Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsSuch incredible build quality with a sound signature you will love, grow to love or just hate!
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2019
I've had these for a few days so I guess I'm still burning them in but I don't know if I believe in that. I think it is more about letting my brain adjust to the sound signature and just fall in love with them. Upon first listen, I wasn't blown away by much other than the bass. My other headphones include the HD800, HD58X, HD650 and HE-400i. I'm used to a brighter sound signature and my 800's have the DuPont mod to try and tame them a bit because I'm pretty sensitive to sibilance. I'm not afraid to apply a little EQ to help balance the sound and I have different presets for all my headphones, including the Z1R now.
I'm giving this headphone a trial between my two amps: Audio-gd NFB28.38 and Little Dot MKIII. I don't like it as much on the tube amp. The bass seemed more muddy on the MKIII but it's also why I love the HD800's on it because it adds some punch and bass to them. The tube amp likes the higher impedance anyway which the Z1R doesn't have. In fact, the 64 ohm impedance rating seems high based on testing because these are very loud on the NFB28 at modest volume settings. All of my other headphones need a higher setting to make the same volume.
In terms of sound quality, going from the brighter headphones to these is what creates some disappointment. These have plenty of treble, especially with EQ, but they don't have that immediate brightness that makes you feel like the response is wide and open. It's more of a sound through a hollow piece of wood which sounds awful, but it's not as bad as that sounds. It's just that all the lows and mids are super pronounced, but the highs don't resonate with the same forward energy. You can still feel the ear strain from the highs with the right music so highs are not lacking, they just aren't as forward or complete.
These cans are really tuned for certain music. Dance music really pops on these but I don't really like that stuff. Live music is absolutely amazing. It's like these were tuned for it and I couldn't believe how well it brought that stuff to life. Metal and rock guitar really crunches and sounds amazing with that emphasized low end. I've never heard bass guitars sound so forward and present on some of my music until these headphones. That totally blew me away. Overall, I'm falling in love with the sound signature and you quickly adapt to what I don't want to call a dark sound (because it isn't dark like the HD650) but a bit more of a bass/mid-centric sound with highs present to no extreme level unless a track is screamingly high. I'm going to listen to these when I want an easier, full sound and I will use my HD800's when I want a wider, more treble present, more explosive sounding playback but with less bass. That's about all I can say. The Z1R is a unique headphone compared to the others I have and fits well by being so different. Is it the headphone to replace all the others? Nope. It's just another tool in my arsenal to try and find the right sound that matches my mood that day. I think my next headphone to try will be the Fostex TH-900mk2 but I have to let the wallet cool down for a while!
