This test had a slightly different outcome than I would have guessed. Remember too, stuff like this is purely subjective. Still this section will help understand the personality concepts involved. Soundstage & Instrument separation: Probably the biggest soundstage in an IEM I've ever heard, surpassing that of the XBA-Z5 and equating that of the MDR-Z1R/HD800S, pretty inmersive experience, same for instrument separation, each instrument is present as a single entity with it's own air arround it. Notes come from every where, basically you're gunned down with notes from every where wow, as like listening to a pair of professional floor standing speakers. (Krebs- Organ works. Weinberger brothers, label Motette 16/44.1. Striggio mass for 40 and 60 voices, Hervé Noquet, Glossa, DSD 2.8MHz. Bach the six partiten, Martin Gester, Ligia, FLAC 24/88.2).

Where the full-size Z1R lends itself to Classical and Jazz, I can’t help but feel the Z7 yearns for electronic and general popular music. The Z7 offers more electricity and bounce, more brash and attitude! Yes........it’s all attitude here! The kind of attitude that ignores convention, careless yet exciting almost sleazy! Did I just call the prior Sony flagship sleazy.......yep, I did. The Z7 is a fun walk on the wild side................. a departure from anything as remotely stuffy and correct as the R-10. You can call me a nut too as I would choose the “wrongness” of the Z7 over the “correctness” of the R-10 any day. Go ahead and test me, I’m not trading. I now get what the term ‘width’ means when used to refer to soundstage on headphones. The bass is just crystal clear now. I really can’t describe how different it is. My local dealer provided me a set for audition, and I had planned to audition it for more than a week.The treble region is where the Sony IER-Z1R pulls ahead with no sharp 6KHz peak (A8000’s biggest downside) and more extended upper-treble. This leads to an even wider soundstage (though A8000 has very good stage width). Imaging is about even on both with center-imaging being slightly less accurate on both IEMs. Overall resolution is about similar on both, with the more resolving A8000 midrange being counter-balanced by the smoother yet better extended treble on the IER-Z1R. SOURCE: Sony NW-WM1A Fw 3.01, 4.4 output w/ Lossless files ranging from 16 & 24 bit flac to DSD (some ripped with a Pioneer BDP-160)

On the technical side, the mids come across natural in both timbre and tone. As a whole, no parts seem unnaturally gritty or thin like they can with other headphones that have either too much / too little treble and mids. Although the bass for the MDR-Z1R is certainly sound-determining, it is these very low frequencies that initially outsmarted me. In exceptional cases, the lower mids of the bass actually “run over”. In summary, the bass feels organic and cool, rich in detail and deep. Ok, I was making all that up. It does to a point (only to a point) but somehow the IER-Z1R works around the concept offering so much detail along with the color that you could almost believe the above. Z1000-D1 Z1R FRAME NUMBER: KZT00D-000001 >ENGINE NUMBER: KZT00DE-000001 >COLOUR: METALLIC STARDUST SILVER.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. Sony 1A (The 1A is at times better due to the IER-Z1R adding parallels to the 1Z sound, all by itself) It should be noted that Tip selection, insertion depth are pivotal as if subpar they will not sound like 2k+ earphones. Designed for either Studio or Stage Monitoring --> Plays well with everything that exists, but can sound boring and might not be suited for pure music listening. These are often professional tools meant to fullfill a certain purpose, make sure they fullfill your purpose. Often based on Monitoring with pushed, piercing upper mids, sometimes in combination with pushed bass (no midbass though, we're audiophiles!). Tries to be as much as possible to be the opposide of Club to make sure, you know you're listening to an audiphile headphone. If it doesn't hurt, its not audiophile. If you can't bear the pain, you're not audiophile enough. --> Only plays well with selected audiophile songs. You are not an real audiophile if you listen to anything, that doesn't sound well with these. If anything sounds wrong and off with these, its always the song and the quality of your recording.

Dirty Heads “Sound of Change” opens with a deep bass line and it sounds excellent on the Z1R, the vocals still further away, but the instrument separation is excellent and you can hear the fingers running over the strings of the guitars from 1:09 to 1:12 (which is kind of annoying, but detailed.) Compared to the Z1R, the XTC-C bass comes in with a little less quantity, but no less quality - the vocals are more forward and clearer/cleaner on the XTC-C. The fingers on strings mentioned previously are still there, but less grating than on the Z1R (which seems to struggle a little with sharpness in the highs.) Every once in a while a product will come around and change our viewpoint of audio. Most of us have been searching, scratching an itch to simply get new stuff. This searching can go on for years as the “magic unicorn” doesn’t exist; or does it?And remember too, for some listers the sound of the full-size Z1R was never going to work for them. Some folks are simply looking for audiophile neutrality and not our warm U shaped Sony House Sound. What Sony did was dial in a less U shape into the end sound signature of the IER-Z1R. Maybe it was simply easier to do? The IEM has three drivers per side, the full-size Z1R only has one? But to summarize, the IER-Z1R is completely usable right out of the box. It’s doesn’t need a special cable to be it’s best. Obviously the IER-Z1R is so transparent that it reveals what is upstream; so better information in, better information out. In fact let’s get into the sound signature............ The IER Z1R has become one of those community staples and doesn't need much of an introduction or tech specs for that matter. What I will mention here however is something that I had misunderstood myself for a while - the Z1R's DD actually performs the lows and mids, while the BA covers the upper midrange and lower treble. The second DD covers the ultra highs, and the technical specification goes up to 100kHz. Tip selection is vital here. As is insertion depth. I have very sensitive ears and with the wrong seal and or wrong insertion depth it was harsh and silibant however, after experimenting for a day i found the perfect tips and Wow. Crystal clear and shimmering. Much more extension and quantity that the BX and easily outclasses the cascades. I would like to differentiate the sound processes under the earpieces of the MDR-Z1R into feelings and hearing impressions. The MDR-Z1R has long been a headphone that gave me goosebumps on several occasions. It has a basically warm, dark tuning with special features.