[534409]

Solaris sucks, get an IER-Z1R

Solaris sucks? Nein, nein, nein. Z1R ist einfach zu teuer.

 

[blazinblazin]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g3x3cto8pu8emc5/Mindstorm's thoughts on fw and regions.xlsx?dl=0

It is part of an Excell file that Mindstorm has compiled based on his listening

I think it's quite useful at least for me.
Just a guide so that you can best match your IEM to the best region sound.
My IEM is easy to drive so having too much power screws the sound up a little, so I picked MX3 so that is won't be extremely overlap with my IEM tuning on certain part of the sound.
And yes I am enjoying my music with it.

 

[gerelmx1986]

I have fewer files in 24/192 and 352.8 most common I have are 88.2 and 96 as for DSD the same thing, most 2.8224Mhz . one album in 5.6448M and.one album in 11.24M. I do feel the DSD remaster.of.the DGG sound better than their early CD masters (same music's as they are analogue tapes)

 

[NeoDiNardo]

So where I’m currently at is I still own the Focal Stellia and I will be buying a flagship level Noble Audio CIEM soon. Those will be my two portable headphones. I will be getting a flagship open-back or two later on. I did try out the Lotto Paw Gold Touch with the Stellia, it was great, but I did return it as I wanted to sample a couple more products before I settle down. If I don’t I’ll always wonder.

Although my two portable headphone choices should be very easy to drive, I still worry about having enough headphone output power. I read that the LPGT is a bit more powerful than normal and I would listen to it at 60% on Bluetooth from my iPhone with my Stellias. My question is will the WM1Z also have the power to drive my two portable headphone choices well and what about the Hugo 2/2Go? Does it also have the needed power or does it simply outclass dedicated music players altogether in both power and or sound?

I have three goals in the end, a portable music player (WM1Z?), a transportable iPhone/iPad/MacBook Pro USB DAC headphone amplifier (Hugo 2/2go?), and a reference desktop DAC / headphone amp to use with a flagship open-back headphone or two (many, many options here). And does anyone here prefer the Chord Hugo 2/2Go, the A&K SP2000, or the Sony WM1Z to the LPGT?

 

[Redcarmoose]

So where I’m currently at is I still own the Focal Stellia and I will be buying a flagship level Noble Audio CIEM soon. Those will be my two portable headphones. I will be getting a flagship open-back or two later on. I did try out the Lotto Paw Gold Touch with the Stellia, it was great, but I did return it as I wanted to sample a couple more products before I settle down. If I don’t I’ll always wonder.

The one thing I worry about is output power. I read that the LPGT is a bit more powerful than normal and I would listen to it at 60% on Bluetooth from my iPhone with my Stellias. My question is will the WM1Z also have the power to drive my two portable headphone choices well and what about the Hugo 2/2Go? Does it also have the needed power or does it simply outclass dedicated music players altogether in both power and or sound?

I have three goals in the end, a portable music player (WM1Z?), a transportable iPhone/iPad/MacBook Pro USB DAC headphone amplifier (Hugo 2/2go?), and a reference desktop DAC / headphone amp to use with a flagship open-back headphone or two (many, many options here). And does anyone here prefer the Chord Hugo 2/2Go or the Sony WM1Z to the LPGT?

Congratulations!
I love the Noble Audio Encore Universal with the 1A with 1A/1Z+ in J region switched over to 1Z.

 

[SBranson]

I understood that the main purpose was for cables that had shielding built into the cable/wire, where the shield was connected to the Pentaconn plug 5th Ground ring. The 3.5mm plug picked up the Ground from the DAP, and connected the Ground to the 4.4mm G(round) ring, and allowed the cable shielding to be grounded, which would reduce RF pickup by the IEM cable.
The facts are, though:
- Most cables do not have a shield, so there is nothing connected to the Pentaconn plug, so the PW adapter would serve no purpose. 99% of IEM balanced cables only have 4 wires, and no shield, and use only the L+, L-, R+, R-. There is nothing connected to the Pentaconn plug's 5th Ground ring.
- The WM1x DAP 4.4mm female internal connector has no internal connection for the 5th Ground contact, so there is no ground connected to it.
The PW adapter providing a Ground would be pointless, if neither the DAP or the Cable is using the 4.4mm Ground. I can't see any function for this setup, so the ONLY useful function would be if the IEM cable has a shield, and it is connected to the Pentaconn 5th Ground ring..

Perfect! Thanks for the thorough explanation.

 

[SebaE2012]

I totally notice 24/96 being better than 16/44.1 now? Especially with good recordings like this one.

I gotta give this album a try. Definitely an epic female voice.
Agreed. Not sure whether it's a mastering issue, placebo effect or actual difference made by higher resolution, but most (if not all) of my 96/24 albums sound to me noticeably better than its 44/16 counterparts (I own many albums is both versions... Trying to upgrade my collection, whenever it seems worthy, to hi res).

 

[MrLocoLuciano]

Not sure whether it's a mastering issue, placebo effect or actual difference made by higher resolution, but most (if not all) of my 96/24 albums sound to me noticeably better than its 44/16 counterparts (I own many albums is both versions... Trying to upgrade my collection, whenever it seems worthy, to hi res).

Try to downsample few 96-24 tracks in 44-16 then make a proper ABX test with foobar plug-in for instance. Like that you'll be sure that you have the same mastering. And if you pass the ABX you'll definitely be fixed that you ear 24-96 is better and that it's not a brain issue.

