[aceedburn]

I only trust balanced to balanced adapter like this one. It works but doesn't sound improvement and "transparent", it's rubbish in rubbish out.

What’s the difference with this adaptor? In fact it’s worse off as you’re feeding a balanced signal into an adaptor and output as balanced. A new cable would be better. This adaptor is worse than the balanced to unbalanced adaptor.

 

[Gamerlingual]

MQA files are flac files that have gone through the whole MQA process wich is a philosofy intending to make the end result better. The files can be played on any equipment that supports flac but unless the player specifically support full MQA unfolding they are lossy and even if the player does support full MQA unfolding they are still technically lossy as the signal that comes out is different from the signal that was originally fed into the MQA process. As to wich sounds better you cant really say as the process alters the signal

Well, more players offer FLAC. So in compatibility aspects, it’s safer

 

[nc8000]

Well, more players offer FLAC. So in compatibility aspects, it’s safer

As I wrote MQA is a flac file so any player that can play flac can play mqa but only certified players can unfold mqa and get full quality. And the mqa signal is an altered signal so it will be different from a non mqa processed file. There is no objective criteria for which one sounds best as mqa is also a mastering process so it is based on a different master just like an original cd and the 20 years jubilee remaster are different and will likely sound different

 

[Deffy]

Been having a blast testing out the latest Orion 7+ by RobertP. Such quality custom FW releases in this thread. I'm by no means an expert, dont know much about the terms but can only say what to my ears sounds pleasant. Orion 7+ has finally convinced me more of my WM1A purchase in terms of giving me more of that deep-bass, feeling the music like in those great Hans Zimmer tracks. But the music also feels much closer.

Great work, and very enjoyable reading everybody's experiences ondifferent gear and fws.

 

[auronthas]

.

 

[aceedburn]

Been having a blast testing out the latest Orion 7+ by RobertP. Such quality custom FW releases in this thread. I'm by no means an expert, dont know much about the terms but can only say what to my ears sounds pleasant. Orion 7+ has finally convinced me more of my WM1A purchase in terms of giving me more of that deep-bass, feeling the music like in those great Hans Zimmer tracks. But the music also feels much closer.

Great work, and very enjoyable reading everybody's experiences ondifferent gear and fws.

orion 7.1 you mean? there's no orion+. Yes the deep bass and surreal holographic feeling of the overall mix is really excellent. And the bass never takes away anything from the mids and highs, that's the best part.

 

[Gamerlingual]

What’s the difference with this adaptor? In fact it’s worse off as you’re feeding a balanced signal into an adaptor and output as balanced. A new cable would be better. This adaptor is worse than the balanced to unbalanced adaptor.

How is it worse? Can you recommend something else then to not swap cables?

 

[Deffy]

orion 7.1 you mean? there's no orion+. Yes the deep bass and surreal holographic feeling of the overall mix is really excellent. And the bass never takes away anything from the mids and highs, that's the best part.

Apologies. Yes Orion 7.1 thanks for the correction. And indeed, just really nice to listen to.

 

[Krutsch]

Before this thread devolves into a Sound Science thread, I'd like to express how much I'm enjoying BT Receiver + Apple Music. You lose a little SQ bc of BT (AAC, probably much better if you used LDAC source), but essentially turns it into a streaming device (without Android).

I am using the BT Receiver with my WM1A and a Pixel 4 phone that connects with LDAC - it still sounds awful, IMO, in comparison to the on-board music. I am using it with Spotify in max quality mode. I wish it sounded better, but it is "muffled" or "flat" sounding, which I didn't expect with LDAC.

 

[gerelmx1986]

I am using the BT Receiver with my WM1A and a Pixel 4 phone that connects with LDAC - it still sounds awful, IMO, in comparison to the on-board music. I am using it with Spotify in max quality mode. I wish it sounded better, but it is "muffled" or "flat" sounding, which I didn't expect with LDAC.

