The Sony IER-M7 is that the smallest model within the family of in-ear reference earbuds for skilled use. Their main purpose is to manage the sound throughout the performance on stage, once solid over-ear headphones, acceptable on the sound engineer' head, won't beautify the creative person at all. However, in terms of quality of work, they must be comparable.

image credit: Sony

Sony IER M7 in-ear Review

Pros

strong construction

Balanced, authentic, natural, detailed, clear sound

Clear organization of the acoustic house

Convenience and fatigue for long use

Cons

Nothing

For whom

For artists - initial of all, as we tend toll as those music lovers preferring thoughtful and in-depth taking note of music

For what

to manage the sound, yet on relish the informative and communicatory performance of compositions of assorted genres

what's combined with

With skilled instrumentation and high-end sources / amplifiers. Preference ought to run to those equipped with a balanced output

With the center of the 3 headphones within the lineup, Sony IER-M9 , we already had the pleasure to urge acquainted. The IER-M7s are terribly similar, however price [*fr1] the price. Let' try and work out what constitutes this value difference, and that of those earbuds are additional appropriate for a straightforward music lover.

image credit: Sony

Miniature however not simple

All models within the skilled family are equipped with Sony proprietary coil speakers. this is often a special kind of electrodynamic heads, the invention of which dates back to the 20s of the last century. they're conjointly called emitters with a balanced (balanced) armature - this is however a moving part with a operating winding is named in electrical engineering. The definition of balanced during this case means it is designed thus on rotate around Associate in Nursing axis, thus setting the membrane in motion through a special lever to form sound waves.

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the most blessings of such emitters are the miniature size and accuracy of changing an electrical signal into an acoustic one, however they need a restricted in operation frequency range, so a collection of such components is employed in headphones, usually together with more ancient speakers to create low-frequency sound. In small cases Sony IER-M7 has four coil speakers, the IER-M9 has 5 - an additional supertweeter.

the little radiators are housed in an inside atomic number 12 chassis, and therefore the sound they generate is fed into a brief brass conductor and exited. The music signal, before being fed to them, is split into frequency sub-bands by a crossover, that uses a special audiophile film capacitor.

The shells of the earbuds are made from plastic, they're light-weight and cozy to be placed within the auricle. No decorations are provided - all the weather are in black, solely the letters R and L on the projecting corners that facilitate to properly orient the headphones are applied on red and white backgrounds, respectively, as is usually accepted to denote the correct Associate in Nursingd left channels. an equivalent colours (more precisely, red and gray) mark the connectors on the equipped cables, so you won't be mistaken once connecting them.

image credit: Sony

wealthy instrumentation

The Sony IER-M7 comes with a good quantity of accessories packed during a solid cardboard box. Inside, six pairs of foamed silicone polymer tips and 7 pairs of solid synthetic rubber are organized in their places. There also are 2 1.2m cables for traditional and balanced supply / electronic equipment connections. the primary is supplied with an formed 3.5 mm minijack, the second is supplied with a 4.4 millimeter plug similar in type factor.

The earbuds are firmly however faithfully command within the auricles due to the elastic behind-the-ear attachments that terminate the cables on the opposite side. it's conjointly necessary to use the right size earpieces: they must enter deep enough into the auditory meatus so they are doing not fall out once moving the head, and supply most sound isolation - solely during this case it'll be doable to urge deep and weighty bass.

Credible clear sound

The sound of the Sony IER-M7 monitors are often truly known as correct. it's tonally balanced, terribly detailed, wealthy in timbre, dynamic, however while not affectation; headphones clearly organize the acoustic space, give visual focusing of musical images. long listening with them doesn't cause the slightest fatigue, and with felicitous attachments, they fully don't let external noise through. In addition, they are doing not place plenty of stress on amplifiers, even those found on smartphones. However, these gadgets, even high-ticket ones, mustn't be thought-about as an acceptable supply for the IER-M7 - apart from the few models on the market that support Hi-Res audio.

throughout testing, the Sony earbuds were paired with the beautifully equipped FiiO M11 professional moveable music player . it's important that it's a balanced 4.4mm output. Comparison of sound once connected with complete cables terribly quickly leaning our selection in favor of the balanced version, that provides a far better ratio ratio, and thus finer nuances, better microdynamics Associate in Nursingd texture of bass, yet as more acoustic house overhead. Moreover, when selecting a supply / electronic equipment for these high-ticket headphones, it is price searching for an possibility among the models equipped with such Associate in Nursing output - then each ruble spent on the system are going to be endowed in sound quality.

and therefore the Sony IER-M7 makes it simple to grasp that signals are fed to them: in commonplace (16 bit / 44.1 kHz) or high definition, to not mention MP3. this is often not to say that the previous are vie poorly, however the distinction can be obvious - connoisseurs of sound will get far more pleasure from taking note of Hi-Res audio recordings.

The FiiO M11 professional has an All to DSD function; Turning it on makes PCM files sound electric sander and additional sophisticated, and therefore the headphones show the distinction convincingly by forcing you to decide on this selection despite the redoubled battery drain.

As way as DSD itself is concerned, for example, "the best jazz album of the twentieth century" Jazz at pawnbroker's shop within the DSD128 format is performed simply fine. The atmosphere of the hall full of pleasantly resting folks is dead conveyed, the instruments are perfectly focused, their voices are rich, natural, syncopated patterns delight with clarity, and also the percussive instrument emits gentle, silklike and typically devilish sounds that adorn the complete musical picture. At identical time, the player' screen displays a stream rate up to 11289 kbps - and the headphones clearly love it too.

Mozart' “Requiem” in FLAC (24/48) at or so eight times the bit rate is delivered very faithfully, with correct portrayal of the orchestra, chorus and 4 soloists within the foreground. The natural sounding of their voices is particularly impressive: timbres are strictly individual, comprehensibility is at the very best level, emotions are strictly treated - because it ought to be in an exceedingly piece of this genre.

smart CD-quality recordings from the Sony IER-M7 won't bilk either, on the contrary, you may hear way more detail in them than you may before. All melodic and syncopated structures are simply derived in the composition Rapture of the Deep from the album of identical name by the cluster Deep Purple. The lines with that they're drawn are very distinct, whereas the musical canvas is incredibly colorful, choked with halftones and shades. The dynamics also are in excellent order, the attack is swift, the beats of the drums are weighty, together with because of the deep bass. The vocals are spirited and articulated, the image of the musician is clearly focused.

That being said, it's going to seem to be a bit lack of drive. However, once paying attention to the same song with other quite cool headphones, you start to grasp that there aren't any special complaints about the emotionalism of the IER-M7, simply involuntarily, additionally to their wonderful meticulousness, you expect some special energy, which, however, can hardly facilitate a sober assessment of the sound - let' not ignore the skilled purpose of this model.

Conclusion

If we tend to observe normal music lovers, then the Sony IER-M7 will attractiveness to people who opt to immerse themselves in listening with their heads, savouring all the small print and nuances, who will appreciate the high accuracy and dependableness of copy of records of varied genres, providing natural sound. people who listen on the run or need to recharge their energy from music ought to rummage around for one thing else.

In our opinion, this model contains a higher value / quality quantitative relation than the Sony IER-M9, once more from the purpose of read of a straightforward amateur, not AN creative person functioning on stage.