[Music Sanctuary]

Hello everyone,

This is not what we had in mind when we were imagining our first post here, but given the heated exchanges that have taken place recently, seems like we have a lot to say to clear the air, so we'll get right into it...

• We'll start first off by addressing the most recent discussion revolving around our Head-Fi account. While we are not very active on the forum, we have friends here in the local scene who alerted us to some discussion taking place on a recent change to our website last weekend. Upon hearing this, we decided to push back our formal announcement of the change, as we wanted to come on here and provide our side of the story before doing any promotion on our end. Our Head-Fi account was something we created last September in the wake of some organisational changes, and we have not had to use it up to this point in time.
  
  What happened then was we logged in to this account to find that it had no MOT tag, and was unable to do almost anything on the forum site - we could not post anywhere, edit our own profile or even PM any users including moderators or admins for help. With this restricting how we could reach out to people, we had no choice but to email Head-Fi through their feedback email and the website's contact form – which got us no reply from the team, only got us the MOT tag on Wednesday and didn't resolve the other restrictions on the account. We took pains to ensure that our requests for help did not specify any particular users or particular posts, and only focused on getting the restrictions lifted.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  At this point we wish to make it clear that we have zero interest in reporting other users on this platform – we honestly think it is a shame that community members are opting to leave over this misunderstanding. But even if we did, restrictions on our account would have made it impossible to do so. As of a few hours ago (we're half a day ahead of everyone in the US, to avoid any confusion), this was the state of functionality of our account:
  
  
  
  There are no report buttons anywhere on any posts, we could not post to any thread (not just this one), we were unable to edit our own account and we could not PM anyone, including moderators and site admins. This situation was only resolved after a long email requesting for help from Ethan from Canjam, as we were running out of ideas as to who we could contact from the HF team to actually make progress on the situation while we watched people here jump to conclusions that our incredibly nefarious plans were finally coming to fruition – the truth is a lot more boring, to be honest. It is at this point that Joe caught wind of what was happening here, and replied to us over email to state that our restrictions were lifted, and that's where we are now with us posting this.
  
  
  
  
  
  We also think it is unfortunate that some people have jumped to conclusions that we have reported others when it is obviously not in our interest to do so – as we have seen from the resulting backlash, such actions impact the intangible quality of reputation, which we have zero intention to ruin for ourselves (running a business is already challenging as it is). We accept that our forced silence may have played into this perception, and can do nothing but share our side of this story from here onward to set the record straight.
  
  
• We'd next like to address the original topic of player modifications, as this was the original point of conflict in this situation and something which we would have liked to address at an earlier point in time, account issues notwithstanding.
  
  Capacitor modifications are something that we have been internally experimenting with since last year, and us testing the Audio Note Kaisei capacitors along with other audio capacitors such as Elna Silmic IIs has been an ongoing process since last year as well. Below are some of our internal discussions with timestamps and identifying information removed:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Obviously, not being first to market does outwardly imply that the work may not be original, and we understand that this perception is a consequence of taking additional time to be able to roll out the changes to our service – this modification service is only a small part of what we offer, and our time and attention had been drawn away by other pressing business challenges (COVID and otherwise) in the interim year between these above discussions.
  
  Additionally, we also do not believe that being first to do anything or post anything is something that grants said person an unchallenged exclusive right to change or modify their players, and we think this free spirit of experimentation is something that should remain intact as it benefits all who are here thanks to their passion for audio. This applies equally to us as it does to others, and to this end we have chosen not to stake any sort of claim for ourselves as others have experimented with modifications that end up being similar to what we have been doing internally. We believe that there is space on the market for multiple modification offerings as everyone has a different philosophy as to how they tackle this, and we carry nothing but respect for fellow enthusiasts who have done work to push the quality of these players, whether they have posted here before or otherwise.
  
