[Duncan]

Wow, that dislodged any earwax that may've been in my ears...

Erich Kunzel's version of the 1812 overture, I decided to go for it - high gain, 105 on the volume... yowzers! the FH7 stood their ground admirably (The best I ever heard that was with the Philips M1 over ears - maximum volume, the earcups moved...)

I'm sure youtube kills the dynamics, but - the part in question:

 

[firemess]

Anyone tried the Cerberus+ on WM1a?

 

[proedros]

Like I said, keeping it simple with Mr. Walkman’s stuff. Thank you, again, sir.

same here , also seeing that cerberus was tuned on a U region , so it's a pass for me as i am on J region

and i have to be sincere here - i think it's sloppy releasing something that does not work 100% and causing all this confuson

less is more , i guess.

my 2 cents , and i am back on wm1a/z+

 

[Mystic Traveller]

CHAMELEON (stock sound)
How to: First install this firmware, and then go to "Settings", "Device Settings", "Reset/Format/Model Switcher",
and then choose "Switch Device Model". After switching the model, install this firmware again, in
order to fully apply the 1Z sound signature to your 1A.

A clarifying question, Mr. SuperSonic - if my 1A is already switched to 1Z (1Z+ installed), then am I right
that after flashing Chameleon it will remain as 1Z and there is no need to
switching the model, install this firmware again as above? Many thanks!

 

[MrWalkman]

A clarifying question, Mr. SuperSonic - if my 1A is already switched to 1Z (1Z+ installed), then am I right
that after flashing Chameleon it will remain as 1Z and there is no need to
switching the model, install this firmware again as above? Many thanks!

Exactly. You can switch between mods, and the model will not change. You can look at the Unit Information menu after flashing Chameleon, to confirm it.

Just remember to switch back to the original model if you wish to go back to stock.

 

[Gamerlingual]

same here , also seeing that cerberus was tuned on a U region , so it's a pass for me as i am on J region

and i have to be sincere here - i think it's sloppy releasing something that does not work 100% and causing all this confuson

less is more , i guess.

my 2 cents , and i am back on wm1a/z+

I also question the timing of the release as well. But as told, I’ll just stick to Mr. Walkman’s FMs. They’ve done huge wonders for the community. Cheers @MrWalkman

 

[aceedburn]

WM1A/z+ on 1A switched to 1Z is all I’ll ever need. No need to fool around with any other tuning anymore for me. And the battery life is fantastic.

 

[lumdicks]

I also question the timing of the release as well. But as told, I’ll just stick to Mr. Walkman’s FMs. They’ve done huge wonders for the community. Cheers @MrWalkman

It is personal choice of using which modded firmwares but all of @MrWalkman , @Whitigir and @Morbideath deserve a big salute for their wonderful works and unselfish sharing.

I think we as free riders should show more respect to them.

 

[proedros]

WM1A/z+ on 1A switched to 1Z is all I’ll ever need. No need to fool around with any other tuning anymore for me. And the battery life is fantastic.

yeah , the 4 tunings available here 1a(with/without reapplying the FW) + 1z(with/without reapplying the FW) are enough for me too

 

[MrWalkman]

It is personal choice of using which modded firmwares but all of @MrWalkman , @Whitigir and @Morbideath deserve a big salute for their wonderful works and unselfish sharing.

I think we as free riders should show more respect to them.

I don't mean to spoil the party, but I read most of the things around here, and we shouldn't overlook some things though.

Any FW above T5 level, aka Solis, need more than running the exe to install and be done with it. For the FW to fully work as intended we need to exploit some unexpected bugs and some workarounds. These can't be easily applied to most device on a mass scale and may have the chance to brick your device, not to mention if we make the bug public, Sony will surely fix it. A bug is not like modifying codes which is harmless.

As for the performance, i managed to flash Helios (T7) on my rented stock 1A. It doesn't sound much different than Solis T5. And there are some harshness inherited by stock 1A itself. Now Chronos is T10 level so i don't expect it to do anything special on stock 1A either. Attention again, such FW installation involves more than running an exe but more operations, so don't need to try it.

Cerberus was said to be Tier 10, and I guess that the exploiting/workaround is actually the swapping of the XML file, which it doesn't actually work (see here). Also, I don't personally see how this could brick the player.

