[Ghisy]

I think Sony missed the boat on this:

When migrating to an Android platform, they had the opportunity to build a killer Walkman app. I would have loved to see more functionality in terms of file management or metadata management.
Or even a new user interface like a carousel to pick albums to play.

I agree.

I have some nitpicks about the Walkman app:

- whenever you scan to update your library, it will go back to the first track of your files alphabetically for some reason as last played (that little tab at the bottom). Why?

- if you add a song to your playing queue by long pressing it, the app doesn't move to the folder of that song. So whenever you go back, you will be in the previous folder you used. Makes no sense to me.

- sometimes the app lags a little bit. It shouldn't as it is quite basic overall.

Note that I'm using a ZX707 though. It's been fine overall for the past few months I've used it but sometimes I wish Cowon was still around.

 

[sanakimpro]

EDIT: Ignore this - retested and the volume are the same once all DSP settings are the same.

Today I ran into something weird when demoing 1AM2 and 1ZM2.. Has anyone demoing it side by side and noticed that the 1ZM2 is louder at the same volume level than 1AM2?

• For example, I was listening to Rammstein's Speiluhr and Lorde's Buzzcut Season and realized that on volume 90 on both, the 1ZM2 is significantly louder
• When listening to orchestral music, on 1AM2 hit 120/120 being just about loud enough while 1ZM2 the same volume was at 100-105/120 (e.g. John Williams' Star Wars The Phantom Menance: The Droid Invasion)
• When volume matching by ear to 1ZM2 at 90/120, the 1AM2 was somewhere between 105-110/120
• Both were FLACs played thru Walkman app and confirmed both are uncapped version with High Gain option and running 1.07.00 firmware.

Granted, this was a demo in Sony Store, my guess is either I'm doing something stupid or there's a setting somewhere that a previous demo has flipped a switch somewhere which reduced the 1AM2's output somehow, maybe thru pre-amp/equalizer? But when I asked the Sony Store staff, they confirmed the setting were the same and Direct Source was on.

This is surprising for me since on official specs, both have the same Maximum Power Output (Single Ended: 60mW+60mW, Balanced: 250mW+250mW).

Curious to hear what others have heard.. Just trying to confirm I don't have a subconscious bias to the Gold Brick already.. hehe

 

[Noobzilla]

Today I ran into something weird when demoing 1AM2 and 1ZM2.. Has anyone demoing it side by side and noticed that the 1ZM2 is louder at the same volume level than 1AM2?

• For example, I was listening to Rammstein's Speiluhr and Lorde's Buzzcut Season and realized that on volume 90 on both, the 1ZM2 is significantly louder
• When listening to orchestral music, on 1AM2 hit 120/120 being just about loud enough while 1ZM2 the same volume was at 100-105/120 (e.g. John Williams' Star Wars The Phantom Menance: The Droid Invasion)
• When volume matching by ear to 1ZM2 at 90/120, the 1AM2 was somewhere between 105-110/120
• Both were FLACs played thru Walkman app and confirmed both are uncapped version with High Gain option and running 1.07.00 firmware.

Granted, this was a demo in Sony Store, my guess is either I'm doing something stupid or there's a setting somewhere that a previous demo has flipped a switch somewhere which reduced the 1AM2's output somehow, maybe thru pre-amp/equalizer? But when I asked the Sony Store staff, they confirmed the setting were the same and Direct Source was on.

This is surprising for me since on official specs, both have the same Maximum Power Output (Single Ended: 60mW+60mW, Balanced: 250mW+250mW).

Curious to hear what others have heard.. Just trying to confirm I don't have a subconscious bias to the Gold Brick already.. hehe

I'm guessing difference in impedance due to the thicker internal wire connecting to the 4.4mm output in the Z model

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Today I ran into something weird when demoing 1AM2 and 1ZM2.. Has anyone demoing it side by side and noticed that the 1ZM2 is louder at the same volume level than 1AM2?

