[SBranson]

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 Phantom 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 the 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.

There's a whole education in this post..!

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

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)

I do feel it is necessary to keep one neutral sounding audio gear in your inventory, as it allows you to know the coloration of a new dap/amp/dac

 

[hamhamhamsta]

There's a whole education in this post..!

I’m also not paid member or receive any benefits or anything, but if anyone is interested in getting their 1A/1Z to higher level performance, consider doing NayParm mod. I myself is considering doing this, but money is a little tight now. Price wise it’s very reasonable, Kaisei cap is official replacement for BG caps( I will say this, I have 1Z Romi mod with BG caps; it’s the best there is in terms of making the sounds natural), with all the work, extended Bluetooth performance, extended battery performance, immaculate work, shielding, replacement internal cables etc) it is very reasonable price. I don’t know how it sounds yet, I absolutely adore my Romi, but Romi has its drawback, BG caps uses so much battery that it’s life is probably 8-12 hours max. Also, there Bluetooth is disabled, SD slot not working and it’s more expensive than NayParm mod. I no longer can live without Bluetooth, need it very badly. If you consider doing the mod, go for it. I’m assuming NayParm mod performance should be close to Romi mod. It’s very reasonable price, if not downright a steal

 

[Damz87]

I do feel it is necessary to keep one neutral sounding audio gear in your inventory, as it allows you to know the coloration of a new dap/amp/dac

Definitely using a 64 Audio U18s for that which is super transparent for sources/daps etc

 

[feverfive]

All the album art issues are confusing me. **Disclaimer: I am a simple Mac user, however, LMAO**

I use XLD app to transcode everything to ALAC, and I simply embed album art images into the resultant .m4a files. That way I always have album art/cover no matter what player or OS I'm using, :knocksonwood: at least up to this point I've had zero issues. Never have any issues with art displaying on my ZX-507 anyway. No dealing with a cover.jpg file in album folders; all the art is embedded. Maybe not relevant to the non-Android Sony OS? I'm just intrigued by all the user issues.

 

[MrWalkman]

All the album art issues are confusing me. **Disclaimer: I am a simple Mac user, however, LMAO**

I use XLD app to transcode everything to ALAC, and I simply embed album art images into the resultant .m4a files. That way I always have album art/cover no matter what player or OS I'm using, :knocksonwood: at least up to this point I've had zero issues. Never have any issues with art displaying on my ZX-507 anyway. No dealing with a cover.jpg file in album folders; all the art is embedded. Maybe not relevant to the non-Android Sony OS? I'm just intrigued by all the user issues.

The "issues" are pretty simple, as already explained - only baseline JPEG images, or non interlaced PNG images as covers. Otherwise, the image will not be shown.

This is valid for the Walkman OS, at least (non-Android).

 

[feverfive]

LOL, I'm sorry, I don't even know what "baseline" and "progressive" jpg's are, so I probably shouldn't have even commented. I've simply never run across any such issue with images, and I doubt I have some special album art source that others don't use. Look, I already admitted I'm a simple Mac user!

 

[MrWalkman]

LOL, I'm sorry, I don't even know what "baseline" and "progressive" jpg's are, so I probably shouldn't have even commented. I've simply never run across any such issue with images, and I doubt I have some special album art source that others don't use. Look, I already admitted I'm a simple Mac user!

No worries! I just posted an explanation in the previous page. Here it is:

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.

Regarding saving an JPEG image as baseline JPEG on MacOS, it could be done with GIMP, as described by an user on the ZX300 thread:

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!

I am not sure how many players have this kind of "issue", that they require only baseline JPEG or non interlaced PNG images, so I'm thinking that this is why you probably didn't encounter this issue.

 

[nc8000]

No worries! I just posted an explanation in the previous page. Here it is:




Regarding saving an JPEG image as baseline JPEG on MacOS, it could be done with GIMP, as described by an user on the ZX300 thread:



I am not sure how many players have this kind of "issue", that they require only baseline JPEG or non interlaced PNG images, so I'm thinking that this is why you probably didn't encounter this issue.

Android can display progressive, at least it could on ZX2, it is just SonyOS that has this issue

 

[Jotaro]

I want the hand strap!!!

Do you by any chance have the part # of that strap?

Thx!!

Nope, but is the one that comes with the original zx300 case.

 

[gerelmx1986]

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.

