[salanos]

If I'm not wrong, the Z7 is something north of 300g. It's "portable" as any other headphone, but given the large drivers and cups it's definitely more at home.
I'd take your place but the Z7 is so much more than I can afford ;';

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

  Well, i'm going to cancel mine. At my house LCD3 is King when I'm home.   I really, really want another headphone and justified the Z7 as being portable so I could use it, not on airplanes, but in public. It does to fit the bill. I bought the MoFi and gave it to my son, did not even take out of the box
 
I wish I could give someone my place in line. I would be one of the first to get shipped from Amazon.

 
The rest of us will just move one place up in line....

 

[Jackson 6]

I think it's for folks making their first upeerish tier purchase, not those already in LCD land. It looks portable to me, though I'll look at the 1A first. Maybe in a year or two someone will give their views.

 

[salanos]

I think it's for folks making their first upeerish tier purchase, not those already in LCD land. It looks portable to me, though I'll look at the 1A first. Maybe in a year or two someone will give their views.

As I recall, Nageno-san explained that the MDR-1A (and MDR-1ADAC) are the successors to the MDR-1R, which in turn mean they are the more portable models. The MDR-Z7 practically requires an amplifier, which in tandem with its relatively large size makes it a less commuter friendly pair of cans. And as thatonenoob pointed out its vented design reduces its isolation.
It was also stated that the MDR-Z7 is not targeting competition as the HD800 or LCDs, just as thatonenoob pointed out - its price range, positioning and intended competitors, are some notches below those.

 

[Saraguie]

  Well, i'm going to cancel mine. At my house LCD3 is King when I'm home.   I really, really want another headphone and justified the Z7 as being portable so I could use it, not on airplanes, but in public. It does to fit the bill. I bought the MoFi and gave it to my son, did not even take out of the box
 
I wish I could give someone my place in line. I would be one of the first to get shipped from Amazon.

 

   
The rest of us will just move one place up in line....

Even though your ugly (joking, but your icon sure is LOL) I'll miss chatting with you and the rest of the H.Fs here
 
My wife says I HAVE to at lest listen to them and then I can return. She said she has listened to me talk (she said 'yap') about them forever (exaggeration, …well maybe not lol) and I have to at lest try them out.  
 
Hey Jeff you have to put up with me for a little longer and cannot jump ahead one…..I think you would not get them any sooner anyway.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

So I see people commenting on too much hype here. Which people can get excited about a totl looking HP by Sony, why not?
 
However my anti-hype would be I'm holding off my Z7 purchase until next year because I just got my first set of MDR-V6 

 80's FOTM FTW

 

[sneaglebob]

So again, I wouldnt be able to use these cans with an iphone 5c or other mp3 player?

 

[zorin]

I'm still scratching my head as to why they would make a supposed amazing headphone and only make 2000 of them. Is it possible that some people's ears are hearing amazing because they're unobtainable status on top of an already high msrp?

That was a colossal failure of foresight on the part of Sony. Sony's audio engineers created an amazing piece of audio technology [best closed headphones up to now] and the Sony management did not know what to do with them and how to sell them. Their manufacture was stopped at the number 2000. After selling them for a while and making a big reputation and superior brand name for Sony headphones the company should had created a couple of 'derivatives' at lower price points to sell headphones to the wider circle of consumers - this way Sony could had accelerated the creation of mass market for headphones, Sony could had grabbed a big share of this market just before the sales of headphones rocketed up. At that time Sony executives were busy with mergers and acquisitions, Sony was grabbing big chunks of music publishing and music 'processing' business as well as expanding into TV and film making. The bread and butter and the raison d'être of Sony's business, the making of audio equipment, kind of 'fell off the company's radar' and was neglected. A big opportunity was wasted; at that critical time in the history of the electronics, when the new technologies were quickly changing the ways of music processing and listening, at that critical time when the new world of 'audio on the move' was arising, there were no visionaries in the Sony corporate boardrooms, only the accountants.
I hope my words somehow, miraculously, find their way into Sony corporate towers.

