[pdL389]

WM1ZM2 v WM1ZM1 (Mr. Walkman) Impressions at 40 hours

Disclaimer: I try to be as rational as possible, and these are my subjective impressions. Note that 'new toy' lens is in effect, blah, blah, etc.

IEM used: IER-Z1R

Have been switching between the 1ZM1 and the 1ZM2 all week and I'll start with the short and sweet.

The 1ZM2 is a clear upgrade over the 1ZM1 in terms of technical performance. Contrary to spec-sheet, the 1ZM2 is not a side-grade. Rendering of details (superb non-fatiguing treble), imaging (spacial cues, 3 dimensionality, depth, height, layering) is on another level.

Bass hits deeper and is voluminous in quantity.

Treble is interesting, on first impressions is deceptively laid back, however as you get familiar with the 1ZM2's presentation it becomes clear it is rendering more details than the 1ZM1 and is effortless in it's presentation. I was casually picking new minor backing sounds without concentrating or in a critical listening mindset.

The most exciting aspect of the 1ZM2 sound is how cohesive the sound field is, both L&R channels play 'deeper' into my head, and gives the impression/ illusion of listening to loudspeakers. Although it's not chest thumping, clean bass from a DAP/ IEM going deep into my head is a new experience to me.

The one technical aspect that the M1 has over the stock M2 is using Mr Walkman's CFW is with the extra high gain modes active, the M1 can get 10-15 points louder. Useful for harder to drive IEMs/ headphones.

Where things get subjective (as usual with comparisions between WM1 series devices) is the tonality.

The 1ZM2 is darker than the 1ZM1 and you end up losing forwardness in vocal presentation. On brighter Mr Walkman CFW settings the 1ZM1 produces a crisper sound. For example guitars have more of a bite on the M1.

Although the 1ZM2 is sounding less congested after additional listening/ burn-in. There is still a slight nasally quality that it adds to vocals.

In a word:

1ZM1 = engaging
1ZM2 = immersive




*Sorry for the potato-quality pic

That nasal quality you mentioned will disappear at around 450 hrs At least that was my experience.

 

[Vamp898]

Their website says preorder with stock in July or after.

There are some open box deals your can get right now with ~500$ discount

 

[Vamp898]

or maybe you inserted your M9s 2 microns less

I swear all my In-Ear sound slightly different from day to day and during the day too.

Depending on weather, how many I drink, my mood and so on.

I am very sensitive to even the slightest changes in sound and due to that, it's always slightly different to me.

This happens significantly less with the MDR-Z1R, but it happens with it too.

 

[Vamp898]

WM1ZM2 v WM1ZM1 (Mr. Walkman) Impressions at 40 hours

Disclaimer: I try to be as rational as possible, and these are my subjective impressions. Note that 'new toy' lens is in effect, blah, blah, etc.

IEM used: IER-Z1R

Have been switching between the 1ZM1 and the 1ZM2 all week and I'll start with the short and sweet.

The 1ZM2 is a clear upgrade over the 1ZM1 in terms of technical performance. Contrary to spec-sheet, the 1ZM2 is not a side-grade. Rendering of details (superb non-fatiguing treble), imaging (spacial cues, 3 dimensionality, depth, height, layering) is on another level.

Bass hits deeper and is voluminous in quantity.

Treble is interesting, on first impressions is deceptively laid back, however as you get familiar with the 1ZM2's presentation it becomes clear it is rendering more details than the 1ZM1 and is effortless in it's presentation. I was casually picking new minor backing sounds without concentrating or in a critical listening mindset.

The most exciting aspect of the 1ZM2 sound is how cohesive the sound field is, both L&R channels play 'deeper' into my head, and gives the impression/ illusion of listening to loudspeakers. Although it's not chest thumping, clean bass from a DAP/ IEM going deep into my head is a new experience to me.

The one technical aspect that the M1 has over the stock M2 is using Mr Walkman's CFW is with the extra high gain modes active, the M1 can get 10-15 points louder. Useful for harder to drive IEMs/ headphones.

Where things get subjective (as usual with comparisions between WM1 series devices) is the tonality.

The 1ZM2 is darker than the 1ZM1 and you end up losing forwardness in vocal presentation. On brighter Mr Walkman CFW settings the 1ZM1 produces a crisper sound. For example guitars have more of a bite on the M1.

Although the 1ZM2 is sounding less congested after additional listening/ burn-in. There is still a slight nasally quality that it adds to vocals.

