[Mmet]

Ugh, my ZX707 journey is more like an odyssey at this point. First, I missed the delivery yesterday because it needed to be handed off which I didn't notice in the tracking info and my apartment doesn't have its own doorbell. So I had to pick it up today, but went to the wrong post office at first due to a glitch in the redelivery reminder system which said it was at a different post office (the distribution center). When I went to the right office, it was too early in the day and the truck hadn't arrived yet, so I had to go a second time to pick up the package. And when I finally set up the Walkman, it turns out that it was the capped US version, not the uncapped Japanese version! Haha, Sony surprise!

Seems to be an honest mistake from the seller. He owns the 1ZM2, and the US version of that one is uncapped, and he traded the 707 from a friend without looking deep into its reviews so he didn't learn that the US version of the 707 is capped until I pointed out that there was no high gain option on the unit he sold to me. He was reasonable, and offered to refund me part of the price if I kept the capped unit or the whole price if I wanted to return it.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to keep it. I'm thinking that this cap is going to be a limiting factor in the long run. For quietly mastered tracks like a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No.5 by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Carlos Kleiber, the capped 707 is at the very limit of its volume on the relatively efficient Sony MDR-Z7M2, 120/120, no headroom at all. On the less efficient Aeon 2 Noire, it simply does not get loud enough, and same deal with high impedance headphones like the HD6xx. I don't listen loudly in general (for pop I use 66/120 for the Z7M2 and 80/120 on the Aeon), so the extra 23 dB of power from the uncapped version's balanced port will be enough for me.

Also, is it just me, or is the 707 very bassy? I use Direct mode, so no EQ, but the sound is noticeably bassier and warmer on every song and every headphone compared to my other gear (e.g. FiiO K9 Pro, Ferrum Erco). Not really complaining, but I'm not sure if it's just the voicing of the 707's amp, or if it's bass distortion that I'm hearing from having insufficient power.

But other than the power, I'm really liking the look and feel of the Walkman. It looks so nice, it's great to hold in the hand, the system is pretty smooth in everyday performance (I never got the sense that it's too slow for me), and the full Google Play Store is nice if I wanted to use BubbleUPnP or something to stream my collection. It's just such a bummer about Sony's BS volume cap.

A sincere advice : don't keep it.. return it while you can ... yes i know you invested in it a lot of your time , effort and emotional capacity to get it .. i know that psychological trap .. just return it and get the Japanese one or even any player that satisfies your needs & expectations fully ..
What is the use of a nearly twice smartphone big and thickness dap that can't deliver the power that a small chinese dongle outputs !! Even my wimpy palm sized 15 years old nw-X1000 outputs 10mw !!!!

 

[Ghisy]

Is it really necessary to reformat my micro SD card on the ZX707 itself? It's full of music and will take a while to transfer again if formatted :/

 

[DantoIzzo]

Is it really necessary to reformat my micro SD card on the ZX707 itself? It's full of music and will take a while to transfer again if formatted :/

Don't see why you need to if it works.

 

[SolarCetacean]

Is it really necessary to reformat my micro SD card on the ZX707 itself? It's full of music and will take a while to transfer again if formatted :/

No. All microSD card use exFAT filesystem and I formatted it on Windows, transferred all of my files there before my Walkman arrived, and when I plugged in the card, all of my songs were read without issue.

 

[ttt123]

Is it really necessary to reformat my micro SD card on the ZX707 itself? It's full of music and will take a while to transfer again if formatted :/

Not absolutely necessary.
There are some reasons to do the format, though:
- If not sure if it was originally formatted on the Sony, and if the format could increase the filesystem efficiency. And maybe affect the SQ... (though this is a minefield subject which attracts kamikaze dive bombers!)
- If the card has been in use for awhile, with a significant amount of file deletions/additions over time. Then a re-format and fresh copy of the files from a backup, will get rid of file fragmentation in the filesystem. People say that file fragmentation does not matter on solid state memory, as there is no physical seek, like on a mechanical HDD. But I have this old school belief that getting rid of file fragmentation is a good practice. And is easier on the memory controller. Or maybe it just makes me feel better. Can't hurt, though.

So not a must, but a good thing to keep in mind, to do somewhere along the way. Think of it as housekeeping. And the only cost is a bit of time.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Is it really necessary to reformat my micro SD card on the ZX707 itself? It's full of music and will take a while to transfer again if formatted :/

It is worded as such on the ZX707 Manual by Sony, but you can always choose not to follow:

Notes on microSD cards​

• Use a microSD card that has been formatted on the player. Sony does not guarantee the operation of other microSD cards.

https://helpguide.sony.net/dmp/1302/v1/en/contents/TP1000733520.html#

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Not absolutely necessary.
There are some reasons to do the format, though:
- If not sure if it was originally formatted on the Sony, and if the format could increase the filesystem efficiency. And maybe affect the SQ... (though this is a minefield subject which attracts kamikaze dive bombers!)
- If the card has been in use for awhile, with a significant amount of file deletions/additions over time. Then a re-format and fresh copy of the files from a backup, will get rid of file fragmentation in the filesystem. People say that file fragmentation does not matter on solid state memory, as there is no physical seek, like on a mechanical HDD. But I have this old school belief that getting rid of file fragmentation is a good practice. And is easier on the memory controller. Or maybe it just makes me feel better. Can't hurt, though.

