[flyer1]

Tuning of Japanese cars, now tuning of Japanese Walkman.

Although not everyone is interested in tweaking. Nor would they ever believe that the Swissbit sounds better than the Sandisk Extreme or Extreme Pro.

Swissbit was actually previously part of the German company Siemens.



Are you using balanced cables with your MDR-MV1?

The MDR-1AM2's balanced cable can be used with MDR-MV1.

I think MUC-S12NB1 should work. But it's kinda hard to find Sony balanced cables here, they don't sell them at their retail outlets(in Singapore).

I think the sense of space/holography is what makes the Swissbit so damn addictive to listen. For me, it allows for immediate emotional connection to the music from the get go as the music feels live as if you are there where the recording is taking place.

I have both the 1AM2 and MUC-S12SB1 Kimber balanced cables. The latter being my favourite. Balanced is the way to go with the MV1 seems to be the common consensus, never tried the single ended cable included. It's a crime Sony doesn't include a balanced cable with it.

Still in the early stages with the Swissbit but your description of it's effects is very noticable with my gear.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Sony, Honda and to a lesser extend Japanese watches make me a firm believer in the quality of Japanese tech. My Honda S2000 I will never let go off.

Always build with a kind of ''keep it simple in design but make it excellent' philosophy. Possibly also therefore very suitable and easy to tweak and further develop upon.

These Japanese companies can be extremely particular when it comes to designing:

Just compare the internal layout of a Toshiba(Japan) Instant Water Heater vs Mistral (Australia). See the braided wiring, the logical layout of the electronics. Even the placement of the power supply is strategically placed on top, eliminating the chances of water leaking into the power area via gravity.

 

[aldehydeic]

Does anyone run into issues connecting the device to a mac? My mac book pro (2019 16' intel) doesn't recognize it even when it's set on data transfer on the player :'(

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

I have both the 1AM2 and MUC-S12SB1 Kimber balanced cables. The latter being my favourite. Balanced is the way to go with the MV1 seems to be the common consensus, never tried the single ended cable included. It's a crime Sony doesn't include a balanced cable with it.

Still in the early stages with the Swissbit but your description of it's effects is very noticable with my gear.

I would also highly recommend for you to uncompress all of your FLAC back to non-compressed PCM if you haven't done so. You can use AIFF format as it support media tagging and album art. Together with the Swissbit, this step has a massive step up in realism of sound, as the bass feels less congested and timing of transients just feels more in flow. You have to take a hit in increased disk space usage but I would think the sound improvements is worth the impact.

Also for FLAC, MP3s and AAC, I have also found a way to improve the sound quality on them:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sony-nw-wm1z-m2-wm1a-m2.962054/post-17759672

 

[israikc]

I would also highly recommend for you to uncompress all of your FLAC back to non-compressed PCM if you haven't done so. You can use AIFF format as it support media tagging and album art. Together with the Swissbit, this step has a massive step up in realism of sound, as the bass feels less congested and timing of transients just feels more in flow. You have to take a hit in increased disk space usage but I would think the sound improvements is worth the impact.

How could uncompressing a lossless audio file affect its properties like bass? Genuine question.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

How could uncompressing a lossless audio file affect its properties like bass? Genuine question.

FLAC requires the processor of the walkman to do real time decompression of the file. This increases the power draw and also increases thermal generation leading to more ground noise inside the circuity of the Walkman. Whereas in the case of uncompressed PCM, it is a more direct form of data stream(less decoding).

This internal crystal oscillator is rather sensitive to noises like Johnson thermal noise and ground noise, and these noises will affect the timing of the crystal clock. This crystal clock determines the timing accuracy of the S-master HX's pulse generation. This is like a butterfly effect of sorts, a less accurate clock timing leading to less accurate sound output

This video on crystal clock oscillator is very informative, it is worth a watch for those who want to know how stuff works:


Even more reading:

https://www.ndk.com/en/products/info/post_5.html

 

[israikc]

FLAC requires the processor of the walkman to do real time decompression of the file. This increases the power draw and also increases thermal generation leading to more ground noise inside the circuity of the Walkman. Whereas in the case of uncompressed PCM, it is a more direct form of data stream(less decoding).

