[dleblanc343]

Got to meet @aminus this CanJam and he's a cool dude

 

[aminus]

Question, have you used local music or rather streamed when trying the 1am2 and 1zm2?

I am extremely insistent on auditioning every piece of gear I get my hands on with local music, not least because my portable library is made up of a lot of very specifically chosen masterings of some of my favorite recordings, many of which cannot be found on streaming services. When it comes to auditioning DAPs, I have a spare microSD card that I always keep with me for audio related outings that allows me to directly and quickly compare any given source to my reference using the exact same music.

Regarding Canjam NY, I did indeed attend and had quite an enjoyable time, though auditioning and reviewing gear was far from my main focus. I have not decided yet if I will compile a brief show report, though if I do it will probably not be posted in this thread due to a large portion of it being headphone related. I will definitely link it here and in the OP though, for posterity’s sake. I will almost certainly be at Canjam SG as well and I may try to find things to cover in between now and then. More on that soon.

 

[justsomesonyfan]

I am extremely insistent on auditioning every piece of gear I get my hands on with local music, not least because my portable library is made up of a lot of very specifically chosen masterings of some of my favorite recordings, many of which cannot be found on streaming services. When it comes to auditioning DAPs, I have a spare microSD card that I always keep with me for audio related outings that allows me to directly and quickly compare any given source to my reference using the exact same music.

Regarding Canjam NY, I did indeed attend and had quite an enjoyable time, though auditioning and reviewing gear was far from my main focus. I have not decided yet if I will compile a brief show report, though if I do it will probably not be posted in this thread due to a large portion of it being headphone related. I will definitely link it here and in the OP though, for posterity’s sake. I will almost certainly be at Canjam SG as well and I may try to find things to cover in between now and then. More on that soon.

awesome, thanks, yeah local music is the way to go, got the wm1a recently and it basically trumps every other dap I've tried so far, including dx320, a huge modern dap with dual rohm dacs and class A amplification that was overhyped, in my perspective.

While I was interested in M2, your impressions of the softer transients and darker sound signature remind me a lot of most modern daps (dx320 is a big offender), and the lack of engagement follows.

Wm1a is everything I was looking for and more, it is a shame M2 took the android route, if it had sony OS maybe it could be retuned with mrwalkman firmware.

 

[aminus]

awesome, thanks, yeah local music is the way to go, got the wm1a recently and it basically trumps every other dap I've tried so far, including dx320, a huge modern dap with dual rohm dacs and class A amplification that was overhyped, in my perspective.

While I was interested in M2, your impressions of the softer transients and darker sound signature remind me a lot of most modern daps (dx320 is a big offender), and the lack of engagement follows.

Wm1a is everything I was looking for and more, it is a shame M2 took the android route, if it had sony OS maybe it could be retuned with mrwalkman firmware.

I was actually planning on listening to some of the Chinese R2R DAPs from L&P and whatnot at Canjam NYC, but quite frankly I had better things to do than sit down and compare sources in far from ideal circumstances for an hour or so, especially when it's something as inconsequential as portable sources.

As for the iBasso stuff, I'm fairly certain I have a somewhat old article on the topic, but my opinions on them are still the same, if not greater developed – heinously overpriced and overengineered in a fundamentally flawed manner that diminishes quickly in returns past the bare minimum. The performance delta between any given iBasso (or not to single them out, but any given opamp stacking ESS/AKM/Cirrus based Android DAP) and a $99 Schiit Fulla E is probably orders of magnitude smaller than the performance delta between them and a WM1A/Z. That's not a statement on how good the older generation Sony DAPs are (really, they're just okay), it's an indictment on how bad the latter is at higher end performance.

I'm also not really fond of the mrwalkman stuff. Tried it pretty extensively and pretty much every iteration of it sounds worse than stock for one reason or another. Tweaker tuning is hard enough with physical hardware, I can't imagine the amount of nonsense and voodoo required to get it right with firmware. I personally stick to the QOL software he provides (which is actually very good) and ignore any unnecessary sonic "upgrades".

 

[justsomesonyfan]

I was actually planning on listening to some of the Chinese R2R DAPs from L&P and whatnot at Canjam NYC, but quite frankly I had better things to do than sit down and compare sources in far from ideal circumstances for an hour or so, especially when it's something as inconsequential as portable sources.

As for the iBasso stuff, I'm fairly certain I have a somewhat old article on the topic, but my opinions on them are still the same, if not greater developed – heinously overpriced and overengineered in a fundamentally flawed manner that diminishes quickly in returns past the bare minimum. The performance delta between any given iBasso (or not to single them out, but any given opamp stacking ESS/AKM/Cirrus based Android DAP) and a $99 Schiit Fulla E is probably orders of magnitude smaller than the performance delta between them and a WM1A/Z. That's not a statement on how good the older generation Sony DAPs are (really, they're just okay), it's an indictment on how bad the latter is at higher end performance.

