Many times, sciences come from the observation of human. Human observe a phenomenon, and seek to understand it better, then using tools and other technologies in helping to do so.....human magic comes from their own 5 senses and the brain of curiosity, period.
Have you seen the TDK noise absorber sheets for IC ? It had been so long that enthusiasts mentioned about the noises being generated by IC chips, and the quantum sticker to modify and minimize it. Now, TDK has released this sheets with real science behind it, and even measurements on noises being absorbed.
Yes, there are phony stuff in this hobby, there are snake oils....but think about it. Some is true, some is untested science/facts, and some is just ways to make money. In this hobby, being sensible is kind of hard. But never the less, be confident in what you like and what you don’t, and know yourself.
Yes, sometimes, people do quickly modify their devices. But it depends on what they want out of their player. More than often, mass produced players are all about larger profit, and so they are watered down in different places. These places are where hardcore enthusiasts like us, we want to improve. IMO, it is not about when to modify or upgrade, but from Whom, the modifications come from. One thing to keep in mind is that sound performances are subjective,
What’s so fascinating to me is the psychology involved in suggesting improvements. If a person listening starts to feel there is a major bottleneck which needs improvement, it’s a reality at times far greater than what’s truly there. IMO
The fact that improvements allow the mind to color sound and enhance perception of better sound indefinitely off into the future. In many ways the 1Z is simply a modded 1A. Also the 1A is a reverse modded 1Z.
But who is to say which is truly better? Many have sold their 1Z because they liked the sound of the 1A more. Also if the mother-board wire has been replaced, the psychological ramifications are abundant; way beyond the slight sound changes. And whatever those sound changes are, the mind can focus on that small percentage and it all becomes vast. That is the great part of a mod; it’s adding psychological improvements, if it’s wanted or not.
If you placed the 1A/1Z on a table and placed a sheet of TDK noise absorber material across the unprotected back it may make improvements!
On a side note, I finally obtained the AQ Carbon USB cable (on your suggestion) to go between the 1Z/1A dock and TA, with noticeable sighted improvement! THX!
(Their major claim is outside RF noise suppression in the covering)
What’s so fascinating to me is the psychology involved in suggesting improvements. If a person listening starts to feel there is a major bottleneck which needs improvement, it’s a reality at times far greater than what’s truly there. IMO
The fact that improvements allow the mind to color sound and enhance perception of better sound indefinitely off into the future. In many ways the 1Z is simply a modded 1A. Also the 1A is a reverse modded 1Z.
But who is to say which is truly better? Many have sold their 1Z because they liked the sound of the 1A more. Also if the mother-board wire has been replaced, the psychological ramifications are abundant; way beyond the slight sound changes. And whatever those sound changes are, the mind can focus on that small percentage and it all becomes vast. That is the great part of a mod; it’s adding psychological improvements, if it’s wanted or not.
If you placed the 1A/1Z on a table and placed a sheet of TDK noise absorber material across the unprotected back it may make improvements!
On a side note, I finally obtained the AQ Carbon USB cable (on your suggestion) to go between the 1Z/1A dock and TA, with noticeable sighted improvement! THX!
(Their major claim is outside RF noise suppression in the covering)
Yes, you are correct. Hence it is most important to know yourself and from Whom the mods were suggested and done. The 1Z is defintely a Modified 1A, and the 1A is a more economical 1Z, period.
This is why I really like the quote few posts above “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”....so, you gotta pick your poison, obviously
What’s so fascinating to me is the psychology involved in suggesting improvements. If a person listening starts to feel there is a major bottleneck which needs improvement, it’s a reality at times far greater than what’s truly there. IMO
The fact that improvements allow the mind to color sound and enhance perception of better sound indefinitely off into the future. In many ways the 1Z is simply a modded 1A. Also the 1A is a reverse modded 1Z.
But who is to say which is truly better? Many have sold their 1Z because they liked the sound of the 1A more. Also if the mother-board wire has been replaced, the psychological ramifications are abundant; way beyond the slight sound changes. And whatever those sound changes are, the mind can focus on that small percentage and it all becomes vast. That is the great part of a mod; it’s adding psychological improvements, if it’s wanted or not.
