Why can't you have full mids with an airy sound? Airy doesn't have to mean a thinner sound. I would prefer to have both a complete mid frequency that gets the voice right and an airiness that is natural and adds to the transparency of the sound. If you want a thick warm sound like a small nightclub, I don't think this is for you. The WM1A is more digital, to my ears. That doesn't mean it is a digital sounding player but in comparison, to me, it is not as quite as full sounding but at the same time, as mentioned, the DX200 doesn't loose the quality of separation and air around instruments and voice and sounds in general. I think the 1A is better sounding than most daps out there, at least in my experience of what I have and have heard. It steps up from the ZX2 with better power and the ability to carry the music without compressing.
As far as standards, how do you standardize what different people hear and have them interpret that to what other people will possibly like? I have cited this example in the past but I had a friend with an LP system, all tubes and speakers. He loved it. He didn't like my system that was all tube, different speakers, and a very expensive exotic digital front end. Mine has lots of layering, depth and width and to me, is life-like. His is thick like a smoky room, you can't tell where anything is (no imaging) and I couldn't get a sense of depth but for him, it was perfect.
