[Mach3]

This actually mirrors my impressions. I think the HD800 has an edge in the "3D" image positioning sense but sound stage breadth and width are hands down in R10's favor.

Still pretty impressive if you think about it, you're comparing an open back headphones 3D image positioning to a 20 years older closed back LOL.
R10, I'm a fan without a doubt, I now know what all the fuss is about.

 

[dukeskd]

Still pretty impressive if you think about it, you're comparing an open back headphones 3D image positioning to a 20 years older closed back LOL.
R10, I'm a fan without a doubt, I now know what all the fuss is about.

You know what's interesting, if you listen to the HD800 now in 2022 they sound... vintage. MDR-R10 has a certain je ne sais quoi on the mid range combined with that "reverby" sound stage that nothing can replicate. I wonder how the ESLabs R10 fare in that regard?

 

[Mach3]

You know what's interesting, if you listen to the HD800 now in 2022 they sound... vintage. MDR-R10 has a certain je ne sais quoi on the mid range combined with that "reverby" sound stage that nothing can replicate. I wonder how the ESLabs R10 fare in that regard?

I bought ES-R10 because I always wanted to listen to R10, but couldn't justify spending high 4 figure for them. After getting the ES-R10 I know I had to get the R10. So in short, I got the ES-R10 because of the R10 and I got the R10 because of the ES-R10

 

[dukeskd]

I bought ES-R10 because I always wanted to listen to R10, but couldn't justify spending high 4 figure for them. After getting the ES-R10 I know I had to get the R10. So in short, I got the ES-R10 because of the R10 and I got the R10 because of the ES-R10

How are they comparing to each other?

 

[Mach3]

@dukeskd
They are amazing for their price ES-R10, rather than yap on how good they are.
You can read all about it in the ES-R10 thread. Still the R10 is king but at roughly 4-5x the price.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/es-...sion-impressions.962569/page-75#post-17049033

 

[costas23]

Is there an iem or earbud that can somehow replicate the R10 euphonic tonality at similar technical level?
I'm more of an iem listener as I am mostly enjoying music on the go but always wanted to hear the mighty R10.

Nowadays those tiny modern iems really cought up in the technicalities and are mostly even more detailed compared to headphones. Some have mind-blowing resolution I rarely heard with headphones.
Did you ever listen to an iem and thought the mids reminded you of the R10?

I once had a vintage Sony earbud with a Sony biocell driver (mdr-e888) which was so musical and had those similar characteristics I was reading about the R10... beatiful mids/treble with lifelike vocals.
My affection with the e888 made me a total Sony fanboy for life and made me buy a used CD3000 some time ago. I could not afford the R10 and thought the CD3000 would give me some qualities of its bigger brother, at least some head-fiers also said they sounded very similar....but I was highly disappointed as that CD3000 headphone was mostly bright and distorted in the treble. Actual resolution was also average compared to the much smoother and cleaner sounding HD800 I also had back then. It was sometimes even ear piercing with no euphoric sound at all. The sound was splashy and brittle, not refined or nuanced, kind of like a Grado but less musical.
It did not sound better than my e888 and nothing like the things I was reading about the R10. It also had very little bass (even compared to HD800) and also had a rattling buzz in both cups when bass was played. I opened the cups and saw that inner foam deteriorated and small parts of it got into the drivers. I took a vacuum cleaner and sucked all those black particles out with good success (rattling noise was gone) however the excessive uneven brightness remained. I eventually sold the CD3000.
After that experience with the CD3000 I somehow doubted the things I read about the R10 as the drivers and everything about the CD3000 seemed to be the same with the R10 except the wooden cups, so I guessed the R10 couldn't be that much better...but then I found this thread and here I am again reading about the R10 and looking for that magical sound.
I am now considering the ES-R10 but as I am not listening at home, I rather need an iem with similar sound. Tried the Z1R as iem and headphone and both are good but don't have that magic mids, which I think only the R10 has in spades.

 

[HugoFreire]

Which amp has the best synergy with the R10s?

 

[purk]

This actually mirrors my impressions. I think the HD800 has an edge in the "3D" image positioning sense but sound stage breadth and width are hands down in R10's favor.

I think the HD800 is better is the width of staging but depth and spatial are better on the R10. This translate to a more spherical soundstage bad better sense of 3-D as well as stereo image.

 

[purk]

Is there an iem or earbud that can somehow replicate the R10 euphonic tonality at similar technical level?
I'm more of an iem listener as I am mostly enjoying music on the go but always wanted to hear the mighty R10.

