Just tried M3ZU and J3ZU.
I thought I'd try M3ZU first, as I preferred a more neutral sound, and had previously liked the WM2Z FW. Figured I could drop down to the M2ZU or M1ZU if I found I did not like M3ZU. Initially, there were a couple of songs I found harsh, which after trying more, I realized that it was treating bad sources more harshly. I think this is one of the reasons that the stock Sony FW tuning is the way it is. It tries to do a decent job on all qualities of music, thus not maximizing what the hardware is capable of. I did enjoy what the stock FW could do with even low quality files, but am enjoying more what this M3ZU is able to bring out with better quality files. And not just DSD, but good quality hi-res, FLAC, AAC and MP3. I spent 90 mins, loving the sound it was bringing out. Fluid, detailed, never harsh(except on bad sources). A presence to vocals that I had not heard before. As people have commented, a "you are there" quality. Beautiful texture to all kinds of music, whether vocals, or piano, backing instruments, etc. What I was hearing was "musical", my highest goal, where everything comes together. Details, PRAT, stage. And you can imagine that you are able to feel the emotion the singer is putting into the song. Or a simple guitar chord can be so rich. That I spent 90 minutes without realizing, is a measure of how I was enjoying the music.
So I decided I did not need to try the tier 2 and 1, if I was enjoying the Mercury T3 this much.
I thought I had better try the other one, though, the J3ZU, guessing that I might find this to be "pushed" too much, from my previous feelings about the other modded FW.
WOW, I like this even more. Everything that I thought of the M3ZU, was more. Even closer to losing yourself in the music.
I previously gave up on describing the details of music, as I found myself not very good at it, and decided that I would just judge on whether the music pulled me in, so I just enjoyed it, so that I would judge the gestalt, without agonizing over the details. If it could be what I term "musical", and it could make me forget about analyzing, or what was wrong, good, etc., then that was good enough for me. And this is as close as I have found to that goal.
@Morbideath @Whitigir - You've achieved something magical with your current FWs. This J3ZU is pushing my setup to being able to provide music, and allowing me to forget about the system. That is the goal of all the changes, upgrades, mods, mistakes, etc., and this FW is a major step to that goal. And bringing my WM1Z to a level I had not previously seen.
I am using WM1Z, Romi Audio v4 (with Black Gate capacitors) mod, which is a pretty extensive mod in many areas. IER-Z1R, stock 4.4mm cable, Direct Source: ON