Thanks again for your help and kindness! This forum is really helpful and friendly, a great place to be :)

Sorry, I don't quite understand the DAC part, what's the consequences of having lower than 2V output, or do you imply that whenever I go into DAC mode it will automatically use high gain on the Walkman? And if I'm using it in a DAP mode having gain on low will just affect the volume, which I can...

Great, thanks! And on the player, what gain/volume settings should I use? Asking because I've read some contradictory info, some suggest low gain and low volume, some high gain & max volume, so not sure what's the overall consensus on this...

Found this post regarding this issue: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sony-nw-wm1z-wm1a.815841/page-1903#post-15037145 It seems we should be fine using balanced to balanced. Also, could it be some people recommend against using 4.4 out because of this...

Thanks, you've been really helpful answering all my dumb questions :) Hope one day I will also have something to contribute to this thread!

I've decided to jump to HFM Arya, which needs plenty of amplification and I want to still use wm1z (@DMP-WM1 FE) as a DAC, already ordered a Topping A90 AMP and 4.4mm to 2x XLR adapter, and want to make sure I got everything right. So I just connect wm1z's 4.4mm headphone out to this adapter...

Finally decided to go for Arya, which I have a nice deal for. Also purchased A90 Amp and will be using Sony wm1z DAP (DMP-WM1 FE cfw) as a DAC for now. I have a great hi-end pure silver custom made balanced cable for my MDR-Z1R HP, which I'm planning to use with Arya, so my question is will...

Found a discussion regarding this in the official wm1z/1a thread, double-amping seems to be of a non-concern in any way for this DAP. EDIT: So there's basically zero difference between running it as a DAP or DAC, besides when in dap you control everything from a player itself, and when in DAC...

Awesome, thanks! As for running in DAP, I'm a bit worried about SQ decrease, because outs from the dap will probably get double amped this way... not sure if it's a concern though.

Hey guys, is it possible to use Sony wm1z DAP in a DAC mode as a dac for A90? Do I just need a 4.4 Pentacon (DAP side) to XLR cable (Amp side), assuming I want to use balanced connection?

Thats great, thanks! Is it better to use balanced or doesn't matter?

Hey guys, is it possible to use wm1z as a DAC coupled to a powerful Amp like Topping A90 in order to run power hungry HP, but still have Sony's sound signature?

Thanks a lot, that was really helpful!

Hey guys, is Sony's wm1z enough to drive Ananda? Would really appreciate any help :)

Hey guys! Looking forward to buy Arya, but this HP seems to be really power hungry and I'm a bit worried Sony TA-ZH1ES will not be enough to drive it to the full potential. Would really appreciate if someone can share his opinion on this :)