Hey everyone! Joseph over here and to be succinct, I've been working with
@thatonenoob to provide tech/audio reviews and updates for the last year and a half. I'm an audio enthusiast myself, and about a month back, I received an invitation by the Sony Singapore Team to join a Sony Experience event alongside the Hong Kong High End Audio Visual Show. I'll be posting more updates on this thread as the event moves along, so feel free to ask me any questions.
Those who would like to know more about Sony's other releases during this event can take a look at the following threads that I have created:
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Sony MDR-Z7M2
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Sony's Three New Earphones
I'm also on the SEAudio discord channel and will regularly be posting updates there as well. If you'd like to hear from me, you can join our server
using this link
We have as well recorded technical interview with the engineers that you guys can watch over here:
Otherwise, lets dive in to what we're able to find out so far
Specifications
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Layout:
1. Design / Philosophy
2. Engineer Technical Video Interview
3. General Impressions
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1. Design / Philosophy
So this digital music player is more transportable than portable, cause its pretty big. Sony's emphasis on the design is for headphone users, since they already have a dac/amp, they did not make this one come with a full range of ports, arguing that if people wanted more port options they would just get Sony's TA-ZH1ES.
Sony's aim to obtain a clean, detailed, and untainted sound is achieved through the use of dual DAC's, battery power supply along with a high end analogue rotary volume controller. As seen in the specification sheets, the use of AK4497EQ DAC along with the TI TPA6120 amp chip; through this they hope to portray accurate detail and source signal received by the headsets. This music player also features a full analog amplifier with a very refined volume control that the engineers claim can maintain audio signal purity even at low volumes. They have also used li-ion batteries for a clean linear power supply, with a separate battery for the built in digital circuit. Using good quality lithium ion batteries, which can be thought of as a decent substitute for a linear power supply, the engineers aim to produce a clean headphone output that is free from distortion, as well as provide powerful amplification capable of driving a wide range of headphones.
Overall, this is a premium product and Sony strives to embody the Japanese spirit where quality materials are found not only on the outside of the product but also on the inside. While getting ready to test this amplifier with the supplied MDR-Z1R, one of the event handlers was very excited to emphasise that the internal wiring is exactly the same as the kimber cables found attached to the Z1R, maintaining the notion that every section of this product is made of the final materials. The outer body is made from aluminium monocoque chassis, which brings out the sleek and smooth finishing seen on this product. Perhaps something I find a little peculiar is that everything the engineers put a lot of effort into making this product sleek, but its overall weight and build size still makes it kind of a clunky product. But for now, stay tuned for more updates on this thread!
Has anyone had the opportunity to "audition" this price and size beast I was going to say "try" but for $8 grand and for the actual first time ever, audition seemed like the right choice of words). Just wondering how great this thing might be but just as (perhaps) most of us do, I can't convince my logical (OK cynical) side to imagine that what we have here is more smoke and mirrors than anything else. I've been around and ya gotta wonder what they can actually do to make this "portable" DAP sound like 8 grand. I sure as hell do but my guess is that it does not sound better than my Astell & Kern Kann coupled with iFi iDSD Micro Black and my HD800(S) cans OR to be more fair (you know, apples to apples), my money is with this Sony "Black Mamba" (my words) perhaps sounding marginally better than just my Kann and my HD800(s)'s in balanced leaving out the additional HP amp. I may never know the actual answers but based on past experience, I bet I'm closer to right than wrong. If I am in fact completely wrong, "cburd" you say, "you're an idiot, you missed it by a mile", you're such a cynical a-hole, this thing is the friggin bees knees!.....then can someone please tell me, who carries it, what's the lead time and current price? I'm in! Anyhow, now to some rather insignificant things you are (were) likely unaware of: Firstly, NOW we all know what LeBron James (now Laker's superstar) is packing when you see him wearing his, (what we all thought were just media avoidance headphones) NOPE, they're customized, staggeringly shiny, one of a kind, gold, supercharged Focal Utopias (NOT plated, yea yea, they're heavy), with rare polished Euro Space Black (just the outer shells, because, as we already covered, most everything else is .99993 gold even though silver would have been better! FTR: Sennheiser refused to customize the Orpheus..... but if you just so happen to come across Lebron, please don't tell him all of this and burst his bubble, it may screw with his head and his shrink is $40,000 an hour. Oh.... BTW, going back a sentence or two, Apple missed the mark. Space is NOT gray, unless you are within 6 billion light years from a star, dammit, it's pitch BLACK.... OK, I digress......where was I?..... Oh yes.....cost for arguably the world's coolest headphones, $159,000 U.S., world class sound for sure but most importantly, to compliment and even boost the shiny $8,000 Sony Black Mamba DAP he's sporting which, by the way, now sounds like is a hell of a deal compared to those sweet sounding, supercharged, custom cans! BUT......We all know that a nice set of cans always cost a little more than the transport source anyhow so Lebron's doing just fine, right there with us, the "status quo", right? To Lebron's credit, he has no idea. His "guy" told him this is the very best audio presentation money can buy and let's face it, he IS coming straight from Cleveland and is "open game".....and also just so you (the reader of this rubbish) can understand this nonsense and..... well..... just for a basic reference point, Lebron thinks we all pay $750 U.S. for a gallon of milk and that gas (91 octane but Lebron thinks its 201RF) is $32 a gallon (based on the current $812 per barrel crude price). His $75 million Ferrari pings on low octane gas and he learned that 201
Rocket
Fuel solves this...not only that, it makes his car, not only go faster (1,200 MPH, Mach 2, tested on Bonneville Salt Flats, UT, USA) but it makes it sound and smell better too!...Lebron must be soooooo grateful to be here in L.A. and have such access to all of this life enhancing expert help and advice because in Cleveland, his "guy" told him........drum roll please....................... "Get some Beats and an iPhone, sound doesn't get better"!..... The end (almost)....... Anyhow, I'm kind of a neophyte at these "message board sites". Been around for a long while but never really knew (or know) what to say.... Hmm.....While pondering my closing sentence......It occurred to me, how abundantly clear it must be that I still don't.....Anyhow folks, in closing..... I hope this gets a laugh and that I don't get too flamed and kicked off this thread. Oh, and I actually am legitimately curious about the Black Mamba's performance (now I can't even remember the actual name of the device) if anyone knows (not the name, its performance) and is so inclined to share (with me). I think that's why I stopped by in the first place.....Thanks and Cheers!