In a word:

1ZM1 = engaging
1ZM2 = immersive




*Sorry for the potato-quality pic

Harder to drive IEMs? I don't know any IEM that takes more than 100mW before it blows (and is blasting >=140db while it does which is enough to kill people)

But won't the sound degrade if you further boost it?

There is already some noise and distortion with the normal high gain which is the reason why I try to not use it whenever possible.

But the Low-Gain on the WM1Z is significantly louder than on a lot of other DAPs.

The M11 Plus does have more then 5-times the Power of the WM1Z, but is not as loud in Low Gain. It's easily 20 steps lower in volume.

So I think, especially for IEM, the WM1 Series is a better choice than most DAPs out there giving your way more volume on low gain

 

[Vamp898]

Did anyone had the chance yet to compare the noise floor of the M1 and M2 with an sensitive IEM?

I got an low but clearly audible amount of noise with the Acoustune HS1300SS

It was that strong that I haven't been sure if there is an defect to the IEM because the WM1Z was dead silent with every other IEM.

But with the M11 Plus, there is no noise at all and the TA-ZH1ES is also noise free.

Sadly I was only able to test it with the 3.5mm output as these Acoustune have an proprietary cable, so I don't know if 4.4mm would have helped.

 

[mungster]

Did anyone had the chance yet to compare the noise floor of the M1 and M2 with an sensitive IEM?

I got an low but clearly audible amount of noise with the Acoustune HS1300SS

It was that strong that I haven't been sure if there is an defect to the IEM because the WM1Z was dead silent with every other IEM.

But with the M11 Plus, there is no noise at all and the TA-ZH1ES is also noise free.

Sadly I was only able to test it with the 3.5mm output as these Acoustune have an proprietary cable, so I don't know if 4.4mm would have helpe maybe

yeah maybe you got a defective iem. It's pretty low noise with my sensitive infinity mk2 and 1z.

 

[Vamp898]

yeah maybe you got a defective iem. It's pretty low noise with my sensitive infinity mk2 and 1z.

I thought that too, but again, there is absolutely no noise with the TA-ZH1ES or the M11 Plus (even on high gain)

 

[osiris1]

I swear all my In-Ear sound slightly different from day to day and during the day too.

Depending on weather, how many I drink, my mood and so on.

I am very sensitive to even the slightest changes in sound and due to that, it's always slightly different to me.

This happens significantly less with the MDR-Z1R, but it happens with it too.

yes, there are many variables and sometimes it's like that for me as well.
and so i think a software update will less likely change sound unless a company is trying to piss off half their customers with every update.

 

[Queen6]

WM1ZM2 v WM1ZM1 (Mr. Walkman) Impressions at 40 hours

Disclaimer: I try to be as rational as possible, and these are my subjective impressions. Note that 'new toy' lens is in effect, blah, blah, etc.

IEM used: IER-Z1R

Have been switching between the 1ZM1 and the 1ZM2 all week and I'll start with the short and sweet.

The 1ZM2 is a clear upgrade over the 1ZM1 in terms of technical performance. Contrary to spec-sheet, the 1ZM2 is not a side-grade. Rendering of details (superb non-fatiguing treble), imaging (spacial cues, 3 dimensionality, depth, height, layering) is on another level.

Bass hits deeper and is voluminous in quantity.

Treble is interesting, on first impressions is deceptively laid back, however as you get familiar with the 1ZM2's presentation it becomes clear it is rendering more details than the 1ZM1 and is effortless in it's presentation. I was casually picking new minor backing sounds without concentrating or in a critical listening mindset.

The most exciting aspect of the 1ZM2 sound is how cohesive the sound field is, both L&R channels play 'deeper' into my head, and gives the impression/ illusion of listening to loudspeakers. Although it's not chest thumping, clean bass from a DAP/ IEM going deep into my head is a new experience to me.

The one technical aspect that the M1 has over the stock M2 is using Mr Walkman's CFW is with the extra high gain modes active, the M1 can get 10-15 points louder. Useful for harder to drive IEMs/ headphones.

Where things get subjective (as usual with comparisions between WM1 series devices) is the tonality.

The 1ZM2 is darker than the 1ZM1 and you end up losing forwardness in vocal presentation. On brighter Mr Walkman CFW settings the 1ZM1 produces a crisper sound. For example guitars have more of a bite on the M1.

