Every time Sony releases a new headset, it can attract a lot of attention, which is not unusual for a manufacturer famous for black technology. What's more, the headset, which is called "metaphysics", will be a little more mysterious if MDR-Z7 takes the air feeling that many people cannot understand as its main selling point?
On Sony's official website, the price of MDR-Z7 has reached 3699 yuan, the average price of BOC on a treasure is around 3299 yuan, and the lowest price of BOC can be about 2700 yuan. The overall price difference is basically reasonable, at least not as surprising as the original inquiry of UE299.
The reason why we talk about the price first is that no matter what the price is, it is a very important factor for the success of a product. As long as the price is cheap enough, consumers are still willing to make many compromises on performance and quality, which is also the reason why some domestic mobile phone brands are able to make great achievements. According to the average transaction price of 3299 yuan on Z7 Taobao, The MDR-Z7, however, needs a high level of quality to withstand such a price tag without being complained about.
The ultimate expression of a manufacturer's positioning and emphasis on a certain product is actually the origin. Domestic high-quality products often directly indicate the origin on the product, packaging box and official sales page. For example, a watch originating in Switzerland and a German car imported with original packaging always sound more compelling.
The body and unit of the MDR-Z7 are imported from Japan with original packaging. In order to control the product price, the wire rods are produced in Malaysia, while the plugs are produced in our great motherland. The original wire rods are divided into ordinary plugs and balance wires. The balance wire of the MDR-Z7 is designed as a double ended double 3.5mm plug, which is different from other balance wire plugs used on desktop power amplifiers, I wonder whether this design is intended to better sell our own upgrade line.
After listening to MDR-Z7 for a while, several of our editors agreed that the Z7 is a rather hard to drive headset. In this evaluation, I mainly used Sony's own official PHA-3 balance port to drive the Z7, occasionally interspersed with a simple sense of hearing using the 6.35mm output port of the desktop power amplifier SPL 2730 (because I can't afford to play with the console after all), As for the audio sense of direct push on laptop, let's forget it. If you simply need a direct push audio headset, there are many more suitable than MDR-Z7.
front end:
PC/ZX1 digital output+PHA-3 balance interface.
In this case, decoding and amplification are all completed by PHA-3.
The audition tracks include but are not limited to:
Li Keqin's Serenade at the Half Moon;
Faye Wong's UNPLUGGED and reserved;
Liang Jingru's Worship, Unfortunately Not You;
Eason Chan's "Praise", "It's not as simple as commitment";
Cai Qin's "Ferry", "Love Break Emotion Injury";
The Eagles 《Hotel California》、《New Kid in Town》；
Deng Ziqi's Bubble;
Li Ronghao's Model;
Maksim《Exodus》；
Paganini《La Campanella》、《Caprice No.9 in E Major》。
Low frequency:
The low frequency of MDR-Z7 is very tight when it is first turned on, and it is not new for the earphones of Sony's polymer liquid crystal diaphragm series. What's more, the MDR-Z7 diaphragm is also coated with aluminum on the basis of the liquid crystal, which makes the sound more tight. After more than 200 hours of warm-up, the whole sound relaxes, Low frequency diving has also been greatly improved, and I feel that I can almost enter the state.
After the initial boiling, the low-frequency diving of MDR-Z7 is excellent, and the recovery is fast enough. The low-frequency is good enough when using the PHA-3 balance port drive. Compared with the previous Sony Z1000 monitor earphones, the low-frequency sense of MDR-Z7 has increased and the speed has slightly slowed down to create a better sense of hearing. In terms of simple sense of quantity, The low frequency of MDR-Z7 is medium, not as much as that of Senhai's HD600. This kind of low frequency is just right for listening to popular music, no more, no less. If you are listening to symphony, the low frequency is faster, and it can be heard generally, but it is not as good as some specialized classical ears.
intermediate frequency:
For the intermediate frequency, the focus is naturally the expressive force of the voice, MDR-Z7 For singers with mellow voices such as Eason Chan, Cai Qin and Li Ronghao, the singer's voice can touch the low frequency light of MDR-Z7, bringing a very mellow, emotional but not too hypocritical voice performance. For female voices such as Faye Wong and Liang Jingru, the performance is relatively not so good, the feelings are much less, relatively flat.
The voice of MDR-Z7 is relatively front, with medium brightness. When listening to music, the voice will have a strong sense of presence. Generally speaking, it will not be stolen by background music.
