NEW Sony Walkman Z Series mini review!!! - Page 22

Quote:

Originally Posted by bizkit 

I guess I went a little to far by saying that my 801 is "null & void" because I still use it as my travel DAC. The Z-1070/V2 is infinitely more tolerant of my lower quality mp3/4's, yet still manages to play in the same ball park as the HiFi-man when comes to the 96kHz\24bit files. Now, I'll admit that there are one or two circumstances, such as hi-res classical music, that the 801 will  pummel the 1070/V2 combo. But I rarely do any critical listening while I'm on the go, and instead prefer to just enjoy the music; which is why I rate this combo above the 801.

 

The AKG's...... They where so good with my 801 that I thought they were broken. I was all pissed off and on the verge of going  hulk smash on them after about fifteen on listening to what I can only equate to musical nails on a chalk board. Then it happened, a hi-res version of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" came on. I was so taken aback that I had to restart the track to ensure that I was hearing it correctly, which later lead me to turning off the player's shuffle function and head straight for my FLACs. Curtis Mayfield's "Do Do Wap Is Strong In Here" had me walking around the shopping mall with Shaft like swagger and randomly contemplating slapping a mother****er, which probably would've been hard to explain to the police. I don't think "the music told me to do it" argument or just saying "It's how I feel" would hold much weight in a court of law. So, yeah, I love the 3003's. The only area that they seem to come up short when compared to other top flight dynamics (EX1000s or FX700s) is the sound stage. Other than that, these hybrid IEMs seem to be end game universals that I'd been looking for

Thanks, I also confirm as everyone said that the K3003 requires the best recordings and best source material as it is so revealing......

Those who think that 320kpbs Mp3 is not good enough should take a look at this thread:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/594934/blind-test-lossless-vs-mp3-320

=)

I have no issue with using 320 and 256kpbs files, I've just noticed that some setups gloss over imperfections a little bit better than others. The Hifi-man 801 has a bad habit of picking apart most of the tracks I've purchased from iTunes and the addition of the 3003's into that equation made the music sound laughably bad. That again, is why I'm enjoying the 1070 so much. It's reopened my Lo(ish)Fi library options while still hold its ground when comes to the Hi-res tracks. It my sound crazy, but I think growing up with an audiophile father and 19 years of playing the violin has made me somewhat sensitive to the flaws of some compressed music.   

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnakChan 

 

Was this software instability issue before or after the new Z-series firmware upgrade?

http://www.head-fi.org/t/584479/new-sony-walkman-z-series-mini-review/240#post_8116590

 

It's hard to tell as I cannot read Kanji and Google Translate is not helping me much.

I see your location is Tokyo, here is a link to the reviews in Japanese.

The Sony update does not mention anything about software stability, unless it's #4:

• Reduce skipping when playing music at high load [1]
• When connecting to [2] BD recorder, fix the problem there is that time shifts
• Add Features [3] AVLS
• To fix the problem [4] Other

The reviews are amazon japan are somewhat demoralizing.

how so Lover ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by OK-Guy 

how so Lover ?

Haha I was never planning to buy this in the first place because its form factor is too big for me. It works out well for many other people though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

 

Haha I was never planning to buy this in the first place because its form factor is too big for me. It works out well for many other people though.

what are they saying in Japan?... is it a good audiophile source player?... ie worth the investment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

The reviews are amazon japan are somewhat demoralizing.

The reviews at CNET is pretty negative too. As usual, the reviewer and the mainstream customers out there are looking at the sony walkman as a 'mini tablet form multimedia player' and hence they do expect it to come with a bunch of features such as flash support, camera and an extremely long battery life. Audio quality will be of their least concern here as anything that sound 'decent' enough will be good enough for their earbuds. 

It seems that these are the group of people who will rate the ibasso dx100 a negative score, laugh at anyone who uses the colorfly/hifiman and wont spend more than 100 bucks on an IEM.

I LOL'D at this. The stock earphones are not even good in the first place.. he is probably someone who has been listening with the ipod buds for the past 10 years or so 

I'm only interested in it's music playing capabilities, I aint interested in the rest of it as the apps like video etc will be lost on me... I just want to make sure I'm getting the right product that I can build upon.

I bought an A-Series just before Christms but had to send it back.... firstly, the European volume cap was pitifully low (up full volume you could hear peoples conversations quite clearly)... and lastly, having big fingers the touchscreen was a nightmare for me because it was so small, I was gutted as I sold my NWZ-638 on eBay just before it arrived (that little gem reminded me of my old Walkman cassette player, the good ole days when recording your music was fun)... still I'll have to wait a couple more weeks in pensive anticipation for the arrival of my Z-Series.

I'm surprised, I have stayed away from Cowon for years now as I found their players to be too cold for my ears. I miss the days of the iAudio X5, amazing sound signature !

Quote:

Originally Posted by underhysteria 

 

- I prefer the bass of the walkman to the cowon. Unlike the j3, it doesnt bleed into the mids and it is fairly accurate yet impactful. I was never a fan of the mach3bass :)

Clear Bass is still the best sound processing technology I have ever heard, my favorite DAP is my NWZ-A818. It's so punchy and can drive any of my headphones unamped.

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

The Sony A series walkman target those who don't need all the other functions.

Both use the S-master mx digital amplifier. I am still waiting for a chance to do an AB with the Z series in term of sq alone.

This is what I would like to hear. I liked the footprint of the the A846, it also has a better battery life, so the A857 would be hard to beat if the SQ is the same as Z1070.