• For example, I was listening to Rammstein's Speiluhr and Lorde's Buzzcut Season and realized that on volume 90 on both, the 1ZM2 is significantly louder
• When listening to orchestral music, on 1AM2 hit 120/120 being just about loud enough while 1ZM2 the same volume was at 100-105/120 (e.g. John Williams' Star Wars The Phantom Menance: The Droid Invasion)
• When volume matching by ear to 1ZM2 at 90/120, the 1AM2 was somewhere between 105-110/120
• Both were FLACs played thru Walkman app and confirmed both are uncapped version with High Gain option and running 1.07.00 firmware.

Granted, this was a demo in Sony Store, my guess is either I'm doing something stupid or there's a setting somewhere that a previous demo has flipped a switch somewhere which reduced the 1AM2's output somehow, maybe thru pre-amp/equalizer? But when I asked the Sony Store staff, they confirmed the setting were the same and Direct Source was on.

This is surprising for me since on official specs, both have the same Maximum Power Output (Single Ended: 60mW+60mW, Balanced: 250mW+250mW).

Curious to hear what others have heard.. Just trying to confirm I don't have a subconscious bias to the Gold Brick already.. hehe

Have you checked to ensure both are running with high-res streaming mode on or off?

Are there any installed Sony headphone/iem profiles inside the headphone app?

The above could have influence to the sound output of the Walkmans.

 

[sanakimpro]

Have you checked to ensure both are running with high-res streaming mode on or off?

Are there any installed Sony headphone/iem profiles inside the headphone app?

The above could have influence to the sound output of the Walkmans.

I don't have them on hand.. but will check next time I swing by.. IIRC, the Direct Sound mode was on for both.

Have you had the side by side? I mean, if someone who has both side by side can say for sure it should be the same loudness for the same volume setting, I guess there was something off on the 1AM2 demo unit

 

[ttt123]

Today I ran into something weird when demoing 1AM2 and 1ZM2.. Has anyone demoing it side by side and noticed that the 1ZM2 is louder at the same volume level than 1AM2?

• For example, I was listening to Rammstein's Speiluhr and Lorde's Buzzcut Season and realized that on volume 90 on both, the 1ZM2 is significantly louder
• When listening to orchestral music, on 1AM2 hit 120/120 being just about loud enough while 1ZM2 the same volume was at 100-105/120 (e.g. John Williams' Star Wars The Phantom Menance: The Droid Invasion)
• When volume matching by ear to 1ZM2 at 90/120, the 1AM2 was somewhere between 105-110/120
• Both were FLACs played thru Walkman app and confirmed both are uncapped version with High Gain option and running 1.07.00 firmware.

Granted, this was a demo in Sony Store, my guess is either I'm doing something stupid or there's a setting somewhere that a previous demo has flipped a switch somewhere which reduced the 1AM2's output somehow, maybe thru pre-amp/equalizer? But when I asked the Sony Store staff, they confirmed the setting were the same and Direct Source was on.

This is surprising for me since on official specs, both have the same Maximum Power Output (Single Ended: 60mW+60mW, Balanced: 250mW+250mW).

Curious to hear what others have heard.. Just trying to confirm I don't have a subconscious bias to the Gold Brick already.. hehe

I don't believe there should be that major a difference in volume between the 1AM2 and 1ZM2, and would think that it is a setting(s) that is responsible.

Both DAPs with Direct ON turns off the bulk of the DSP/EQ options.
In addition, even with Direct On, there are a couple of other settings that can affect the sound/volume:
- AVLS - this can reduce the volume
- High -Res streaming: this can be on or off, while in Direct On mode.

 

[sanakimpro]

I don't believe there should be that major a difference in volume between the 1AM2 and 1ZM2, and would think that it is a setting(s) that is responsible.

Both DAPs with Direct ON turns off the bulk of the DSP/EQ options.
In addition, even with Direct On, there are a couple of other settings that can affect the sound/volume:
- AVLS - this can reduce the volume
- High -Res streaming: this can be on or off, while in Direct On mode.

