Sony IER-Z1R in-ear headphones

The Sony IER-Z1R Signature Series are neatly packed with a plethora of accessories. Striking headphones with a fitting unboxing experience Sometimes you can tell a product is special by the way it is packaged. The Sony IER-Z1R Signature Series in-ear monitors arrived at my desk with a deluxe, jewelry-box-style presentation. I opened the box to reveal two shining silver earbuds, each etched with a striking 3D pattern that gave off a cool mirrorball gleam. They were perched in a softly padded pedestal, above three drawers packed with a generous selection of accessories. The largest soundstage I've heard from a pair of in-ears These headphones offer a hearty helping of substance to go along with that style. Sony always aims for a certain sound profile. At CanJam 2019 , the head of their Walkman? division, Tomoaki Sato, told me "we deliver a very wide soundfield, with clear sound position." Well, I listened to the IER-Z1Rs connected to the Sony NW-Z300 Walkman portable music player . These might be the most spacious sounding in-ear headphones I've ever heard. The soundstage extended far from my head, and the stereo imaging within was on-point, too. On a high-res version of the Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings track "Something's changed," I could pick out the percussion, horns, and keys going left to right. It was as if the band was performing in front of me. I even got a sense of height - with Jones' vocals coming directly from the center, yet just above my forehead. This exploded view shows the hybrid three-driver system that delivers an incredibly spacious sound with accurate imaging. Hybrid driver system for detailed, full-range sound Inside each earpiece, there is a combination of three drivers, all dedicated to specific frequencies. Sony says they built each from the ground up, but the dynamic driver design might sound familiar if you know Sony's flag-ship over-ears, the Sony MDR-Z1R . The IER-Z1R's driver uses the same high-grade aluminum-coated diaphragms - a