[Aeskualpio]

What are some excellent headphone picks to listen to in balanced out of the Sony NW - WM1Z?

The Focal Clears, the Sendy Aivas and the HD-600s are all driven beautifully by the WM1A

 

[Whitigir]

The Focal Clears, the Sendy Aivas and the HD-600s are all driven beautifully by the WM1A

How is the soundstage on Aiva and wm1Z ?

 

[gerelmx1986]

MDR-Z1R and wm1a are superb, after using the IER-Z1R for a month now I realize how open the MDR-Z1R are, I can hear the TV, my man talking to me

 

[jasonho]

How is the soundstage on Aiva and wm1Z ?

It’s not big. Aiva is a planar so best guess how much can 1z drive that

 

[shady1991]

Guys, when listening to Balanced output (non-DSD file), please check or uncheck the high gain setting of SE and see if it affects the sound slightly.

My zx300 does it and I wonder of its true for WM1. Does anyone have a possible explanation? I posted this on zx300 thread a while ago but I was brutally ignored

 

[Whitigir]

It’s not big. Aiva is a planar so best guess how much can 1z drive that

Yeah, I asked because in my experiences, Aiva is easy to drive to “loudness”, but not finesses. I have seen different opinions on Aiva with exact opposite from small soundstage while to me, Aiva have wonderful soundstage....then I found out many people is driving Aiva with weak sources. The majority of people would take loudness as a properly driven point of references....and not finesses

Never tried Aiva with 1Z, but I know for a fact that it soundstage would collapse without a good amp. Hence I asked. Not to mention the fact that the stock pads is very weird and odd. Once it is take care off, the Aiva is wonderful. I have it and love it everyday

 

[Whitigir]

Guys, when listening to Balanced output (non-DSD file), please check or uncheck the high gain setting of SE and see if it affects the sound slightly.

My zx300 does it and I wonder of its true for WM1. Does anyone have a possible explanation? I posted this on zx300 thread a while ago but I was brutally ignored

I was about to answer a long and detailed one....but in the end, the question is....what sound better to you ? If you can’t answer that, then everything else is meaningless. The gain switches is always there, and the fact is that you can or can not tell.

Now, if you can tell, and willing to ask the details. It is about the architecture of the Amp and the implementation of the gain circuitry. In order to answer that to the correct technical level, one would need either a schematic, or the amp designer himself have to answer it for you. Even so, it would depends a lot on what you are connecting it to...aka your headphones and or ear buds

 

[nc8000]

Guys, when listening to Balanced output (non-DSD file), please check or uncheck the high gain setting of SE and see if it affects the sound slightly.

My zx300 does it and I wonder of its true for WM1. Does anyone have a possible explanation? I posted this on zx300 thread a while ago but I was brutally ignored

I only use balanced and I think I notice a very slight difference in sound when I change gain on balanced (after trying to volume match) but nothing if I change the gain on the single ended which is as expected since the entire single ended circuit is disabled when something is plugged into the balanced

 

[shady1991]

I was about to answer a long and detailed one....but in the end, the question is....what sound better to you ? If you can’t answer that, then everything else is meaningless. The gain switches is always there, and the fact is that you can or can not tell.

Now, if you can tell, and willing to ask the details. It is about the architecture of the Amp and the implementation of the gain circuitry. In order to answer that to the correct technical level, one would need either a schematic, or the amp designer himself have to answer it for you. Even so, it would depends a lot on what you are connecting it to...aka your headphones and or ear buds

Thanks. I was not asking and advice which setting I should use, I am just curious why the SE gain setting affects BA output and why it does not happen when plaing DSD. Here people know much more than me so I thought someone could explain technical reasons. As of your question which sounds better, it is never straightforward to me, sometimes one sounds better sometimes the other, but the fact is that the difference is there and I wanted to know the cause of it.

 

[Whitigir]

Thanks. I was not asking and advice which setting I should use, I am just curious why the SE gain setting affects BA output and why it does not happen when plaing DSD. Here people know much more than me so I thought someone could explain technical reasons. As of your question which sounds better, it is never straightforward to me, sometimes one sounds better sometimes the other, but the fact is that the difference is there and I wanted to know the cause of it.

Remember, you gain something and you lose something. That is the simplest answer I can provide. So the differences is there.

Technical answer ? That would need the lead engineer from Sony to answer for you, but they would never answer in details anyways . So you will need to dig up a schematic of the WM Walkman, and maybe some people with EE into Audio design can unfold the technical answer that you have

 

[Aeskualpio]

How is the soundstage on Aiva and wm1Z ?

In balanced the soundstage is good, but gets better, to my ears, with an amp.
You get great detail and separation, but when I want to be immersed I use the Monoprice THX portable amp with the 1A.

 

[Kitechaser]

I get headaches and stuffy ears on High Gain balanced. Also noise goes up, at least on the iem I am using.
To my ears, higher volume and Low Gain sounds much much better.

 

[nc8000]

I get headaches and stuffy ears on High Gain balanced. Also noise goes up, at least on the iem I am using.
To my ears, higher volume and Low Gain sounds much much better.

Probably depends on the headphone used what gain is better

 

[Kitechaser]

Probably depends on the headphone used what gain is better

Doesn't High gain automatically double noise?

 

[nc8000]

Doesn't High gain automatically double noise?

I don’t think so, at least not for me with the phones I use, although I normally run on low gain as I don’t feel any of them need high gain