[mwhals]

My pocket’s not!

I see you have a WM1Z and Empire Ears Phantom. I hear they don’t have good synergy, but am always interested in other opinions.

 

[Vitaly2017]

I have tried on both. Split my listening time into half with each gear.


when you enable Hi-res Streaming On with DSEE HX. That’s when DSEE HX seems to make some music elements envelop behind your ears. It’s like as if there is a spherical sound field that Sony has programmed in. This surround effect seems be variable depending on source material. It’s as if there’s some kind of system at work that determines which element goes to the front and which element goes to the back of the sound field.

I think these is only the beginning of a new audio system, future firmware should bring about more sonic improvements to this surround mode.

I didn’t expect Sony to have silently added this mode to ZX507 without even mentioning anything about it.

You make me wanting to buy zx507 once again LoL keep on hyping

I am thinking and looking at it in my amazon basket

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

You make me wanting to buy zx507 once again LoL keep on hyping

I am thinking and looking at it in my amazon basket

Although I have been hyping the ZX507, I am telling it as what I am hearing and not getting paid or having special free gift benefits from it. Maybe all I get is likes from head-fi members that’s all.

Even though you cannot use CFW for the ZX507, with this firmware there are so many modes that you can mess around with to suit your listening preferences. You can totally switch off Sony sound processing by entering safe mode, switch off hi-res streaming mode and enabling direct source mode or you can experience the full Sony sound processing magic by using Hi-res streaming mode with DSEE HX.

I think with this new ZX507 firmware sound processing, you can turn your regular lossy mp3 into a 3D high resolution like musical experience. Is this worth the price of entry? You decide.

I do think at this point, the ZX507 firmware development has reach its golden age or sorts. The sound quality you get out of it is leaps and bounds ahead of it’s 2019 initial release, now you are getting a realistic expansive 3D soundstage that didn’t even exist back then.

Even if you own the DMP-Z1 or WM1, the ZX507 can still serve as bluetooth ldac true 990kbps source or Usb digital out source for web streaming music content. So it’s a complimentary device of sorts if you look at it.

 

[mwhals]

So WM1A is still better sounding than the ZX507 or did it get passed with the last firmware update?

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Not sure if Damz87 is using mrwalkman’s firmware or stock firmware for his WM1Z but here’s what he said when he compared his WM1Z against the ZX507 on the latest firmware

I sold my IER-M9 a few weeks ago, however I spent yesterday listening to the new firmware with a 64 Audio U12t, which arguably goes one step even further than the M9 in the imaging department.

It sounds sublime with the ZX507.

I must say, the last few firmware updates have really elevated the ZX507. I used to feel that the ZX507 was a great sounding dap but felt the staging capabilities were a big compromise compared to the WM1Z. But, the improvements from the latest firmwares have brought me to the point that my WM1Z is redundant. The 1Z probably still has a slight edge overall, but the gap between the two is now very small imo.

 

[Damz87]

Not sure if Damz87 is using mrwalkman’s firmware or stock firmware for his WM1Z but here’s what he said when he compared his WM1Z against the ZX507 on the latest firmware

Yes, I am using @MrWalkman ‘s firmware on the WM1Z

 

[Vitaly2017]

Yes, I am using @MrWalkman ‘s firmware on the WM1Z

Did you compare the m9 with kimber kable vs the u12t+ premium silver ?
To my ears both are different enough in sound signature to be able to own both hehe

 

[Damz87]

Did you compare the m9 with kimber kable vs the u12t+ premium silver ?
To my ears both are different enough in sound signature to be able to own both hehe

Yeah, they’re two different signatures. The M9 is more neutral in comparison to the U12t that has a bigger sub bass and upper treble boost, so the mids sit slightly further back compared to the M9. They’re both very good IEM’s, but I preferred the extra resolution and general tuning of the U12t. Also I had the M9 for about 18 months and wanted to try some other IEM’s, that’s why I sold it.

When I compared them, I used the U12t with an EA Leo II (I didn’t have the premium silver cable at the time)

 

[SBranson]

I’m sure this has been discussed to death but is there a way to determine if an album art image will display or not before I load it up and discover it didn’t work?
I know from past conversations that there’s something about “interlaced” images but I don’t really understand that.
I also heard that jpegs from Amazon work and that the image should have the same name as the folder but I just had an couple albums that I’ve tried twice and the art still won’t show.
Any easy tips I’m missing here or some way I can look at the properties of an image before I try it?
Thanks

 

[MrWalkman]

I’m sure this has been discussed to death but is there a way to determine if an album art image will display or not before I load it up and discover it didn’t work?
I know from past conversations that there’s something about “interlaced” images but I don’t really understand that.
I also heard that jpegs from Amazon work and that the image should have the same name as the folder but I just had an couple albums that I’ve tried twice and the art still won’t show.
Any easy tips I’m missing here or some way I can look at the properties of an image before I try it?
Thanks

JPEGs can be baseline or progressive. The difference is that a partial downloaded baseline JPEG will be shown as a cut image, while the progressive one will be shown whole, but a bit blurry, depending on how much of the image was downloaded. The Walkman OS will only display baseline JPEG files.

