The bass is a bit too strong and remains emphasized too far into the midrange giving it a thick character... Click to expand...

...A moderately withdrawn presence region adds some veil to the thick bass... Click to expand...

...A lack of energy 4-6kHz leaves cymbals lacking body, and a big peak at 10kHz add too much zing to everything and, while not piercing as would a 5kHz be, becomes significantly fatiguing over time...



...the bass-heavy, veiled, and zingy character is just far too uneven for a headphone at this price... Click to expand...

...Distortion is fairly low, but bass distortion looks problematic. I suspect this may be excursion limiting due to the small magnet? Who knows... Click to expand...

G.R.A.S. 45BB-12 KEMAR with anthropometric pinnae for low-noise earphone and headphone testing ( whitepaper ) This is a next-generation headphone testing setup, and you can read more about it by clicking here: Next Generation Headphone Testing I will be posting more details about this system soon, as it is definitely worth discussing in detail.

KEMAR with anthropometric pinnae for low-noise earphone and headphone testing ( ) A udio Precision APx555 Audio Analyzer

Audio Analyzer Audio Precision APx1701 Transducer Test Interface

Transducer Test Interface Herzan custom acoustic enclosure

custom acoustic enclosure The frequency response measurements reflect diffuse field correction applied via the APx555's input EQ.

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I saw the discussion here of Tyll Hertsens' measurements and review of the Sony MDR-Z1R at InnerFidelity (), and I was very surprised by his findings, both subjective and measured.I'm a big fan of the Sony MDR-Z1R, and I won't argue that one should like it or not (that's something you'll have to listen to and decide for yourselves), but I just couldn't reconcile his comments with what I was hearing. Let's start with the subjective comments:I can understand this assessment. It's a bass-rich headphone for sure. I dig the MDR-Z1R a lot, but I can understand how others may not. (For example, @AxelCloris likes the headphone, but it is a bit too bass-heavy for his tastes, so he doesn't listen to it often.)While I don't find the presence region to sound withdrawn, I can understand (again) that the bass, on balance, may be thick for some.Nowdescription doesmatch what I have heard, and I've heard a few Sony MDR-Z1R's. I've also measured our Sony MDR-Z1R and it also isn't consistent with that subjective impression or the measurements that Tyll posted. Here's InnerFidelity's Sony MDR-Z1R frequency response plot:As you can see above, Tyll's measurement of the Sony MDR-Z1R does show a large peak at 10 kHz--this is something I have not heard (and I would definitely hear that), and it is also something we haven't measured with our Sony MDR-Z1R here.However, our Sony MDR-Z1R is a pre-production prototype--Serial Number X009. It was probably one of the first near-production Sony MDR-Z1R units to leave Sony's possession. Because of this, I wasn't sure that any impressions or measurements of this particular unit (Serial Number X009) were fit to compare to what I assume is a production Sony MDR-Z1R (InnerFidelity's unit). That said, I have heard other Sony MDR-Z1R's in event/meet environments and never noticed such a hot treble.I had this discussion with another Sony MDR-Z1R owner, and he likewise did not hear that. I asked him to send me his Sony MDR-Z1R. It arrived today, and I measured it. Here is the frequency response measurement of both the production MDR-Z1R (solid line) and our prototype MDR-Z1R (dotted lines):While it could reasonably be said that these measurements (InnerFidelity's and ours) are somewhat similar up to a point, there are somesubstantial differences--like the absence of that mountainous 10 kHz peak that InnerFidelity's measurement is showing. (Again, we are notthis either.)Our total harmonic distortion measurements are also different. InnerFidelity also posted this Sony MDR-Z1R THD (total harmonic distortion) measurement:And here is the comment about the Sony MDR-Z1R's THD in the review:Here is our total harmonic distortion measurement ofSony MDR-Z1R units we have on hand:The graph above shows THD measured with the output level set at 90 dBSPL at 1kHz. Even when driven to 100 dBSPL at 1 kHz, bass region THD did not exceed 0.78%. In short, we are not showing bass distortion to be problematic at either 90 dBSPL or 100 dBSPL.As a relevant FYI, our G.R.A.S. 45BB-12 is completely enclosed in a lab-grade acoustic/vibration isolation enclosure by Herzan which we have found to help a great deal (in addition to the rest of the measurement system) with THD measurements (especially in the lower frequency ranges). (Though this enclosure weighs around 1200 pounds, it's actually a smaller version of the type THX uses in their lab.) Our enclosure also has an anti-vibration platform that the G.R.A.S. 45BB-12 sits on that can isolate the 45BB-12 from vibration down to 4 Hz. Also, the cable ports are completely sealed. (See photos below.)What's our conclusion? Right now, we'll assume that perhaps Tyll has an outlier Sony MDR-Z1R. n=3 across two different measurement setups isn't enough to come to a conclusion. If Tyll will allow us to measure the MDR-Z1R he has, that would certainly be helpful. We'll also be receiving at least one other production MDR-Z1R, and we'll measure that, too. Based on what we've heard here (and also on hearing other MDR-Z1R's)--and based on many reviews/impressions that predated the publishing of Tyll's measurements--we'll also assume for the moment that our impressions and measurements are more representative of the MDR-Z1R's that are out in the wild.More to come.Though we haven't said a whole lot about it yet, we have spent over two years building our measurement lab at Head-Fi HQ, and we worked very closely with Audio Precision, G.R.A.S., Herzan, and a number of experts in the industry who've also been instrumental in helping us. We have an episode (or two, or three) ofplanned just to discuss our measurement lab, how it evolved, and how we've been quietly measuring audio gear (both electronic and electro-acoustic) for over two years now, and what we'll be doing with it. The somewhat unexpected website transition project delayed some of our plans to go over all of this, but it's coming, and there's a lot to talk about (and there'll be a lot to talk about going forward).(Left to right) Closed left-side cable port on the Herzan acoustic/vibration isolation enclosure; G.R.A.S. 45BB-12 inside the Herzan enclosure.Our audio measurements in this post were made using:Added some further information about (and photos of) the pinnae and microphones in our measurement system (