[nanaholic]

I am also not into streaming

 
I don't stream either, streaming services simply doesn't offer the songs/artists I want to listen to. 
But there's a difference between what one wants and whether his/her wants aligns with what the larger market demands.  I don't go around pretending that my wants represents the entire market, and it just happens that currently, the non-streamer's needs/wants happens to be the more lucrative market that is being catered to. No more and no less.

 

[Whitigir]

I don't stream either, streaming services simply doesn't offer the songs/artists I want to listen to. 
But there's a difference between what one wants and whether his/her wants aligns with what the larger market demands.  I don't go around pretending that my wants represents the entire market, and it just happens that currently, the non-streamer's needs/wants happens to be the more lucrative market that is being catered to. No more and no less.

I don't stream either, and I agreed. I rather enjoy my collection

 

[emrelights1973]

Agree, myself I do not want to install app on my Walkman, but... I will love to have for example Tidal Streaming integrated into the player (just as it is integrated in ROON, and in the Aurender or LUMIN App)

Same users giving them feedback on betamax i guess! You dont need an app to integrate Tidal, i am not using any app with my Naim streamer so this is a ******** of argument

 

[emrelights1973]

Sounding like a broken record now but streaming is not a thing in Asia in general yet Asian region is where headphone sales is biggest in the world and is growing whereas Europe and NA is stagnated. That's the reason these flagship head-fi equipment aren't trying to appeal to the Western crowd because that's not where the money is. 

No they are not! You start to beilive what you think or hear as a fact, which is not the case from the data you linked in this topic, so i really can not understand how you can still saying the same thing, it was clear than usa/Eu is more than the rest of the world which is not only asia but canada south america australi africa etc! So please do not keep saying that, it might be fastest growing but is not the bigest market for headphones at all. Ok i get it asia is not into streaming but i am and i think many are, it is not just a walkman so is not my main hifi rig never will be, just to listen some music when i move thus "walkman" i do still want the best there is but the spirit is always convinience with movement

 

[gerelmx1986]

I don't stream either, streaming services simply doesn't offer the songs/artists I want to listen to. 
But there's a difference between what one wants and whether his/her wants aligns with what the larger market demands.  I don't go around pretending that my wants represents the entire market, and it just happens that currently, the non-streamer's needs/wants happens to be the more lucrative market that is being catered to. No more and no less.

I don't stream either, and I agreed. I rather enjoy my collection

and sometimes streaming does not offer out of print rare recordings that I have in my collection

 

[Raketen]

Not feelign strongly about, but do find it kind of funny... a few short years ago it would be "Streaming? ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww! not in my HiFi!" now its "No streaming? Sony are stuck in the past!".

Technology moves too fast h34r:

 

[nanaholic]

No they are not! You start to beilive what you think or hear as a fact, which is not the case from the data you linked in this topic, so i really can not understand how you can still saying the same thing, it was clear than usa/Eu is more than the rest of the world which is not only asia but canada south america australi africa etc! So please do not keep saying that, it might be fastest growing but is not the bigest market for headphones at all. Ok i get it asia is not into streaming but i am and i think many are, it is not just a walkman so is not my main hifi rig never will be, just to listen some music when i move thus "walkman"

i do still want the best there is but the spirit is always convinience with movement

 
Sorry but it is.
 

 
Headphone market size since 2011 projected to 2017:
Green bit is rest of the world (safe to assume it is mostly Asia, as you probably don't need to factor in poor regions like South America and Africa)
Orange is Europe
Blue is USA (which is pretty much the entire NA market)
 
Only green bit is growing, orange is stagnated, blue has tiny growth. Green is roughly equal to or larger than orange and blue combined, but factor in the growth from previous years it's indisputably the most important market.. So I'm not "believing" anything, that's exactly what the data says. Asia market is more important, fact.  I don't know why that is so hard for people like you to accept that Western market is not so important.
 
Oceania market is tiny and never dictates product trends (I know, I come from there! we only get left overs from US/EU, in fact it's now common to lump Oceania as EU cos we matter so little yet our preference is close to EU), Tokyo alone has more people than the entire Australia and I'm willing to bet more people in Tokyo are into portable audio than Australia! 

 

[emrelights1973]

Sorry but it is.
Sorry but your reading of the graph is based on your assımptions, canada,australia,new zealamd are not that small, mexico, south america is not that small, africa is not all poor, with all due respect to my fellow asians is not that rich also.
So the data is there lets not make strange asaumptions that we can argue all day and night
EU is not all europe also so you got other nations there as well, switzerland for example might compete with Tokyo so asia is not the rest of the world and is not that much richer to spend on hifi than than the rest of the world that is fact
Sorry for this but i can help when we twist the facts





Headphone market size since 2011 projected to 2017:
Green bit is rest of the world (safe to assume it is mostly Asia, as you probably don't need to factor in poor regions like South America and Africa)
Orange is Europe
Blue is USA (which is pretty much the entire NA market)

Only green bit is growing, orange is stagnated, blue has tiny growth. Green is roughly equal to or larger than orange and blue combined, but factor in the growth from previous years it's indisputably the most important market.. So I'm not "believing" anything, that's exactly what the data says. Asia market is more important, fact.  I don't know why that is so hard for people like you to accept that Western market is not so important.

Oceania market is tiny and never dictates product trends (I know, I come from there! we only get left overs from US/EU, in fact it's now common to lump Oceania as EU cos we matter so little yet our preference is close to EU), Tokyo alone has more people than the entire Australia and I'm willing to bet more people in Tokyo are into portable audio than Australia! 