This internal crystal oscillator is rather sensitive to noises like Johnson thermal noise and ground noise, and these noises will affect the timing of the crystal clock. This crystal clock determines the timing accuracy of the S-master HX's pulse generation. This is like a butterfly effect of sorts, a less accurate clock timing leading to less accurate sound output

This video on crystal clock oscillator is very informative, it is worth a watch for those who want to know how stuff works:


Even more reading:

https://www.ndk.com/en/products/info/post_5.html

But that’s what the filters are there for, to avoid sound output issues introduced by noise in the circuitry.
Also, I would think the Sony engineers would not support any given codec if it could compromise sound quality beyond the codec’s specifications.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

But that’s what the filters are there for, to avoid sound output issues introduced by noise in the circuitry.
Also, I would think the Sony engineers would not support any given codec if it could compromise sound quality beyond the codec’s specifications.

That's assuming we live in a perfect world where the filters are fully capable of completely removing every kind of noise/errors in the system. However such perfect filters/Phase Lock Loop systems do not yet exist. Mitigation yes, but to be able to remove all kinds of noise and timing errors? I don't think so.



This is also what happens with 44.1KHz, where in theory, it has enough sampling rate to cover the human hearing frequency, but in practice, it is very difficult to design and implement a filter that doesn't introduce any ringing.(thus the invention/marketing of Hi-Res Audio, MQA and the ensuing debacle).

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Also for those who have read about this strange DAC filtering discussion terminology: pre-ringing and wonder how does it sound like, I think this video has a very good sound example:

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

There’s a very good article from dCS audio which discusses on digital clocking, effects of jitter and how it is minimised by these audio engineers:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dcs-ring-dac-a-technical-explanation.957387/page-12

 

[CaptainFantastic]

Wouldn't following this theory mean that anything that asks for an extra task from the processor would have these negative results? And you prefer DSEE enabled, etc.

 

[ttt123]

But that’s what the filters are there for, to avoid sound output issues introduced by noise in the circuitry.
Also, I would think the Sony engineers would not support any given codec if it could compromise sound quality beyond the codec’s specifications.

Filters are in various places in circuitry. Power, digital, analog, etc. There is no 100% perfect filter. i.e. A ripple filter typically reduces the ripple, but cannot eliminate it.
The best design is to reduce noise at the source, and give the filters less work to do. But there is no perfect design, just as there are no perfect filters.

Support only good sounding codecs? Yes, a purist approach would be to eliminate support for all other codecs.
So let's say Sony decided to support only PCM in their Signature DAP.
- The sales would be massively affected
- Many people would rant at the ridiculous decision to support only PCM in this modern world.
- The DSD supporters would boycott Sony for not supporting the best sounding codec.
- Many/most would trash this awful decision
- And the same result if another Codec was chosen. i.e. Support only DSD

So the purist approach would likely kill any company that tried to follow it rigorously. The reality is that a manufacturer has to support everything available.
Also, who is to say that some people would prefer MP3 as a superior codec? And if this is what they like, why should they be denied?
And there are many supporters of vinyl discs, and vacuum tube amplifiers. They view the digital camp as philistines, and the digital camp view the vinyl/vacuum tube camp as stone agers.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Wouldn't following this theory mean that anything that asks for an extra task from the processor would have these negative results? And you prefer DSEE enabled, etc.

DSP deliberately adds calculated adjustment to the sound to enhance and alter the perceived performance of the music. For the case of DSEE Ultimate, it is increasing the sampling rate and as well as altering the dynamics of the music, even going so far as extracting out different instruments to perform different types of clever upsampling algorithms developed by Sony engineers to allow for the listener to hear these instruments with better clarity and etc.

