[hamhamhamsta]

Late to the party, just tried Orion 8 FW with modded 1Z - ALO 16 core iem cable and EE Phantom. Wow, it's really amazing. I just listened to my fav song, about 5:10 minutes. The hairs at the back of my neck keep raising up, waves and waves keep coming throughout the whole song, and after.

Its so open, vocals so gentle and emotive. Each note sounds focused and natural at same time. Like a gentle rainfall or maybe waterfall. I can't really describe what I hear in the songs I heard, but its so crystal clear, open, natural. I'm not sure what is your original intent with Orion 8 FW RobertP, but it definitely surpassed version 5. Orion 5 I would describe as technically very proficient and natural, and with Orion 8 FW the songs especially vocals just come alive, not in forceful way, it just flow so naturally, like flowing water or streams.

I think it helps that I'm using EE Phantom, a very thick, bassy, syruppy iem. Orion 8 FW not only plugged all its weakness, but enhanced its strengths. At its base characteristics, EE Phantom warmth/warmth is an enhanced EE Zeus cold/Yin, on its opposite spectrum. Hence any warm iems/headphones should do extremely well with Orion 8.

On the other hand, just reading Orion 9 description, it should do well with neutral/colder based iem/headphones.

Well done! I can't praise enough. I like vocals based songs, and Orion 8 makes them come alive. They just popped out and flow naturally.

Good Job!


Perhaps RobertP, you can explain what is your original goals with Orion8/9, if it reaches, how it deviates, if its surpassed its original targets and so on based on your own observation, other receptions etc. I think we can learn a lot even from just listening from your point of view and maybe contribute through suggestions

 

[frost15]

Stage8 has a bit more treble than 9 with my gear. But a little less warmth. Have you try it?


If added more low end to stage5 tune, some clarity, natural and resolution will be gone. It's hard to preserve them.

1- I tried it yes, but I did not find it as engaging as stage5.
2 - That was my guess, I imagine it must be impossible to have everything.

 

[hamhamhamsta]

1- I tried it yes, but I did not find it as engaging as stage5.
2 - That was my guess, I imagine it must be impossible to have everything.

I think a lot of it would also depends on the base capabilities of your iems/ headphones. the FW would help the iems/headphones achieve their max potentials, but not surpassed them.

 

[frost15]

I think a lot of it would also depends on the base capabilities of your iems/ headphones. the FW would help the iems/headphones achieve their max potentials, but not surpassed them.

Yeah my friend. I saw you use IEMs for example. I use mostly headphones, Shure1540SRH to be exact, and these are very neutral sounding headphones. With Orion5 they sound incredible, actually it's the fw I've tested that best complements Shure 1540s subtle sub-bass emphasis.

 

[Tanjiro]

Stage8 has a bit more treble than 9 with my gear. But a little less warmth. Have you try it?


If added more low end to stage5 tune, some clarity, natural and resolution will be gone. It's hard to preserve them.

Stage 8 is the best with my gears

 

[RobertP]

Yeah my friend. I saw you use IEMs for example. I use mostly headphones, Shure1540SRH to be exact, and these are very neutral sounding headphones. With Orion5 they sound incredible, actually it's the fw I've tested that best complements Shure 1540s subtle sub-bass emphasis.

What kind or genre of music you are listening if you don't mind?

 

[frost15]

What kind or genre of music you are listening if you don't mind?

I mainly listen to metal (death, black and many other sub-genres), jazz and classical music.

 

[RobertP]

I mainly listen to metal (death, black and many other sub-genres), jazz and classical music.

Ahh, I can see why you like stage5 more.

 

[frost15]

Ahh, I can see why you like stage5 more.

Elaborate please I'm curious about your thoughts on it, since you are the creator.

 

[Maxx134]

On my CN WM1A the BT remote was not present on MX3, maybe need to flip though more regions? Definitely didn't have the remote option in settings going from J to MX3.

Q-6

Did you check to be on 3.02 level FW?
Also, did you try the switcher for more FW choices?

After testing all the regions with different fw

I just did a tour of almost all the different (Latest) FW, with CN region for maximum resolution.

I find my picks are:
Orion9 & "just another WM1Z Tunning", as the most musical + resolving of all the latest FW so far..

Also, I'm currently on "DMP portable Musical" as my pick for best "reference DAC" sounding FW.

Those are my top three picks for best FW on region "CN", on a 1z.

 

[RobertP]

Elaborate please I'm curious about your thoughts on it, since you are the creator.

If i have to guess, you are probably looking for more body and a bit boost high something like V shape sounds.

 

[frost15]

If i have to guess, you are probably looking for more body and a bit boost high something like V shape sounds.

