[gazzington]

Lol I’m Sony crazy. I own a wm1a and wm1z but bought a zx300 on the cheap yesterday.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Lol I’m Sony crazy. I own a wm1a and wm1z but bought a zx300 on the cheap yesterday.

Don't forget the ZX507.

 

[gerelmx1986]

Don't forget the ZX507.

Not good, android bloat and multi-hidden background processes (as with any OS for computing like mac or win) introduces noises and these processes must compete with the music software. Also the cpu transistors will introduce.electrical noise due the mos-fet switching process

 

[gazzington]

Not good, android bloat and multi-hidden background processes (as with any OS for computing like mac or win) introduces noises and these processes must compete with the music software. Also the cpu transistors will introduce.electrical noise due the mos-fet switching process

I agree, I went for the zx300 before they disappear. Thought it would be a lighter solution out and about

 

[Quang23693]

I'm considering pairing WM1A or WM1Z(or Lotoo Paw 6000) with Noble Audio Katana (
it will come next week ).
Do you have a recommendation, experiences with this combination?
Dilemma, which player to buy?
Thanks for yours answers.
Ladislav.

I'm using katana + labkable pandora with Wm1a Kmod ultimate. It pairs perfectly together. I think that don't have any issue if you want to try wm1 seri. Hope you'll find the dap for your katana.

 

[Mystic Traveller]

For anyone interested, the A40Series firmware mod was released.

Wowzers! Speechless almost! Relayed this to colleagues at player.ru, would
be interesting to see their feedback.

 

[Mystic Traveller]

The 1AM2 requires quite a bit of burn-in to sound great.

Will need to give them more burn-in time then, thanks for this heads-up. I think
I will keep them (for less than $100 NIB I doubt I can find something else on par sound wise fully balanced in stock).

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Not good, android bloat and multi-hidden background processes (as with any OS for computing like mac or win) introduces noises and these processes must compete with the music software. Also the cpu transistors will introduce.electrical noise due the mos-fet switching process

You can't hear any electrical noise coming from the CPU at all. Sony has it nailed down with it's circuitry design. They have the whole CPU section isolated away from the D/A side with a big copper shielding area. The Walkman app on the ZX507 runs its own dedicated I2S audio path to the D/A which is seperated from the android audio path.
ZX507 PCB:

ZX300 PCB:


You can remove most of the background processes in android with my optimization guide.

You have to hear the ZX507 on fw 2.01.00. There is a Japanese magazine reviewer who thinks it is close to the WM1Z in terms of sound quality.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Will need to give them more burn-in time then, thanks for this heads-up. I think
I will keep them (for less than $100 NIB I doubt I can find something else on par sound wise fully balanced in stock).

Every headphone had it's own character. Some excel in certain genre of music. The 1AM2 seems to do well with modern bass heavy music. It's a fun headphone for general usage. I really think you got them for a steal.

The Sony 1AM2 has its good points and it's weakness. Although it's unfair to compare them to higher end headphones, but I do think the higher end headphones like the Z7M2 and Z1R images better with a bigger soundstage.

 

[matevana]

I do find that the ZX507 is able to deliver deeper sub-bass over the ZX300. This is tested with intentional EQ bass adjustment and use of DC phase Linearizer type A Low on my most *bass intensive music. At the lowest sub-bass region, the ZX507 feels more defined with more boom and slam while the ZX300 sub-bass felt weaker, like a one noted thump.

Have you tried Mr Walkman's ZX300(A)+ firmware on your ZX300? I'm curious because I find bass/sub-bass to be much improved now. You may find that the ZX300 takes on many of the 507's sonic qualities after you upgrade, plus other improvements like access to DSEE HX AI, etc.

 

[fjf]

You can't hear any electrical noise coming from the CPU at all. Sony has it nailed down with it's circuitry design. They have the whole CPU section isolated away from the D/A side with a big copper shielding area. The Walkman app on the ZX507 runs its own dedicated I2S audio path to the D/A which is seperated from the android audio path.
ZX507 PCB:

ZX300 PCB:


You can remove most of the background processes in android with my optimization guide.

You have to hear the ZX507 on fw 2.01.00. There is a Japanese magazine reviewer who thinks it is close to the WM1Z in terms of sound quality.

In Europe until there is a way to remove the volume cap, all android DAPs are a waste of money. And importing them puts them in 1A price.

 

[Whitigir]

You can't hear any electrical noise coming from the CPU at all. Sony has it nailed down with it's circuitry design. They have the whole CPU section isolated away from the D/A side with a big copper shielding area. The Walkman app on the ZX507 runs its own dedicated I2S audio path to the D/A which is seperated from the android audio path.
ZX507 PCB:

ZX300 PCB:


You can remove most of the background processes in android with my optimization guide.

You have to hear the ZX507 on fw 2.01.00. There is a Japanese magazine reviewer who thinks it is close to the WM1Z in terms of sound quality.

You can look up the Zx2, Sony did the same thing to it. This is as you mentioned, to isolate the CPU noises, but that is only for noises that are radiating outward and could be absorbed/attracted into the others close proximity components (in the EMI/FRI forms). The noises that are from within the CPU that causes “voltage errors”, where the whole system is sharing one power sources....would result into “errors corrections” and that effect the sound performances. This is also one of the reasons why previously the engineers did not touch anything that could have effected sound performances in the firmwares, but the sound performances slightly altered. Later on, the enthusiasts and the engineers found out that the power distributions got altered, the power supply, the batteries, the errors corrections as a whole, brought the changes in the audio performances. They are neither bad, nor good, or they could be bad or good....but there are definitely differences as soon as the power distributions are changed. (it was kinda funny back then, people would swear that the engineers sworn that no altered tuning were done that could effect sound, then the skeptical made fun of the enthusiasts “audiofools! You don’t know what you are hearing” while the enthusiasts could always swear that they hear the differences.)

Those are the reason why DMP Z1 is designed the way it is, Main DAC battery with Super capacitor for the CPU. So that the DAC are never shared it power supply to any other systems, and just in case when power starvations at peaks happened, especially for the CPU, the Super capacitor and it power rail would lend the aids. This is to warrant the best performances of the CPU and digital processing with the least errors corrections happening. Then there are 4 other super capacitors within the DMP Z1 for other parts (Yes there are 5 Super capacitors inside DMP Z1)

 

[524419]

By the way, switching the model is not mandatory. WM1A/Z+ already brings improvements to the 1A sound, without needing to switch the model.

Of course, feel free to experiment, I just wanted to clear that out.

That is what I am using at the moment. Very very well done
No need to switch models on my KaeSei 1A.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

When it comes to power supply, Sony engineers have designed the walkman with a complex power supply regulation system to ensure that power fluctuations will not be an issue:

 

[minzink]

In Europe until there is a way to remove the volume cap, all android DAPs are a waste of money. And importing them puts them in 1A price.

Fully agree! I tried the ZX507... But the EU volume limitation just sucks....