I got these headphones from eBay for about 1,700usd. All I can say is they sound fantasic...especially the vocal sounds so real. I use the upgrade balanced cable from Kimble cable and Sony pha-3 Dac/ amp , they work perfectly!
ShangWI'm inclined to disagree with you on the vocals. To me they sounded absolutely atrocious, with piercing highs and murder treble it was unbearable to my ears. The timbre was off for most genres, even classical where pianos and violins sounded unnatural though not too bad.
needhelpI'm gonna have to agree with the other guy; the Z1R is kinda screwed up. I tried one a little while back, and songs I'd known and loved for years just sounded distinctly... wrong. That spike in the treble completely at odds with the rest of the sound, the completely sucked out vocals, and the too-soft bass. At first listen it sounds OK, but get into it a little more and it starts to really fall apart. Switch to another pair of headphones and the flaws immediately become obvious. They're not terrible headphones; at $500-700 I can totally see myself getting a pair, even. But as a top of the line $2k set, they are severely disappointing.