  
• As a final point, we would like to address some concerns about quality that other users have brought up (fairly, we may add). We will not shy away from these criticisms – to this point, the original engineer who performed all of these modifications is no longer with us (he was the previous owner of the company and did not adhere to the work quality and business ethics we now aspire towards), and we have altered our modification process, internal layout and quality standards to ensure that even the parts of our modifications that usually sit away from the user's view are something that we are proud to send out to customers. We feel that quality of work is something that we should never be fully satisfied with, and are always looking to improve the work that we do, modifications or otherwise. More importantly, we will continue to stand by any users who have modified their players with us as we want to ensure all who have entrusted us continue to be supported through any issues they may face with their players.
  
  
  

If you've made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read everything – we're honestly just relieved to be finally able to share our side of the story, and are more than happy to address questions if people have any.

 

[hshock76]

Hello everyone,

This is not what we had in mind when we were imagining our first post here, but given the heated exchanges that have taken place recently, seems like we have a lot to say to clear the air, so we'll get right into it...

• We'll start first off by addressing the most recent discussion revolving around our Head-Fi account. While we are not very active on the forum, we have friends here in the local scene who alerted us to some discussion taking place on a recent change to our website last weekend. Upon hearing this, we decided to push back our formal announcement of the change, as we wanted to come on here and provide our side of the story before doing any promotion on our end. Our Head-Fi account was something we created last September in the wake of some organisational changes, and we have not had to use it up to this point in time.
  
  What happened then was we logged in to this account to find that it had no MOT tag, and was unable to do almost anything on the forum site - we could not post anywhere, edit our own profile or even PM any users including moderators or admins for help. With this restricting how we could reach out to people, we had no choice but to email Head-Fi through their feedback email and the website's contact form – which got us no reply from the team, only got us the MOT tag on Wednesday and didn't resolve the other restrictions on the account. We took pains to ensure that our requests for help did not specify any particular users or particular posts, and only focused on getting the restrictions lifted.
  
  
  
  At this point we wish to make it clear that we have zero interest in reporting other users on this platform – we honestly think it is a shame that community members are opting to leave over this misunderstanding. But even if we did, restrictions on our account would have made it impossible to do so. As of a few hours ago (we're half a day ahead of everyone in the US, to avoid any confusion), this was the state of functionality of our account:
  
  
  
  There are no report buttons anywhere on any posts, we could not post to any thread (not just this one), we were unable to edit our own account and we could not PM anyone, including moderators and site admins. This situation was only resolved after a long email requesting for help from Ethan from Canjam, as we were running out of ideas as to who we could contact from the HF team to actually make progress on the situation while we watched people here jump to conclusions that our incredibly nefarious plans were finally coming to fruition – the truth is a lot more boring, to be honest. It is at this point that Joe caught wind of what was happening here, and replied to us over email to state that our restrictions were lifted, and that's where we are now with us posting this.
  
  
  
  We also think it is unfortunate that some people have jumped to conclusions that we have reported others when it is obviously not in our interest to do so – as we have seen from the resulting backlash, such actions impact the intangible quality of reputation, which we have zero intention to ruin for ourselves (running a business is already challenging as it is). We accept that our forced silence may have played into this perception, and can do nothing but share our side of this story from here onward to set the record straight.
  
  
• We'd next like to address the original topic of player modifications, as this was the original point of conflict in this situation and something which we would have liked to address at an earlier point in time, account issues notwithstanding.
  
  Capacitor modifications are something that we have been internally experimenting with since last year, and us testing the Audio Note Kaisei capacitors along with other audio capacitors such as Elna Silmic IIs has been an ongoing process since last year as well. Below are some of our internal discussions with timestamps and identifying information removed:
  
  
  
  Obviously, not being first to market does outwardly imply that the work may not be original, and we understand that this perception is a consequence of taking additional time to be able to roll out the changes to our service – this modification service is only a small part of what we offer, and our time and attention had been drawn away by other pressing business challenges (COVID and otherwise) in the interim year between these above discussions.
  
  Additionally, we also do not believe that being first to do anything or post anything is something that grants said person an unchallenged exclusive right to change or modify their players, and we think this free spirit of experimentation is something that should remain intact as it benefits all who are here thanks to their passion for audio. This applies equally to us as it does to others, and to this end we have chosen not to stake any sort of claim for ourselves as others have experimented with modifications that end up being similar to what we have been doing internally. We believe that there is space on the market for multiple modification offerings as everyone has a different philosophy as to how they tackle this, and we carry nothing but respect for fellow enthusiasts who have done work to push the quality of these players, whether they have posted here before or otherwise.
  
