Sony MDR-1R review: Rich sound with bass prominence

At a price of $300, Sony's MDR-1R Premium Headphones are meant for the luxury headphone market. The elegant, distinctive design features large, plush earpads that apply just the right amount of pressure to your ears, and design details like the aluminum earcups and supple leather are a step up from what you find on glossy plastic headphones such as the Beats by Dr. Dre Studio. The Sony MDR-1R headphones' seriously potent bass is commendably free of boom or bloat, and the exceptional dynamic punch and clarity will satisfy even the most demanding audiophile tastes.

8.1

Sony MDR-1R

The Good

The <b>Sony MDR-1R Premium Headphones</b>' full-size, over-the-ear design and supple leather earpads lend a luxurious feel to an extraordinarily comfortable pair of headphones you can wear for hours at a time.

The Bad

They don't fold flat for compact storage.

The Bottom Line

It's true that Sony's MDR-1R headphones come with a lofty price tag, but if you're searching for highly accurate-sounding headphones with style and substance, they deserve your attention.

Design and features
The MDR-1R headphones are full-size and over-the-ear, with racetrack-shaped ear cushions designed to completely enclose your ears (that's not always the case with full-size headphones). The user-replaceable ear cushions are unusually soft and pliant, so the MDR-1Rs are quite comfortable and provide a better-than-average seal to block external noise.

While I found the MDR-1R headphones supremely comfortable, CNET editor Justin Yu felt that the inside part of the earcups pressed against his ears, a discomfort that detracted from the listening experience. These varying reactions demonstrate how difficult it is to predict how universally comfortable any given pair of headphones will be. The MDR-1Rs weigh 8.47 ounces (240 grams), which is about average for headphones of this type.

The fit and feel of the MDR-1R headphones are excellent and the leather cushions exude quality. The metal earcups pivot horizontally and vertically, and the pivoting range is greater than usual. Even the gunmetal-gray earcup yokes, which are plastic, feel sturdy.

Rather than firing the 40-millimeter, dome-type Liquid Crystal Polymer Diaphragms directly into your ears, the headphones' drivers are offset at an angle to approximate the sound coming from in front of you. I never noticed that design detail before, but some Sony headphones have used angled drivers since the late 1980s.

Sony claims the Liquid Crystal Polymer Diaphragms are capable of delivering unusually high frequencies, up to 80kHz -- that's more than three times higher than most high–end headphones. Though very few people can hear frequencies over 20kHz, Sony's engineers are nevertheless interested in making a design that can reproduce the frequencies we can hear with exceptional accuracy.

The MDR-1R design doesn't have a hinged headband so it can't collapse into a small bundle, but the earcups do fold flat.

The MDR-1R headphones come with two 47-inch-long cables: one with an Apple-compatible remote and microphone and another "plain" cable. The cables terminate in 3.5mm plugs at each end, and they connect to the headphones' left earcup.

Accessories include a soft carrying case and a 6.3mm gold-plated adapter jack, and headphones come with a one-year parts warranty (90 days for labor). Proof of purchase is required to make a warranty claim.

Performance
The MDR-1R headphones are rich-sounding, with a prominent emphasis on bass. Most recordings benefit from this type of sound, and the tonal balance makes harsh MP3s or streamed audio more tolerable than headphones with more treble detail.

Sennheiser's Momentum headphones sound crisper and clearer than the MDR-1Rs, but the Momentums also highlighted the ragged harshness of some MP3s.

Next, I compared the MDR-1Rs with a pair of Bowers & Wilkins P5 on-ear headphones. The P5s' sound was slightly more detailed, but more "closed-in," so the sound seemed stuck inside my head, and the treble sounded thin.

On the other hand, the MDR-1Rs sound more refined overall, spacious and natural; bass definition, impact, and power are much improved over the P5s.The MDR-1Rs also reveal more subtlety in the music, so you hear more of Amy Winehouse's vocal inflections on her live version of "You Know I'm No Good."

The P5s are small on-ear headphones, so I also put the MDR-1Rs up against something closer in size, the new V-Moda M-100 over-the-ear headphones. The M-100s are known for their outstanding bass oomph, but the MDR-1Rs had superior low-frequency definition.

The M-100s make a bit more bass, but the MDR-1Rs let you hear bass pitches better, and deliver more midrange and treble detail. The MDR-1Rs also have more neutral tonal balance than the M-100s, so they should appeal to audiophiles who listen to a wide range of music genres. Well-recorded drums, like the ones on jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter's new "Not Getting Behind Is the New Getting Ahead" CD, sounded more realistic on the MDR-1Rs. Stereo imaging for both headphone models is open and spacious, no differences there.

The MDR-1Rs' comfortable fit and wide-open sound also shone while I watched "The Big Lebowski" on DVD; the bowling-alley scenes and distant sounds of people talking seemed to come from off in the distance. Even The Dude's dialogue was crystal-clear.

Conclusion
The Sony MDR-1R Premium Headphones are beautifully designed, with a build quality that reaches higher than most competing models. Designed primarily to bring out the best in all types of music, the Sony MDR-1Rs are sonically some of the best all-around headphones I've tested, and well-deserving of my recommendation.