Sony OPEN BOX MDR-Z1R - A Grade
Sony OPEN BOX MDR-Z1R - A Grade
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Turntables With a Broken Stylus: All turntables ship out with the stylus intact. If you return a turntable or phono cartridge with a broken or missing stylus you will be subject to a return fee. Please be careful when setting up your turntable and contact us with any questions.
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Overview
All items are tested for functionality and have all required cables in the box unless otherwise noted.
Learn more about our Open Box Guarantee >
The High Notes
Open Back Sound, Closed Back Isolation
Luxurious Comfort
Sony's Best Headphone EVER
Company & Product Overview
When it comes to creating content, Sony has more of its equipment involved in the process than any other company on the planet. From filmmaking to music production, Sony products are everywhere.
When we heard that Sony had given their engineering department carte blanche to design a series of hi-resolution audio products, we couldn’t wait to get our hands on them. We were honored and thrilled when Sony told us they would lend us the only set in the country for a few weeks to test before they even started shipping.
Sony Signature Series includes the headphones we will be discussing today, as well as a portable music player and a headphone amp.
Sony makes a line of studio-quality headphones that are a favorite in audio production facilities around the world. Some of the best producers use these headphones when creating albums and film soundtracks.
At Audio Advice, we carry some of the best headphones on the planet from companies like HiFiMan, Audeze, Grado, AudioQuest and more. We had a feeling that if Sony gave their headphone engineers the green light to do their best work, they could give our best headphones a run for the money. Well, their passion for audio and their long history gave them a leg up in this race, and the result, the Sony MDR-Z1R, is really something special.
Design, Comfort & Build Quality
When we first picked up the box we were surprised by the weight -- almost 9 pounds! It turns out the MDR-Z1R comes with a 6.5-pound hard case, making up most of that weight. This high-end case is great for protection and storage but isn’t something you’ll carry around with you. Removing the headphones from their high-end case, the first thing that hits you is the design factor. We really have to hand it to Sony on this one.
The sheepskin ear cups are as soft as we have seen and should fully cover even the largest of ears. They’re free to pivot, allowing for full adjustability. The headband is titanium, covered in memory foam, and wrapped in leather for a premium finish. It features adjustable sides that click into place with numerical markings on the side. This ensures an even fit. The headphones are light and extremely comfortable, even for long listening sessions.
If you look on the inside of the earcups you will notice a grill that utilizes the golden ratio, also known as the Fibonacci sequence. This pattern helps to accentuate the micro details that recreate the atmosphere of a live performance.
Overall, the design of these headphones is truly unique and the build quality is what we would expect from a Sony product that spares no expense.
Features & Technology
To connect up the MDR-Z1R you have a choice of two headphone cables. The first is their “balanced on one” connector. It’s fairly short while the other, a standard connection, is about 9 feet long. You’ll never have to worry about connections coming loose as each end screws into the headphones for a super tight fit. We just love this!
If you have read many of our reviews you may know that we are somewhat picky about making it easy to distinguish between the left and right ear cups. No issues here, as they feature a big red dot (right) or white dot (left) on each side. Sony also designed the cables to point out towards the front instead of to the back or straight down. This is a design convention that is unusual, but works really well. Frankly, we wish the industry would adopt it as a design standard.
Sony is using their huge 2.76” HD driver in these headphones. They developed a special resonance-free enclosure for them. The impedance is 64 ohms. We tested them plugged into an iPhone using the standard cable and had no issues driving them at all.
These headphones are designed to give you the sense of space that open-backs provide, while raising the bar on isolation. Sony utilized a Japanese papermaking method to create an acoustic filter that reduces resonance in the housing and deadens the sound.
Testing 1...2...3...
We spent pretty much an entire day testing the Sony Signature series. Our music selection included cuts from The Beatles, Adele 21, Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty remastered by HDTracks, Billy Joel’s 52nd St, Diana Krall, James Taylor’s first two albums, Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue, Muddy Waters Folk Singer, some classic remastered Rolling Stones, and Keith Jarrett’s Koln Concert from 1975. Almost every single one was in some form of Hi-Res Audio or DSD.
We have to admit, we have been open back headphone snobs for a while. They typically have this presentation of the sound that makes you feel like the music is coming from around you rather than aimed right at your ears. We’ve also felt some of the best sound came from planar magnetic designs. Well, we are converted! The MDR-Z1R’s give you that sense of space open-back headphones provide, but you also get that complete solitude closed back designs offer.
Better yet, the highs are super extended with that delicate touch of no edge at all. On some cuts, we felt like our head was completed surrounded by instruments with the vocals dead center in front of us. We think the airiness and total effortless presentation of the high frequencies is one thing that allows you to just want to keep playing new songs with these. Deep bass has a great tonality, extending deep, yet if the recording has it, showing off the harmonic structure very well. These are flat out some of the best headphones you will ever listen to.
For us, the real test of a truly great product is if it keeps drawing us back in. After a full day of testing, when we started out the next day we could not wait to put them back on and play some more music! We even go so involved in the Kohn Concert, we played the whole thing non-stop, it just sounded so good!
If you want to take things to another level, the real fun comes when you pair these headphones with the TA-ZH1ES headphone amplifier! We just couldn’t get enough.
Overall Recommendation
Over the years, when Sony has decided to put real engineering behind a product, they typically set the bar for that category. We’ve seen them do it time and time again. The MDR-Z1R is just the latest example of Sony setting a new standard.
Between getting everything set up, playing around, and lots of listening, this review has taken the better part of a day. During that time, we never got tired of wearing the headphones. Sonically, we kept going back to even more and more music. The sound is just amazing. When you consider the prices of some upper-end headphones, these almost seem like a bargain. Add in the build-quality and it’s even more of deal.
We highly recommend these for anyone looking to take their personal listening to the next level. You will be amazed at how deep you can immerse yourself in the music and let go of the world around you. That’s really what high-performance music listening is all about. When you consider how highly these headphones score in all of the key areas -- comfort, build quality, design, features, and of performance -- the Z1R is among the best headphones you will ever hear.
