It is based on what kind of music you always listen to. Z7 doesn't have a good performance when plays back classical music and old time rock.
I'm wondering what sort of "old time rock" doesn't sound as good as it should on the Z7's?
Elvis and the Sun Studios stuff from the 50's?
Beatles, British Invasion bands, and psychedelia from the mid to late 60's?
"Heavy Metal" and its relatives" - mostly UK bands (again) > Zeppelin, Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc?
Maybe the 80's at this point also count as "old time rock", but I'm not there yet.
And even if it does, it was mostly synth-driven pop (Human League and that whole bunch - UK bands (again).
I'm interested in your thoughts on this.
Because while I know that the Z7's have weaknesses,
I think that 70's style rock can sound very good on them.
As for classical, so few headphones do a good job with classical, frankly. And then there are so many genres...Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque - which, I think, generally call for a light touch and preferably an open back
headphone.
Then moving into the Classical period, the Romantic Period (some divide that into two parts), and on and on.
You have the massive orchestrations of Mahler, Bruckner, Beethoven and others.
In my view, no headphone at all can do those full justice. In fact, very few
speakers
can do so.
And 20th century, or Modern Classical, presents an entirely different set of challenges
for headphones and, in fact, the entire chain of reproduction. This genre itself contains
several subgenres, and it seems new ones are appearing almost daily.
With the introduction of electronics into classical (Cage and others), along with
additional new instrumentation, intense dynamics, and nearly frightening
dissonance at times, most headphones and their amps simply "aren't there".
Still, though, there is much - even too much - available for listening on headphones
or whatever in the classical canon.
