Sony to release a new flagship IEM

[JxK]

The mdr-ex1000, to be priced at around 62000 Yen, or ~$730.

Of course, this is only an MSRP, so I'd expect the street price to be somewhere in the $300-400 range, but nonetheless it will be at least as expensive as any other top-tier big name universal.

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

They certainly look interesting, I am not sure how they’ll sound but they did get a few things right, 32 Ohms and replaceable cables are a good move for them. I haven’t read of any applications about drivers made from liquid crystalline polymer film but have read about its use for PCBs for use in PCs, servers, mobile phones and other products.

[lestatar]

Agree, they look very serious indeed. Not sure I have much interest myself though, from both cost and design standpoint though.

Still, I look forward to hearing first hand impressions from anyone who gives these a whirl. Thanks for the headsup

[dfkt]

So they still didn't ditch that oversized disc design - but at least those ones look a little more anatomically correct than the other 16mm driver things they had before. A photo of someone wearing them would be appreciated, though. I wonder if those EX1000 finally can compete with really good IEMs...

[kacee]

A couple of pictures here

[WalkGood]

After seeing those pictures, the cable looks thicker than the original se530 cable and possibly very microphonic if not worn over ears, inside shirt. Also noticed the position of the housing and how far it comes out of the ear, this could be an issue for the dreaded wind noise :/

[lestatar]

Great pics kacee, thanks!

Agreed, those Sonys do look kind of massive to me. And WG's point is well-taken, though not one I have considered before: with such a relatively large IEM housing and how far it protrudes, it wouldn't seem to be very wind-friendly would it?

Judging from the pics and knowing how I prefer my own IEMs, I think this Sony would annoy me to no end, regardless of how good they may or may not sound to me.

[shigzeo]

As long as Sony can ditch the plastic-sound sometimes stuck to earphones of similar build. But sound is not everything IMO; they have to, you know, be comfortable and usable first.

[dfkt]

In the pics posted by Kacee they sure look as unusable as the Radius DDM. I can't see myself wearing something that ridiculous in any situation.

[The DarkSide]

They'd fall right out, even if the cable is over the top of my ears.

[shigzeo]

Yeah, they look pretty bad, but I'm sure they can't be as unusable as the DDM! That one is crazy, absolutely crazy. At least it sounds very nice.

[2rooi123]

these look promising. the high price tag is catchy