[Damz87]

Wouldn’t the WM1A be a better option if you don’t want android? I would’ve thought that WM1A sounds better than ZX507

 

[equalspeace]

Wouldn’t the WM1A be a better option if you don’t want android? I would’ve thought that WM1A sounds better than ZX507

The WM1A would not have been a better option for me, since I’ve owned and sold it twice. Having had personal experience with it, I can say with confidence that the 1A has piercing treble, and sounds a bit thin in the mids. A player of that price should have excellent note weight and it doesn’t. The ZX507 is better in both of the aforementioned areas, as it does have smoother but still detailed treble that is not fatiguing, and it has nice thickness in the mids. It also has better bass quality than the 1A. The ZX507 goes deeper and from memory has better bass accuracy, in that it can produce all kinds of bass really well, with no bleed into the mids. The WM1A has the ZX507 beat on soundstage width, battery life, and power out of the balanced output. You also get more options for sound customization with the pure Sony UI. The ZX507 with just its Sony app and excellent sound quality can rival the WM1A. It takes it on well and can beat it in many areas.

 

[Arome]

The WM1A would not have been a better option for me, since I’ve owned and sold it twice. Having had personal experience with it, I can say with confidence that the 1A has piercing treble, and sounds a bit thin in the mids. A player of that price should have excellent note weight and it doesn’t. The ZX507 is better in both of the aforementioned areas, as it does have smoother but still detailed treble that is not fatiguing, and it has nice thickness in the mids. It also has better bass quality than the 1A. The ZX507 goes deeper and from memory has better bass accuracy, in that it can produce all kinds of bass really well, with no bleed into the mids. The WM1A has the ZX507 beat on soundstage width, battery life, and power out of the balanced output. You also get more options for sound customization with the pure Sony UI. The ZX507 with just its Sony app and excellent sound quality can rival the WM1A. It takes it on well and can beat it in many areas.

Do you own the EU model of the ZX507? If so, does it offer enough power to drive the HD660s? Thanks for your reply! I'm currently listening to the WM1A (and I really like the sound), but I wish to use streaming apps like Tidal.

 

[equalspeace]

Do you own the EU model of the ZX507? If so, does it offer enough power to drive the HD660s? Thanks for your reply! I'm currently listening to the WM1A (and I really like the sound), but I wish to use streaming apps like Tidal.

I don’t own an EU model, sry

 

[sander93]

Do you own the EU model of the ZX507? If so, does it offer enough power to drive the HD660s? Thanks for your reply! I'm currently listening to the WM1A (and I really like the sound), but I wish to use streaming apps like Tidal.

I believe that uncapped wm1z/a and zx300/zx500 — all DAPs produces not enough voltage to drive 660s (150ohm; 104 db/V)
high gain voltage and power of wm 1A/Z measured at 2V and 250 mW on 16 ohm. zx300: 1.87V and 200mW. zx500 power stated at 200mW
thus, unlimited zx500 should drive hd660s almost as loud as wm1A. 1.87V vs 2 V
power requirements for 660s
Listening Loudness Voltage Needed Current Needed Power Needed
Safe 85 dB SPL 0.11 Vrms 0.73 mA 0.08 mW
Moderate 100 dB SPL 0.63 Vrms 4.2 mA 2.65 mW
Fairly Loud 110 dB SPL 2 Vrms 13.33 mA 26.67 mW
Very Loud 115 dB SPL 3.55 Vrms 23.67 mA 84.02 mW
Painful 120 dB SPL 6.31 Vrms 42.07 mA 265.44 mW

 

[Damz87]

The WM1A would not have been a better option for me, since I’ve owned and sold it twice. Having had personal experience with it, I can say with confidence that the 1A has piercing treble, and sounds a bit thin in the mids. A player of that price should have excellent note weight and it doesn’t. The ZX507 is better in both of the aforementioned areas, as it does have smoother but still detailed treble that is not fatiguing, and it has nice thickness in the mids. It also has better bass quality than the 1A. The ZX507 goes deeper and from memory has better bass accuracy, in that it can produce all kinds of bass really well, with no bleed into the mids. The WM1A has the ZX507 beat on soundstage width, battery life, and power out of the balanced output. You also get more options for sound customization with the pure Sony UI. The ZX507 with just its Sony app and excellent sound quality can rival the WM1A. It takes it on well and can beat it in many areas.

Agreed, the ZX507 does sound’s great I’ve never used a WM1A but I have heard from others that it’s more neutral/bright in comparison to the other Walkman’s.

The ZX507 has a great amount of warmth and richness, and pairs beautifully with neutral gear (M9 in my case) but I don’t think it compliments bassier gear very well. I tried my Z5’s with ZX507 and the mid bass bloated out way too much. WM1A would probably be a better choice for bassy IEM’s.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

You can always tune the bass of the zx507 via DC Phase Linearizer. Type B low will reduce mid bass bloat.

I would suggest giving ZX507 a buy over ZX300 and WM1A if most of your music files are 16bit PCM or compressed AAC. Sony has done alot of improvements to DSEE HX AI. it improves transient response of non hi-res content without sounding overprocessed or earpiercing sharp. It's really very musical and three dimensional sounding to my ears. I feel that this function is very much the star feature of this Sony walkman and the reason why you should buy this walkman over any other dap(until Sony releases new flagship)

The new FTCAP2 has better clarity and bass over the older capacitor found on the zx1, zx2, zx300 and etc. The last smidget of haziness is gone. Bass on the zx507 is very expressive and full bodied, there's so many types of notes and texture that you can hear and feel(on headphones).

For those still on the fence, I would say pull the trigger. Thank me later.