You can check if a JPEG is baseline or progressive, here: https://www.imgonline.com.ua/eng/progressive-or-baseline-jpeg.php

If you open a JPEG in Paint, and then you'll save it (use the Save As option), then the resulted JPEG will be guaranteed baseline.


Regarding PNG, this type of image can be interlaced or not. Downloading an interlaced PNG works exactly like a progressive JPEG (blurry image, depending on how much it of it was downloaded), while the non interlaced PNG works like the baseline JPEG image.

I didn't manage to find a similar website to check if a PNG is interlaced or not, but the Walkman OS will only work with the non interlaced PNGs.

 

[SBranson]

JPEGs can be baseline or progressive. The difference is that a partial downloaded baseline JPEG will be shown as a cut image, while the progressive one will be shown whole, but a bit blurry, depending on how much of the image was downloaded. The Walkman OS will only display baseline JPEG files.

You can check if a JPEG is baseline or progressive, here: https://www.imgonline.com.ua/eng/progressive-or-baseline-jpeg.php

If you open a JPEG in Paint, and then you'll save it (use the Save As option), then the resulted JPEG will be guaranteed baseline.


Regarding PNG, this type of image can be interlaced or not. Downloading an interlaced PNG works exactly like a progressive JPEG (blurry image, depending on how much it of it was downloaded), while the non interlaced PNG works like the baseline JPEG image.

I didn't manage to find a similar website to check if a PNG is interlaced or not, but the Walkman OS will only work with the non interlaced PNGs.

Wow... thanks so much for the explanation and the link. Does that explain why some thumbnails in posts only show a partial image when you try to expand them?

I was under the impression that png’s didn’t work at all. Glad to have that cleared up.
I’ll look into a Mac version of the “paint” trick you mentioned.

 

[MrWalkman]

Wow... thanks so much for the explanation and the link. Does that explain why some thumbnails in posts only show a partial image when you try to expand them?

I was under the impression that png’s didn’t work at all. Glad to have that cleared up.
I’ll look into a Mac version of the “paint” trick you mentioned.

Check out this post. The user installed GIMP, and when exporting a JPEG you will have an option to choose between progressive or baseline.

Gimp for macOS has different menus, but I was able to finally figure it out and the new artwork now shows up, great! With the export command, there is an advanced settings dialog that allows unchecking progressive.

@MrWalkman - thank you for your help!

 

[SBranson]

Check out this post. The user installed GIMP, and when exporting a JPEG you will have an option to choose between progressive or baseline.

That's perfect thanks! I use GIMP for altering images for album art but never noticed the progressive/baseline setting.

 

[SBranson]

Found the way to uncheck the progressive box.. Thanks very much.

 

[hamhamhamsta]

I see you have a WM1Z and Empire Ears Phantom. I hear they don’t have good synergy, but am always interested in other opinions.

What I have is modded 1Z and Romi 1Z with BG caps. For me, most of my iems are warm such as EE phantom, SE5U, CA Andromeda and JVC FX850 just to name few. I hate cold sounding, clinical iems so that’s to that. And I listen to vocals, acoustic, jazz. My mod 1Z is a cross between regular 1A and 1Z. So maybe the comparison is not fair.

But what I want to say is this. I think using the right firmware is very important. My absolute fav firmware is Cerberus mix with1A/1Z+ with Gear of War flawed upgrade version. It has the best clarity, resolution, etc etc compared to other firmwares. It clears up Phantom thick, syrupy, haze and replace with naturalness. How should I say this ~ it sounds like a very natural EE Zeus with amazing timbre, smacking bass etc. is it a good match? Definitely, it’s no longer warm, syrupy thick iem but become a natural timbre, clear, cutting iem but not clinical, like a perfect Zeus.I use CN region, since has best clarity, resolution of all region. In its place, the thickness of Phantom is cut down a huge portion by the choice of firmware, region, use of cables and mod. It’s kinda like doing EQ, I’m not sure if you notice, but when EQing, it’s better to cut down/ reduce frequencies, rather than add more. It’s kinda the same principle.

Phantom can be a very good match with 1Z, since technically it already have strong basic foundations of good timbre, bass. So you just need to reduce haze, thickness, increase clarity and resolution by choice of firmware, cable, and region. My goal is to get the most natural sounding music, where it’s like you are there in the venue, listening to live music. It can work, Romi modded 1Z is definitely the best modded 1Z I have heard in terms of naturalness. Best bass, extremely immersive, like hey I’m there listening to the singer live. My mods 1Z sounds it’s very wide. Compared to Romi 1Z, everything the same, same firmware, same iem, cable, same songs; Romi sounds very deep, theres very high ceiling and deep bottom, bass hits hard but sounds natural. Soundstage not as wide but everything else is just a couple step higher, very musical and dynamics with emotive vocals. I’m really curious how Romi sounds compared to NayParm modded Kaisei cap version, since Kaisei is basically caps that replace BG caps. It would be amazing to compare the 2 dap together