SONY MDR-EX1000

In the US, SONY released MDR-EX1000 with RK-EX600, a normal Oxygen-Free-Copper(OFC) cable, instead of the 7N OFC cable, RK-EX1000. That is why I had to buy the RK-EX1000 directly from Rakuten. Is there really any audible sonic difference between those cables? Well, I will talk about this on a separate article.

Anyway, on the design of MDR-EX1000: black, glossy, and sci-fi like. It is one of the coolest looking headphone I've seen in years. Even the box is so delicately designed & packaged, I was kind of scared to open it. No wonder the MSRP was 61,950 JPY. 

PRO: MDR-EX1000's frequency response is not flat. Rather, it is V-shaped; a slight emphasis on bass & treble, or ドンシャリ系の音. It can't be of a reference quality, but considering SONY have maintained this tonal quality since MDR-F1, we should just leave it as a part of their artisan spirit. Also, the distortion is almost non-existent.

CON: As I mentioned previously, for some reason, almost all of SONY's IEMs equipped with an off-axis driver show a nasty peak, or a driver resonance, in the sibilant-sensitive frequency region. While some might think this as a part of SONY's unique sonic signature, others would find it very fatiguing, and I, personally, belong in the latter group of people. 

ON SECOND THOUGHT: The ear sleeves of MDR-EX1000 are very comfortable, making deep-insertion quite easy. Moreover, SONY claim they have developed a new material, a liquid crystal polymer(LCP), to implement it as a diaphragm material of a EX1000's driver. However, what they used on MDR-CD1700 & CD2000 was LCP too: a Vectran fiber, manufactured by クラレ. And  クラレis the only manufacturer of Vectran in the world! Did they revisit their old diaphragm material and revised the design? I think I have a reasonable doubt here!