Sony MDR-Z1R Headphones. Almost New. NICE

Sony MDR -Z1R Headphones in like new condition. About 4 months
old. They come with original box, cables, and manual. These are the USA
dealer edition. They sound excellent with open airy top end , great midrange, and awesome bass with good resolution.


 
I am an authorized dealer for PS Audio, Oracle, Resonessence, COS Engineering,

Verastarr, Canary Audio , Magnus Triangle Art. Paypal or CC adds 2.9%, Thank

you!   Midwest Audio.574 329-1850

Please Note: These are NOT the "International Version" selling on Amazon for less but  full USA version new. 

And yes, they really ARE great headphones. There are other headphones
that give a false sense of resolution as they leave the high frequencies
bright, but these Sony's are lush with just the right amount of warmth
without losing resolving power. They're musical, see The Absolute Sound
review below.
That said, one big thing to me is that they just let the
sound get out of your head. There's that sense of air that you get with
speakers. Not the same as speakers obviously, but for closed back
headphones (real world tight bass) and they are amazingly spacious. 

Anyways, for anyone who listens a fair amount with headphones, these
Sony Z1Rs are sleepers, and overlooked!

From Absolute Sound:

MDR-Z1R Headphones
I’ve
never been a big fan of bling for bling’s sake, so I found the look and
feel of the new MDR-Z1R headphones refreshing. They are elegant in the
true sense of the word, with clean lines and an all-black matte finish
that seems to say, “Stop looking and start listening.” Instead of flashy
logos or sparkly details the MDR-Z1R is all about understated high
performance.

Designed by Shunsuke Shiomi, the MDR-Z1R headphones
are a completely new design based around a 70mm-diameter, full-range
driver. With its high frequency extending up to 120kHz, the new driver
comprises a magnesium dome attached to an aluminum-coated, liquid
crystal polymer edge. Even the screen that protects the drivers was
given a new design. Instead of the usual circular or grid pattern the
MDR-Z1R uses a Fibonacci-patterned grille. According to Sony’s
measurements this grille delivers a much smoother frequency response
with fewer resonances than previous grille designs. On the Sony-supplied
frequency plot, the Fibonacci grille caused almost as few frequency
anomalies as no grille at all.

Moving
up to a 70mm-diameter driver isn’t merely a matter of bigger looks
better. With the larger driver the MDR-Z1R gains several advantages. For
one, the driver doesn’t have to be positioned as critically vis-à-vis
your ear. Most headphones, even large-diaphragm models, have one
particular or ideal fit where sound and comfort are optimal. With the
MDR-Z1R I found that the time I spent fiddling to find the fit with the
best sound was reduced to nothing. The MDR-Z1R sounds the same
regardless of small changes you make to how they are sitting on your
head. This is also due to the new Fibonacci screen.

The
MDR-Z1R’s enclosure is also worthy of special note. Unlike most
headphone designs which are either completely closed or completely open,
the MDR-Z1R is somewhere in between, not unlike the AudioQuest
NightHawk. The MDR-Z1R has an open housing frame that allows sound to
pass through freely. This is backed by an “acoustic resistor” that is
made of Canadian softwood mixed with water to a uniform consistency. The
process is similar to what is used to form art-paper, but in this case
the final results are geared toward producing a material that has a high
level of sound absorption rather than textural beauty. The outer layer
of this sandwich is a “housing protector” molded out of stainless steel
wire coated with a chromium compound. This design delivers the sonic
advantages of an open headphone so that the driver has no physical
impedances caused by the enclosure. But it also reduces the sound
released into the world around you to the point where at normal
listening levels anyone nearby will not hear your music.

The
MDR-Z1R has thick, ergonomically shaped, genuine leather earpads that
are so pliable that the headphones can make a fully occluded seal around
a user’s ears even when he is wearing glasses. This same leather is
used to cover the “Beta titanium” headband, the inner core of which is
made of the same material used in eyeglass frames. The MDR-Z1R design
has two pivot points, a vertical one where the capsules meet the
headphone’s yoke and a second lateral point where the yoke meets the
headband. This two-point pivot system makes for an exceptionally
flexible fit and a very comfortable final result.

As
you would expect from a premium headphone, the cable is removable and
replaceable. The attachment methodology is one that Sony has used
successfully on previous designs. It has a male stereo mini-connector
augmented by a screw-down outer collar. This configuration guarantees a
virtually unbreakable connection; if the cable fails, the points of
attachment will not cause it. The MDR-Z1R comes with two cables. One is a
standard 3-meter-long, single-ended mini-stereo (with a full-sized ¼"
adapter) while the other is a 1.2-meter balanced cable terminated with
the new 4.4mm barrel.

Ergonomic Impressions
Because
of its 70mm diaphragm the MDR-Z1R is a physically large headphone, and
if you are concerned by questions such as “Do these make my head look
small?” be advised that the all-black color of the headphones does have a
slimming effect. But despite its size the MDR-Z1R is surprisingly
lightweight. On a comfort scale of one to ten—one being unwearable and
ten being so comfortable you forget they are on your head—the MDR-Z1R
rates a solid 9. Even after several hours of use in a reasonably warm
environment my ears did not get overly moist and the side-pressure did
not become uncomfortable (or even noticeable). I rate the MDR-Z1R up
with the Focal Utopia and Stax L-700 in overall comfort and wearability.