Or just do blind listening with 24-96 and converted 44-16, and pick up the one you prefer. You might be surprised by the result.
Nice link that points out a lot of things.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sch...bable-start-up.701900/page-3798#post-15486474

 

[gerelmx1986]

Has anyone tried high-end earbuds (No IEM but earphines) like VE Monk or fiio EM5? I know and I dony dare to use my IER-M7 while walking due to situational awareness

 

[unclepaulie]

1. WM1A/Z+
Different sound than the stock firmware.

Features:
- switching the model (from "Settings" > "Device Settings")
- improvements to the sound for both WM1A and WM1Z
- DSEE HX AI (present on DMP-Z1)
- improved battery life
- hardware accelerated rendition of the UI (faster menus)

Just joined this forum and wanted to say thank you for this software! I was debating long and hard between WM1A and Z, stuck with 1A and your software, sounds great and saved a lot of $.
Will be buying you a beer as well!

 

[Vitaly2017]

So where I’m currently at is I still own the Focal Stellia and I will be buying a flagship level Noble Audio CIEM soon. Those will be my two portable headphones. I will be getting a flagship open-back or two later on. I did try out the Lotto Paw Gold Touch with the Stellia, it was great, but I did return it as I wanted to sample a couple more products before I settle down. If I don’t I’ll always wonder.

Although my two portable headphone choices should be very easy to drive, I still worry about having enough headphone output power. I read that the LPGT is a bit more powerful than normal and I would listen to it at 60% on Bluetooth from my iPhone with my Stellias. My question is will the WM1Z also have the power to drive my two portable headphone choices well and what about the Hugo 2/2Go? Does it also have the needed power or does it simply outclass dedicated music players altogether in both power and or sound?

I have three goals in the end, a portable music player (WM1Z?), a transportable iPhone/iPad/MacBook Pro USB DAC headphone amplifier (Hugo 2/2go?), and a reference desktop DAC / headphone amp to use with a flagship open-back headphone or two (many, many options here). And does anyone here prefer the Chord Hugo 2/2Go, the A&K SP2000, or the Sony WM1Z to the LPGT?

I would say your stellia will have 0 problems to be driven from wm1z in balance for best results, 1z would fit the best in my opinion as it has a very nice analog warm sound signature.

1z will offer best Bluetooth connectivity in a very seamless way. Best would be to use Android to get the benefits of Ldac. IPhone sounds good to but has a limited Bluetooth rate to 256 kbps Ldac is 996 kbps almost full range of bandwidth that you get from tidal!

I still think 1z is a more appealing sound signature over Lpgt.

Hugo2 is close to 1z sound but has bad isolation and catches a lot of RF noise.

 

[MrLocoLuciano]

Hugo2 is close to 1z sound but has bad isolation and catches a lot of RF noise.

I completely desagree with that from what I eard.
To me, WM1Z is warm and lush, while Hugo 2 is technical, clinical and cold.
Can't see 2 more opposite gears.

 

[Redcarmoose]

I gotta give this album a try. Definitely an epic female voice.
Agreed. Not sure whether it's a mastering issue, placebo effect or actual difference made by higher resolution, but most (if not all) of my 96/24 albums sound to me noticeably better than its 44/16 counterparts (I own many albums is both versions... Trying to upgrade my collection, whenever it seems worthy, to hi res).

Yes, there seems to be just slightly more air in places. And this idea of added air has been going on for about two years, so if it’s real or not..........I would rather not know the truth of the matter. Believing it is better (while being maybe scientifically delusional) is still a prefect path for me to travel on. Normally EPs are not my thing but this one is just about 30 minutes long but great consistent quality, and recording art. I would guess anyone who is even remotely familiar with Epica would love it. Albums can be too long at times, here it’s a complete statement.

Just joined this forum and wanted to say thank you for this software! I was debating long and hard between WM1A and Z, stuck with 1A and your software, sounds great and saved a lot of $.
Will be buying you a beer as well!

Welcome! And.... enjoy! We would like to hear about your journey as it unfolds!

 

[Vitaly2017]

I completely desagree with that from what I eard.
To me, WM1Z is warm and lush, while Hugo 2 is technical, clinical and cold.
Can't see 2 more opposite gears.

Hmm when I listen to 1z and hugo2 with ier-z1r maybe a year a go.

To me 1z was warm lush yes. But I didn't find Hugo 2 to be clinical or cold.... to me ibasso dx200 is exactly that! I hate that signature.

Hugo 2 was bassy neutral nearing 1a sound signature more then 1z.
But it was still neutral naturalish some what. Though not to a point like you say cold and analytical. It is very transparent I do agree on that

 

[Redcarmoose]

Has anyone tried high-end earbuds (No IEM but earphines) like VE Monk or fiio EM5? I know and I dony dare to use my IER-M7 while walking due to situational awareness

I’m not so sure you will like them? I went through a phase and purchased a couple well regarded high end earbuds as well as a couple classic known ones, but that phase has passed. They really do have a quality different from IEMs, headphones or speakers; they are their own thing. Still they are missing bass. The situational awareness is better with them though. I really did enjoy my phase loving them. You may like them better than anything, some do. There have been stories of folks selling all their headphones and IEMs just to use earbuds. My reviews are super super positive as that was what I was into at the time. None the less it was a great detour on the journey?


Here are a couple historic and elated reviews I’ve done on some I liked a couple of years ago.



https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/kube-2.22577/reviews#item-review-19001



https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/edifier-k180.22349/reviews#item-review-18480





https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/se...eadphones-blue.8620/reviews#item-review-19234





https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/cubu-earbud.22334/reviews#item-review-18417





https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/musicmaker-ting.21430/reviews#item-review-17859