The MDR-1A series is a relatively new series of Sony earphones recently. The 1A series inherits the appearance design of the 1R series, but has modified the diaphragm material and tuning. Today we are going to evaluate the Bluetooth version of 1ABT, a headset with good appearance and sound.
First of all, 1ABT is a headset with good appearance. Sony offers silver brown color matching and red black color matching for selection, but we think the color matching appearance of red and black is slightly better. The overall texture and high-end feeling are very good. Although the surface of the right unit looks like nothing, it is actually the touch operation area of 1ABT. Double click can pause/play music or answer the phone, Moving up and down is to increase or decrease the volume, and moving back and forth is to cut the song. Apart from the inconvenience of switching back to the previous song (for example, in the setting of the native music player of the ZX2, one stroke is often to jump to the beginning of the current track, followed by another stroke is to go to the previous song, while NetEase Cloud music is to cut the previous song directly with one stroke), it is easy to use.
Compared with the liquid crystal polymer diaphragm of the 1R series, the 1A series has changed the diaphragm material to the aluminum plated liquid crystal polymer diaphragm. Sony claims that the new diaphragm material can "minimize the sound pollution" and "accurately reproduce the details". However, you only need to know that the earphones of the 1R and 1A series have changed their names.
Since it is a Bluetooth headset, it must have a built-in battery, but fortunately, the weight of 1ABT has not become very heavy due to the built-in battery (the official data is 300g), and it is very light when worn on the head, but it is still not suitable for jogging and other sports, because sweat may affect the life of the ear pad and the head beam leather.
In addition, Sony did not specify the specific capacity of the built-in battery on the headset specification page, but only indicated that 1ABT can provide 30 hours of music playback and 200 hours of standby at most, but the maximum time for a single charge can be up to 4 hours, and then an hour of charging can provide 8 hours of service time, so it is a mysterious battery capacity, Fortunately, the charging port uses the common MicroUSB, and the general smart phone charger data cable can charge the 1ABT, so even if you are on a business trip, it will not be false. Of course, if it is only two or three days, you don't need to worry about the charging of the 1ABT.
However, even if there is no power, 1ABT still has a 3.5mm audio input port, and the original configuration also has a 1.2m audio cable. However, the audio input port of 1ABT has a concave design, so DIY cables cannot be replaced at will. This seemingly unnecessary design may be to prevent poor contact or what to do. In short, only Sony designers know.
The microphone and power button are placed on both sides of the audio input port. The microphone has a good pickup effect, but in a slightly noisy place, it may also be too far away from the user's port to affect the other party to hear the user's voice clearly.
It seems inappropriate to talk about the 1ABT headset without talking about LDAC, The term LDAC sounds fresh, but its essence is not so complicated. Devices with this technology can transmit data more efficiently, so that more data can be transmitted per unit time under the maximum transmission speed limit of existing Bluetooth technology. For audio, that is, more information can be transmitted per unit time, Naturally, the sound quality will be better relatively.
(The above figure is from the 1ABT page of Sony official website)
At present, the mainstream Bluetooth data encoding method is called SBC, which is called Smart Bitrate Control in full. Literally, it means intelligent bit rate control. It is a digital audio encoding and decoding method that is widely used in Bluetooth audio devices. The main purpose of this encoding method is to reduce the complexity of encoding and decoding as much as possible while maintaining relatively good audio quality, The maximum audio sampling rate that can be transmitted is 48kHz, the transmission speed of mono channel is 198 kbit/s, and the transmission speed of stereo is 345 kbit/s.
That is to say, the currently widely used SBC technology Bluetooth devices cannot fully transmit high-resolution audio, so Sony has come up with such a technology called LDAC. In stereo mode, The amount of data that LDAC can transmit is three times that of the mainstream SBC technology, which can reach 990 kilobits per second. Sony claims that devices using LDAC technology can completely transmit 96kHz/24bit audio, so the amount of information of the voice will naturally be more, and the sound quality will be better relatively.
Unfortunately, the technology of LDAC is exclusive to Sony at present. Now, Sony has launched front ends that support LDAC Bluetooth, including Walkman A15/A17 For ZX2 and Xperia Z3+smart phones, Sony should launch more devices that support LDAC in the future. As for whether LDAC technology is likely to be seen on other manufacturers' devices, it should be hopeless, but similar technologies should be possible.
The front-end used with 1ABT this time is mainly Sony's ZX2. In the Bluetooth setting of the ZX2, the audio transmission quality mode can be selected. The data traffic of the three modes is different. Only after the "quality first" mode is enabled, can you fully use the 990 kilobits/second bandwidth provided by LDAC technology to enjoy music.
In addition to LDAC, 1ABT also supports aptX technology, The aptX technology reduces the delay of Bluetooth transmission and improves the audio quality by reducing the size of audio files. The aptX technology can be found on many smart phones, such as Samsung's Galaxy S6 Edge. However, this technology can only transmit the audio quality of ordinary CD level, that is, 44.1kHz/16bit. Therefore, LDAC technology still has incomparable advantages.
After all, the main use scenario of 1ABT is to use Bluetooth, so this listening experience will naturally be based on the situation of Bluetooth connection. To be honest, we highly recommend that you use Bluetooth to listen, because even if you use Bluetooth to listen to 1ABT, the battery life is very strong, and you can enjoy music for 1 to 2 hours a day for more than a week without charging, In addition, there is no need to deliberately turn off the power supply. In addition, when using cables to listen, there will be obvious requirements for the driving force of the front end. For example, the iPhone 6 Plus, which does not have a special design for the audio circuit, the mobile phone has relatively insufficient driving force and is difficult to realize the potential of 1ABT. Even ordinary Bluetooth devices that do not support LDAC, The transmission capacity of 44.1kHz/16bit can also fully meet the needs of most audio sources.