I checked AVLS, it was off - I could get both to 120/120 so it can't be AVLS..

But yeah maybe High-Res streaming could be off / on on one of thing.. However, I was only using Walkman app offline.. shouldn't High-Res streaming not affect Walkman app?

 

[ttt123]

I checked AVLS, it was off - I could get both to 120/120 so it can't be AVLS..

But yeah maybe High-Res streaming could be off / on on one of thing.. However, I was only using Walkman app offline.. shouldn't High-Res streaming not affect Walkman app?

High-Res streaming affects the Walkman app also.

 

[andrewski]

I don't have them on hand.. but will check next time I swing by.. IIRC, the Direct Sound mode was on for both.

Have you had the side by side? I mean, if someone who has both side by side can say for sure it should be the same loudness for the same volume setting, I guess there was something off on the 1AM2 demo unit

Bass comes off as louder to me on ZM2, but highs are near the same. Sorry, that's not much of a descriptive opinion. I'll need to sit down and compare them more

 

[sanakimpro]

High-Res streaming affects the Walkman app also.

Seems not according to the manual? https://helpguide.sony.net/dmp/nwwm1m2/v1/en/contents/TP1000465666.html

Using the High-Res streaming function​

You can enjoy music streaming from online music services in high sound quality.

1. Swipe the [WALKMAN Home] screen upwards.
2. Tap the menu items in the following order.
   
   
   [Settings] － [Sound] － [High-Res streaming].
3. Tap the switch to turn on the [High-Res streaming] function.
   Music streamed using apps other than “Music player” is played in the following quality.
   • [Use High-Res streaming] is on:
     Up-converted playback at 192 kHz/32 bit
   • [Use High-Res streaming] is off:
     Down-converted playback at 48 kHz/16 bit

 

[andrewski]

Seems not according to the manual? https://helpguide.sony.net/dmp/nwwm1m2/v1/en/contents/TP1000465666.html

Using the High-Res streaming function​

You can enjoy music streaming from online music services in high sound quality.

1. Swipe the [WALKMAN Home] screen upwards.
2. Tap the menu items in the following order.
   
   
   [Settings] － [Sound] － [High-Res streaming].
3. Tap the switch to turn on the [High-Res streaming] function.
   Music streamed using apps other than “Music player”is played in the following quality.
   • [Use High-Res streaming] is on:
     Up-converted playback at 192 kHz/32 bit
   • [Use High-Res streaming] is off:
     Down-converted playback at 48 kHz/16 bit

Some of us hear a difference using the Walkman app with local files. Same with DSD setting sharp or slow roll-off (using non-DSD files). I prefer hires off with slow roll-off

 

[sanakimpro]

Bass comes off as louder to me on ZM2, but highs are near the same. Sorry, that's not much of a descriptive opinion. I'll need to sit down and compare them more

Well, when I demoed it, it was immediately obvious that at the same volume setting, it was much louder on the 1ZM2 across the board.. If the highs are nearly the same, probably you're saying Z and A should have same loudness for a given volume.. I will check the Direct Source, EQ and Dynamic Normalizer next time. T

Thanks guys!

 

[andrewski]

Well, when I demoed it, it was immediately obvious that at the same volume setting, it was much louder on the 1ZM2 across the board.. If the highs are nearly the same, probably you're saying Z and A should have same loudness for a given volume.. I will check the Direct Source, EQ and Dynamic Normalizer next time. T

Thanks guys!

Sorry for asking, but were they definitely both in the same gain setting? Both High?

Edit: at those volumes, more likely both Normal Gain?

 

[sanakimpro]

Yep, I shared the photos in an earlier post. I also manually switched to normal gain and back to high gain to be sure..

 

[FreeTime]

Yeah, that was very high volume with high gain pairing with Z1R, can imagine it's a dsd file with very soft volume rip source.