[518013]

After listening to all the Firmware, this is how I would rank them. with the WM1A
2.0>1.2>3.01>1.02>3.0>3.02

2.0 has the sub-bass of the 1.2, but gets rids of a bit of the mid-bass bloat, staging is more 3D with increased depth, upper mids are reigned in a bit. Resolution is higher with more micro details.
3.01 loses a lot of the sub-Bass of the 2.0 and 1.2. Stage width is about even on all 3 firmware updates.

2.0, 1.2, 3.01 are all that I could live with very easily, but my preferences have me looking squarely at the 2.0 at the moment.

What an awesome player the WM1A is, sound can be tuned depending on what equipment you are using.
3.0, and 3.02 are more aimed at bassier IEMs, I am guessing the IER-ZIR and Legend X would do very well with them specifically.

 

[Mindstorms]

After listening to all the Firmware, this is how I would rank them. with the WM1A
2.0>1.2>3.01>1.02>3.0>3.02

2.0 has the sub-bass of the 1.2, but gets rids of a bit of the mid-bass bloat, staging is more 3D with increased depth, upper mids are reigned in a bit. Resolution is higher with more micro details.
3.01 loses a lot of the sub-Bass of the 2.0 and 1.2. Stage width is about even on all 3 firmware updates.

2.0, 1.2, 3.01 are all that I could live with very easily, but my preferences have me looking squarely at the 2.0 at the moment.

What an awesome player the WM1A is, sound can be tuned depending on what equipment you are using.
3.0, and 3.02 are more aimed at bassier IEMs, I am guessing the IER-ZIR and Legend X would do very well with them specifically.

AGREE 101% (dough In SE out i get tons of HQ bass rumble on 3.01)

 

[gerelmx1986]

I have my DAP on 3.01 + IER-Z1R and I find it to sound excellent

 

[flyer1]

3.02 on WM1Z/HD660S is superb. Older firmwares I found lacking in one way or the other.

 

[endlesswaves]

1.20 firmware sounds really nice, especially on Direct Source on.

Just tried Firmware 1.20 after reading your comments and some others further back. I am glad I made the switch. IMO FW 1.20 made my WM1A sounds more like my Airist RDAC. Thicker notes and slightly longer decays. Vocals sounds much more emotional.

3.02 with wider soundstage, lean and better defined notes makes the music goes around you while the more analog 1.20 made you feel like you are in the music. I guess which one is better depends on the synergy with your IEMs or personal taste. Only annoying thing is the error message keep popping out when I try to load previous playlist. Rebuilding database works for awhile until you change playlist. Any suggestion?

 

[rgr555]

anyone know where to buy this stand?
looks like a jdm oem product, don't see it on rakuten or anything

 

[Erfan Elahi]

Hi everyone, for the WM1Z, has anyone noticed playback resume delays between 1 to 2 secs from paused playback? I haven't precisely counted, but it feels longer after taking 3.02 update. On 4.4mm

But soundwise I can feel straight away difference when changing the DC Phase linerizers, even from Type A to Type B, lows to highs. It's not too subtle like before. Also feels the mass has increased in the lows.

Can you confirm if its the same for SE?

My WM1Z was not only getting playback resume delay, 3 days later it got slo-mo on navigation like a dying Android OS. Later I noticed SD card was not showing. Most of my music are in the internal. So unmounted and remounted both from settings and physically, and things came back to normal.
SE - sounds too dull. The soundstage is missing, the weight in the drums are missing too. Although it wasn't a fair comparison as I used the stock cable of Zeus and that's the only 3.5mm cable I have at the moment. For 4.4mm - it's Wagnus Frosty Sheep.

On 4.4mm Wagnus Frosty Sheep + Zeus:
3.01 - polished smooth mids with a notable engagement, there is a extra gravity on the lows, separations are focused too, just balanced smoothness all way.

3.02 - very airy soundstage with massive wide and depth, added spaces in separations than 3.01. Zeus feels like the soundstage of the Wraith (theoretically,as I haven't tried the Wraith). In some masters it feels too airy but this also bring foggy mids. Highs are very extended with sparkles. Some mixes are enjoyable, some are not, but with brain burn, it can be enjoyed on all.

1.02 - Agreed with others - the mids are very expressive. Doesn't add artificial air and dimensional extensions. It's just natural. Although for this - I don't feel a huge gap with the ZX300 (2.02).

The 3.02 has really taken listening experience into a new level. I was actually enjoying in the beginning. But the drums feels slightly recessed as it is too polished and sometimes I miss the gravity on the lows of the 3.01. So I am downgrading. I can sacrifice the highs I enjoyed on the 3.02.

I dont listen music in the morning period lol I noticed bass tastes like K.....p in the mornings trebble sound anoying for me even, and im not in the mood best time for me its around 8 till you can stand it!! i listen to EDM often listen music while playing DOTA2 lol 3.01 still the best for me...

My EQ its really weird too! +10 (31) -5.5 (62) -10 (125) -3 (500) -1.5 (1k) -1 (2k) -2 -(4K) 5.5 (8k) -1.0 (16K)
DSEE Standard Phase Linearizer B low Vinyl Procesor Arm Resonance (Boost bass)
Or
DSEE OFF Phase Linearizer A low Vinyl Procesor Surface Noise (Boost Clarity and resolution)
DSEE Standard Phase Linearizer A low Vinyl Procesor Surface Noise (Boost Trebble)
DSEE Standard Phase Linearizer Off Vinyl Procesor Surface Noise ( make Bass softer and faster)
DSEE Strings Phase Linearizer A low Vinyl Procesor Surface Noise (Reverb)

I am using vinyl processors only when I am playing vinyl rips. I stopped using the EQ - keeping all into 0 db. Only switching the Phase Linearizer depending on each masters. Have you tried only using the Phase Linearizer? I mean instead of combining all - each of them individually sounds like ? DSEE does add colors. In Direct Sound, micro details are less focused.

