[Krutsch]

Hmm... after a ton of back and forth listening, I tried the Sennheisser HD820 and HD660, MDR-Z1R, MDR-Z7M2, MDR-Z7, Pioneer SE-Master1, Audio-Technica ATH-ADX5000, HiFiman HE6se, and my own MDR-1AM2, I decided to stick with my MDR-1AM2
....

I am just going to throw out an opinion, based on my own listening experience. Be careful judging headphones with a lot of back-and-forth listening. It takes time for your brain to adjust to the new sound. What I have learned at meets is that your brain sort-of has a baseline for judgement that is aligned to the 'phones you listen to the most (and/or most recently) for a period of time. I am intentionally being vague, as the time required for "brain burn-in" varies between people and equipment.

So, it should not surprise you that you ultimately fell back to your existing 'phones of choice: your MDR-1AM2.

IMO, you really need to "live with" a set of cans, acclimating to their sound across a variety of music selections, before deciding what you like. That's why so many head-fi'ers are constantly buying and selling headphones (sometimes selling and re-buying the same brand/model).

Jealous of your shopping experience, nonetheless... last time I was in Tokyo for work, one of our salesmen took me to a store like that, but we didn't spend enough time there to listen to gear.

 

[Gamerlingual]

I am just going to throw out an opinion, based on my own listening experience. Be careful judging headphones with a lot of back-and-forth listening. It takes time for your brain to adjust to the new sound. What I have learned at meets is that your brain sort-of has a baseline for judgement that is aligned to the 'phones you listen to the most (and/or most recently) for a period of time. I am intentionally being vague, as the time required for "brain burn-in" varies between people and equipment.

So, it should not surprise you that you ultimately fell back to your existing 'phones of choice: your MDR-1AM2.

IMO, you really need to "live with" a set of cans, acclimating to their sound across a variety of music selections, before deciding what you like. That's why so many head-fi'ers are constantly buying and selling headphones (sometimes selling and re-buying the same brand/model).

Jealous of your shopping experience, nonetheless... last time I was in Tokyo for work, one of our salesmen took me to a store like that, but we didn't spend enough time there to listen to gear.

Having the IER-Z1R also gave some other perspective. I actually listened to the MDR-Z1R for 3 hours and really enjoyed it. So it was mostly down to that and the 1AM2 that got me the most. But I definitely did not like the sound from the Sennheiser headphones. As for the others? Pretty good in their own right and the Pioneer S-Master was a huge star. Everyone approaches things differently. Besides, I may go back and try some headphone amps and see how my IER-Z1R works with them and the 1A. The 1AM2 never had harsh trouble when sampling both the 1A and 1Z. Just felt like it had a great synergy.

 

[nc8000]

Sitting in a deck chair in the garden with 1Z and IER-Z1R reading the papers on my iPad. Fantastic to be able to bring that level of sound with me

 

[proedros]

Allow me to introduce, the...

NW Model Switcher

What is this?

NW Model Switcher is a Windows CMD script that allows changing the model
of your player, working together with the Rockbox destination changing tool.

The main idea was to get the stock 1Z sound signature to the 1A. The process
is safe and easily reversible. In the case of a WM1A to WM1Z change, you could
apply tunings for a 1Z, exactly like you own a 1Z instead of a 1A.

Spoiler: More technical stuff

To fellow sound tuning creators

The sound tunings are applied via the Software Update tool from Sony. If someone
has a WM1A, a WM1A code always has to be in the update files, not really allowing
you to get a pure stock WM1Z sound.

Changing the model of a WM1A to WM1Z, for example, will allow us to skip the WM1A
tuning lines, and use only WM1Z lines.

A WM1A Universal would normally require a WM1A 00000000 line. After changing the model,
WM1A 00000000 will not work anymore, and you have to use WM1Z 00000000.

Also, after experimenting with this, it seems that the model of the device matters when the
Software Update applies the tuning. If you have a stock WM1A, and switch to WM1Z, it is not
enough. You will also have to reapply the stock tuning, and only then the change is noticed in
the audio - this is because when flashing the stock as WM1Z as opposed to WM1A, the tuning
will be sent different to the device.

The tool can be found here (click) (updated - v1.2.1)

It should be simple, you'll only have to unpack the archive and launch (double-click) the
"nw_model_switcher_1.2" file. There is a menu set in the script, so everything should be
pretty straightforward.

After changing the model, you will have to restart the player and apply the stock firmware.
The stock firmware for the WM1A/Z can be found here (click).

However, don't hesitate to ask any questions that may arise and feel free to experiment.
And I hope there are not errors I didn't notice or anything, took me long enough to try and
iron everything out, lol.