If you have Asobe Photoshop. Click save as... if prompted that exists click OK. In the next dialog where you select image quality. Below are three options for saving jpeg, Baseline, Baseline optimized and Progressivs

 

[Vitaly2017]

I’m also not paid member or receive any benefits or anything, but if anyone is interested in getting their 1A/1Z to higher level performance, consider doing NayParm mod. I myself is considering doing this, but money is a little tight now. Price wise it’s very reasonable, Kaisei cap is official replacement for BG caps( I will say this, I have 1Z Romi mod with BG caps; it’s the best there is in terms of making the sounds natural), with all the work, extended Bluetooth performance, extended battery performance, immaculate work, shielding, replacement internal cables etc) it is very reasonable price. I don’t know how it sounds yet, I absolutely adore my Romi, but Romi has its drawback, BG caps uses so much battery that it’s life is probably 8-12 hours max. Also, there Bluetooth is disabled, SD slot not working and it’s more expensive than NayParm mod. I no longer can live without Bluetooth, need it very badly. If you consider doing the mod, go for it. I’m assuming NayParm mod performance should be close to Romi mod. It’s very reasonable price, if not downright a steal

I am happy to see you are enjoying the amazing 1z Romi, glad it works out very good for you

When I had them all 3 at my disposal ( 1z stock, Romi 1z and 1a stock ) i had huge trouble deciding which I keep as I do not gather collection of gear only keep the one that passes my ears approval.

So I decided to keep the one I was grabbing the most and listened the most often. Yes I had the 3 best daps always at my finger tips range was a very spoiled Tiger!
But believe or not wm1a has won the battle of the titans!

Folks might be very surprised by this results but the real reason behind this is that 1a sounded the most accurate and naturaly closer to life like sound.
Romi 1z is between 1a and 1z but I have a very specific personal reason why I didnt approve it over 1a so I dont want to ruin your pleasure and fun with it by disclosing the details.

Yes yes 1a is the most natural slightly neutralish sound with an amazing musicality that dont compromise sound details...
To me 1a is the right sounding sound tuning 1z is to warm and thick, no matter what fm or region you roll it threw.

I know not an easy statement to accept but I went over it even at high loss in $ and go for what I believe to be a better sound.

Definitely using a 64 Audio U18s for that which is super transparent for sources/daps etc

You have so much gear! You making some fellas a little jealous

 

[Gamerlingual]

I am happy to see you are enjoying the amazing 1z Romi, glad it works out very good for you

When I had them all 3 at my disposal ( 1z stock, Romi 1z and 1a stock ) i had huge trouble deciding which I keep as I do not gather collection of gear only keep the one that passes my ears approval.

So I decided to keep the one I was grabbing the most and listened the most often. Yes I had the 3 best daps always at my finger tips range was a very spoiled Tiger!
But believe or not wm1a has won the battle of the titans!

Folks might be very surprised by this results but the real reason behind this is that 1a sounded the most accurate and naturaly closer to life like sound.
Romi 1z is between 1a and 1z but I have a very specific personal reason why I didnt approve it over 1a so I dont want to ruin your pleasure and fun with it by disclosing the details.

Yes yes 1a is the most natural slightly neutralish sound with an amazing musicality that dont compromise sound details...
To me 1a is the right sounding sound tuning 1z is to warm and thick, no matter what fm or region you roll it threw.

I know not an easy statement to accept but I went over it even at high loss in $ and go for what I believe to be a better sound.





You have so much gear! You making some fellas a little jealous

I thought the DMP-Z1 was the best one for you

 

[Vitaly2017]

I thought the DMP-Z1 was the best one for you

I dont have it on hands so nothing I can say about dmp-z1 in regard to sound.
No experience with it other than 15min audition at canjam...




For the curious ones my current setup is wm1a, tia fourte noir with premium silver cable, mdr-z7m2 with kimber kable.

I plan to add ier-m9 with kimber kable and thinking highly of the zx507

My dmp-z1 plans has shifted due to some issues I encountered with the seller so the dmp-z1 purchase has drowned in the ocean

 

[Gamerlingual]

I dont have it on hands so nothing I can say about dmp-z1 in regard to sound.
No experience with it other than 15min audition at canjam...




For the curious ones my current setup is wm1a, tia fourte noir with premium silver cable, mdr-z7m2 with kimber kable.

I plan to add ier-m9 with kimber kable and thinking highly of the zx507

My dmp-z1 plans has shifted due to some issues I encountered with the seller so the dmp-z1 purchase has drowned in the ocean

Wait what?? The sale didn’t go through?? Dude, that sucks. I wish you the best for that regardless.