Nowadays those tiny modern iems really cought up in the technicalities and are mostly even more detailed compared to headphones. Some have mind-blowing resolution I rarely heard with headphones.
Did you ever listen to an iem and thought the mids reminded you of the R10?

I once had a vintage Sony earbud with a Sony biocell driver (mdr-e888) which was so musical and had those similar characteristics I was reading about the R10... beatiful mids/treble with lifelike vocals.
My affection with the e888 made me a total Sony fanboy for life and made me buy a used CD3000 some time ago. I could not afford the R10 and thought the CD3000 would give me some qualities of its bigger brother, at least some head-fiers also said they sounded very similar....but I was highly disappointed as that CD3000 headphone was mostly bright and distorted in the treble. Actual resolution was also average compared to the much smoother and cleaner sounding HD800 I also had back then. It was sometimes even ear piercing with no euphoric sound at all. The sound was splashy and brittle, not refined or nuanced, kind of like a Grado but less musical.
It did not sound better than my e888 and nothing like the things I was reading about the R10. It also had very little bass (even compared to HD800) and also had a rattling buzz in both cups when bass was played. I opened the cups and saw that inner foam deteriorated and small parts of it got into the drivers. I took a vacuum cleaner and sucked all those black particles out with good success (rattling noise was gone) however the excessive uneven brightness remained. I eventually sold the CD3000.
After that experience with the CD3000 I somehow doubted the things I read about the R10 as the drivers and everything about the CD3000 seemed to be the same with the R10 except the wooden cups, so I guessed the R10 couldn't be that much better...but then I found this thread and here I am again reading about the R10 and looking for that magical sound.
I am now considering the ES-R10 but as I am not listening at home, I rather need an iem with similar sound. Tried the Z1R as iem and headphone and both are good but don't have that magic mids, which I think only the R10 has in spades.

The CD3000 does get a lot better if you recabled it with a thick gauge copper cable to tame the brightness. Also, you would want to mod it for dual side entries and drive it balanced on a warm sounding solid state or tube amps and that will show case what the CD3000 can really do. Single end and in-stock form, the CD3000 is simply too bright for me as well. These old Sony headphones really seem to wake up and sound their best out of balanced amplification.

Regarding the earbuds or IEMs, you may want to try the MDR-EX10000 but then again ....you must use a copper with them because they are also bright sounding but I really dig the midrange on this guy and they are very spacious sounding compared to most IEMs. I like them just as much as the IER-Z1r.

If you can afford thr ES-R10, then go for that. I still find the original R10 to be more transparent sounding with sweeter midrange plus more open sounding. Still, the ES-R10 capture about 80-85% of the R10's magic for much less money. They also sound better than a heavily mod CD3000 to my ears. The ES-R10 does better in bass impact and quantity so they do better on rocks and heavy metals something that the original R10 really can't pull off.

Which amp has the best synergy with the R10s?

I like my R10 best out of ECP L3 and then ECP Ravenswood. You may want to contact Doug to see how much he charge to build one of these now. I also can't recommend the Audio-Technica HA5050h enough. Despite its hybrid and single-end nature, this DAC/Amp combo is excellent sounding and match well across the board with most TOTL cans including the R10, ES-R10, Susvara, HD800, Utopia, and Empy. The internal DAC is a little dated so it is best to use an outboard DAC with this AT.

 

[HugoFreire]

I like my R10 best out of ECP L3 and then ECP Ravenswood.

Thanks a lot. Can you share how it sounds out of your GS-X?

 

[costas23]

Thanks @purk !
I think I'll save for the ES-R10 then! Had the EX-1000, really loved the sound, maybe even more than the ier-Z1R, it just sounded very natural. I guess balanced it sounds even better and grander!
Unfortunately the fit was soso, so I ended up selling it...but who knows, maybe Sony will come up with a new cool iem soon

 

[kiling92]

Well,time 5 months and I’m really repented to sold my mdr r10 lol
If someone sell his r10 let me know

 

[elton7033]

a night with my R10 since a while

 

[purk]

a night with my R10 since a while

Silver upgraded cable? Who did the mod work for u?

 

[elton7033]

Silver upgraded cable? Who did the mod work for u?

Toxic cable in 3pin XLR Furutech Carbon Plug, actually this pair of no.365 bass light have a complete mod history on headfi in an very old post
This headphone have no record what so ever from the early 90s assume no.365 is bass light and early since 1989 until 2011 a fellow headfier MarkL appear to own this pair, then is sold to zardon on 2012 in UK, zardon then ask Frank over at Toxic Cables to try recable the headphone.