[Whitigir]

This is a good example of how jitter caused by power supply noises/vibrations leaking into the clock circuity sounds like:
https://www.sereneaudio.com/blog/what-does-jitter-sound-like

Small vibrations doesn't cause the Computer programming/logic circuitry to have faults/errors, but for high quality, high precision audio reproduction, small constant vibrations at the printed circuit level caused by cpu processing/voltage regulation will likely introduce audible distortion/jitter into the sound output.

Especially the S-Master that utilize the clock on real time sampling in both ends, the digital processing input and the class D amplifications output. It is not easy to engineer a high-res certified class D amplifications, let alone a real time pulse width modulations digital processors together. Yes, these high-res have to be certified by Japan engineerings assoc.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Especially the S-Master that utilize the clock on real time sampling in both ends, the digital processing input and the class D amplifications output. It is not easy to engineer a high-res certified class D amplifications, let alone a real time pulse width modulations digital processors together. Yes, these high-res have to be certified by Japan engineerings assoc.

and that’s also what separates the WM1AM2 over the ZX707 for sound quality. The larger sized gold vapour deposition crystal clocks will be less prone to jitter.

 

[psikey]

Just to share, every headphone has its own imaging sweet spot. Try to play a 1Khz tone, then adjusting the position of the headphone to find the spot where the tone feels the most loudest.

No time, I purchased to listen to beautiful music on it, not do a post-graduate study on DAP science/technology.

Each to our own though Enjoy your research/analysis.

 

[Benesyed]

Sony Walkman User walked so we could run

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

No time, I purchased to listen to beautiful music on it, not do a post-graduate study on DAP science/technology.

Each to our own though Enjoy your research/analysis.

Yup and I guess you should just mouse scroll pass my posts too. Don’t waste your precious time to reply as it can be used for listening to beautiful music.

 

[cFkoauvicGBK7o]

All these internal micro vibrations, electrical noise and thermal noise will have an impact on the absolute timing precision of the crystal clock oscillators which is the fundamental timing source of digital audio equipment. Any small timing deviation will result in tiny phase errors in the audio output, these tiny phase errors will affect how precise the sound imaging is on a very high quality sound reproduction equipment like in the case of the higher tier S-Master HX Walkmans.
https://www.microsemi.com/blog/2016/09/01/common-source-of-jitter-in-oscillators/

This would imply that shaking the Walkman whilst listening would have have an effect on the sound quality or even just walking from a cold room to a warm room. I'm not saying there won't be acute effects but the question is whether it's audible. And I've not heard EMI induction based noise in any device since the late 90s.

This is all assuming that these CPUs produce noise at the same level of a desktop computer doing encryption and decryption and based on a paper for which the experiments and results have not been verified by any other published articles (not saying the paper is wrong but the way in which we reach scientific consensus in the academic world is by other research groups replicating your experiments or similar experiments and producing results which either corroborate or disprove your conclusion/finding)

It sounds like I'm hating on Sony when in fact I'm actually a Sony fanboy since the Trinitron days. My TV, Home Cinema amp, mobile phone, headphones are by Sony and this is despite me categorically knowing they DON'T produce the best TVs or mobile phones. I probably have a nostalgia for the Sony house sound and I would never consider any other DAP apart from Walkmans.

For reference I have a NW-HD3, NW-A3000, NW-A1000, NW-A55, NW-ZX300 currently and I've had many more that I've bought and lost or bought and sold. And I'm looking to buy a WM1AM2 in the very near future.

That doesn't mean I'm blind to the shortcomings of Sony. For example their customer service in the UK at least is shocking, there have been many issues with their flagship phones which they simply don't care to address.

Not saying other brands don't have these problems.

I really feel like the CPU used is a missed opportunity and I'm very skeptical of the sound quality argument. These extraordinarily expensive DAPs will age faster than phones and we could possibly be left holding an expensive brick. I mean, look how slow the ZX2 is.

Also I would expect the AM2 to be upgraded to Android 12 but who knows?