Now you know why I kept on with those tier differences , and never went beyond it or release anything beyond it. Because it wouldn’t help anything. Even with Veritas series, stock Walkmans can not hold up, but with tier 4 Walkman hardware, you will witness it yourself

Now your Blackgate needed to be opened, We welcome you with Cerberus

Again, the mentioning that if you don't match the tier of the tuning with the tier of the player (through hardware modding), then stock players would not benefit from using a higher tier tuning, especially a tier 10 one.

Now suddenly it also benefits stock players. And there are other things claimed before, that are not true. It's a bit fishy, and this is only my opinion, backed up by facts.

Cheers.


Edit: To Morbideath and Whitigir, and anyone else who may do a tuning mod, feel free to use the WM1A/Z+ UPG with the Cerberus tuning, but I would really advise using the latest version of it, at least.

 

[audionewbi]

If anyone is wondering about the Sony DSEE feature, here is visual proof of it. I know this is not the same, this one is on the actual PC, but this is still good enough to demonstrate the purpose.

 

[MrWalkman]

There was a question, if changing the region will also alter the sound, as changing the destination does.

I actually have no idea, as this is the first time we also changed regions, so feel free to experiment.

If there would be any change, it should be a subtle change, like with tuning mods.

As with switching models, I recommend installing any firmware again after changing the region.

REGIONS or VARIANTS​	DESTINATIONS (this is what we were able to change until now)​
Universal/Japanese/European​	J/U/CA/CEV/CEW/CN/KR/E/MX3/etc. (more info)​

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sony-nw-wm1z-wm1a.815841/page-2794#post-15766039

 

[Blueoris]

@MrWalkman your hard-headed approach, combined with your professional demeanour is appreciated in this thread.

What's your favourite beer by the way?

 

[MrWalkman]

@MrWalkman your hard-headed approach, combined with your professional demeanour is appreciated in this thread.

Thanks!

What's your favourite beer by the way?

Haha, just a bad joke.

I usually drink Budweiser, it's a Czech lager But good beer is good beer, when you're thirsty, especially in the summer, any cold beer is good!

 

[Whitigir]

@MrWalkman , all the props go to you and with due respects. Like I kept saying the last couple posts.

1/ First and most important, no one know how to crack the firmware on Walkman, and UPG back then, everyone kept it behind the door just as you are keeping how you are cracking the UPG, for the sake of Sony not peeking and patching it up.
Also, once you cracked the main UPG, there are possibilities that you could crack it again regardless if or when Sony patch up the securities. It is much and seriously Much more differences than just able to “extract” the firmwares into packages, and tweak the XML. It was the more reasons to keep the ”hacks” behind the door

2/ tuning has it limitations, as you already see, and again, everyone knew that there are more to be done within the UPG, but No one could have cracked it. This, was explicitly mentioned over and over even before many different tunings came out from me. For example, @Morbideath mentioned that “here are a few firmwares tweaked by Chinese pioneers, but there are a big black box that no one know how to work around with”. Different changes, effected how the player sounds. Back then, our limitations stopped at, the higher the tuning, the only beta testers with hardware modified could have benefits. We could only stated what were the facts back then

3/ Why did we keep Cerberus away ? The truth as mentioned above. The reason “you could have brick the player”, were a made up reason to keep people at Bay. Once again, my apologies, but we kept on saying that we had limits.

4/ I promised people that I would release that tuning, when the time is ripe, which is now. I didn’t meant to release it to have someone looked back into the past limitations and what we had to go with to “calm“ people down back then, and then pointed toward us. With all due respects, I release it because I promised it, and I would always share what I could, when I could, for example, Hardware modifications, and how to/where to buy which parts, which components to improve one player. Not only the Walkman, but also other players.

5/ another fact is that, hardware modified players would Hugely benefits from the modified firmwares. It is what it is, and people have been comparing them side by side. Just like modifying a car, with a turbo, and a tune.

Now, it is over. We could just let the past rest and move on ? I do not understand why we had to go through this again. It brought sad memories, and reminded me of a member @morgenstern09 with bumps into us. I wondered what happened to him.

Me on another hand, personally happy for people to see what you could have done with the player, the firmware. Enjoy it folks! I still don’t know what happened to the PS3 hacker back then VS Sony in the court, whatever his name was. People will benefits, but the people who is responsible is the one who pioneering the hammer that cracked the egg , beware the hammer