I'm also not really fond of the mrwalkman stuff. Tried it pretty extensively and pretty much every iteration of it sounds worse than stock for one reason or another. Tweaker tuning is hard enough with physical hardware, I can't imagine the amount of nonsense and voodoo required to get it right with firmware. I personally stick to the QOL software he provides (which is actually very good) and ignore any unnecessary sonic "upgrades".

that is understandable.

I do agree with what you mentioned here on most things, I do find that sony daps are great in SQ though, have tried a bit of desktop gear here and there.
That being said I only use iems and mdr 1am2 which is very easy to drive.

as for the mrwalkman, I just stick to his recommendations, using wm1z tuning (couldn't bother trying the other ones) I tried toying with it a bit, narrowed down to 3 regions, and picked a favorite.

Could not imagine myself trying every region out there, my OCD and ADHD would not handle it.

 

[aminus]

that is understandable.

I do agree with what you mentioned here on most things, I do find that sony daps are great in SQ though, have tried a bit of desktop gear here and there.
That being said I only use iems and mdr 1am2 which is very easy to drive.

as for the mrwalkman, I just stick to his recommendations, using wm1z tuning (couldn't bother trying the other ones) I tried toying with it a bit, narrowed down to 3 regions, and picked a favorite.

Could not imagine myself trying every region out there, my OCD and ADHD would not handle it.

In the grand scheme of things, the Sony DAPs are just okay. I think the main thing I would have liked to see from them would be more tone density and muscularity, but it's hard to demand that from a portable source. I have little faith in Sony to successfully follow up on the first generation 1A and 1Z DAPs, so I've basically resigned to sticking to what I have and seeing if anything eventually comes my way that's better. Which works for me since I don't really feel compelled to spend money on portable audio anymore.

I believe I may have tried the WM1Z tuning, whatever the midnight or daylight tunings were called, etc. etc. and I found all of them to be a step down. As for region, I just left it on JP out of convenience.

 

[justsomesonyfan]

In the grand scheme of things, the Sony DAPs are just okay. I think the main thing I would have liked to see from them would be more tone density and muscularity, but it's hard to demand that from a portable source. I have little faith in Sony to successfully follow up on the first generation 1A and 1Z DAPs, so I've basically resigned to sticking to what I have and seeing if anything eventually comes my way that's better. Which works for me since I don't really feel compelled to spend money on portable audio anymore.

I believe I may have tried the WM1Z tuning, whatever the midnight or daylight tunings were called, etc. etc. and I found all of them to be a step down. As for region, I just left it on JP out of convenience.

JP is super close to mx3 anyways, with more of a bass boost.

I'll try the stock tuning, I settled on wm1z due to convenience too.

If you want muscularity in a dap your best dap is r2r but I still haven't found a better dap than wm1a for overall sound, clarity is a good bit ahead than the closest r2r dap I tried (n6ii r01, boosted midbass and bright tonality)

maybe a npaudio modded wm1a? don't know. Anyways, it's definitely not worth trying other daps at this point, if you do get muscularity you'll lose a good bunch in the process, plus upgraditis is an issue, there's a new dap every 2 seconds.

Tl;dr if you still have wm1a m1 stick to it, it doesn't get better than this for portability

 

[aminus]

JP is super close to mx3 anyways, with more of a bass boost.

I'll try the stock tuning, I settled on wm1z due to convenience too.

If you want muscularity in a dap your best dap is r2r but I still haven't found a better dap than wm1a for overall sound, clarity is a good bit ahead than the closest r2r dap I tried (n6ii r01, boosted midbass and bright tonality)

maybe a npaudio modded wm1a? don't know. Anyways, it's definitely not worth trying other daps at this point, if you do get muscularity you'll lose a good bunch in the process, plus upgraditis is an issue, there's a new dap every 2 seconds.

Tl;dr if you still have wm1a m1 stick to it, it doesn't get better than this for portability

All my desktop sources are R2R based in one form or another, though obviously there are a billion different versions and iterations of the concept. R2R is not a quick and easy buzzword for instant audio nirvana, but apparently a lot of portable audio companies seem to think that it is, leading to stuff like the Cayin RU6 (which was, by all accounts, a massive turd). I would argue, even, that R2R is extremely difficult to get right, not unlike building a proper tube amp, and the constraints of portable audio likely make it extremely impractical to implement. I have no faith whatsoever that any of the companies currently making R2R DAPs know how to actually make the chips they're using sound good.

