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Sony MDR-Z7 - extended impressions
TLDR: Laid back, comfortable, and a little bit meh.
Preamble:
What is it?
What does it sound like?
Comfort and build:
Purely subjective rankings:
Other notes:
TLDR: Laid back, comfortable, and a little bit meh.
Preamble:
- My sound preference: Generally on the warm and dark side of neutral.
- Source Chain: PC --> BMC PureDAC --> Taurus (balanced out) --> Headphones
- Other headphones used: LCD-2 (non fazor), MrSpeakers Alpha Dog, NAD Viso HP50, EL-8C
- Time owned: ~6 Months.
What is it?
- Product link: http://store.sony.com/hi-res-stereo-headphones-zid27-MDRZ7/cat-27-catid-All-Headphones-Earbuds[2]
- Description:It's a vented closed back, circumaural, dynamic driver headphone.
- What do you get: Box, Headphones, standard cable terminated in an 1/8" jack (with 1/4" adapter), and a dual-mono (3.5mm) balanced cable.
- Price paid: €450 EURO (used)
What does it sound like?
- Bass: In a word, warm. The Z7 has noticeable mid bass emphasis, and surprisingly for such a large driver it doesn't actually have the greatest low end extension (see measurements). Compared to the LCD-2, AD, and EL-8; the Z7 just sounds slow and somewhat boomy. It has impact but it's too slow to be called punchy (kinda reminds me of the stock D5000), and this coupled with the higher than typical THD leads to a very laid back bass response that's somewhat lacking in detail. The complete lack of any kind of damping or reflection absorbing material inside the housing probably doesn't help things. Overall I wouldn't class it as unpleasant to my ears (sometimes you just want dat bass), but it could do with a few dB less between 50 - 250 Hz.
- Mids: I wouldn't call the Z7 lush sounding, certainly not compared to the LCD-2/HP50 and to a lesser extent the AD's. They don't sound thin or recessed by any means, just not as full/forward for my tastes. The bass bleed into the lower mids is pretty noticeable and again makes things sound a bit bloated down low. Slight bump around 2kHz means that things can sometimes sound a bit off (to my ears, I know some of you prefer a more present upper mid range) but not annoying/unpleasant like the K702. Overall rather unremarkable.
- Treble: Definitely rolled off even compared to the LCD-2 (which by extension means all the other cans listed). It does have a few peaks though luckily none seem to be particularly nasty, and I haven't noticed any sibilance or ringing in the treble. The lack of air in the higher ranges also makes things sound a bit closed in/congested. I'm not sure what Sony has been smoking to quote a frequency response up to 100kHz as these must be some of the more dark sounding headphones I've tried. Overall it's a bit meh.
- Soundstage: Not bad for a closed (ish) model, you can definitely still tell it's a closed headphone but it is more spacious sounding than both the EL-8 and HP50. The AD's however sound noticeably more spacious (especially in stage width) any by extension the LCD-2.
- External Isolation: Due to the two vents on the housing, the passive noise attenuation is not the best. It does block out some external noise but not as much as say the EL-8C, HP50, or even the Alpha Dogs (which also have a vented housing). I've actually just been travelling with these (sadly I've left the UK and am now back in the US) and they were actually quite nice when just lounging around the departure area. Not so good on the actual flight though as I found a bit too much of the drone was let through.
- Overall: Warm, dark-ish, and lacking in detail.
Comfort and build:
- Headband: Very well done, nice amount of padding for your head couple with a decently broad shape and more than enough adjustment room for large heads (including my own). Pressure is distributed fairly evenly with no noticeable hot spots, certainly a much more comfortable design than say the HP50 (which has a terribly narrow contact surface) and EL-8 (just a bit too small for my head). The top of the headband is covered in a fairly hard leather which looks and feels somewhat cheap. The underside looks like some kind of soft pleather and has some very comfortable padding. I've always found the HD 800 to have one of the better standard headband designs but I find the Z7 to be even more comfortable.
- Ear pads: Very plush and fairly large leather (or maybe pleather) covered ear pads with a large inner opening, similar in size to the Alpha pads, and are slightly angled (bottom -> top). The pads are much softer than pretty much all of my other headphones. They are also removable and are simply held on by a screw (which can be a pain in the ass to reach). Nothing to really complain about here (can get a little warm but that's to be expected of leather pads), possibly some of the more comfortable ear pads I've ever tried.