 

[Erfan Elahi]

c

Regarding FW sound quality. I started with 3.0x so I don't hear any difference. However I'm surprised nobody mentions how their hearing changes throughout the normal day. For me listening in the morning requires higher volume and treble sounds dull. Mid day all is well. Later in the evening, I have to listen at lower volumes and treble sounds sharper. Of course the different volume levels have an impact on how much low end I hear. In all cases, after I listen for an hour or so, my hearing adjusts and gets closer to mid day levels.

Right said. I do feel difference listening experience, time wise too.

Also, is condensation formed from between 14-16° C - does it affects sonics from DAPs ? Or cable / IEM

 

[nc8000]

anyone know where to buy this stand?
looks like a jdm oem product, don't see it on rakuten or anything

It is called Sony STD-NWU10-B Walkman Docking Stand and I bought mine on eBay form Japan for about £60

 

[bflat]

c
Right said. I do feel difference listening experience, time wise too.

Also, is condensation formed from between 14-16° C - does it affects sonics from DAPs ? Or cable / IEM

LOL, I wouldn’t even turn on with condensation. Way to afraid of shorting out chips and battery.

 

[SolarBeaver]

Hey guys, is there any difference in sound quality/volume between using wm1z in dac mode vs dap mode, assuming source is the same?

 

[Mindstorms]

Just tried Firmware 1.20 after reading your comments and some others further back. I am glad I made the switch. IMO FW 1.20 made my WM1A sounds more like my Airist RDAC. Thicker notes and slightly longer decays. Vocals sounds much more emotional.

3.02 with wider soundstage, lean and better defined notes makes the music goes around you while the more analog 1.20 made you feel like you are in the music. I guess which one is better depends on the synergy with your IEMs or personal taste. Only annoying thing is the error message keep popping out when I try to load previous playlist. Rebuilding database works for awhile until you change playlist. Any suggestion?

Copy all songs again... delete cache files..only think it worked for me was to actually adding files again, (have you tried 3.01?) you can try remounting cards...

 

[SolarBeaver]

Hey guys, is there any difference in sound quality/volume between using wm1z in dac mode vs dap mode, assuming source is the same?

Actually found this on Sony's website, in short: no difference, full quote, just in case, below:
"You can enjoy music content stored on a computer through the Walkman, without transferring the content to the Walkman. Because the sound quality settings of the Walkman also apply to the output sound, music content on the computer can be played with the same sound quality as the Walkman."

But I've come across another problem, when trying to play dsd256 audio in Foobar2000 player with wm1z as a DAC, I'm getting an error "Unrecoverable playback error: Sample rate of 705600 Hz not supported by this device", the thing is it works well with Sony's Music Center...
Has anyone encountered something like this? Btw I've already installed all the needed components (Asio support, Super Audio CD decoder, Sony's USB drivers) and DSD128 works well on the Fubar, so it's just DSD256.
Really hope someone who's using this DAC with Fubar could help me on this, cuz I'm just don't know what to do next, expect going with Music Center, which is not really what I'd like to do

Update: now I've noticed that with Sony Music Center standard 16/44 Flac files being recognized as 176.4khz on the DAC, DSEE HX is off. Those players...
Guess it's just way easier to use it as a DAP, without any third party glitchy PC stuff involved.

 

[brainchill]

Did you try the vinyl processing on on the 3.x?

Just tried Firmware 1.20 after reading your comments and some others further back. I am glad I made the switch. IMO FW 1.20 made my WM1A sounds more like my Airist RDAC. Thicker notes and slightly longer decays. Vocals sounds much more emotional.

3.02 with wider soundstage, lean and better defined notes makes the music goes around you while the more analog 1.20 made you feel like you are in the music. I guess which one is better depends on the synergy with your IEMs or personal taste. Only annoying thing is the error message keep popping out when I try to load previous playlist. Rebuilding database works for awhile until you change playlist. Any suggestion?

 

[proedros]

Actually found this on Sony's website, in short: no difference, full quote, just in case, below:
"You can enjoy music content stored on a computer through the Walkman, without transferring the content to the Walkman. Because the sound quality settings of the Walkman also apply to the output sound, music content on the computer can be played with the same sound quality as the Walkman."

But I've come across another problem, when trying to play dsd256 audio in Foobar2000 player with wm1z as a DAC, I'm getting an error "Unrecoverable playback error: Sample rate of 705600 Hz not supported by this device", the thing is it works well with Sony's Music Center...
Has anyone encountered something like this? Btw I've already installed all the needed components (Asio support, Super Audio CD decoder, Sony's USB drivers) and DSD128 works well on the Fubar, so it's just DSD256.
Really hope someone who's using this DAC with Fubar could help me on this, cuz I'm just don't know what to do next, expect going with Music Center, which is not really what I'd like to do

Update: now I've noticed that with Sony Music Center standard 16/44 Flac files being recognized as 176.4khz on the DAC, DSEE HX is off. Those players...
Guess it's just way easier to use it as a DAP, without any third party glitchy PC stuff involved.

i also use Foobar when in USB DAC mode with my WM1A and i think Foobar only goes up to 24/96 (or 24/192 don't remember)

maybe there is another program with higher decoding capabilities than Foobar ?