[Amber Rain]

So for portable storage capacity, how much is enough for everyone? 256GB UHS II vs 512GB UHS I vs 1TB UHS I are my choices.

512GB SD, not maxed out yet (had to upgrade from 400GB).

 

[Duncan]

UHS II is absolutely not worth paying the premium for in this player

 

[gerelmx1986]

1TB has 296GB free
512 has 20GB free
400 has 77GB free

This for ca. 60,033 tracks all lossless ranging from 16/44.1 - 24/352.8 and mostly DSF 64fs

 

[gerelmx1986]

Boy, these xelastec AZLA Earfit tips make the IER-Z1R wild, the added more treble and huge soundstage


Oh and that was not using @MrWalkman magic of DSEE HX AI, forgot to turn it on... wow if the stage was big no AI DSEE now is gargantuan

 

[Queen6]

Well it’s not like Sony are suffering or being ripped of or deprived of sales, if anything this might increase sales of the players marginally. After all the only people who benefit from these modded fw and tunings are people who have already paid Sony and own the players and nobody are selling the fw. But yes you are right that strictly speaking it is illeagal and against Sony’s terms.

If the "crying" does trigger someone down the line, what can be assured is that auronthas will be the single most unpopular member of the Sony community across all forums. I tend to agree, as the trend of overly locked down, locked in DAP's is very much a turn off for many.

One of the reasons I opted for the ZX & WM1 series players was the ability to switch region and tweak the sound signature to my own taste, deliberately disregarding the ZX500 due to that very inability. Had the Dap's been locked to my local region I wouldn't own, nor likely to import. Some OEM's take it to ridiculous levels up to and including language, that is locked, therefore I wont remotely entertain them...

The custom firmware brings a new lease of life to the WM1 series and can only help to boost sales, especially with the utter inflexibility of some others. Sony's more open attitude is refreshing in this day & age and should be thoroughly commended by the community

Q-6

 

[Icekuma]

I am working on fixing the issue with the Installer Collapsed issue.

As for Catalina support, I've described why it doesn't work many times previously.

To recap, the Sony installer will not run on Catalina due to Sony not updating their USB driver. Apple warned them about this starting back at WWDC 2017 and confirmed at WWDC 2019.

Your only choice it to run Mojave or earlier versions of macOS natively or in a VM. You can also run Windows 10 in a VM.

Note: Microsoft allows anyone to download the Windows 10 Installer ISO and install it without a key. For the first 30 days all features work. After that 95% of the features still work and you will get occasionally nag screens to buy a key that you can ignore.

Thanks @Lookout57 i am sure you are aware that latest sony firmware installer works in Catalina. I tried launching and stop short of actually plugging my wm1a. Perhaps that’s something you can use. Thank you again

 

[Lookout57]

Thanks @Lookout57 i am sure you are aware that latest sony firmware installer works in Catalina. I tried launching and stop short of actually plugging my wm1a. Perhaps that’s something you can use. Thank you again

It doesn't do anything once you plug the device in as the Sony kext doesn't load.

If you do a strings on the "WmFwHelperTool" binary you will see "/System/Library/Extensions" is hard coded. As of Catalina, Apple does not allow any third party kernel extensions to install to or load from "/System/Library/Extensions". So "SONYWalkmanType00.kext" will never load and the installer hangs.

I never tried to copy "SONYWalkmanType00.kext" to "/Library/Extensions" and manually loading it from the command line. That might work. But even if it does, it's probably too difficult for most users to do since it's all Terminal commands.

When I get a chance I'll try that. If it works I'll work on getting an installer package to install and load it and then delete after installing the new firmware.

 

[MrWalkman]

It doesn't do anything once you plug the device in as the Sony kext doesn't load.

If you do a strings on the "WmFwHelperTool" binary you will see "/System/Library/Extensions" is hard coded. As of Catalina, Apple does not allow any third party kernel extensions to install to or load from "/System/Library/Extensions". So "SONYWalkmanType00.kext" will never load and the installer hangs.