Then, 1ABT also has Sony's exclusive DSEE technology, that is, the headset itself can restore the high-frequency sound that is easy to lose in the compression process of digital music. In short, it is also a technology to improve the sound quality performance.
Ok, after so much wordiness, the sense of listening begins.
Low frequency:
The low-frequency texture of 1ABT is very good. After nearly 200 hours of warm-up, the low-frequency diving is full and elastic, and the sense of volume is slightly less than that of the previous 1R series earphones. The clean low-frequency appreciation is very popular, and the sense of rhythm is full. It is easy for people to nod or shake their legs unknowingly, and because the volume is not large, So it won't cover up any details of the medium and high frequency. In fact, even if you enjoy songs other than pop music, such low frequency is also beneficial. Although you can't please the low frequency controller, you can please all users except the low frequency controller.
intermediate frequency:
The mid-range of 1ABT is very neutral, without special emphasis on thickness, and does not particularly play up a certain kind of voice, but the overall density is very good, the emotion is very full, and does not do anything at all. The adjusted mid-range will be a trend that can listen to any voice and the effect is good. For people like the author who listen to music very miscellaneous, it is absolutely very pleasing, And the control of the human voice is also quite good.
High frequency:
The high-frequency extension of 1ABT is also very good, and the brightness is significantly brighter than that of the previous 1R series earphones, so the three frequencies are more balanced compared with the previous 1R series earphones. Listening to instruments such as violin and saxophone that pay more attention to high-frequency extension is also true, but the same is true, The high frequency of 1ABT is not very bright, and it does not render the instrument particularly enchanting. It can be clearly felt that it is taking a balanced and listening route.
Analytical force:
In many cases, the analytical power of Bluetooth earphones is often the weak point, while the analytical power of 1ABT is not weak, but it is still inferior to some real Hi Fi earphones at the same price, 1ABT can clearly distinguish the musical instruments played at the same time when appreciating the Women's Twelve Orchestra. It can show a certain sense of granularity for string instruments such as guitars and zithers. When appreciating popular music, the voice and accompaniment are not confused at all, and then the rapid and continuous beating of drum drums does not have a sense of messy muddling. Such performance is qualified, After all, it is connected via Bluetooth.
Sound field:
The sound field of the 1ABT is very open and natural, but the positioning is not accurate. It can distinguish the approximate position and distance, but that's all. The horizontal and depth performance is good, but the vertical feel is not high. It is a bit like a flattened sphere. It feels very open around, but the three-dimensional sense of up and down is a little less, and because the amount of low-frequency is not much, Therefore, the atmosphere is not highly rendered when enjoying live concerts and some large venues. Although the voice and instruments are very pleasant, I feel that I am listening to CDs, and I feel less immersive.
Wearing comfort:
It's impossible to say that the head beam has just the right elasticity, no collet at all, the ear pads are large and soft enough, and the body is very light, which is almost perfect for wearing comfort except that it will be very hot in summer.
Workmanship:
Great. The metal surface and leather surface feel very delicate,
Easy drive and front end matching:
It really doesn't matter. Anyway, rendering sound is completely a matter of 1ABT. All front ends have the same sound style. The difference is that front ends that support LDAC technology (such as ZX2) and front ends that do not support LDAC technology (such as S6 Edge, Z2, iPad Mini 3, etc.) have more information when they enjoy the same high resolution audio, The overall smoothness is better. If it is driven by plug-in cable, 1ABT will have obvious requirements for the driving force of the front end. When using the front end with a large driving force, it feels that the improvement is very obvious. The stereo sense of the sound field will be several levels higher than when using Bluetooth or the front end plug drive with a small driving force. Therefore, 1ABT is even a headset with a little potential in the plug drive mode.
Summary:
1ABT has been used for a long time. In fact, it can be summed up in six words: good-looking, easy to use, and pleasant to hear.
This does not mean that 1ABT is a perfect headset. It must have shortcomings. First, it is hot to wear. Second, although its quality performance is very good among Bluetooth headsets, its information volume and sound field stereo sense are still inferior to those of non Bluetooth Hi Fi earphones driven by some plug cables at the same price, And its sound is not optimized and adjusted specifically for a certain item, so the first ear will not catch the ear. Similarly, 1ABT will take a long time to enter the state of the machine. At first, the overall sound smoothness, low-frequency diving and high-frequency extension will be slightly less. In addition, to enjoy the benefits of LDAC technology, you need to match a Bluetooth front-end that supports LDAC.
But as for the Bluetooth headset used with ordinary smart phones for daily music listening and occasional calls, 1ABT is excellent, with outstanding comfort, very long standby and use time, conscientious materials and workmanship, excellent quality and balanced listening and not picky voice, and the use of Bluetooth connection also means that you don't have to worry about the front end being pushed. The quality is more than enough for ordinary users, but as a fan, you can occasionally get rid of cable constraints, It is also a good choice to enjoy music easily when commuting.
As for the price, the official price of 1ABT is 2099 yuan, which is really not cheap, even more expensive than the 1ADAC with its own decoding. Not to mention the cost of a special LDAC front-end for it, let alone the LDAC as a benefit for Sony's iron powder users. Is its voice worth 2099? Not necessarily, but if Bluetooth and materials are taken into account, the price is not out of line. In addition, there are many sellers on Yisou, a treasure, who still sell SF at a lower price than the official price.
advantage:
Beautiful appearance;
Excellent workmanship and materials, comfortable to wear;
NFC pairing connection is very convenient, and touch control song playing is also very useful;
Excellent endurance;
Tri frequency balance, listening and omnivorous;
The quality of a Bluetooth headset is very good.
Insufficient:
Wear heat;
The stereo sense of the sound field is general;
The price is slightly high.