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

The physical shaking of the Walkman does not cause enough disturbances to affect the tiny super fast vibration of crystal clocks as compared to the smaller constant and frequent, faster vibrations at the printed circuit board level as these small vibrations are vibrating at a specific group of frequencies that resonates and interferes with the tuning frequencies in which the crystal clock oscillators are being used to determine clock cycles.

 

[FreeTime]

ok, think I’m the crazy one here, I built 3 of these. I have extra isolation feets in almost all my amps and avr. and to me it do sound better. Ymmv.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

For those with more time and interested in knowing what kind of noise affects dacs and semiconductors, this article is worth a read:
https://www.renesas.com/tw/en/video/understanding-noise-signal-chain-webinar

On the second topic of temperature affecting Walkman and dacs, we have to look at temperature as two parts. One is your external environmental temperature and the other is internal temperatures of the semiconductor and printed circuit components.

temperature has an effect on the flow of electrons basing on the materials in which the electrons are flowing through, which the flow is measured by the resistance:

https://electricalvoice.com/effect-of-temperature-on-resistance/

There’s a reason why high sound quality audio equipment requires warm up time to sound optimal. And it’s related to the above chart.

Also the key issue is not with the external environment temperatures as changes to these temperatures changes are more gradual and very slowly altering the overall internal resistances of the already warmed up Walkman.

What is of more concern is the rapid rate of temperature change at the semiconductor/printed circuit components. If you have random spikes in cpu utilizations and memory I/O, there will be some thermal energy (heat) that is generated. These thermal energy will naturally be cooled off and dissipated naturally through the heatsink/chassis, however during these spikes in energy consumption and thermal energy chsnges, the surrounding printed circuit components will experience thermal non-equilibrium in which the exact temperature of the internal components is fluctuating rapidly up and down and this has a stronger impact on the stability of the resistances across these components and will affect the sound output more noticeably.

 

[psikey]

Yup and I guess you should just mouse scroll pass my posts too. Don’t waste your precious time to reply as it can be used for listening to beautiful music.

Many of your posts are still worth reading so no, think you need to be less touchy

Others may really love your level of technical detail/investigation.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

As to whether all these noises are audible, it will depend on whether there is any bottleneck that is affecting the sound quality of the entire chain and how sensitive and experienced the listener ears are at hearing and knowing what the sound and effects of distortion/noises are.

Usually when you start to eliminate these tiny noises and distortion on a higher quality audio equipment setup, the common improvement is usually felt in the overall clarity(pitch perfect), better pin point imaging, blacker background(lower noise floor), improvements to dynamic range, less hazy soundstage.

Human hearing can be sensitive to timing issues of certain frequencies more than other frequencies. So some types of noise/distortion is more noticeable than others.

In my own experience, no matter how small these distortions may seem to sound, the effects of this distortion/noises will affect the long term listening fatigue. Music that is of extremely low jitter is very much more pleasant to listen to. It’s the difference between feeling like you are listening to a recorded content compared to feeling that you are at the place where the recording takes place.

 

[kwilkins]

Hi all. Looking for recommendations on the best way to connect the WM1ZM2 to the TA-ZH1ES. There is a port on the side to connect with the WM1Z, I have that cable but not the WM1Z. Is there an adapter, or should I go with USB, or another solution for optimal sound quality.

Thanks,
Ken

​

 

[maceto]

Oh yea baby!
Man this is heavy… holy smokes

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Oh yea baby!
Man this is heavy… holy smokes

What firmware version does it come loaded with?

If it’s the older firmware(more than likely), I suggest to listen to it for awhile first before updating.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Hi all. Looking for recommendations on the best way to connect the WM1ZM2 to the TA-ZH1ES. There is a port on the side to connect with the WM1Z, I have that cable but not the WM1Z. Is there an adapter, or should I go with USB, or another solution for optimal sound quality.

Thanks,
Ken

​

You can try contacting local Sony support, they should be able to provide you with how to get the adapter that works for the M2 Walkman. In my opinion it is best to use the dedicated Walkman port on the Tazzy as communication protocol used is Sony proprietary and very likely to be more sound quality optimised as compared to connecting via usb port at the back of the tazzy.