[terminaut]

I've learnt to fit air-tight IEMs like IER-M7 but never to fit an earbud haha

These particular buds are really easy to fit as they contour to the ear very nicely (at least for me)... and in fact I'm still listening to them since the photo lol.

Bad news though... They seem to be some sort of collector's item nowadays:

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-ED1...B0015AM38Q/ref=psdc_172541_t4_B0015AFWCU?th=1

I think the silver might be the "original" incarnation and other colors are recent (possibly cheaper-manufactured) derivatives.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

When I listen to my extremely tweaked ZX507 walkman this is what I noticed:

Deep sub-bass notes that has strong punch and can have very sustained decay

Surreal, Emotive Vocals that maintains imaging coherency even with all sorts of other louder instruments in the mix.

Every music element: main singer, backup singer, drummer, guitarist, audience has its own individual positioning in the soundstage

Really fast attacking but well controlled transients that is done in a way which don’t sound eardrum piercing

Piano that has rich high tone and decay

Guitar that has crispy twang, well defined timbre reverberations

Saxophone that has more noticeable tiny reverberations

Extremely lush sounding Violins that has airiness and wooden timbre.

Background audience’s whistling, clapping, cheering sound really well defined and not blurred/soften

Equipment used and settings:
IER-M9 with stock balanced cable and Final Audio E-type Tips
Non-modified Sony ZX507 walkman
Adata premiere pro MLC 128GB microsd formatted by Walkman
fresh factory reset android with strictly all google and every other non-system apps disabled
Android Battery optimisation disabled system wide
Wifi, Bluetooth, NFC switched Off
Battery saver Off
High-res streaming Off
High Gain On
DSEE HX On
DC Linearizer Type A Low
100% charged and connected to anker USB-PD powerbank
Listening done in a dark and quiet 36dba average listening environment

 

[gerelmx1986]

When I listen to my extremely tweaked ZX507 walkman this is what I noticed:

Deep sub-bass notes that has strong punch and can have very sustained decay

Surreal, Emotive Vocals that maintains imaging coherency even with all sorts of other louder instruments in the mix.

Every music element: main singer, backup singer, drummer, guitarist, audience has its own individual positioning in the soundstage

Really fast attacking but well controlled transients that is done in a way which don’t sound eardrum piercing

Piano that has rich high tone and decay

Guitar that has crispy twang, well defined timbre reverberations

Saxophone that has more noticeable tiny reverberations

Extremely lush sounding Violins that has airiness and wooden timbre.

Background audience’s whistling, clapping, cheering sound really well defined and not blurred/soften

Equipment used and settings:
IER-M9 with stock balanced cable and Final Audio E-type Tips
Non-modified Sony ZX507 walkman
Adata premiere pro MLC 128GB microsd formatted by Walkman
fresh factory reset android with strictly all google and every other non-system apps disabled
Android Battery optimisation disabled system wide
Wifi, Bluetooth, NFC switched Off
Battery saver Off
High-res streaming Off
High Gain On
DSEE HX On
DC Linearizer Type A Low
100% charged and connected to anker USB-PD powerbank
Listening done in a dark and quiet 36dba average listening environment

This is WM1A thread FYI

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

This is WM1A thread FYI

Just sharing what the S-master HX based walkman is capable of presenting with the right setup/tweaks. Other members have also share their impressions of DMP-Z1 and TA-ZH1ES in this thread FYI.

If you find my post annoying please kindly add me to ignore list.

 

[Vitaly2017]

When I listen to my extremely tweaked ZX507 walkman this is what I noticed:

Deep sub-bass notes that has strong punch and can have very sustained decay

Surreal, Emotive Vocals that maintains imaging coherency even with all sorts of other louder instruments in the mix.

Every music element: main singer, backup singer, drummer, guitarist, audience has its own individual positioning in the soundstage

Really fast attacking but well controlled transients that is done in a way which don’t sound eardrum piercing

Piano that has rich high tone and decay

Guitar that has crispy twang, well defined timbre reverberations

Saxophone that has more noticeable tiny reverberations

Extremely lush sounding Violins that has airiness and wooden timbre.