 

[proedros]

guys , why not email sony about all the economic-social findings about wifi use ?

wm1a/z are wifi-less , please get over it and let's talk about the players
 
cheers

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

Has anyone compared the Wm1 audio to the ZX2 when using sensitive multiple BA's IEM?

The Wm1 is actually priced cheaper in Australia than the ZX2, which I found surprising, especially if the wm1 sounds better with IEM's.

 
There are no new Walkman in the wild yet.  Sony will just take the company line and say the 1A is an improvement over the ZX2.  You might need to wait till October to hear the truth on that...

 

[JACONE]

  I'll just summarise a few points from the interview which I personally found interesting and noteworthy:
* There were constraints in developing the ZX series, which they didn't have in the WM series and was allowed to go "all out" for sound quality, this is part of the reason why they decided on the new naming scheme
* The S-Master HX is completely new in the WM series and was redesigned from the chip level up and is newly fabricated. As they said if people were accusing them of cost saving in using such a design they would've just picked an off the shelf ready made chip which would've been much cheaper.
* Their arguments against currently popular dual DAC implementation is that because unlike their approach of full digital pathway (until final output) is that it is done as a way to eliminate cross talk between the L and R channel when the signal is traveling in analogue form down the signal pathway, but because S-Master is fully digital they have no such concern (my note: actually sounds pretty legit from signal engineering POV)
* The special 4.4mm jack used by the WM walkman is developed by Nippon DICS - it has two contact points (top and bottom) unlike normal jacks for the plug such that it has the advantage of reducing connection resistance as well as increasing reliablity.
* They changed the rear panel (which acts as the ground for all the electronics) from stainless steel to a Corson copper alloy, citing the better conductivity of the alloy for increased sonic performance
* The capacitor capacity is increased from 350mF to 500mF for better stability during discharge
* They developed a new condenser and the number of condensers used is different between the 1A and 1Z, thus contributing to the sound difference
* They build a DC regulator into the unit to purify the output voltage and remove noise
* They kept the two clock setup (44.1kHz and 48kHz) - but used a bigger crystal/chip for better stability
* The SE output and the Balance output audio circuitry sits on different sides of the PCB board to they don't interfere with each other
* software UI is redesigned from ground up, with the player interface sitting as the home page and everything else pivots from there
* 5 new DSHEE HX settings - standard/female vocal/male vocal/percussion/strings
* 10 band EQ, 20 steps adjustment with 0.5dB per step
* 120 step volume adjustment, twice that of ZX2, plus normal/high gain setting
* the protruding "ear" at the top of the unit for the headphone jacks was designed to accomodate the BT antenna instead of making the unit taller.
* they made the remote because they expect the weight of the unit means a lot of people will be having the unit in a bag instead of a pocket/carried

Good stuff! Thanks much for sharing!

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
I don't stream either, streaming services simply doesn't offer the songs/artists I want to listen to. 

What do you listen to that you can't find via streaming services?

 

[cthomas]

guys , why not email sony about all the economic-social findings about wifi use ?


wm1a/z are wifi-less , please get over it and let's talk about the players

cheers

I couldn't agree more. If you want streaming obviously this is not the DAP for you. Nothing we can do about that.

Moving along from that subject and on to another... What are peoples thoughts of the aesthetics? Personally, I'm not a fan of the fake leather look on the rear. It looked good on the zx1 and zx2 but it's just not doing it for me on the new Walkmans. I still think the zx1 was the best looking DAP ever made by anyone but that's just me.

I'm not really a fan of the dual HP outs on the top of the player either. I think it would look much better just having the balanced out but I understand why they need both. If my ZX1 had the same power as the wm1 and expandable storage I'd be in heaven, but I'm still contemplating if I really want to buy this Walkman. If it sounds better than the pha3 through balanced then I will consider it, but the only thing I'm loving about the Walkman from an aesthetic pov is those vu metre and eq graphics. But I'd definitely buy the 1a in a heartbeat if it came in naked aluminium and single output. I don't mind having to buy new cables.

 

[Zakalwe]

Moving along from that subject and on to another... What are peoples thoughts of the aesthetics? Personally, I'm not a fan of the fake leather look on the rear. It looked good on the zx1 and zx2 but it's just not doing it for me on the new Walkmans. I still think the zx1 was the best looking DAP ever made by anyone but that's just me.

I'm not really a fan of the dual HP outs on the top of the player either. I think it would look much better just having the balanced out but I understand why they need both. If my ZX1 had the same power as the wm1 and expandable storage I'd be in heaven, but I'm still contemplating if I really want to buy this Walkman. If it sounds better than the pha3 through balanced then I will consider it, but the only thing I'm loving about the Walkman from an aesthetic pov is those vu metre and eq graphics. But I'd definitely buy the 1a in a heartbeat if it came in naked aluminium and single output. I don't mind having to buy new cables.

The leather look is fine with me, but I would prefer some kind of maintenance hatch that was easy to open and to close. Seen from the front I am not a big fan of the "ears". I do not really buy the technical explanations of their necessity, I think Sony rather wanted to preserve a bit of the signature hump-design of the ZX-series, while getting rid of the impracticality of an uneven back. That being said, I like what this does to the look from the side with the buttons, especially on the black WM1A. It reminds me of the slightly curved, slightly angular black designs of the classic cassette Walkmans of the late 80s and early 90s, in particular the WM-DD9.

 

[gerelmx1986]

I like the looks too but IMHO right side has too many buttons