So not a must, but a good thing to keep in mind, to do somewhere along the way. Think of it as housekeeping. And the only cost is a bit of time.

While soild state memory like nand do not have file fragmentation like hard drives do, they have a propriety flash translation layer inside the firmware which does the mapping of the logical blocks of the Operating filesystem(NTFS,EXFAT and etc) into the actual nand cells. This remapping is very complex and performance can degrade if the sdd/flash has no free space left. I would believe it won't hurt if you do reformat your microsd once in a while to perform a full housekeeping for the entire internal mapping system.

 

[Whitigir]

While soild state memory like nand do not have file fragmentation like hard drives do, they have a propriety flash translation layer inside the firmware which does the mapping of the logical blocks of the Operating filesystem(NTFS,EXFAT and etc) into the actual nand cells. This remapping is very complex and performance can degrade if the sdd/flash has no free space left. I would believe it won't hurt if you do reformat your microsd once in a while to perform a full housekeeping for the entire internal mapping system.

Check this out also. It surprises me of how many people still thinking data is just 1-0, and it either works or it doesnt

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Check this out also. It surprises me of how many people still thinking data is just 1-0, and it either works or it doesnt

It's a world of hidden complexity and engineering that goes on inside these data storage systems that most people would never have imagined or believe.

I think this pdf will quip your interest, these engineers are finding new methods to reduce read latency on QLC nand. Again these are things that happen inside your tiny flash memory chip/microsd/ssd that most people don't know or care about.
Achieving Latency and Reliability Targets with QLC in Enterprise Controllers

 

[SolarCetacean]

My Japanese uncapped ZX707 arrived today! I found out I could buy open-box units from e-earphone and thus it's cheaper than the used US unit I had last week (thanks to the ultra-weak Yen).

Works just as well as it did before! Sound-wise, it's louder than the US version even on low gain. I think this was already known, but I just confirmed it. On the capped unit, my Z7M2 needed 66/120 to get to normal listening volume for pop music. On the uncapped unit, 45/120 on low gain is the same volume. This gives the DAP valuable headroom for very dynamic songs like classical/orchestral music. I used to use 115/120 or even 120/120 on the Z7 for quiet masters like Beethoven's Symphony No.5 by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Carlos Kleiber. On the uncapped unit, I only need to go up to 100/120 on low gain on the 3.5mm output. I'll try it out with my much less efficient Aeon 2 Noire later; that one couldn't get loud enough on the capped models for classical, but I don't anticipate issues with the uncapped model.

The sound doesn't seem to be as noticeably warm and bassy as before, though there still seems to be a bit of bass emphasis. At high volumes (for orchestral tracks), the sound doesn't seem as "strained" during loud transients like orchestral swells. The capped unit often gave me that uncomfortable wincing sensation when trumpets blared, but on the uncapped unit, the sound is pleasantly sharp, not the same wince-inducing brightness. So I suspect the volume cap was doing something weird to the signal.

As for the system, for some reason, the Google Play System Update version is at March 1, 2022, and says it's fully up to date. On the US version, when I pressed "Check for updates", it updated to August 2023. I've signed into the Play store, but haven't installed any new apps; maybe it will update if I do. Also, there's an extra app installed called "Mora" that appears to only be in Japanese, and I can't remove it, though it can be disabled.

One final quirk, though I noticed it on the previous US unit. The Music Player doesn't seem to be correctly reading the lyric files (.lrc) on my microSD card. The previous unit used to do so, and I saw lyrics in the player, but it lost that ability a while later. No lyric data is found even though the .lrc files are still on the card, and songs that previously displayed lyrics no longer do so. The same issue is on the new player's Music Player app. So I'll have to take a look at how the lrc files are placed on the card and maybe re-upload them.

 

[gazzington]

I saw a Japanese one being sold here in the uk so I couldn’t help but order it!

 

[Haden2866]

I saw a Japanese one being sold here in the uk so I couldn’t help but order it!

I'm really enjoying mine.
Highlights for me, so far, include Tidal with DSD on, at the expense of battery life, and local FLAC files on the Walkman player, with DC Phase Linearizer Type A Standard, and with Vinyl Processor Standard both on.
The DSP options seem to be well judged, and implemented with a light touch, as you'd hope from Sony.

 

[Ghisy]

Is there any way to enable tap (or double tap) to wake on this Walkman? So I don't have to press the power button whenever I want to turn on the screen.

 

[Bigbeat]

Well, this DAP is based on Android. So there could be at least a tiny chance that it were possible.
Have you tried looking for an App/Add-On in Google Playstore?

 

[Ghisy]

Well, this DAP is based on Android. So there could be at least a tiny chance that it were possible.
Have you tried looking for an App/Add-On in Google Playstore?

I haven't but I might. Usually, this requires root on Android.

Also, isn't it possible to have a denser UI and smaller font when browsing folders in the Walkman app? The font is too big (not easy to pick a song when the name is long for remixes) and it doesn't display enough songs on one screen at the time.