If you placed the 1A/1Z on a table and placed a sheet of TDK noise absorber material across the unprotected back it may make improvements!
On a side note, I finally obtained the AQ Carbon USB cable (on your suggestion) to go between the 1Z/1A dock and TA, with noticeable sighted improvement! THX!
(Their major claim is outside RF noise suppression in the covering)
Psychological coloring/perception due to changes/new equipment does exist. However, it is not as sure a fact as some people think. My personal experience:
Listening to something that I expected to be really good, and being disappointed,
Conversely, situations where I was not expecting much of a change, but realizing that there was in fact a major change.
Other situations are where a brief comparison of a product gives a positive impression, but after buying it, and living with it for awhile, you realize that it is not as good as you thought. I am sure this is a common experience! (or maybe this is just "normalization" kicking in)
And then there is the situation where I recently got a freebie cable that sounded good, and got better, the more I listened to it. I had not bothered to do any comparison initially, as I was not expecting much, but getting curious as to how it actually compared, I took some time and swapped in different, and more expensive cables, and then swapped back, as there was a synergy to the pairing with this freebie cable that was better than other "better" cables I had.
And then there is another common factor, of "normalization". Hearing a major improvement, and having your SQ expectations/standards move up. And then after living with the new standard for awhile, it becomes "normal", and is nothing special anymore. And things stay that way, until you make a negative change, and notice that something is missing, and go looking for what that is.
Or to realize one day that the unending quest for "technical" improvements has resulted in you spending more and more time on evaluating the sound and planning for the next improvement, and are no longer able to forget about the equipment, and just "enjoy the music". This is the point where you realize you are sick, and need help!
Or like most, refuse to accept that there is anything wrong. The only option then would be forcible re/de-programming ... (Think of the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
WM1Z output sound quality : when connecting to an external amp, is there a difference in pure sound quality (power doesn't matter) between the unbalanced 3.5 mm output and the balanced 4.4 mm output of the WM1Z ?
The good thing about the WM1 series is they overall neutrality, so it boils down to your very own taste (what your ear will 1. like 2. be comfortable with).
There are tons of good brand in the IEM market. Check out review websites like Headfonia, Innerfidelity etc..., try them if possible
Some brand I considered for mine:
- Earsonic
- Empire Audio
- Audio 64
- Noble Audio
- Campfire Audio
- Shure
- Ultimate Ears
- Jerry Harvey Audio
- ...
Any IEM I’ve thrown at the WM1A, it don’t matter, the 1A has something....Balanced or Single, I can’t say a single bad thing about the 1A. Any 128K - Flac, the 1A tops everything else I’ve tried. I haven’t heard the 1Z, but can imagine by the specs I would expect maybe 20% better than 1A, right now it’s a peak, enjoy it while you can
Hi all, need help with a brand new wm1z. I used MediaGo to transfer my collection of FLAC DSD hi-res files and noticed about 30% files turned out to unplayable. When I click on one of those “corrupted” files my wm1z basically freezes.
These files are fine as I also played them on my AK240....... I tried firmware 1.2 and 3.0 same issue
Hello everyone. I just want to write this post to share my experience with FW 3.0 (1Z with a 512GB microSD). No crashes since update, but definitely takes way longer to rebuild or create database. It went from 1 minute to 3 minutes or so. The UI is faster though, and scrolling down albums is noticeably smoother. About the SQ aspects I love the new sound. More detailed and with wider soundstage. So all in all this update made the device even better, yet the database management times need a fix asap.
Hi all, need help with a brand new wm1z. I used MediaGo to transfer my collection of FLAC DSD hi-res files and noticed about 30% files turned out to unplayable. When I click on one of those “corrupted” files my wm1z basically freezes.
These files are fine as I also played them on my AK240....... I tried firmware 1.2 and 3.0 same issue
Your best solution is simply putting a file named “Music” somewhere and loading all the music into it. Then either transfer the file to a card and put it in your player or hook your player up and transfer the file into your player. It’s most likely MediaGo is the issue. Only very few use it.
