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Just for the record. The iPod Classic measured by Kraus is the fat 160Gb (As he told me via twitter when i asked).It's not the 7G.
The great thing about Kraus measurements is that he uses a balanced armature iem with wild impedance distribution across the frequency range.So it demands a low output impedance source.Thus you get a great idea of the output impedance of the player measured. An RMAA of a dynamic headphone won't tell much about that critical parameter. That's why he uses the TF10 for RMAA's (It does not have to do with electrical damping since armatures by their nature do not need much damping)
And there are other key areas to sound quality as distortion, noise floor and crosstalk. In these areas synergies are worth nothing. Nor any amount of equalizing.
This is a science. Uneducated approaches work worse (and are more expensive) than educated ones.
Just get the best measured device you can buy and then a headphone whose tonal balance you like. It's not complicated nor esoteric.
Unfortunately Sony caps the volume of European units by raising the output impedance (instead of going the firmware route). That's why Markus Kraus Z measurement looks terrible. And that's why it can not sound any good. And purcharsing an european unit of this thing is an utter waste of money. Plus a disrespect on the Sony end regarding Europen customers. No wonder why they get the financial results they get these days.
Could a car with 3 flat tires beat a working Ferrari? In Europe the Sony Z is the one with flat tires. And i don't need to hear the absence of highs in the signal to attest that this device is not worth it.
Thanks for the correction, I actually knew it was a 6G, just forgot, either way it didn't degrade my points. Dynamics have a more passive change to impedance resistance, some hardly change, the TF10's wild impedance changes (which are for the worse [note there can be good changes but there's few IEMs like this]) portrays the flaws the DAP might bring out. Same point, you can't compare Sonove's measurement's to Kraus'.
That is a very good point to consider and quite a shame, there's some hope.... Now I know why the Nexus One also measured horribly despite being average on another test (though it wasn't as critical [32ohm dynamic driver load]),
Okay, we get it, you take frequency charts much more seriously than real listening experience and hate the Walkman. Now, you can go start up your own hate thread and leave the fans here alone.
I presented an objective measurement that clearly shows a flaw in the sound, is that bashing? It's an observation, something for the readers to consider, why ignore something like this it.
Appreciation threads don't have to be doomed to just hype, it's suppose to be a thread were you get as much as information as you can about a product, that's how I treat them. Threads are suppose to be informative, no separation of each side, it's practical criticism. It seems you take it into personal matters, there' an attachment to the product. I mean no harm and inside, I wish Sony will finally get a DAP right even though I'm not in the market for one and I was hoping it would've been this one. There is still hope for the US/Jap versions, but it remains to be seen.
Subjective listening comparisons are less universal than graphs, think about that.