- Cable and Connectors: The Z7 comes with two sets of cables out of the box, a long (3m) standard cable terminated in a 1/8" TRS (with a 1/4" adapter) and a 2m balanced cable terminated in dual 1/8" connectors for use with Sony's PHA-3 (gotta love Sony and their stupid proprietary connectors...). Both cables are terminated at the headphone end in dual 1/8" jacks with a screw on collar to secure them in place. The jacks aren't recessed either so any standard 1/8" connector should just plug in if you want to use after market cables. The cables are sheathed in some kind of rubberised material and is grooved to help reduce tangles but it doesn't seem to do a particularly good job. Microphonics don't seem too bad (certainly not as bad as the HP50's or Alpha Dogs) but can be noticeable at times.
- Clamp: Fairly light, certainly less than all the other headphones mentioned. Absolutely no issues here even with my fairly massive noggin.
- Weight: 330 grams, not particularly lightweight but also not that heavy when compared to the LCD-2. The headband does a good job to distribute the weight so it does feel pretty comfortable, especially for longer listening sessions.
- Durability: So far no issues, the entire headphone can be disassembled (Sony actually has a guide available) though I'm not sure if you can actually get replacement parts. The housing seems to be fairly resistant to scratching (not that I've treated them poorly) despite being made out of what looks and feels like plastic (?) Sony quotes: "The metal housing resonates less than housings made from more traditional materials to give clearer mids to highs and smoother low frequency sounds" but after removing the driver, the inside of the housing just looks and feels like plastic. I mean I'm no materials scientist but if it looks and feels like plastic, it's probably plastic. Gimbals are solid metal as are the headband arms. Ear pad material is very soft and I could see it being prone to tearing if you're not careful. These should last a while at home but probably not the best portable headphones to just throw around in a bag.
Purely subjective rankings:
- Bass impact: HP50 >= MDR-Z7 > LCD-2 > Alpha Dog > EL-8C
- Bass extension: LCD-2 >= Alpha Dog >= HP50 > EL-8C > MDR-Z7
- Bass enjoyment: LCD-2 > Alpha Dog > HP50 > MDR-Z7 > EL-8C
- Mids lushness: LCD-2 > HP50 > MDR-Z7 >= Alpha Dog > EL-8C
- Upper Mid range harshness: EL-8C > MDR-Z7 > Alpha Dog > HP50 > LCD-2
- Mids enjoyment: LCD-2 > HP50 > Alpha Dog > MDR-Z7 > EL-8C
- Treble air: LCD-2 = Alpha Dog > EL-8C > HP50 > MDR-Z7
- Treble enjoyment: LCD-2 > Alpha Dog > HP50 > MDR-Z7 > EL-8C
- Soundstage width: LCD-2 = Alpha Dog > MDR-Z7 > EL-8C >= HP50
- Imaging: LCD-2 > EL-8C >= Alpha Dog > MDR-Z7 > HP50
- Headband comfort: MDR-Z7 >= Alpha Dog > LCD-2 (fitted with suspension strap) > EL-8C >> HP50
- Earpad comfort: MDR-Z7 >= LCD-2 > Alpha Dog >> EL-8C > HP50
- Clamping pressure: EL-8C > LCD-2 > HP50 > Alpha Dog > MDR-Z7
Other notes:
- Amping: The Z7 has a sensitivity of 102db/mW so they are fairly easy to drive. Impedance is fairly low as well at ~70 Ohms. I've had no issues running them out of my FiiO X5 or even my smartphone. I've read that they improve when driven from something a bit more powerful but I haven't noticed much of a difference at all.
- Lack of damping: Come on guys, really? It just baffles me that something this expensive from a company with plenty of engineering support still can't put damping material inside the cups. Poor effort. On a side note Bill P (of the Chang and HF) seems to have modded his quite nicely.
- Is the MDR-Z7 suitable for portable use? Probably not, it's a bit too big, lacking in passive noise attenuation, and the cables are just too bloody long.
- A word on soundstage and imaging: I find it quite hard to accurately judge soundstage differences so be aware that like everything else above, I could be full of it.
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Hoping to get it finished in an hour or two. I'm starting to enjoy them with the Kimber Kable. I'm not going to say it completely changes the sound but it is cleaner sounding, slightly less warm. I notice more of a difference than I did with the HE-500 silver cable and canare cable which was only slight.