Sony IER-Z1R Signature Series in-Ear Headphones (IERZ1R),Black/Silver

Product Information

Other desirable qualities like texture, punch, and rumble are present in spades, yet they’re coherent and never muddle. Sony's refined-phase structure ensures sound waves are aligned, through precision adjustment of the width and length of each sound path.

The expertise and intuition of Sony’s engineers play a crucial role in acoustic design, resulting in the most authentic sound reproduction.My personal experience with BA-driver setups (Encore's, JHA Roxanne) are that they just don't quite sound as natural.

Mid-range performance is definitely the weakest link in the IER-Z1R signature and that’s disappointing given the stellar bass and treble. There is a certain compression to it, not unlike the Moondrop B2’s bass, with which it sounds like it’s always on full-tilt (make no mistake they sound very different otherwise). Additionally, the magnesium-alloy construction eliminates vibrations and undesired resonances, resulting in impeccable clarity and vibrant sound reproduction across various musical genres. Rather than being a 3-blob imager, the Z1R does well in placing sounds and instruments at distinct places in space, with enough depth to separate them out. These IEMs pack a solid punch and paired with a capable DAC + Amplifier like Chord Mojo 2, they have simply changed my perception forever.Z1R is slightly more detailed but more than that, it renders these details effortlessly and naturally. Especially U12t, it is more reference tuned with detail and balance in mind, to me, meaning it is boring. For this section, I’ll mostly be drawing comparisons to my only flagship IEM, the 64audio U12t because it serves as a good reference point. You have like 10 things going on from vocals to cymbal crashes to kick drums to guitar leads to horns etc etc?

Firstly, I like a fun tuning so the Z1R is right in my ballpark and until yesterday it was the best IEM I had heard. But after quickly browsing the internet and talking to a few friends, i managed to get my hands on these for a banger of a deal. But one of the best part of listening to this IEM is that it taught me about almost everything IEM related, mainly the depictions. In practical use, the 5mm driver has very fast transients and offers the timbral accuracy of a dynamic driver instead of the artificial BA timbre or the fleeting, lightweight nature of EST tweeters.Mids are somewhat recessed, especially upper mids, which keeps vocals from popping as much as I like and am used to. Final knows how to tune the midrange and the vocals/string instruments are as articulate as they can be on the A8000. You can really track each instrument down to where they sit in the mix and reverbs can clearly be heard coming from there respective direction. So I had the pleasure of trying out various TOTL IEMs yesterday thanks to Elise Audio here in London. And if you really want more bass, adding +6db to the bass for certain songs can turn these from fun, to just dummy thick bass.