 

[john57]

  So again, I wouldnt be able to use these cans with an iphone 5c or other mp3 player?

With 102 dB/mW at 70 ohms it may work just fine but I do not have the iphone to test

 

[zhenya]

That was a colossal failure of foresight on the part of Sony. Sony's audio engineers created an amazing piece of audio technology [best closed headphones up to now] and the Sony management did not know what to do with them and how to sell them. Their manufacture was stopped at the number 2000. After selling them for a while and making a big reputation and superior brand name for Sony headphones the company should had created a couple of 'derivatives' at lower price points to sell headphones to the wider circle of consumers - this way Sony could had accelerated the creation of mass market for headphones, Sony could had grabbed a big share of this market just before the sales of headphones rocketed up. At that time Sony executives were busy with mergers and acquisitions, Sony was grabbing big chunks of music publishing and music 'processing' business as well as expanding into TV and film making. The bread and butter and the [COLOR=545454]raison d'être[/COLOR] of Sony's business, the making of audio equipment, kind of 'fell off the company's radar' and was neglected. A big opportunity was wasted; at that critical time in the history of the electronics, when the new technologies were quickly changing the ways of music processing and listening, at that critical time when the new world of 'audio on the move' was arising, there were no visionaries in the Sony corporate boardrooms, only the accountants.
I hope my words somehow, miraculously, find their way into Sony corporate towers.

Isn't that what the cd3000 et-all was?

You have to remember that the headphone market was very, very different at that time. Even the cd3000 at $350 or whatever it originally went for was quite expensive for a headphone. There was a market around that price point, and a much smaller one near the R10's price, but I doubt the market at the time could have supported many models in between.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

  That was a colossal failure of foresight on the part of Sony. Sony's audio engineers created an amazing piece of audio technology [best closed headphones up to now] and the Sony management did not know what to do with them and how to sell them. Their manufacture was stopped at the number 2000. After selling them for a while and making a big reputation and superior brand name for Sony headphones the company should had created a couple of 'derivatives' at lower price points to sell headphones to the wider circle of consumers - this way Sony could had accelerated the creation of mass market for headphones, Sony could had grabbed a big share of this market just before the sales of headphones rocketed up. At that time Sony executives were busy with mergers and acquisitions, Sony was grabbing big chunks of music publishing and music 'processing' business as well as expanding into TV and film making. The bread and butter and the raison d'être of Sony's business, the making of audio equipment, kind of 'fell off the company's radar' and was neglected. A big opportunity was wasted; at that critical time in the history of the electronics, when the new technologies were quickly changing the ways of music processing and listening, at that critical time when the new world of 'audio on the move' was arising, there were no visionaries in the Sony corporate boardrooms, only the accountants.
I hope my words somehow, miraculously, find their way into Sony corporate towers.

That's what I'm saying! I mean if they were selling today, even at +$3k if their sound is as good as it's said (makes the HD800 sound grainy?! MADNESS!) then people will shell out for em. 

 

[zhenya]

That's what I'm saying! I mean if they were selling today, even at +$3k if their sound is as good as it's said (makes the HD800 sound grainy?! MADNESS!) then people will shell out for em. 

Sony couldn't design and sell their replacement for $3k today. They reportedly lost money on them at $2500. That's ~$5000 today.

 

[up late]

@thatonenoob - thanks for the comprehensive review man. don't think i've seen this mentioned but are the ear pads leather or synthetic?

 

[sneaglebob]

  With 102 dB/mW at 70 ohms it may work just fine but I do not have the iphone to test

Okay. And would these work well with an audiophile mp3 player such as the fiio X1 or X3?

 

[borrego]

Okay. And would these work well with an audiophile mp3 player such as the fiio X1 or X3?

I would guess the Fiio X1/X3/X5 and iBasso DX90 will be very good matches to the Z7 because they all have low output impedence and fast output opamp. My experience with Sony headphones is they don't need high current or voltage gain from amp, bit they need a fast (high slew rate) and high dampening factor (low output impedence) to sound good. Otherwise the mid will sound thon and the treble will sound shrill.