NEW Sony Walkman Z Series mini review!!! - Page 23

Quote:

Originally Posted by underhysteria 

 

 

Lineout (walkman via LOD--> FIIO, cowon 3.5mm jack -->FIIO)

- The walkman demonstrates an improvement in SQ when paired with my fiio amp. I do not recall the cowon showing any improvement.

 

Sound Signature

- Both are fairly neutral and flat with no dramatic emphasis on the audio spectrum (unlike the walkman A series which is a little bright on the highs)

 

- The cowon is a tad warmer.  

 

- The walkman gives you a more 'transparent' and 'airy' feel than the j3.  

 

A Cowon player warmer than a Sony? Surely you must be using the various sound enhancements....

Quote:

Originally Posted by underhysteria 

 

Unfortunately I am unable to complete the audio section of the review in time due to my hectic schedule this month. I will still answer your questions if you have any.

 

I can summarize a few points of the SQ between the walkman and cowon. These are my observations so do not heavily base your purchase on this :)

 

Lineout (walkman via LOD--> FIIO, cowon 3.5mm jack -->FIIO)

- The walkman demonstrates an improvement in SQ when paired with my fiio amp. I do not recall the cowon showing any improvement.

 

Sound Signature

- Both are fairly neutral and flat with no dramatic emphasis on the audio spectrum (unlike the walkman A series which is a little bright on the highs)

 

- The cowon is a tad warmer.  

 

- The walkman gives you a more 'transparent' and 'airy' feel than the j3.  

 

- I dont know whether this is a placebo effect of having the cowon for 3 years but i just feel that the walkman Z provides far better imaging and instrument seperation than the cowon. I paired the walkman with high end and inexpensive IEMs and the results were better than the my experience with the J3 and S9. If i were to listen to the cowon again, I would say it is muddy and 'clustered'.

 

- 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 :)

 

- The cowon provides much better sound enhancements than the walkman.  The NW-Z1000 might be on a losing end if paired with a low end IEM as it's 

trademark sound enhancer doesnt seem to have an impact unlike cowon's BBE.

 

If you're going for the walkman, I advise you to pair it with a good IEM to make the most of out its default sound. I recalled my experience with the J3 was more of trying to find the right customization and EQ  but i dont feel the need with the NW-Z1000 as it sounds pretty accurate on its own.

I agree 100% with your comparison , and after converting my collection to Atrac Lossless, paired with my Westone4 , I could make out instruments better, much better than the J3 (flac), which sounds muffed compared the z-1070. The J3 sounds dull, while the Z sounds neautral with excellent separation, I am loving it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 


The positives are mainly the SQ while the negatives are the software stability, battery life and etc.
There're some high quality Sony lod at amazon Japan though so there's hope for those who intend to use it with a portable amp.

can you supply the link, please?

Quote:

Originally Posted by turokrocks 

I agree 100% with your comparison , and after converting my collection to Atrac Lossless, paired with my Westone4 , I could make out instruments better, much better than the J3 (flac), which sounds muffed compared the z-1070. The J3 sounds dull, while the Z sounds neautral with excellent separation, I am loving it.

 

thanks for that Turok... at last some proper reviews from the good folks on head-fi... prefer to read much more about the music quality than those reviews from the gimps that have been released from their boxes slagging off the android os and how much better the apple products are... think the starting point on both devices (itouch) should start with the music quality and not the gimicky add-ons... still apple has the hi-fi manufacturers conned as well with the all singing & dancing connectivity but with de-crapo sound quality as an added bonus

Quote:

Originally Posted by turokrocks 

can you supply the link, please?

It is in the link from Amazon Japan posted by the OK-Guy.

Go if you could understand Japanese =)

http://www.amazon.co.jp/product-reviews/B005MLOWUG/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Quote:

Originally Posted by StargateRecords 

 

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.

The A840s and A850s do not have the newer S-Master MX digital amplifier. They only have the S-Master. So far, the technicalities of A860s are almost equivalent with the Z1000s.

I forgot about that link Lover... I was going to buy from Japan but the USA is much cheaper for the Z-Series.

From the reviews (a lot is lost in translation via google-translate) I see a lot of people are impressed with the sound quality but some then deviate and go on about videos and apps that the ipod-touch has... best review for me was the guy who compared it to his(?) ipod-classic, he was mightily impressed with the sound quality of the Sony... think I'm definately sold on getting one.

Because of my last Sony and the great reviews of the Z-Series I have reavaluated my home system and put it up for sale on ebay (CD, Amps & cables)... I'll probaly go for either the Naim Unity or the Arcam Solo Neo (which I'll bi-amp)... this streaming malarkey is driving me nuts. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by OK-Guy 

I forgot about that link Lover... I was going to buy from Japan but the USA is much cheaper for the Z-Series.

 

From the reviews (a lot is lost in translation via google-translate) I see a lot of people are impressed with the sound quality but some then deviate and go on about videos and apps that the ipod-touch has... best review for me was the guy who compared it to his(?) ipod-classic, he was mightily impressed with the sound quality of the Sony... think I'm definately sold on getting one.

Yup that is basically it.

The 16ohms output impedance is bothering me though. Perhaps using the line out instead may make life much better?

I read somewhere that the X-series line out is not true line out. Not so sure about the Z-series.

My Z1060 arrived today from SONY Canada (though I'm not home till late Thursday evening...)

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

Yup that is basically it.

 

The 16ohms output impedance is bothering me though. Perhaps using the line out instead may make life much better?

 

I read somewhere that the X-series line out is not true line out. Not so sure about the Z-series.

Why bothering you?

I guess the question has already been addressed in one of the 28 pages of this thread but I'm lazy: Is this walkman Z series support the FLAC format or is there any android app that can be downloaded on the walkman to play flac on it (like with iPhone).

Many thanks in advance. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yann56 

I guess the question has already been addressed in one of the 28 pages of this thread but I'm lazy: Is this walkman Z series support the FLAC format or is there any android app that can be downloaded on the walkman to play flac on it (like with iPhone).

Many thanks in advance. 

No, Walkman Z's native player cannot play FLAC files, but PowerAMP Music Player could solve the problem. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

 

The A840s and A850s do not have the newer S-Master MX digital amplifier. They only have the S-Master. So far, the technicalities of A860s are almost equivalent with the Z1000s.

 

Good point, I forgot about that, and also this comparisson between the S Master and the S Master MX is interesting:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/584571/head-to-head-comparison-s-master-nw-x1060-nw-a847-vs-s-master-mx-nw-z1070

So the Sony Canada store has this in stock while the U.S. store doesn't? (In Terrance/Philip's voice) Damn you Canada... :D !

Will have to wait a while to get one, though...although I sold my Hifiman 601 to get the z-1000 instead, I ended up pre-ordering a PS Vita with that money. I loved the android interface for music playback on my phone, except for the **** sound quality. Also, I can use Winamp for the first time in 10 years :D . Personally, I dislike the iPod because of the itunes business. Would much rather drag/drop files into the Music folder on the go and be done with it. Not that the better sound quality on the Sonys hurts either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by turokrocks 

Why bothering you?

Output impedance of >1ohms is a straight no-no for me.