Normally, I don’t particularly care for packaging because at the end of the day, let’s be honest: After I pry out my shiny toy, it’s going straight to the closet to collect dust. This will help you get a deeper insertion, better seal, and not leave the ear tips in your ears when removing. Nothing about the IER-Z1R’s build remotely conforms to the human ear’s natural shape, and to this effect, every time I stuffed the IER-Z1R into my ear I felt like I was smack-dab between heaven (sound) and hell (fit) – hence my review’s title. Now that I’ve gushed over and praised the IER-Z1R’s sound quality, there’s just one problem here: The fit is atrocious. phonomat Yeah, an exaggeration but I really wanted to get my point across that one should demo these first.

If you plug your wired earphones/IEMs directly into your phone or laptop, you are probably not hearing them at their best. Would i recommend the IER-Z1R over something like the Vision Ears EST, UE LIVE, 64 Audio Fourté and similar? Final knows how to tune the midrange and the vocals/string instruments are as articulate as they can be on the A8000. Something that isolates much better and is better balanced overall + has better comfort so you have an daily driver that always does the job, no matter what.The IER-Z1R also has quite the interesting presentation – I would describe it as “speaker-like” or “larger than life” for lack of a better phrase. I listen to a lot of K-Pop/J-Pop, and stuff by the likes of Taeyeon and Aimer simply shines on the IER-Z1R. I tried so many different tips from all sorts of manufacturers, even going as far as trying to make custom tips to make it less painful to use. The supplied cable features a silk braid design that effectively minimises touch noise and acts as a vibration insulator. On something like Hilight Tribe's Free Tibet (Vini Vici) , there's rumble yet clearly differentiated bass hits.

It’s still one of the few IEMs that kind-of-sort-of breaks the in-your-head barrier; maybe my expectations are just too high.Sony's full-range driver offers deep bass and fine mid-high sound – the perfect foundation for a balanced armature mid driver equipped with a magnesium diaphragm, silver-coated copper voice coil and gold-plated terminals. Mid-range performance is definitely the weakest link in the IER-Z1R signature and that’s disappointing given the stellar bass and treble. Z1R’s treble is very well extended, so much so that I had a hard time believing that it was achieved by just one balanced armature.

I think depending on taste you might prefer one over the other, I myself find the Z1R’s treble response more appealing. The IER-Z1R has a mildly v-shaped sound, with a slight emphasis to both the bass and the upper mids and treble. If you ignore the fit (more on that later), the IER-Z1R is one of the best built IEMs or earphones I've ever used.The Annihilator 2023 and Storm are probably on the same level as chonk but the Storm has the widest nozzle but the smallest shell. Its not that I love to make my earholes feel like they're being f'ed, but you really need to shove it in deep to create a seal and to get all of that treble extension. The 5mm super tweeter in the IER-Z1R was developed to deliver ultra-high frequency extension with a new aluminium-coated LCP diaphragm and external magnetic circuit. You can expect said contrast to correspond to thinner notes; generally, these sorts of dips to frequency response are also used to impart a sense of spaciousness.

I think the best way to convey what i mean is, these have a very hi-fi sound rather than a "monitor" sound. However, the A8000 bass is faster and will cater well to those who prefer a nimble bass presentation. The next thing is the typical recessed lower mids to make everything sound clear (i'm not a fan of this) and a bit cold but thats a slight change.I’ve heard they’re using zirconium alloy for the build, which if true is definitely an interesting design decision. They may be subjectively perfect for some, but there exists songs who do not cope with this tuning well. We all know there's an endgame to every hobby so when I heard my friend just spent money on something that retails for ~1800USD (at the time), I was genuinely intrigued. In terms of soundstage/imaging, the former goes to the IER-Z1R whereas the Andro 2020 has slightly better center-imaging than the IER-Z1R but similar cardinal/ordinal imaging otherwise.