Background audience’s whistling, clapping, cheering sound really well defined and not blurred/soften

Equipment used and settings:
IER-M9 with stock balanced cable and Final Audio E-type Tips
Non-modified Sony ZX507 walkman
Adata premiere pro MLC 128GB microsd formatted by Walkman
fresh factory reset android with strictly all google and every other non-system apps disabled
Android Battery optimisation disabled system wide
Wifi, Bluetooth, NFC switched Off
Battery saver Off
High-res streaming Off
High Gain On
DSEE HX On
DC Linearizer Type A Low
100% charged and connected to anker USB-PD powerbank
Listening done in a dark and quiet 36dba average listening environment

I suspect new sony flagship wm1 daps will have a new release maybe in 1 year or 1.5

As there is enough new technology and technics with new materials to be used for new better quality sounds.

Honest thoughts on ZX507, I think its an amazing sound and if sony implements ZX507 into a wm1z performance dap it will no doubt be 1 hell of a 1a/1z successor!

The new sony caps and the new solder plays a huge roll and the result os that bass you are hearing, even wm1z cannot reproduce this!

So lets wait patiently for a new successor!
Though I am telling you right away it is DMP-Z1! The new flagship, they will replace 1a/1z as well as they just replaced the best and the lower model.
Next one should be 1a/1z!
I bet they will share similarity with dmp-z1 and also pure sony Os no android!

 

[mwhals]

I suspect new sony flagship wm1 daps will have a new release maybe in 1 year or 1.5

As there is enough new technology and technics with new materials to be used for new better quality sounds.

Honest thoughts on ZX507, I think its an amazing sound and if sony implements ZX507 into a wm1z performance dap it will no doubt be 1 hell of a 1a/1z successor!

The new sony caps and the new solder plays a huge roll and the result os that bass you are hearing, even wm1z cannot reproduce this!

So lets wait patiently for a new successor!
Though I am telling you right away it is DMP-Z1! The new flagship, they will replace 1a/1z as well as they just replaced the best and the lower model.
Next one should be 1a/1z!
I bet they will share similarity with dmp-z1 and also pure sony Os no android!

So the ZX507 is a warm dap like the WM1Z? If it is, I need to remove it from any consideration too.

 

[Vitaly2017]

So the ZX507 is a warm dap like the WM1Z? If it is, I need to remove it from any consideration too.

Apparently it got fixed with new fw and now is more balanced and pess bass and more sound stage those are words of @Sonywalkmanuser.

But when I tried it, it was same category like 1z, warm bassy it had amazing vocals !

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

ZX507/A105 Walkman can also act as a better streaming music digital transport source(Spotify/Tidal/Amazon music) to the WM1(or even to DMP-Z1) walkman via LDAC or USB digital out.

Only Sony Android Walkmans and Xperia smartphones can output glitch-free stable bluetooth LDAC at 990Kbps for streaming music. Other smartphones with LDAC have connection/interference issues and have to drop to 660kbps LDAC. When you stream with apple iPhone via Bluetooth to your WM1 Walkman, it is via the lower sound quality SBC codec.

@joshfc2001 actually uses the ZX507 as source for his TA-ZH1ES
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/1-week-review-of-sony-nw-zx507-nw-zx500-series.921418/post-15740350

 

[gerelmx1986]

ZX507/A105 Walkman can also act as a better streaming music digital transport source(Spotify/Tidal/Amazon music) to the WM1(or even to DMP-Z1) walkman via LDAC or USB digital out.

Only Sony Android Walkmans and Xperia smartphones can output glitch-free stable bluetooth LDAC at 990Kbps for streaming music. Other smartphones with LDAC have connection/interference issues and have to drop to 660kbps LDAC. When you stream with apple iPhone via Bluetooth to your WM1 Walkman, it is via the lower sound quality SBC codec.

@joshfc2001 actually uses the ZX507 as source for his TA-ZH1ES
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/1-week-review-of-sony-nw-zx507-nw-zx500-series.921418/post-15740350

I wanna wait but also want a DMP-Z1 haha

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

I suspect new sony flagship wm1 daps will have a new release maybe in 1 year or 1.5

As there is enough new technology and technics with new materials to be used for new better quality sounds.