Yeah, yet it's gotta be a subtle V. I dislike piercing treble and overly present bass. Is Orion5 V shaped?

 

[RobertP]

Yeah, yet it's gotta be a subtle V. I dislike piercing treble and overly present bass. Is Orion5 V shaped?

Yes, but with a little north of neutral side.

 

[Redcarmoose]

For some reason I always thought that the enthusiast firmwares were more active changing the 1A? The 1A went from something nice to own to something amazing. Where no matter what the 1A is always very clean and fast sounding. The 1A is solid state to where the 1Z IS almost like a tube amp. Still to me the small difference in the 1Z is everything, to me it’s perfect in “J” with stock 3.02. Where at times the 1A needs aftermarket firmware as a remedy. The remedy is a dance around what is both the best and worst part of the 1A. It’s the fascinating midrange which can at times be intriguing and at other times piercing. So going “J” helps the 1A, but Jupiter301 T1 too adds a bigger soundstage and lower midrange reverberation which subdues the thinness of the mids. You would think adding a boatload of bass to the 1A would be the bandaid but it’s not. In fact it’s not really possible to get the 1A to become that bass heavy.

Though all this depends on IEMs as some IEMs actually level out with the 1A due to synergy. Meaning they were dark and had flabby bass to begin with and the 1A additive saves the day. The thing is, the bass personality of the 1A is cool. It’s better focused and more nimble!

I’ve now started to romance the 1A, with not always trying to make it a 1Z, because that will never happen (without new parts). But learning to love the 1A for it’s own individuality. There is a stock 1A personality that’s actually special and different. It’s it’s own animal and separate from everything. Putting Jupiter2 in “J” makes it classic in it’s own charm. In many ways having different DAPs is like owning different guitars. You don’t try to change them but let them exist to be themselves and take awe in their individuality which separates themselves from everything. The mental gymnastics is to trick yourself into not calling personally wrong sounding. Especially if something is as good as the 1A/1Z it’s possible to simply attempt to accept them as having each a different stance and each a different filter to hear the music.

 

[RobertP]

Late to the party, just tried Orion 8 FW with modded 1Z - ALO 16 core iem cable and EE Phantom. Wow, it's really amazing. I just listened to my fav song, about 5:10 minutes. The hairs at the back of my neck keep raising up, waves and waves keep coming throughout the whole song, and after.

Its so open, vocals so gentle and emotive. Each note sounds focused and natural at same time. Like a gentle rainfall or maybe waterfall. I can't really describe what I hear in the songs I heard, but its so crystal clear, open, natural. I'm not sure what is your original intent with Orion 8 FW RobertP, but it definitely surpassed version 5. Orion 5 I would describe as technically very proficient and natural, and with Orion 8 FW the songs especially vocals just come alive, not in forceful way, it just flow so naturally, like flowing water or streams.

I think it helps that I'm using EE Phantom, a very thick, bassy, syruppy iem. Orion 8 FW not only plugged all its weakness, but enhanced its strengths. At its base characteristics, EE Phantom warmth/warmth is an enhanced EE Zeus cold/Yin, on its opposite spectrum. Hence any warm iems/headphones should do extremely well with Orion 8.

On the other hand, just reading Orion 9 description, it should do well with neutral/colder based iem/headphones.

Well done! I can't praise enough. I like vocals based songs, and Orion 8 makes them come alive. They just popped out and flow naturally.

Good Job!


Perhaps RobertP, you can explain what is your original goals with Orion8/9, if it reaches, how it deviates, if its surpassed its original targets and so on based on your own observation, other receptions etc. I think we can learn a lot even from just listening from your point of view and maybe contribute through suggestions

What make me want to do all this is because at first I'm very impressed how good Solis3.02 sounds. But then I found out later that music instruments in classical records are not quite natural enough after compared to DMP-Z1 1.02. Another factor is I had too much free time during the COVID19 stay at home order in California. With a tiny fragment of idea how sound tuning works, I gave it a try.

BTW, I must thanks @Whitigir and @Morbideath because without their xml to study I wouldn't have known how to began. Also thanks to @morgenstern09 for his method that reduce sound tune fw size.

Stage7 rev4 for 1Z is where I believe I have reached my original goal. But with my curiosity I decided to keep pushing forward. It's not easy. What makes it so complicated beyond stage7 is because it was like a journey to the unknown. This is where 1Z unique tones and 1A sounds are meet together. Got to make them homogenize and complement to each other. Much trickier and longer time to tune. Stage5 tooks 1 day for tuning and testing with various genres. Stage8 tooks 2 days. Stage9 tooks 3.5 days when compared to stage1 it tooks for just an hour. After wasted 3 days going nowhere with stage10, I gave up. So, you get and idea.

I'm just glad my hearing is good enough LOL.