I also used MediaGo at the start but found it too qwerky and slow. Sony has not updated or improved the program. It’s basically too task involved and complicated as it’s doing other functions which slow down the computer and could possibly cause your issues. In the end you will find it’s a huge waste of time; especially if your doing a bunch of music transfers.
Your best solution is simply putting a file named “Music” somewhere and loading all the music into it. Then either transfer the file to a card and put it in your player or hook your player up and transfer the file into your player. It’s most likely MediaGo is the issue. Only very few use it.
I also used MediaGo at the start but found it too qwerky and slow. Sony has not updated or improved the program. It’s basically too task involved and complicated as it’s doing other functions which slow down the computer and could possibly cause your issues.
Thanks for your reply! I’ll do a hard reset then try your Music folder suggestion! Have a great day! The WM1Z is truely amazing btw, love it with my ie800s
Psychological coloring/perception due to changes/new equipment does exist. However, it is not as sure a fact as some people think. My personal experience:
Listening to something that I expected to be really good, and being disappointed,
Conversely, situations where I was not expecting much of a change, but realizing that there was in fact a major change.
Other situations are where a brief comparison of a product gives a positive impression, but after buying it, and living with it for awhile, you realize that it is not as good as you thought. I am sure this is a common experience! (or maybe this is just "normalization" kicking in)
And then there is the situation where I recently got a freebie cable that sounded good, and got better, the more I listened to it. I had not bothered to do any comparison initially, as I was not expecting much, but getting curious as to how it actually compared, I took some time and swapped in different, and more expensive cables, and then swapped back, as there was a synergy to the pairing with this freebie cable that was better than other "better" cables I had.
And then there is another common factor, of "normalization". Hearing a major improvement, and having your SQ expectations/standards move up. And then after living with the new standard for awhile, it becomes "normal", and is nothing special anymore. And things stay that way, until you make a negative change, and notice that something is missing, and go looking for what that is.
Or to realize one day that the unending quest for "technical" improvements has resulted in you spending more and more time on evaluating the sound and planning for the next improvement, and are no longer able to forget about the equipment, and just "enjoy the music". This is the point where you realize you are sick, and need help!
Or like most, refuse to accept that there is anything wrong. The only option then would be forcible re/de-programming ... (Think of the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
One of the truly bewildering finds is going back to what you once thought was good quality. (Maybe pulling out a set of headphones out you used to love 7 years ago) only to find the reproduction way off. As we read, much of Head-Fi is folks thinking they are experiencing great sound; when in truth it’s flawed and way less than perfect in any way. If someone never heard a correct reproduction; how would they ever know?
But due to certain traits the holes in the reproduction are somehow missed. This is why they say to take everything written here with a grain of salt. There are whole threads about bad headphones; pages and pages, talked about as good. Not to sound elitist, but there are also tons of DAPs that are simply off on correct reproduction. There may be an amount of color placed in certain areas on purpose to give the DAP an exciting sound; but once your used to the correct way, it’s nothing but blindingly apparent!
Even our very own early impressions of great sound were simply inexperience. Even if we had been exposed to correct sound in life, hearing it on headphones seemed special at the time.
It’s only after you hear true correctness that you can go back to IEMs or headphones you loved 7 years ago, and instantly hear the flaws. In this hobby hindsight is 20/20.
And yes, after the initial excitement of new found fidelity, it becomes normalized. Though I like to think it’s the music we concentrate on from then on.
That’s fine as a statement, but my point is there is audio equipment closer to correct and stuff that’s way-way off. You have to have heard this stuff, and it’s way beyond simply color preference or reproduction style.
Concerts are hit and miss, live acoustic music too, hit and miss. At times it can be fixed and at times it is what it is and they simply try to do their best with what they have. That was the best part of being young.....every concert sounded perfect!
Have you ever gone back to using any super old equipment you used to love, only to find it “off”. Thus a window into our own subjective reality of good.
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