I also invite WM1A users who will change the model to WM1Z, to try the sound tuning
that can be found here (click).

3 questions

1 - we download both 1.2.1 bat and nwzv26 ? but we only run-double click 1.2.1 bat ?

2 - the sound tuning in bold that's offered , is only fr 1a-turned into-1z ? or can we run itto normal 1a models ?

3 - i can not seem t be able to download the 2 files present , why so ?

 

[515164]

2 questions

1 - we download both 1.2.1 bat and nwzv26 ? but we only run-double click 1.2.1 bat ?

2 - the sound tuning in bold that's offered , is only fr 1a-turned into-1z ? or can we run itto normal 1a models ?

1. The bat file just does some commands using the Rockbox tool (the nwz etc. .exe).

2. It's for a 1Z. You will be able to install it after changing the model of your 1A, or if you own a 1Z.

Remember to flash to stock after changing the model to 1Z and restarting the player.

So it should always be:

1. Change the model
2. Restart player
3. Flash to stock

4. Apply tuning (optional)
5. Flash stock before applying another tuning (we think it might help)

6. Change model back to 1A and restart (if you want to revert the change)
7. Flash to stock again

 

[gerelmx1986]

Ok. Here’s the meat and potatoes of what I’m looking for

Wow, makes Hi-fi profis in wiesbaden look like a crappy mini market lol, with almost no selection to choose from compared to the shop you visited... feeling jealous indeed

 

[proedros]

1. The bat file just does some commands using the Rockbox tool (the nwz etc. .exe).

2. It's for a 1Z. You will be able to install it after changing the model of your 1A, or if you own a 1Z.

Remember to flash to stock after changing the model to 1Z and restarting the player.

So it should always be:

1. Change the model
2. Restart player
3. Flash to stock

4. Apply tuning (optional)
5. Flash stock before applying another tuning (we think it might help)

6. Change model back to 1A and restart (if you want to revert the change)
7. Flash to stock again

thanx for the tips , sounds a bit complicate to me , i downloaded the zip file but for now i shall just experiment with all those 1a fws available

one last question , this will pseudo-change 1a into 1z , right ? so the sound becomes more 1z-like and analog ?

what are the main sonic changes if i do this ?

 

[Mindstorms]

Really? Sony is cool with changing the regions? Awesome! Since when?

I did not say they where cool I say I wish they where

 

[Mindstorms]

I doubt it. I think Mindstorms was saying it would be nice if Sony implemented the option to select in their own firmware.

Exactly

 

[Dtuck90]

If my WM1A takes less than 4 hours to charge from 1 bar of battery does that suggest I’ve got battery degradation issues?

 

[nc8000]

If my WM1A takes less than 4 hours to charge from 1 bar of battery does that suggest I’ve got battery degradation issues?

Sony states that a full charge over usb takes about 7 hours but I’m sure mine charges in closer to your 4 hours

 

[gerelmx1986]

Sony states that a full charge over usb takes about 7 hours but I’m sure mine charges in closer to your 4 hours

According to my experience, battery degradation is the inverse.of normal battery. Takes.too long.to charge and lasts less on a full charge

 

[Ravenous]

So quick question about the nw mod changer. If I change the model from 1A to 1Z, will the 1a have stock sound signature of the 1z? Should I also a apply the WM1Az tuning as well to achieve default 1z sound?

 

[515164]

So quick question about the nw mod changer. If I change the model from 1A to 1Z, will the 1a have stock sound signature of the 1z? Should I also a apply the WM1Az tuning as well to achieve default 1z sound?

The theory is that you will have the 1Z stock sound, without needing to apply any other tuning.

Also, WM1Az is made for a 1A, with the sound signature of a 1A. After switching to 1Z, you could try tunings made for the 1Z.

 

[515164]

the fact is we change it and now we can change the unit model too and these changes doesn’t revert to original status after a firmware reload and neither with a factory reset

This is because the changes are not firmware related, but device related. The device has certain parameters that can be changed regardless of the firmware.

A firmware update has the possibility to also change these parameters, if Sony wanted to, btw.

I‘m asking if any of the firmware modders over here when tuning the fpga settings have checked that all of these fpga tuning (values?) are restored to its original form when the original firmware is loaded again

Sound tunings work in a different way, one which we didn't really figure out - I mean we didn't really figure out where they are applied and how can we see what tuning is currently in use, for example. I am pretty sure that we don't even need to apply the stock firmware, but only the stock tuning, in order to restore it to the official one.

Many users experimented with sound tunings and there were no reports that the stock sound doesn't get back or something, and having experimented myself with this, I can also say that all is ok.

The one thing to remember is that the destination/region and the model name are stored in a different way than the tuning (which is applied by the Software Update tool).