  
• As a final point, we would like to address some concerns about quality that other users have brought up (fairly, we may add). We will not shy away from these criticisms – to this point, the original engineer who performed all of these modifications is no longer with us (he was the previous owner of the company and did not adhere to the work quality and business ethics we now aspire towards), and we have altered our modification process, internal layout and quality standards to ensure that even the parts of our modifications that usually sit away from the user's view are something that we are proud to send out to customers. We feel that quality of work is something that we should never be fully satisfied with, and are always looking to improve the work that we do, modifications or otherwise. More importantly, we will continue to stand by any users who have modified their players with us as we want to ensure all who have entrusted us continue to be supported through any issues they may face with their players.
  
  

If you've made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read everything – we're honestly just relieved to be finally able to share our side of the story, and are more than happy to address questions if people have any.

Hope I can be back in Sg sometime soon to try out your player. Never had any doubts on the quality of your team’s work and service. Keep it up!

 

[524419]

I am sorry, but if you are telling me this^^^^^^^ is the mod that you guys came up with "without" looking at @Nayparm 's work I have a bridge to sell you on the moon.
I get that you have to defend your company, but please at least try to be honest about what just happened here.
Thank you.
Good luck with your modification business

ADD: This is Nayparm's work for comparison. And they happened to independently recreate his extended battery mod to the exact same specification too.
Obviously these mods are not proprietary, as they have been published on an open forum, but to have the originator of the mods banned from posting on the same forum that these mods have been copied from is almost without precedent.

 

[534409]

Beautiful work. I I were in GB... For security reasons I don't use PayPal, since they changed rules and added 2500$ fee.
https://tamebay.com/2020/04/2500-paypal-fine-for-breaking-paypal-acceptable-use-policy.html

 

[newworld666]

Great setup.
I am quite interested in the Heddphone and how it compares to the other TOTL headphones. Any comments on that?

As I am not concerned with the weight and the band of the Heddphone issue (for some), as I can use it for hours without any difficulties or any type of pain, I would say it is an impressive Headphone for my use and the final type of sound I was dreaming of for at least two decades.

The only real issue, is that it needs an external amp which can provide instant high voltage to enjoy amazing powerful bass and sub-bass impacts. Even my TOTL closed Ultrasone ed15 Veritas can't offer/compete with so "clear" and distinguishable bass section of the heddphone. The Z7M2 too is really very good but like the Ultrasone, bass section is clearly behind what the heddphone is able to do.
So till, now I could only be totally happy with a THX 887 or TA-N55ES amp behind the heddphone => I own a few portable amps with 1W or 2W, but none, till now, could drive fully the heddphone like real amps. So, unfortunately I am like glued near my amps and I can't be really free to be where I want in my home.

Actually some in the ibasso DX220max or Hiby R8 threads have already tested the heddphone with those, and they are considering that they can't give all what the Heddphone needs to reach the best results.
I am hoping that the future Centrance M8V2 will allow me to get some freedom in my home... without being sure.
With the WM1A/Z+ and some good power amp, the heddphone is something amazing for me... I don't look for any other headphones anymore. Just a portable amp is missing. So centrance M8v2 or a ifi to come (with usb-c)

 

[gerelmx1986]

Does a cotton swabs fit the 4.4 socket, to give it a clean

 

[Overkill Red]

Obviously these mods are not proprietary, as they have been published on an open forum, but to have the originator of the mods banned from posting on the same forum that these mods have been copied from is almost without precedent.

I feel like @Nayparm would have enjoyed his time here more without the MOT label hanging over his head, with all the rules involved. He was happily sharing his progress as an enthusiast, but unfortunately happened to break some rules he was (I'm sure) unaware of. Whether the severity of the actions taken against him were too harsh, I don't know, but it appears there were some mistakes made unintentionally.

Hopefully he manages to continue his work and continue to share with the community if he so wishes to, either here or elsewhere idk.