Don't even bother trying YouTube music, it sounds even more awful, so many compression artifacts and muddy... this is from a Samsung Galaxy A50 also LDAC to wm1A

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

I feel Sony has better LDAC BT output implementation. Maybe an Android based Sony Xperia/walkman will serve as a better YouTube source over Samsung/LG/Apple source for your WM1A BT reciever.

 

[Krutsch]

I feel Sony has better LDAC BT output implementation. Maybe an Android based Sony Xperia/walkman will serve as a better YouTube source over Samsung/LG/Apple source for your WM1A BT reciever.

Sony released their LDAC software stack which was then incorporated into Android for distribution to all phone makes and models. Should be the same output quality, everywhere.

 

[gerelmx1986]

But this sounds better than all the streaming crap like spotify or YouTube

 

[Lookout57]

Yes I’ve had the cable near the 2-pin connector on my JH13 break many times over 10 years

That's why I only buy IEMs with MMCX now.

 

[Vitaly2017]

How is it worse? Can you recommend something else then to not swap cables?

Looks like friends here need some Tiger ears philosophy about dongle cables here

Very simple in order to have the best accurate result, technically your adapter needs to be the same metal alloy as your main cable... But that is hard to find if your cable is not a custom as sony probably wont make you one that has same specs as the cable...

Many things to consider here to better understand how adapters works. Most of the time quality adapters are made of copper and plated gold.
there is also adapter where you have a small braided wire, those affect sound differently. They are actually of better quality.

In my experience along my journey I found that the best results for best sound quality and performance, you need 8 wires cables, same goes for dongles. AND YEa those dongles are hell expensive!

Different metals, different alloys, soldering, shielding and resistance, is all factors that affect sound quality and there is so much companies out there that have their own philosophies! that its quiet easy to get confused lost and just dont know what to buy lol.


If you want really good connectors there is moon audio their silver dragon is really transparent and will bring your own cable qualities straight I dont think youl notice much of sound alterations.

There is a few other companies that exists also.



To give you an idea of how dongles affect sound here is some experiments I did, I have cayin 2.5 to 4.4, pwaudio 2.5 to 4.4, black dragon 2.5 to 4.4.
Here what happend
PwAudio dongle sounded the worse to my ears as it altered the sound to a very high degree and changed the whole sound to something more warm thick and unprecise!
Cayin was better but still lacked on accuracy and transparencies but it was much better and sounded closer to what the cable sound without dongles!
Black dragon ( moon audio ) this is the version 1 the 2 wires only and pretty old dongle nowa days... This one is occ and has a silver plated copper concept.
Yes this is the dongle that had wires, the 2 others where adapter small interconnects. I found this dongle to sound the best almost as the cable without dongles. It was the closest and the most accurate but still behind. I believe if it was 8 wires and better more recent plugs it would improve the sound quality.

So here you see how adapters affect sound, what is important to understand if the adapter is 8 wires, uses highest quality soldering, matches wires alloy to the cable it will sound as it was part of the cable and will practically not affect the sound at all!

For instance think of it this way, if you have wm1z then you can buy a kimber kable dongle 8 wires copper version which is exactly the same as inside the wm1z! And there you have an exact exact same wires setup as inside your dap and it all continue its way to the dongle. Practically the only alteration here you have is the solder in the adapter and gold plating! It will be very subtle and you may not feel it! But do you want to spend 500$ for that option

I am using the BT Receiver with my WM1A and a Pixel 4 phone that connects with LDAC - it still sounds awful, IMO, in comparison to the on-board music. I am using it with Spotify in max quality mode. I wish it sounded better, but it is "muffled" or "flat" sounding, which I didn't expect with LDAC.

Try galaxy phones they add more bass and dont sound as flat! Best results was using a sony device in my case it was zx507...





@gerelmx1986 Yea totally understanding How could I live with streaming all this years before I dont know haha