I never tried to copy "SONYWalkmanType00.kext" to "/Library/Extensions" and manually loading it from the command line. That might work. But even if it does, it's probably too difficult for most users to do since it's all Terminal commands.

When I get a chance I'll try that. If it works I'll work on getting an installer package to install and load it and then delete after installing the new firmware.

I had a Macbook for work, and I was trying to enable some kind of direct mode for Roon. This was useful for getting Roon to directly access the DAC, bypassing the MacOS CoreAudio sound API.

Doing this involved replacing the CoreAudio KEXT with a previous version of that file. I know for sure it was a painful process, but for MacOS users it could be useful as you should do it once and then you should be able to freely use any firmware installer from there on.

This link contains the tutorial for replacing the KEXT file, and the tutorial should be also usable for placing other KEXT files in there. If it's not too complicated, maybe you could try this method and do a tutorial for it, if it works, @Lookout57.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hqeai0fs8m5o5ey/AudirvanaCatalinaDirectMode.zip?dl=0

Edit: I succeeded in doing the KEXT thing by the way, and all worked as intended.

 

[nc8000]

So for portable storage capacity, how much is enough for everyone? 256GB UHS II vs 512GB UHS I vs 1TB UHS I are my choices.

Edit: And yes, I’m still eyeing a WM1A, a WM1Z, a next gen WM1Z, or a ZX507, I’m just not willing to give up the Lotoo Paw Gold Touch. It just struck me, why not both?

I have a 1TB and have down sampled all my hires music to 16/44 or 16/48 and that fits with 90GB to spare. If I were to have all my music at full resolution I would need 2TB

 

[Lookout57]

I had a Macbook for work, and I was trying to enable some kind of direct mode for Roon. This was useful for getting Roon to directly access the DAC, bypassing the MacOS CoreAudio sound API.

Doing this involved replacing the CoreAudio KEXT with a previous version of that file. I know for sure it was a painful process, but for MacOS users it could be useful as you should do it once and then you should be able to freely use any firmware installer from there on.

This link contains the tutorial for replacing the KEXT file, and the tutorial should be also usable for placing other KEXT files in there. If it's not too complicated, maybe you could try this method and do a tutorial for it, if it works, @Lookout57.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hqeai0fs8m5o5ey/AudirvanaCatalinaDirectMode.zip?dl=0

Edit: I succeeded in doing the KEXT thing by the way, and all worked as intended.

Sony kext will manually load from "/Library/Extensions".

However the installer fails with a different error.

 

[Mystic Traveller]

Did someone have a chance to compare Sony MDR-1AM2 and MDR-Z7M2,
especially on 1A?
I am wondering if Z7M2 have significantly wider sound stage?
I know I need to try a Z7M2 at a headphones' store myself but can't in the near future.

 

[miguel.yarce]

Did someone have a chance to compare Sony MDR-1AM2 and MDR-Z7M2,
especially on 1A?
I am wondering if Z7M2 have significantly wider sound stage?
I know I need to try myself but can't in the near future.

I had both and the 1am2 is a better match with the wm1a, the z7m2 needs more amplification, instead you can search the z7 original.

 

[Mystic Traveller]

I had both and the 1am2 is a better match with the wm1a, the z7m2 needs more amplification, instead you can search the z7 original.

Z7 original have higher sensitivity than Z7M2 I noticed that. And do they have sound stage noticeably wider
than 1am2? Is it worth upgrading from 1am2 to Z7 in other words?

 

[miguel.yarce]

Z7 original have higher sensitivity than Z7M2 I noticed that. And do they have sound stage noticeably wider
than 1am2? Is it worth upgrading from 1am2 to Z7 in other words?

Yes IMHO the soundstage is wider, it have more bass, I felt the 1am2 a little bit more balanced.

 

[Mystic Traveller]

the 1am2 a little bit more balanced

I've got them from new not a long ago, a nice pair with my 1A - got maybe 20 hrs of listening
on them so they are still burning in IMO. I have a feeling that a sound stage have been getting wider
throughout those hours - maybe due to burning in in progress, or 'cos my brain is getting adjusted to the new source, or both.. It was always a tricky question.