Although the 1ZM2 is sounding less congested after additional listening/ burn-in. There is still a slight nasally quality that it adds to vocals.

In a word:

1ZM1 = engaging
1ZM2 = immersive




*Sorry for the potato-quality pic

Top review

Q-6

 

[Queen6]

Harder to drive IEMs? I don't know any IEM that takes more than 100mW before it blows (and is blasting >=140db while it does which is enough to kill people)

But won't the sound degrade if you further boost it?

There is already some noise and distortion with the normal high gain which is the reason why I try to not use it whenever possible.

But the Low-Gain on the WM1Z is significantly louder than on a lot of other DAPs.

The M11 Plus does have more then 5-times the Power of the WM1Z, but is not as loud in Low Gain. It's easily 20 steps lower in volume.

So I think, especially for IEM, the WM1 Series is a better choice than most DAPs out there giving your way more volume on low gain

Too big, too heavy and Google's intrusion rules out the DAP. When the time comes I'll send my WM1A to NP Audio for a battery refresh and mod the caps to the best on the market. That said top review

Q-6

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Sony has quite a lot of patents for signal processing which includes this upmixing related patent:
https://patents.justia.com/patent/11323812

As described in the above-described embodiment, since the natural environmental sound, the spatial environmental sound, and the like are treated as the non-target sound source data for the wavefront synthesis processing, a more natural sound field can be realized. Note that the classification of the target and non-target sound source data for the wavefront synthesis processing is determined by adding attributes of the target and non-target sound source data to the program on the basis of the content creator's intention or can be automatically performed by the program analyzing the sound data. As a result of the analysis, classification to the non-target sound data for the wavefront synthesis processing being appropriate for sound data having a simple frequency configuration, sound data of repeated sound in which a similar waveform appears a plurality of times at fixed time intervals, and the like may be recommended to the user, for example.

all these DSP are algorithm driven or even AI machine learning driven. All these sound field improvements is not going to be something that can described in simple words to regular consumer in a changelog.

Listen for yourself and make your own conclusions.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

There’s a difference in sound field with

1. Headphones App Disabled
2. Headphones App Enabled

With headphones app disabled, the vocals and instruments are much more forward and louder sounding with less spatial sound

With headphone apps enabled, vocals and instruments sounds further away with more echo decays in the sound.

This change is very noticeable and not subtle at all.

Do note you have to pause and unpause your music for the sound changes of disable/enable to take effect.

 

[twister6]

@Sonywalkmanuser just a thought, but have you ever considered contacting Sony to ask if they need a rep on Head-fi? You already doing a fine promotional and support job for them, so might as well get paid for it

Btw, I'm being totally serious, man. I know a dozen of people on head-fi who started as fans on the forum, connected with manufacturers at CanJam shows, and now have "sponsor" badge under their avatar.

 

[Kiats]

The 1AM2 is such a great companion on the road. Using here with the Softears Turii Ti.

 

[twister6]

Holy battery... After completing burn in, I decided to do a basic battery test. For consistency, I usually charge the dap up to 100% (all the battery saver stuff disabled in this case), play hi-res flac in a loop, wifi off, display off, just periodically checking the battery status. Here, I'm using Aroma Jewel IEM, 4.4mm balanced, high gain, volume set to 43 (normal listening level), wifi/BT off, display off, and playing 24bit FLAC in a loop using native Walkman app. The effects are ON, with DSEE Ultimate enabled, DC Phase Linerarizer set, and Vinyl effect enabled as well. As you can see, this is not exactly bare minimum, but rather a fully loaded local playback setup. Of course, display is mostly off, but that's how I do it in all of my DAP testing for consistency.

Well, so far been playing for 20.5 hrs and the battery is still at 32%. At this rate, I'm sure it will make it to 30hrs without a problem. Will also do another test run while streaming, curious how that will turn out to be. But so far, this is very impressive for WM1ZM2.

OK, to summarize my battery test findings. Using Aroma Jewel, 4.4mm terminated, high gain, volume at 43, DSEE Ultimate on, DC phase on, Vinyl on, screen mostly off, just checking battery status, and starting from fully charged 100%.

Playing hi-res 24bit flac in the loop, locally in Walkman app with wifi/BT off - get 29.5hrs of playback time.

Streaming Amazon Music HD, with high res streaming enabled on ZM2 and all the same dsp effects, and volume/gain - get 10.5hrs of playback time.