[Review] Sony MDR-1AM2 – Sony’s Cup Of Sweet Green Tea From Japan

Design
Regarding the exterior design of Sony, perhaps this is the company that focuses on the appearance of the box the most in the Japanese headphone lines with a solid exterior and a pretty interior that doesn’t make up for the Audio boxes. -Technica or STAX. Outside there is also a Hi-Res stamp that is glued by Sony right on the box, after all Hi-Res s also initiated by Sony, so if you want to paste it anywhere, it can’t be. But in my opinion, after all, if you have a Hi-Res stamp to buy, a Hi-Res stamp is good, the quality is probably a bit naive with that excessive trust, even in the Japanese market Hi story -Res mostly only focuses on the popular market segment, but with the High End market share, no one cares.
Inside is a cloth bag, along with 2 cord accessories with a 3.5-3.5mm cord and an integrated mic with 3 control buttons, nothing too special, but with the special 3.5mm connector of The Sony in the school was damaged, the replacement wire was almost worn out. The remaining wire is probably the reason why the price of the MDR-1AM2 has increased by 1 million VND compared to the VND 1 million , the 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced wire used for Sony music players, and many other high-end devices. are also starting to use 4.4mm balance. You can also use this wire for previous MDR-1A and MDR-1R headphones because the connector is exactly the same.
A little bit about this new 4.4 port of Sony, in theory, the 2.5mm balance of the music players will have the following mapping (Left+, Left-, Right+, Right-) ie 4 notches are all signals, part ‘ +, -‘ here is the same signal but completely opposite phase to each other to ensure the transmission is lossless and unaffected from signal interference due to external factors. But Sony’s 4.4mm- 5 notches have both Left +/-, Righ +/- and the other 1 is for the cool part. This mapping structure is exactly the same as using the XLR balance to make the sound cleaner. , noise reduction. Regarding the sound quality when using this 4.4 wire, I will share more about it later.
The build part, personally when I need the MDR-1AM2, I feel a little bit worse in terms of appearance than before when the MDR-1A is very firm in the hand and feels more beefy. But perhaps because the MDR-1AM2 is lighter in weight and feels much more comfortable to wear, for those of you who switch from inear to fullsize, this is the first choice because the wearing feeling is very comfortable and there is no feeling. pumpkin sense. With the MDR-1AM2 model on the outside, the highlight is probably the very comfortable and soft memory foam earpad, better than the MDR-1A’s earpad, and inside you can see the Fibonaci textured grill quite beautifully. . So if you just look outside and hold it in your hand, the MDR-1A is better than listening to it directly, the feeling of wearing it, the MDR-1AM2 is much more comfortable.
External introduction, coming here is probably quite enough. Now to the most important part is the sound quality of the MDR-1AM2.
The first point that impressed me with the MDR-1AM2 is that the soundstage of this model is an improved and very airy soundstage that can be thought of as a portable closed-back headset. Accompanied by an image, separating the layers has quite a distance so that you can feel each different instrument class. Going a little more specific into the three bands.
The bass range is probably the one that will have a lot of new Sony fanboys that will feel dissatisfied when compared to models like the Sony MDR-Z7 or MDR-1A, which have a full bass range with good bounce and texture. However, the MDR-1AM2 model is quite softer and more mellow than the MDR-1A model, so it feels softer with acoustic songs along with blues and jazz, which feel smoother and easier to listen to. the bass guitar is just right, not too heavy. As for EDM or Rock music, perhaps although the detail and texture is quite good, the speed is good, but it is still not in the form of enough to rock or for bassheads.
The mid range is the strongest point of the MDR-1AM2 with soft, gentle vocals and a very natural feel. When listening to female vocals is still the strong point of Japanese headphones and the MDR-1AM2 is similar, the sound quality is quite easy to listen to and inspiring. Melody Gardot or Aimer’s songs no longer feel a bit backward like the MDR-1A, but are pushed up a little to help feel more fully expressed. The low-mid part is trimmed a bit to help the sound of the MDR-1AM2 sound more sacred, softer than the MDR-1A. In general, for those of you who like female vocals and light, lyrical music, perhaps the MDR-1AM2 is a worthy choice for the sweet, easy-to-listen, smooth and flattering sound. Along with that for those of you who like the gentle sophistication of Blue, Jazz, this is also a pretty good choice.The treble range is also quite gentle, easy to listen to, although it has been raised a bit more than the previous MDR-1A model, this is probably a pretty right choice when the current market still rings an easy-to-listen sound. too sparkly. The extension of the high range is also quite high, so when it comes to instruments, percussion can also see the subtlety. However, with the treb strip of the MDR-1AM2 is still a bit colorful, if it sounds a bit technical, the sound color of the instruments is slightly different from reality, so the decay and texture still have something to perfect. . But if compared to Z7 or 1A, the treb of can be considered a treb of 1AM2 as a good upgrade.
The soundstage is the strongest point of the headset with a very airy sound quality and also a full layer. The image is also a point that is shown quite well in width and depth with a headset in the mid-range and mobile segments. However, the weak point is that the total soundstage seems a bit fuzzy like listening with a membrane.
If you use it with a balanced 4.4mm port with music players like the ZX300, the overall sound color is still the same, but one thing is that the image details are stronger and the texture is better like the curtain of the image. slightly raised.