Update: WM1A (firmware 1.02) ->Whiplash TWag V3 TRRS (3.5mm)-> K10U
- 450 hours: I thought it was pretty good, and was thinking there would be no further changes. Some songs were musical and involving. i.e. You stop what you are doing, and just pay attention. Involuntarily. I figured that the songs that were not so involving had faults in the recording/mixing process. But all in all, the setup was producing music that I was enjoying. There was something missing, though, as I thought the ZX2 had the ability to make guitar and piano so rich with details, that a simple guitar/piano melody was able to communicate something that pulled you into the music and made you forget whatever else you were doing. And the ZX2 was doing this on most music, more so than the 1A at the moment.
-550 hours: This seems to be a magical point, as what I thought was missing at 450 hours, seems to all pull together at 550 hours. The richness/involvement that I was looking for with guitar is now there. As good as the ZX2, but with more detail and sound stage. A well recorded Chinese singer (Tong Li) that I thought was good on the ZX2, but was actually getting bored with, on the 1A, the instruments and voice were like I was hearing them for the first time, and realized how good they were. And not boring! Barbara Streisand singing Memories, I was enjoying, and realized just how good she was. Never did before. I thought she was overrated, when I listened before, and wondered what people saw in her.
So other users can keep an ear out for the 550 hour mark, to see if they corrobate the same findings. And don't judge the 1A prematurely.
My evaluation method, I am not doing any detailed comparisons of specific pieces of music. I am just listening whenever I get the chance, which is mostly when commuting to/from work. And I am consciously not listening critically to specific sections of specific tracks, but just listening to music as it comes up. Not very scientific, and very subjective, but that's what I've decided to do nowadays. If the setup serves up music I enjoy, I am happy.
Note: I also reterminated the TRRS 3.5mm with a new Nakamura plug, just after I got the 1A, as the old TRRS plug was starting to short out, so that is another factor. Other than that, the K10/Whiplash cable is the same that I was using on the ZX2, so any differences I observe, should be due to the change from ZX2 to WM1A