have remained believing that 16/44.1 was all that’s needed. Though at this fork in the road, I don’t know anymore. So for this review I have paid very close attention to the possible sound quality improvement from higher bit-rate. Obviously your results may vary from my findings. But I would be amiss if I didn’t simply suggest experimenting with High Resolution Audio at this level of replay. This level of reproduction is obviously not the end all, end all. Still your going to have to drop some serious coin to start to top it.Still the king, though given that freedom of judgment and criticism kings enjoy. While the IER-Z1R may beat it in technicality the Z1R remains it’s own unique experience by capturing nuances only a big headphone can do. Slightly less intense and upfront, it’s ends with more relaxed charm. Some strangeness here. These have a relaxed presentation but are a little dark and veiled. But it has a large sound stage with big bass and pretty good imaging. Hmm…

The position of the Instruments, the layering, the crowd around and behind me, everything is exactly where it belongs and this is what i use the MDR-Z1R for most of the time. I have a lot of very well recorded Live BluRay and DVD and if i listen to any of them, there is no question about the choice of Headphone. Starting with the bass, you get a fair bit of quantity (it's no Legend X, but it's certainly up there), but I'd say the defining and unique characteristic here is just how slow the decay is. I don't really have the words to describe it, but you can hear it long after the slam has taken place which makes for an extremely satisfying listen. Furthermore, the bass is very well separated from the midrange so you don't end up having any bleed. The bass could comfortably be the star of the show if it wasn't for the mind-boggling treble that the Z1R produces. The Ts-200 enabled me to use them for hours without comfort issues and are the tips that seem to make them sound most unmodified (if that makes sense).

Major HiFi Newsletter

The super tweeter is on a coaxial position against the nozzle. This layout directly delivers accurate super high notes to your ears, with an ultra-wide frequency response up to 100 kHz.

I wasn’t going to use David Guetta’s “I’m Good (Blue),” since I don’t want to over use it. But while the bass sounds excellent, the synths came across very metallic and harsh sounding in the upper registers – definitely a weakness in these headphones that the XTC doesn’t have. After listening for a while, folks realize where the midrange is. It’s always been there but just like visual perception, the mind doesn’t always look where it needs to. What I’m saying is most of us have found the midrange after some style of mental meditation. But again, crazy as it may seem; once you have stumbled upon IER-Z1R midrange enlightenment it normally stays with you for life. If not, maybe the IER-Z1R is not meant to be with you in your future. They are not for everyone. But remember too these audio opinions are reached by using whole systems. The end result is the end result of a whole system, just as a car can not travel with three wheels. At the bottom I will list the whole system as so to lessen confusion. Rap vocalists from Tyler, The Creator, Logic, Kanye West, EARTHGANG will probably show the most instance of recessed vocals, but otherwise still slaps a ton of dynamics, making each vocalists' sound having even more characteristic Taking the Sony house sound to a more mature and maybe advanced level; because everything is clearer; it’s that detailed 3D no stopping clarity! A more physical and carved-out bass than with the full-size Z1R yet focused like the Z7. The IEM here actually becomes of more finesse yet touchable as well as comprehensible! Here we are met with a more in-your-head soundstage, being a more concentrated and mind-bending elixir. Soundstage is wider and taller on the IER-Z1R but stage depth is about par on the U12t. Imaging is tad more precise on the U12t, though these are marginal differences. Where I found more palpable was the difference in coherence. U12t, despite the 12 drivers, sounded more coherent than the IER-Z1R. Also a slight note about build/accessories: Sony IER-Z1R is quite a bit ahead on those aspects.

Z1-R Restomod: Build Sheet

The newly developed Balanced Armature driver is equipped with a magnesium diaphragm, silver-coated copper voice coil and gold-plated terminals. These realize high definition sound that reproduces even the smallest fading note. What the IER-Z1R does in the end is provide a really big soundstage. Ok stop. It’s kinda beyond soundstage.......it’s the Matrix. It’s the biggest most darn soil-your-shorts-soundstage you or I have ever heard. It’s not just big, it’s everywhere. It’s behind your ears where those things that hold your glasses on end. It’s above your head a distance and almost where the top of your shoulders are. Hold your hand three inches above your head in the center.......yep..it’s there too, it’s everywhere it’s the Matrix. So in 2016 we saw a couple new products introducing the Signature Series and celebrating the 70th birthday of the Sony Corporation. The introduction was the WM-1Z digital audio player, the WM-1A digital audio player and the TA-ZH1ES DAC/amp and finally the full-size Z1R headphones arrived. In terms of soundstage/imaging, the former goes to the IER-Z1R whereas the Andro 2020 has slightly better center-imaging than the IER-Z1R but similar cardinal/ordinal imaging otherwise. The cable included is fine except for the ear hooks. Now, these are very heavy earpieces and they can put a lot of strain on your ears if there's no support. The ear hooks are so loose, they they don't actually loop around the ear on hold the earphone up. For me it just hovers above my ears. I would heavily appreciate a metal wire or something that i can shape to my ear.

I choose an IEM and two full-size headphones as these three actually represent Sony’s recently introduced top of the line models. Being the level they are at they were/are completely hand made in-house at Sony’s headphone factory in Tokyo Japan. This in itself remains in strict contrast to everything else Sony has released recently except the Z5 IEM and DMP-Z1 desktop unit; which are also in-house builds. Burn-in – don’t really believe in it unless we’re talking about your ears and brain getting used to the sound. This is a demo model anyways, so it has at least several hundred hours on it already.

Return policy

This is my first post in this forum - normally I’m a lurker who enjoys the insights and discussions, but I feel compelled to post on my recent cable upgrade experience. The infamous IER-Z1R Midrange: Can’t we have it all? I mean we are paying a lot of money here. Can’t we simply have everything? The best answer here is the word “perspective”. The midrange is a perspective. It’s actually there completely. Try listening to Bohemian Rhapsody, get yourself into a dark room. Turn-off your cell phone and close your eyes and listen to the Queen song in full while paying close attention and you tell me if the midrange is completely there? Also while your at it what’s your opinion of the vocal rendition? You decide for yourself. Still if that doesn’t work you may have to stay after school? Maybe some other dusty midrange album?