High frequency:
For high frequency, the performance of the last three tunes is the main factor. Paganini's two violin tunes have a considerable challenge to the high frequency of earphones. They require excellent extensibility of high frequency and also test the response speed of earphones, MDR-Z7 In this respect, the performance is quite outstanding. I once worried that MDR-Z7 is too difficult to push, which makes it impossible to play well under PHA-3. After the actual audition, I found that it is a worry to be unfounded. However, MDR-Z7 performs quite surprisingly after going up to the digital interface+decoding+desktop power amplifier. Compared with PHA-3, high-frequency has greatly improved the ductility and speed, and the overall smoothness of high-frequency is also quite good, Of course, the smoothness of high frequency is based on enough cooking time. We should have more than 300 hours of cooking time for this MDR-Z7 by the deadline. However, compared with the MDR-Z7 that was tried in Sony stores, the smoothness still has room for improvement. Although the current state is much looser than when it was just opened, it still feels that it will continue to slow down.
Sound field:
At first, the sound field of MDR-Z7 can give people a sense of fullness. Driven by the balance port of PHA-3, the sound field is large and has no obvious boundary. The overall three-dimensional sense can come out, but the image is not clear enough. But once the MDR-Z7 is placed on the console, The sound field of MDR-Z7 is excellent in terms of size, regularity and image. The overall clarity is above HD600 and HD650.
As for Sony's air feeling? Personally, I may not understand these three words well enough. If the air feeling is the feeling of full sound field, the MDR-Z7 has it, but whether it is strong or not depends on the thrust and control force of the front end.
Analytical force:
The MDR-Z7 has excellent analytical power, and this level of analytical power is generally proportional to the thrust of the front end. The analytical power level on PHA-3 can basically match that of Sony's Z1000 before it. The analytical power on the console is higher than that of HD600 and 650, but HD600 and 650 are not earphones with particularly good analytical power themselves, which are more focused on hearing sense, MDR-Z7 feels that it can compete with HD700 under the right front end, but HD700 has not heard of it carefully, so it is not easy to say which is better.
Personally, I think MDR-Z7 has enough analytical power in PHA-3, and it is good enough for the details of various instruments in the music, as well as the singer's mouth shape and breathing.
Wear:
There's nothing to say about it. It's very comfortable, as long as your head doesn't grow too strange.
Ease of drive:
There are different opinions about the MDR-Z7's easy drive on the Internet. Some people in a Hell said that a Sony A17 can score eight or nine points, while some people in the headset bar said that the Z7 direct push is not as good as the HD650 direct push, but some people said that the MDR-Z7 does not have a good front end and will not make bad noises. There are different opinions, but we are not optimistic about the MDR-Z7's easy drive, If you want to drive the MDR-Z7, the most economical and omnivorous food is the balance port of PHA-3. After listening to the MDR-Z7 directly with ZX1 for a while, you finally decided to give up. The high frequency can not go up and low frequency can not come down, and the analytical power is also bad. At least after listening to the MDR-Z7 with power amplifier or even console, you are unwilling to use small equipment to directly push the MDR-Z7.
Applicable music types:
More omnivorous, most music will have a good sense of hearing.
Summary:
The MDR-Z7 has achieved an excellent balance between high quality and good listening. The quality and quantity of low frequency is a great highlight. The beautiful high frequency and the front vocal basically ensure that the MDR-Z7 can eat many different kinds of music. Maybe in a certain kind of music, other earphones can provide a better listening sense than the MDR-Z7, But the MDR-Z7 is balanced and comprehensive, which many other earphones do not have.
Although the MDR-Z7 is not easy to drive earphones, compared with the model 701, which is difficult to push, the MDR-Z7 is slightly less critical of the front end. It is a headset with great potential but easy to produce good sound, but in the end, the minimum requirements for the front end should have enough thrust.
In terms of hard quality, the MDR-Z7 is not as good as the 250 Ω version of the DT770 (provided, of course, that both are promoted), but I like the MDR-Z7 more than the DT770. Naturally, the reason is that the MDR-Z7 can provide a better sense of hearing. The voice of the 770 is too straightforward and forceful. For me, there is no pressure to wear the MDR-Z7 and listen to it all afternoon, while the 770 is not necessarily.
The MDR-Z7 is a good headset, but to enjoy all of it, you need to make a follow-up investment and be patient with the machine. As for whether the price of about 3299 is worth taking home, it depends on whether you can push the front end of the MDR-Z7. If you have a good front end, you like balanced listening and good listening, and have certain requirements for quality, MDR-Z7 is an excellent choice. If the headphone pit equipment is not perfect for the first time, it is recommended to listen to more headphones to determine what style you like.
To sum up MDR-Z7 in one sentence, MDR-Z7 should be a fat hairy crab.
It is delicious and nutritious, but the best way to eat the most delicious crab meat is to go to the fishing boat beside Gaoyou Lake to select a large green one, steam it through the water, take eight exquisite crabs to the lake, match a bowl of ginger soup and a small dish of Zhenjiang vinegar, and enjoy the scenery of the lake while tasting.
