So obviously at a show I can’t pad swap. In terms of female vocals the TH900 has always been the best that I’ve owned. Note that stock they’re lousy. Either drop in an EQ or pad swap + dampening ring. That being said you won’t get the airiness out of the th900 that you would out of anything open back.

The Z1R was an instant resell for me. Mid bass was extremely bloated no matter what I paired it with. I don’t know if I ended up with a defective pair but it was bleeding… which is unacceptable in a $2k pair of headphones. No amount of EQ was fixing it. Note that it was happening on both channels which led me to believe it wasn’t a defect, but just how it was designed. The awas being a bit rolled off will lack that air. The Sony Z7 headphones (I only tried the mk1) was a lousy set as well. So I’m with you on that.

I imagine if thé Z1R mid bass was solved it would be significantly better but I can’t give any other comments based on the unit I owned.