TSAVJason
Sponsor: The Source AV
c’mon now, they are both great units @Whitigir. The WM is half the price and definitely sweet. The DMP is bitchen but a little on the pricey side.
Sony NW-WM1Z Owner and Impressions !
- Thread starter Whitigir
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c’mon now, they are both great units @Whitigir. The WM is half the price and definitely sweet. The DMP is bitchen but a little on the pricey side.
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Ofcourse they both are ! And I would advise everyone to get both if they can afford it *grin*. I also recommend people to contact you as the best dealer I have known by far
TSAVJason
Sponsor: The Source AV
my sons 1st car cost just a WM 1A more than the 2 products combined.
Sorry I did not mean to be saying that..that's great you have found the 1Z beat even many dedicated desktop DACs
I regarded the 1z as a portable substitute for a desktop level sound.
Yes haha I know what you mean, as I have heard my fill of listening or owning some really great dacs.
I have enjoyed and/or listened well to the Dave, Hugo2, yggy 1&2, holo spring, & Denafrips Terminator, plus some other R2R dacs, and I could be very satisfied with them all, but not all made me want to keep listening.
Some were more musical, some more more analytical, and some were more transparent...
So you pick your preference.
My needs for portability complicated things, so I sold off my last desktop dac, and so far, I have been very happy with the 1z, because I feel it was a great compromise.
A compromise of losing that last bit of soundstage or placement, or resolve, with the trade off of a trait that not many Dacs have, which is that organic natural presentation...
Maybe its the timbre or the timing, but I feel the image is very pure in presentation, and not skewed.
So so although top desktop Dacs can have certain better abilities, the Sony already does enough of everything equally, needed to be high end, while having unique ability of not sounding artificial, which is a trait of the best dacs.
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In my limited comparisons to other players of this class,
I have listened to the ibasso DX220 (w/am8) which is a really polished and sweet sounding unit,
And I purchased the latest Fiio m11pro unit, which was a very vivid and lively unit...
And I can say both units were impressive, and at the top of their game, musical and satisfying, with all the resolve of top units.
You don't really need anything else more expensive, unless you want a specific trait which is what I was looking for.
So in comparison to my Sony, both units we're not as complete.
Sony 1z vs ibasso DX220 w/amp8:
The ibasso seemed very, very musical and refined, with the whole image placed a bit more distanced away which was enjoyable and ease of mentally listening...
But it was also a tiny bit like a wall of sound, as the instruments were not as holographically layered in between as much as the Sony.
The Sony reached the depth but had layers of music all throughout the depth of space.
Nothing artificial or skewed presentation.
Sony 1z vs Fiio m11pro:
The Fiio initial impression was one of a very lucid, very lively, and very detailed presentation. Super beautiful realism in sound. Depth of field was not as distanced as the other two, but layered nicely.
The low-level detailing was raised as to where you could hear things more apparently than usual.
The music became very busy because of this.
Then the soundstage with was more separated that the other two units, giving a very immersive experience...
All this was very exciting at first, but also a bit skewed to me.
The result was eventual listening fatigue as my mind was taking in treble details that were separated wider than the instruments usual placement.
You could pick out details and resolve with ease and some genres of music were bliss, while other types of music were a slight bit of fatigue/confusion over time.
So in comparison, the Sony would place the details at a progressively layered presentation so as to take notice of the event as a whole more integrated.
The same detailing just placed as I would expect them to be, layered and lower, so more subtle.
The Sony image was noticably less wide which probably made listening more easy as well.
The width of the Sony was comparable to the ibasso, but the Fiio was wider..
All in all, I would rate the players as all still very good, and at top of their game, as these differences are probably in the last 10-15% of the music.
I would probably choose the player based on the headphones used.
The ibasso is good for closed headphones (to sound more open), while the fiio better for open or duller headphones (to sound more lively & intimate).
The Sony is probably best for using top headphones that can portray it's organic or natural nature..
I have noted both the Utopia and the denon 9200 to be the best match for it.
I have not tried the Sony headphones which I expect to be great as well..
I have listened to the ibasso DX220 (w/am8) which is a really polished and sweet sounding unit,
And I purchased the latest Fiio m11pro unit, which was a very vivid and lively unit...
And I can say both units were impressive, and at the top of their game, musical and satisfying, with all the resolve of top units.
You don't really need anything else more expensive, unless you want a specific trait which is what I was looking for.
So in comparison to my Sony, both units we're not as complete.
Sony 1z vs ibasso DX220 w/amp8:
The ibasso seemed very, very musical and refined, with the whole image placed a bit more distanced away which was enjoyable and ease of mentally listening...
But it was also a tiny bit like a wall of sound, as the instruments were not as holographically layered in between as much as the Sony.
The Sony reached the depth but had layers of music all throughout the depth of space.
Nothing artificial or skewed presentation.
Sony 1z vs Fiio m11pro:
The Fiio initial impression was one of a very lucid, very lively, and very detailed presentation. Super beautiful realism in sound. Depth of field was not as distanced as the other two, but layered nicely.
The low-level detailing was raised as to where you could hear things more apparently than usual.
The music became very busy because of this.
Then the soundstage with was more separated that the other two units, giving a very immersive experience...
All this was very exciting at first, but also a bit skewed to me.
The result was eventual listening fatigue as my mind was taking in treble details that were separated wider than the instruments usual placement.
You could pick out details and resolve with ease and some genres of music were bliss, while other types of music were a slight bit of fatigue/confusion over time.
So in comparison, the Sony would place the details at a progressively layered presentation so as to take notice of the event as a whole more integrated.
The same detailing just placed as I would expect them to be, layered and lower, so more subtle.
The Sony image was noticably less wide which probably made listening more easy as well.
The width of the Sony was comparable to the ibasso, but the Fiio was wider..
All in all, I would rate the players as all still very good, and at top of their game, as these differences are probably in the last 10-15% of the music.
I would probably choose the player based on the headphones used.
The ibasso is good for closed headphones (to sound more open), while the fiio better for open or duller headphones (to sound more lively & intimate).
The Sony is probably best for using top headphones that can portray it's organic or natural nature..
I have noted both the Utopia and the denon 9200 to be the best match for it.
I have not tried the Sony headphones which I expect to be great as well..
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Erfan Elahi
500+ Head-Fier
haha
okay it's time for me to come down to earth! But good to know you feel at list desktop level sound for portability. I was almost trading my 1Z with a Hugo 2 thinking as Hugo 2 a dedicated DAC...But in terms of exploration, you may also consider trying the N8 (?) People really talks about their tube sound...
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I listened to the Hugo2 which to me was sparkling beautiful sound, but different than the Sony.
I would rate them as in similar level with probably the Hugo2 more brighter overall but not better.
I pwrsonally would not do it as it's a preference choice but I still feel the sony better. Would have to do a side-by-side comparison to be sure.
What is the N8?
Can you type in the full model name?
**Edit
Oh you talking about the Cayin N8
That looks like the real deal and on paper it seems to be a perfect unit.
Like a fiio m11pro on tube stack.
Should be really on top.
Dam, its tempting to find out lol.
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Highbury73
Head-Fier
Hi all, its been a while since i updated my unit. I see 3.02 is available with some useful features I would like to use. Problem is i only have a mac at home and it seems like its only available to update with a windows PC. Is there away around this other user have found pls?
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