I have went so far as tweaking and changing the Walkman settings to try every possible option(hidden or not hidden) and have found that these Sony DSPs have its own advantages and drawbacks. With DSEE Ultimate, it does help to increase the dynamics of the sound but the drawback is that it is an artificially processed sound which can make the dynamics sound overdone/overbearing in some music. This has been improved upon in the recent few firmware updates.

While it is also true that using any kind of DSP would in fact increase processing load thus causing more emi noise and therefore affecting the clocking. You have to consider the net results of the final sound output(aka listening with your ears). Intended results(DSP) vs unintended results(FLAC)

I have compared the sound of FLAC vs Uncompressed PCM, using all kinds different DSP settings, including defeating every possible hidden DSP that Sony employs. What I found is that the FLAC format adds its own kind of coloration/congestion to the bass which doesn’t sound so good to me, it’s like a kind of one noted bass timing, which I find to be not as enjoyable.

Also when I compared FLAC vs Uncompressed PCM on the swissbit microsd instead of using internal storage, I have found that using Uncompressed PCM provides for even better sense of spatial sound stage and holography.

Well this is my subjective opinions and recommendations. Free feel to ignore or follow. After all my experiences and sound perceptions are not always what works for others.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

But at the same time, you are also perfectly happy --I believe you said above-- taking a track from Youtube and listening to that. So here is the question: if you are enjoying music in both Youtube quality or PCM format, at the end of the day, is it worth agonizing over all the ultra-minute details like PCM vs FLAC?

I am more of the opinion that I like how my Sony products sound (especially the DMP-Z1), I enjoy my music on them, the rest would just be tedious tinkering for 0.325% more something. What difference does that make? The Sony audio engineers have done their professional job, now it's time to enjoy. What a product brings inherently, out of the box, is far more consequential. The difference between the AM2 and the Z1 for example, that's a Sony engineered, clear step up that I paid for and I enjoy (even if chronologically one came after the other, you know what I mean). So is it worth my time now taking the unit I have and torture my ears A/B-ing over what small levers I can tinker with?

And this coming from someone who owns an OTL tube amp and understands that changing a tube does change the flavor to a degree. Just zero convinced this language setting, PLC/FLAC, color of the microSD card stuff is of any meaningful consequence.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

But at the same time, you are also perfectly happy --I believe you said above-- taking a track from Youtube and listening to that. So here is the question: if you are enjoying music in both Youtube quality or PCM format, at the end of the day, is it worth agonizing over all the ultra-minute details like PCM vs FLAC?

I am more of the opinion that I like how my Sony products sound (especially the DMP-Z1), I enjoy my music on them, the rest would just be tedious tinkering for 0.325% more something. What difference does that make? The Sony audio engineers have done their professional job, now it's time to enjoy. What a product brings inherently, out of the box, is far more consequential. The difference between the AM2 and the Z1 for example, that's a Sony engineered, clear step up that I paid for and I enjoy (even if chronologically one came after the other, you know what I mean). So is it worth my time now taking the unit I have and torture my ears A/B-ing over what small levers I can tinker with?

And this coming from someone who owns an OTL tube amp and understands that changing a tube does change the flavor to a degree. Just zero convinced this language setting, PLC/FLAC, color of the microSD card stuff is of any meaningful consequence.

While I do like high resolution content and do seek more extremist ways to improve the sound of them, who is to say I cannot enjoy music from lower resolution content like YouTube too? I love music and it can be from an AM radio but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to experience the best sound reproduction out there either.

You have a misconception that tinkering these settings only brings about a small change. Yes some of these tinkering by themselves are rather small changes but when you combine all of them, they do accumulate to a lot more. And surely enough, there is no need for you to torture your ears, just ignore my recommendations(add me to ignore list if it suits you) as these posts are for other people here who have been following my recommendations and finding them useful and have meaningful consequences.

You would have to ask someone like @flyer1 or @andrewski or @boodi or @gongbohua who have followed some of my recommendations, if they would think that tinkering the Walkman only provides for 0.325% more of a difference.