[Rockwell75]

Alright, let's see if koven, who has listened to both, is wrong about them sounding more or less the same through the balanced output.

I've heard that from a few people...but only with the latest firmware.

 

[rutter]

You know, surprisingly, a Magni 3 and a Fiio A5 do a pretty decent job with these, $100 each without a DAC. Are the Sony players starved for power or something?

I have the A5 hanging off my computer and it seems to be driving the z1r just as well as the now packed zx300, if not better, with better vocals.

https://www.fiio.com/a5

Am using high gain, and at 800mw into 32 ohm that's much more power. The thing is Rockwell pointed out the wm1a and wm1z aren't much more powerful than the zx300, lol. And this is single-ended vs balanced too.

 

[TSAVAlan]

You know, surprisingly, a Magni 3 and a Fiio A5 do a pretty decent job with these, $100 each without a DAC. Are the Sony players starved for power or something?

I have the A5 hanging off my computer and it seems to be driving the z1r just as well as the now packed zx300, if not better, with better vocals.

https://www.fiio.com/a5

Am using high gain, and at 800mw into 32 ohm that's much more power. The thing is Rockwell pointed out the wm1a and wm1z aren't much more powerful than the zx300, lol. And this is single-ended vs balanced too.

More power generally helps out the hybrid IEMs with dynamic drivers. Buddies over at Empire Ears really like using the Mojo to give their hybrid IEMs more juice for a much more rocking low end. The IER-Z1R was super nice on the DMP-Z1 in balanced on 1500 mW.

 

[rutter]

So are these a no-go with their daps then? I thought the claim that the wm1z isn't enough for these was insane, but now I wonder.

 

[TSAVAlan]

The DMP-Z1 Sony is classified as a dap so I wouldn't say that there daps are a no-go .

It all depends what you are looking for. If you are liking more power that the Fiio or Schiit offers you, then cool that is what you like. If are wanting to deal with less power but having that portability with the walkman then that can work for you. Maybe the next suggestion is to just look at a desktop amp to go with the iems, something like the TA-ZH1ES to stay within the Sony family and will play well with IEMs.

 

[Rockwell75]

The thing is Rockwell pointed out the wm1a and wm1z aren't much more powerful than the zx300, lol. And this is single-ended vs balanced too.

I can only speak for the WM1A...which puts out 250mw compared to the 200mw of the ZX300 (through balanced in both cases). I have no idea about the WM1Z. If the Z1R is that hard to drive it would be deal breaker for me personally...I need my IEMs to be portable above all and if I can't drive them adequately out of a single device it won't work for me.

 

[rutter]

The next suggestion is to look at daps with power. The DMP-Z1 is an $8000 not something you carry in your hand or pocket if I'm not mistaken. I'm thinking the iBasso DX220 with amp8 now, but it continues to amaze and scandalize me how people can waste their money in this whatever it is. Remarkably this ain't no choir to preach to.

 

[TSAVAlan]

Could keep the dap you have currently and run that into a dac/amp like the Woo WA11 if you are looking for more juice.

The wait on the DMP-Z1 is like the IER-Z1R in USA, slow and little updates. Some more does seem like they are touching down in USA possibly by the end of this week. Early-Mid May for some IER-Z1Rs to come to USA.

 

[franz12]

You know what, I have the perfect comparison for this though few if anyone might have the experience to appreciate it. Pick up an Audeze LCD-X. Will set you back at least $1000 new. Hook it up to whatever the hell you want under $3000 combined between DAC and amp. Spend $50 on an application called Sonarworks. All it does is EQ a headphone according to the Harmann curve or whatever it is I believe. All you do is select the headphone and click a button, then tick off lower volume to avoid clipping. It's literally the difference between whatever degree of garbage you'd find accurate and good sound. You can't make this stuff up without people not believing you. With all the money involved. What I'm experiencing is the same ****show. It boggles my freaking mind that these people can create super expensive headphones but demonstrably can't tune them right to make money. It literally short-circuits my brain.

By the way, the HD650 gets worse if you Sonarworks EQ it. That's how you know you're not an imbecile. O, and the best detail, the LCD-X is supposed to be neutral.

rutter, did you honestly expect that this 2k iem would be better than the lcd-x with the sonarworks?
I am just curious about your thinking if you thought in that way.

 

[rutter]

One, that was a comparison to illustrate a point. It was about what Sonarworks did for the LCD-X and consequently how badly tuned the LCD-X was by default. Two, I wouldn't at all be surprised if a significantly more expensive iem was for instance clearer. I might end up liking the bass of this iem more than that of the LCD-X. Now that I know power is apparently very important for these I can avoid being dismayed by a Sony dap pairing and there's a potential avenue to getting notably good sound out of them. The LCD-X lacked detail and resolution and three dimensionally its soundstage wasn't much to speak of.

Despite what some people claim I want to find out for myself if iems are as poor value as full-size headphones that can't put it together. There is some promise here, I intend to get one of these iBasso DX2xx amp8 daps to test it properly (unless someone has another idea for a reputable dap with power at ~$1000). Unlike open headphones I can also use iems when I'd really need music.

 

[Jalo]

@rutter, at ~$1000, you can look into the new Woo Audio WA11 Dac/Amp that will give you 1.2 Watt with 4.4 out. I personally think the 1A/1Z with balance out and high gain is sufficient to drive the Z1r

 

[jmills8]

@rutter, at ~$1000, you can look into the new Woo Audio WA11 Dac/Amp that will give you 1.2 Watt with 4.4 out. I personally think the 1A/1Z with balance out and high gain is sufficient to drive the Z1r

High gain ?

 

[Jalo]

Yes, high gain and 4.4 out on my 1Z sounds pretty good with good texture.

 

[nanaholic]

The DMP-Z1 Sony is classified as a dap so I wouldn't say that there daps are a no-go .

DAP just stands for Digital Audio Player, there's no requirement that it has to be pocket-able. So of course the DMP-Z1 is a DAP.

 

[Sp12er3]

One, that was a comparison to illustrate a point. It was about what Sonarworks did for the LCD-X and consequently how badly tuned the LCD-X was by default. Two, I wouldn't at all be surprised if a significantly more expensive iem was for instance clearer. I might end up liking the bass of this iem more than that of the LCD-X. Now that I know power is apparently very important for these I can avoid being dismayed by a Sony dap pairing and there's a potential avenue to getting notably good sound out of them. The LCD-X lacked detail and resolution and three dimensionally its soundstage wasn't much to speak of.

Despite what some people claim I want to find out for myself if iems are as poor value as full-size headphones that can't put it together. There is some promise here, I intend to get one of these iBasso DX2xx amp8 daps to test it properly (unless someone has another idea for a reputable dap with power at ~$1000). Unlike open headphones I can also use iems when I'd really need music.

Astell & Kern KANN is right on $1K these days.