With
its 64 ohms at 1kHz impedance and 100dB at 1mW sensitivity the MDR-Z1R
is an easy-to-drive headphone. My iPhone 4 had no issues pushing the
MDR-Z1R to satisfying levels, as did my ancient iPod Classic 160. The
most noticeable difference between these sources and more robust
portable players was the level of bass control, definition, and
extension. I could also hear that these sources lacked the finesse and
delicacy in their upper frequencies of the Sony NW-WM1Z.

Sound
Many
years ago, I visited the late loudspeaker designer John Dunlavy at his
factory in Colorado Springs. One of the A/B tests we did in his
listening room was to compare the spectral balance of his big 650-pound
SC-VI loudspeakers with a pair of Sony 7506 headphones. I was struck by a
feeling of audiophile déjà vu when I read that the new MDR-Z1R
headphones had been compared by senior mastering engineer Mark Wilder
to a pair of Duntech loudspeakers as a spectral reference, as these were
also designed by John Dunlavy.

I found the MDR-Z1R to be the
best-sounding all-around headphones I’ve heard. What do I mean by
“all-around?” By this I refer to the fact that unlike most earphones
which are either open and need a quiet environment or suffer some sonic
degradation because they are a sealed design with interior reflections
and non-linear physical resistance to driver motion, the MDR-Z1R is a
“unicorn” that can be used in far more situations. Its design combines
the best aspects of an open ’phone with enough to be used in
environments where an open headphone could not be appreciated, such as
your local public library or open floorplan office.

Looking
at my listening notes the words “no limitations” occur in numerous
sessions. Try as I may, I was hard-pressed to hear any sonic
shortcomings that I could lay at the feet of the MDR-Z1R. Whether I was
listening to a commercially available recording or my own live concert
recordings, the MDR-Z1R provided a clear window into the event. My
listening time through the MDR-Z1R was split between the Sony NW-WM1Z
and the Mytek Brooklyn DAC/Pre, both of which proved to be synergistic
pairings.

Although they image in a different spatial environment
than loudspeakers, headphones do create a soundstage. The MDR-Z1R’s
soundstage was not only exceedingly three-dimensional, but also quite
large. It wasn’t so much that the image was big, but the soundstage
boundaries seemed to have far more extension than with most headphones.
Also, within the soundstage each instrument had remarkably well-defined
dimensions.

On my own recordings, I was more aware of how the
sound moved through the hall. The differences between the direct and
reflected sound was more apparent than with any closed-back headphone
I’ve used, due in part to the lack of interior reflections in the
MDR-Z1R’s enclosure. Image specificity was scary at times. Listening to
Chance the Rapper’s “Blessings” via Tidal I was aware of how the easy it
was to hear each element within the dense mélange of sound—even to the point of hearing the phase-shift added to the acoustic piano at the beginning of the track.

In
their informational materials Sony mentions using the Duntech
loudspeakers as a spectral reference. And like the Duntechs, the
MDR-Z1R’s spectral balance is very much in the “straightno-chaser”
school that does not try to editorialize the harmonic spectrum. The
bass, while extended, does not have any extra midbass bloom or romance.
But, of course, your choice of amplifier will affect this balance, bigly
(I couldn’t resist). With the all-tube, single-ended, Dennis
Had-designed Dragon Inspire IHA-1, the MDR-Z1R gained some additional
lower midrange richness and a bigger, but slightly less controlled low
bass.

Bass
extension through the MDR-Z1R was as good as I’ve heard from any
headphone. On bass-heavy tracks such as DJ Snake’s “Too Damn Low,” the
MDR-Z1R delineated the different pitches of the synth drums exceedingly
well. Also, that puff of air that accompanies lower frequencies came
through with remarkable impact. On Chance the Rapper’s “Blessings” via
Tidal, the bottom end seemed to have no dynamic restrictions. Even on
cuts that were not bass-intensive, such as Albert King’s “Born Under a
Bad Sign,” the MDR-Z1R had a level of definition, detail, and control
that would please anyone who favors that low-down sound.

If you
have a couple of songs on which you’ve never quite been able to make out
all the lyrics, listen to them through the MDR-Z1R. I guarantee that
you will never confuse “Kiss the sky” with “Kiss this guy” again. Modern
stuff like Beyoncé’s “Sorry” had a lot of “bad words” buried in the mix
that I didn’t know were there until I listened to the track through the
MDR-Z1R.

The MDR-Z1R headphone, at $2299, has plenty of competition, but nothing
quite matches its level of comfort, sound, and compatibility with a wide
range of playback devices. Its closest sonic competitor would be the
MrSpeakers Ether Flow ($1799–$1849), which is a smidgen less comfortable
and favors a stouthearted headphone amplifier, but is over $400 less
expensive. Although I no longer have the aforementioned Focal Utopia
headphone for direct A/B sonic comparison, I do feel the MDR-Z1R
headphones are in the same sonic class with those and the MrSpeakers
Ether Flows—certainly these are both headphones that anyone considering
the Utopia should hear before purchase.