Honest thoughts on ZX507, I think its an amazing sound and if sony implements ZX507 into a wm1z performance dap it will no doubt be 1 hell of a 1a/1z successor!

The new sony caps and the new solder plays a huge roll and the result os that bass you are hearing, even wm1z cannot reproduce this!

So lets wait patiently for a new successor!
Though I am telling you right away it is DMP-Z1! The new flagship, they will replace 1a/1z as well as they just replaced the best and the lower model.
Next one should be 1a/1z!
I bet they will share similarity with dmp-z1 and also pure sony Os no android!

My summary observations after doing so much experimentation on my ZX507:

Google apps/services running does have significant impact on audio performance, once all these resource hogs are disabled, it allows the ZX507 to perform so much better.

Sony really should stick to Walkman OS for the next flagship. No android!

Firmware can alter the sound signature of a device significantly.

Sony has many hidden sound processing layers. Direct Source is not as direct to hardware as we thought it should be.

DSEE HX AI is awesome and will only get better in the future with better processor performance and better machine learning training.

Sony FTCAP2 does provide strong bass with clear and pristine vocals. No Mosfet mist.

There's so much more going on inside the walkman than we would imagine it as a simple aluminum/gold brick that makes sound.

 

[gerelmx1986]

My summary observations after doing so much experimentation on my ZX507:

Google apps/services running does have significant impact on audio performance, once all these resource hogs are disabled, it allows the ZX507 to perform so much better.

Sony really should stick to Walkman OS for the next flagship. No android!

Firmware can alter the sound signature of a device significantly.

Sony has many hidden sound processing layers. Direct Source is not as direct to hardware as we thought it should be.

DSEE HX AI is awesome and will only get better in the future with better processor performance and better machine learning training.

Sony FTCAP2 does provide strong bass with clear and pristine vocals. No Mosfet mist.

There's so much more going on inside the walkman than we would imagine it as a simple aluminum/gold brick that makes sound.

Or if they want to have crappy android OS on the next flagship, at least they should offer a variant with Walkman OS

 

[Vitaly2017]

Or if they want to have crappy android OS on the next flagship, at least they should offer a variant with Walkman OS

Sony wont create crap so it will be sony os only.
You got zx507 for that already

 

[firemess]

The only problem we have (for some it is not a problem) on Sony OS is the lack of embedded streaming app.
Except that, Sony OS is much better at any level for listening music as it it straight to the point and light software. I always been annoyed when using an android DAP like Fiio as I was asked to connect my google account ... a lot of app/settings that are useless for music usage ...
Problem is that streaming apps would probably never be adapted to Walkman OS I suppose, and personally it is a problem as I also rely on a Qobuz HiRes subscription to complete my music library.

 

[asquare3376]

I have the MDR-1AM2 and the IER-M9. Both are masterpieces indeed.

You can tell they both share quite alot of similarities in terms of overall sound signatures.

The sound signature of these two seems to be tuned to work extremely well with S-master HX based walkmans. I have listen to both of them on my ZX2 and ZX507 walkman, I can tell you without a doubt that they have impeccable synergy. You can listen to both the iem and headphones for long hours without feeling any kind of listening fatigue.

In my opinion, the Sony acoustic engineer has really good ears, he is able to make these two sound great with any music genres, and he is quite young, so I do think he still has a lot of future designs that we can look forward to.

Interesting! What are your thoughts on the M9 vs Z5?

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Interesting! What are your thoughts on the M9 vs Z5?

Z5 is a bass monster. M9 can't match the deep low end rumble you get from Z5 LCP driver. But with the ZX507, the M9 bass is as good as any respectable dynamic driver iem.

The balance armature drivers on the M9 is much improved over the Z5. Z5 balanced armatures still has slight plasticity to it's treble. The M9 BA sounds more metallic like, which makes cymbals sound very crispy.

Soundstage wise, M9 is much more wider and taller, I think M9 doesn't sound in your head at all. Z5 sounds too closed in with some width but no height, you need aftermarket cables to improve it's sound.

Imaging on the M9 is so much better than the Z5. There's no comparsion at all. M9 imaging is the showcase of the iem.

I would recommend getting the M9 over the Z5 especially if you own a Sony balanced walkman. You don't need to get aftermarket cables.