 

[equalspeace]

Agreed, the ZX507 does sound’s great I’ve never used a WM1A but I have heard from others that it’s more neutral/bright in comparison to the other Walkman’s.

The ZX507 has a great amount of warmth and richness, and pairs beautifully with neutral gear (M9 in my case) but I don’t think it compliments bassier gear very well. I tried my Z5’s with ZX507 and the mid bass bloated out way too much. WM1A would probably be a better choice for bassy IEM’s.

Also depends on the IEMs. My Oriolus Mk2 is a bass cannon when called upon but it’s never performed in a sloppy fashion, bleeding into the mids with the ZX507

 

[Damz87]

Also depends on the IEMs. My Oriolus Mk2 is a bass cannon when called upon but it’s never performed in a sloppy fashion, bleeding into the mids with the ZX507

Yeah true, the Z5 probably isn’t the best example. The mid bass sounds pretty bloated on most stuff. Never tried an Oriolus IEM. Will have to give it a go

 

[equalspeace]

Listening to the ZX507 with my HD660s now. Incredible synergy going between them on the balanced output. This player has such a fast transient response. It really is bringing the best out of the 660s drivers. The presentation is big, layered and energetic. Sounds glorious

 

[equalspeace]

So you all know I’m speaking from experience.

 

[Earbones]

Simple. Because the sound quality of the ZX507 is better.

I dunno. Sure, that may be true by a narrow margin, but the ZX300 is also an older product than the ZX507. The 507 may have an edge now, but if Sony releases a ZX3XX upgrade to the 300 in a couple of years, maybe that will sound better... The point stands that the ZX300 and ZX507 were built to occupy the same tier in terms of sound quality and performance. One just has the added benefit of streaming.

Personally, I love my 507, but I am flummoxed by Sony's treatment of streaming on the device. They seem to treat it kind of like an afterthought... Like it's a "mint-on-a-pillow feature"- we should be grateful it's there at all, and not complain about the lack of high-res streaming. And sure, I guess that's a good point...

But then I think "No, wait a minute, but the ZX300!" It's the same tier. That's the player in which a kind of throwaway streaming experience could be dismissed as a freebie. The ZX507 is the same-tier player that has a higher MSRP simply because it offers streaming. Streaming on the ZX507 is not some accoutrement we should be grateful for- it's the reason why the player exists at all, and why it costs $200 more than it's tier-sibling, the ZX300.

Again, I love my ZX507, and the lack of MQA and other hi-res streaming formats doesn't bug me. That much. But if Sony were going to go to the trouble of giving the ZX300 a more expensive tier-sibling that does streaming, they should have done the streaming right. It's not like it's difficult to do, after all. All current gen A&K players with streaming offer true high-res and MQA decoding.

 

[udo]

Does this Sony have the database issue as the NW-A55L does?
Or other drawbacks?

 

[sander93]

Listening to the ZX507 with my HD660s now. Incredible synergy going between them on the balanced output. This player has such a fast transient response. It really is bringing the best out of the 660s drivers. The presentation is big, layered and energetic. Sounds glorious

Wow!! and HD660s sounds ok? loud enough??? I though zx507 had not enough voltage to drive them loud enough.
u dont use any external amp, do u? just zx507?

 

[equalspeace]

I dunno. Sure, that may be true by a narrow margin, but the ZX300 is also an older product than the ZX507. The 507 may have an edge now, but if Sony releases a ZX3XX upgrade to the 300 in a couple of years, maybe that will sound better... The point stands that the ZX300 and ZX507 were built to occupy the same tier in terms of sound quality and performance. One just has the added benefit of streaming.

Personally, I love my 507, but I am flummoxed by Sony's treatment of streaming on the device. They seem to treat it kind of like an afterthought... Like it's a "mint-on-a-pillow feature"- we should be grateful it's there at all, and not complain about the lack of high-res streaming. And sure, I guess that's a good point...

But then I think "No, wait a minute, but the ZX300!" It's the same tier. That's the player in which a kind of throwaway streaming experience could be dismissed as a freebie. The ZX507 is the same-tier player that has a higher MSRP simply because it offers streaming. Streaming on the ZX507 is not some accoutrement we should be grateful for- it's the reason why the player exists at all, and why it costs $200 more than it's tier-sibling, the ZX300.

Again, I love my ZX507, and the lack of MQA and other hi-res streaming formats doesn't bug me. That much. But if Sony were going to go to the trouble of giving the ZX300 a more expensive tier-sibling that does streaming, they should have done the streaming right. It's not like it's difficult to do, after all. All current gen A&K players with streaming offer true high-res and MQA decoding.

I owned the ZX300 for quite a while. I loved its warm to neutral sound signature, but it definitely had limitations. I can say with confidence that the ZX507 is operating in a different tier sound wise. It’s just flat out better in every area of sound production- stage depth/width/layering, bass performance, black background (although the ZX300 was also very good with noise), finesse/weight in the mids, and treble presentation. It’s a clear step forward that rivals top tier DAPs in my opinion, such as the DX200 and as I’ve mentioned the WM1A. The implementation of the amp section may also be better because I don’t ever remember the HD660s sounding as good on the 300.

Wow!! and HD660s sounds ok? loud enough??? I though zx507 had not enough voltage to drive them loud enough.
u dont use any external amp, do u? just zx507?

Unequivocally, yes. I was using the balanced output as can be seen, volume at 72, on high gain. Haven’t used an external amp yet. I should also add that I use a Plusssound Appolonian cable with my 660s which makes a big difference over the stock cable, so YMMV. It’s actually an MMCX term’d cable that I use with an adapter on the 660s. Worked out really well