I've heard a bunch of modded Sony players in my time and they all sound worse than stock. Screwing with the grounding or trying to change the wiring to some thousand dollar/meter braided cable has no real thought behind it, it's just throwing money at the wall and hoping that it sticks. As for the NPAudio mods specifically, they're clearly not done in good taste either.

Audio Note Kaisei caps might be great, but not in excess. In fact, I wouldn't put more than a pair or two at most in any given component. My current DAC has exactly 1 (one) in the digital stage, surrounded by a bunch of black gates and Muse UES caps. Simply throwing money at the most expensive and rarest capacitors you can find is not going to be a recipe for a balanced, well-tempered sound, there has to be mixing and matching of parts to taste, not unlike cooking. You don't just dump a bowl full of truffles into a dish and call it a day. Covering yourself entirely in vicuña and alligator leather is not an instant solution to looking well-dressed. So on and so forth.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

I am extremely insistent on auditioning every piece of gear I get my hands on with local music, not least because my portable library is made up of a lot of very specifically chosen masterings of some of my favorite recordings, many of which cannot be found on streaming services. When it comes to auditioning DAPs, I have a spare microSD card that I always keep with me for audio related outings that allows me to directly and quickly compare any given source to my reference using the exact same music.

Regarding Canjam NY, I did indeed attend and had quite an enjoyable time, though auditioning and reviewing gear was far from my main focus. I have not decided yet if I will compile a brief show report, though if I do it will probably not be posted in this thread due to a large portion of it being headphone related. I will definitely link it here and in the OP though, for posterity’s sake. I will almost certainly be at Canjam SG as well and I may try to find things to cover in between now and then. More on that soon.

Catch you in SG!

 

[justsomesonyfan]

All my desktop sources are R2R based in one form or another, though obviously there are a billion different versions and iterations of the concept. R2R is not a quick and easy buzzword for instant audio nirvana, but apparently a lot of portable audio companies seem to think that it is, leading to stuff like the Cayin RU6 (which was, by all accounts, a massive turd). I would argue, even, that R2R is extremely difficult to get right, not unlike building a proper tube amp, and the constraints of portable audio likely make it extremely impractical to implement. I have no faith whatsoever that any of the companies currently making R2R DAPs know how to actually make the chips they're using sound good.

I've heard a bunch of modded Sony players in my time and they all sound worse than stock. Screwing with the grounding or trying to change the wiring to some thousand dollar/meter braided cable has no real thought behind it, it's just throwing money at the wall and hoping that it sticks. As for the NPAudio mods specifically, they're clearly not done in good taste either.

Audio Note Kaisei caps might be great, but not in excess. In fact, I wouldn't put more than a pair or two at most in any given component. My current DAC has exactly 1 (one) in the digital stage, surrounded by a bunch of black gates and Muse UES caps. Simply throwing money at the most expensive and rarest capacitors you can find is not going to be a recipe for a balanced, well-tempered sound, there has to be mixing and matching of parts to taste, not unlike cooking. You don't just dump a bowl full of truffles into a dish and call it a day. Covering yourself entirely in vicuña and alligator leather is not an instant solution to looking well-dressed. So on and so forth.

very solid points all around. yeah, RU6 wasn't very good.

thanks for the thoughts on mods needed to hear that, coincidentally I told myself I'm enjoying the wm1a so much there's no reason to mod it.

 

[aminus]

Catch you in SG!

Looking forward to seeing you there too!

very solid points all around. yeah, RU6 wasn't very good.

thanks for the thoughts on mods needed to hear that, coincidentally I told myself I'm enjoying the wm1a so much there's no reason to mod it.

For what it's worth. I do think that it wouldn't be too hard to improve on the caps and wiring in the WM1A. I just don't think any of the modders who currently offer these services know what they're doing when it comes to selecting the right parts. If you want to try something that's actually very cheap and quite inoffensive, look into Muse UES caps. Too many of them will make things sound excessively warm, liquefied and relaxed, but in moderation they add a healthy dose of musicality and smoothness.

 

[aminus]

My Canjam NYC 2023 impressions are live in their respective thread. Though most of it is headphone related, I do think the most interesting segments pertain specifically to portable audio. Click here if you're interested in checking them out.

 

[Zerousen]

shoutout to my slimes

 

[justsomesonyfan]

My Canjam NYC 2023 impressions are live in their respective thread. Though most of it is headphone related, I do think the most interesting segments pertain specifically to portable audio. Click here if you're interested in checking them out.

I live for these, thanks

 

[syazwaned]

hey @aminus, you not into flathead earbuds? I saw these tgxear Totem and everyone seems to like it.