 

[HeyManslowdown97]

Does a cotton swabs fit the 4.4 socket, to give it a clean

I don't think so. Are there cotton swab brands that are exclusively sponsored by Sony for the WM1A/Z and other models they make?

 

[Music Sanctuary]

I am sorry, but if you are telling me this^^^^^^^ is the mod that you guys came up with "without" looking at @Nayparm 's work I have a bridge to sell you on the moon.
I get that you have to defend your company, but please at least try to be honest about what just happened here.
Thank you.
Good luck with your modification business

ADD: This is Nayparm's work for comparison. And they happened to independently recreate his extended battery mod to the exact same specification too.
Obviously these mods are not proprietary, as they have been published on an open forum, but to have the originator of the mods banned from posting on the same forum that these mods have been copied from is a almost without precedent.

Hi there,

We completely understand where the skepticism comes from, want to share some thoughts on this:

• Packaging is a challenge for anyone attempting this sort of modification. All of this boils down to the specification of capacitors that were originally used by Sony, which need to be at least matched if not increased in specifications (voltage and capacitance) to avoid any damage occurring to the player or to devices connected to the output. These values are printed directly on the stock capacitors – which was our starting point when it came to experimenting with them, not anyone else's post on a forum.
  
  
  
  
  Issue with this is that most audio grade electrolytic capacitors are packaged in sizes where matching specifications result in capacitors that are too large to stack vertically. It comes as little surprise to us if others have packaged the capacitors in a similar fashion – there is not a lot of space once all the physical components are reattached, unless the backplate is completely discarded to provide more vertical space (which would be a requirement for certain models of high end capacitors such as Nichicon KZ and Elna Silmic II even if stacked sideways), which isn't a compromise we think should be applied to players that are meant to be portable. This is compounded by our desire to maximise the core count of the PW Audio 1960s that we use for internal wiring (a component which contributes massively to the performance), which has significant space requirements.
• Coming to the battery, again this is a case of matching components to the original part, which outputs 3.7 volts of power to the circuit and has a 1860mAh capacity. Any cell of that voltage is perfectly fine to be used here, whether smaller or larger, and again this is something we figured out from the specifications printed onto the stock batteries – and not on a forum. We tested with a smaller capacity battery to ensure functionality before looking out for a larger capacity battery to fit into the player.
  
  
  
  
  
• Finally, we believe that not posting on the forums or being active here does not discredit the time and money we have put into our experimentation with different capacitors and batteries – and we believe that this is a sentiment shared by other parties that provide modification services and are not active Head-Fi users (Romi Audio and Musashi Sound Tech do great work as well despite not having a direct presence here).
  
  
  

Of course, there will always be people we cannot win over no matter what we say, which is also a reality we have accepted about doing business in an industry driven by passion. For what it is worth, the team here has full conviction in everything we have shared here, and we do not wish to drag out any unpleasantries that may have been associated with this issue.

 

[RobertP]

Hardware mods porn

 

[gerelmx1986]

Hardware mods porn

@Nayparm HW mod porn was of better quality

 

[MrWalkman]

@Nayparm HW mod porn was of better quality

Haters gonna hate, and everyone's gonna be what they are

I guess we should stop talking about this, unless we want more of our posts deleted.

 

[gerelmx1986]

After reading about the dethonray DTR-1 with separate power circuit (dual battery). Hope next version of WM1 series offers this as well. I know ibasso max and DMP-Z1 feature separate power circuitry and batteries but ain't as portable as a DAP

 

[HeyManslowdown97]

I know ibasso max and DMP-Z1 feature separate power circuitry and batteries but ain't as portable as a DAP

It is possible if the parts are made in-house by Sony with custom parts sized to fit in a portable DAC house.

******************************************************

A mod that hasn’t been tried on the WM1A/Z is to change the clocks or their frequencies for better ones but that would have to correspond with firmware but is possible.

 

[RobertP]

@Nayparm HW mod porn was of better quality

Yes, I like @Nayparm a bit better for my future mods. As a DIYer, See many pages of hardware mods make me wanting to do it since I know how to do some soldering works.