Sony IER-Z1R IRL Review-the IER-Z1R is Sony’s flagship in earphone. Sitting alongside its full size headphone brother, the MDR-Z1R, it is part of Sony’s Signature Series premium audiophile offering. Its an amazingly well received headphone and I love it. Here’s my IRL review. The IER-Z1R has been out for some time now since 2018. It…
Category: Headphones
IRL Review- MDR-Z1R
IRL Review– Sony’s Signature Series- MDR-Z1R- probably one of my favorite headphones of all time- this is my in real life review of Sony’s flagship over the ear headphone. The MDR-Z1R was Sony’s first venture back into extreme cost headphones- prior to this, Sony had largely left the price segment behind when it stopped production…
Sony XB80BS IRL review
Sony XB80BS wireless sport earphone IRL review; After my Sony AS700BT fizzled out, I was out of ideas of what to use for headphones for workouts. The AS700BT had big shoes to fill. It was reliable in connection, had great features like a stable connection vs. audiophile mode, great design, stable in the ears even in…
IRL Review: Sony MDR-SA5000 headphones
The Sony MDR-SA5000 headphone was their flagship headphone for a number of years, and fought for that title with several headphones that overlapped its release including the MDR-CD3000 (biocellulose diaphragms like the MDR-R10 legend), and the Qualia 010 (which honestly appears quite similar in design, but with some material changes, and tuning changes). It was…
IRL Review Bowers and Wilkins P5 Series 1 Premium Headphone Review
IRL Review Bowers and Wilkins P5 Series 1 Premium Headphone Review- the P5 series 1 was a headphone I wanted dreadfully for a really long time. When I started getting more serious into headphones, I was enamored by their build quality when I tried them out at the Apple store. They were instantly luxurious in…
Sony XBA-40 IRL Review
Sony XBA-40 Earphone IRL Review- The XBA40 (XBA being eXperience Balanced Armature) earphone was Sony’s flagship earphone before being succeeded by the XBA-H3 Hybrid earphone, and eventually the XBA-Z5. It succeeded the XBA-4, which itself had succeeded the MDR-EX1000. What’s the history here? Sony initially started with single dynamic driver earphones. Most companies use this-…
Fake Sony MDR-V700DJ IRL Review
Fake Sony MDR-V700DJ Headphone IRL Review- These were the first in person headphones I got to experience that were fake. A minor issue for me at the time of purchase, I simply didn’t think the fake headphone makers could get it this good. At that point, my experience with “fanban” (fake in Cantonese) items was…
Nixon Master Blaster Headphone IRL Review
Nixon Master Blaster Review- Wow what a headphone. I remember when I first saw this headphone. I was in Easy Rider or Watch It! and I saw this sitting in the back with all the other non-watch/sunglasses accessories. Nixon had just released this line up around 2009 right when the headphone market was getting hot…
Skullcandy MixMaster DJ Headphone IRL Review
Skullcandy MixMaster DJ Headphone IRL Review- The Skullcandy MixMaster is another celebrity endorsed headphone spurned by the success of Beats by Dre. Its apparently designed by Mix Master Mike, a DJ who has mixed artists including the Beastie Boys. TBH this is one of the ugliest headphones I have ever owned. They took the idea…
Shure SRH-840 Studio Monitor Headphone IRL Review
Shure SRH840 Studio Monitor Headphone IRL Review- Wow, two products reviewed today that are not Sony. That’s a big change for me. The Shure SRH840 (840 from this point on) were Shure’s premium flagship headphone in 2009/10 until they were later surpassed by the SRH940, SRH1840 and SRH1540 (flagship changing based off whether its a closed…
Sony MDR-1R Mark I Headphone IRL Review
Sony MDR-1R Mark I Headphone IRL Review – The 1r (for short) is a midrangish (sitting around 349 CDN when originally released) headphone that was released after Sony being absent from the high end market for some time. Prior to this, it had the following; the MDR-MA900, an open headphone that had some praise but universal…
Sony MDR-X10 XFactor Simon Cowell Headphones IRL Review
Sony MDR-X10 Simon Cowell X Factor Headphone IRL Review- What a name hey? Its one of Sony’s celebrity endorsed headphones- I think that Sony Entertainment owns X fActor in some manner. Not at all surprising to see a celebrity endorsed headphone based off all the wild success of Beats. Not surprising to see the exact…
The Forever Student Blog 