[newworld666]

Is back transparent with this mod ? If so, I doubt it will stay unscratched after a very short time.

 

[nc8000]

Is back transparent with this mod ? If so, I doubt it will stay unscratched after a very short time.

externally it is stock except for the BT areal in place of the 3.5 mm output

 

[nc8000]

When you have a moment, can you give an idea of the SQ improvements with the mod. on the 1Z? I'm in Spain,but return to the UK regularly, at least, during normal times.Thanks!

I can not say which part make which part of the difference (MrWalkman fw and hw mod) and it has now been 3 months since I listened to the stock 1Z with stock fw so I’m unable to say but feel that this combo is on another level compared with a stock unit and I can see me using this for the next 10 years with no need or desire to up- or sidegrade

 

[gearofwar]

hi guys, does anyone know if there are any benefits getting Sandisk Extreme ver over the regular one? I'm not sure if the wm1 series supports the speed of the Extreme

 

[INGRAMLI]

hi guys, does anyone know if there are any benefits getting Sandisk Extreme ver over the regular one? I'm not sure if the wm1 series supports the speed of the Extreme

FYI,
1. WM1' USN port is capable up to 2.0 only, which means if you transfer songs using the player instead of an alternative card reader, the speed is capped at 30MBytes/sec;

2. There are viewpoints that different cards inject different amount of noise to the circuit, hence affecting the sound quality, but I guess that is out of the scope of your consideration (the difference is subtle IMHO anyway);

3. Write speed (which is the speed you transfer songs to the card) for Sandisk Ultra or basic cards (without rated WRITE speed) are usually slower than 30MBytes/sec in write speed, so you will still benefit from a card with faster write speed up to "V30" rating (30MBytes/sec in recording certification) for transfer of songs.

 

[gearofwar]

FYI,
1. WM1' USN port is capable up to 2.0 only, which means if you transfer songs using the player instead of an alternative card reader, the speed is capped at 30MBytes/sec;

2. There are viewpoints that different cards inject different amount of noise to the circuit, hence affecting the sound quality, but I guess that is out of the scope of your consideration (the difference is subtle IMHO anyway);

3. Write speed (which is the speed you transfer songs to the card) for Sandisk Ultra or basic cards (without rated WRITE speed) are usually slower than 30MBytes/sec in write speed, so you will still benefit from a card with faster write speed up to "V30" rating (30MBytes/sec in recording certification) for transfer of songs.

I'm actually more interested in the library loading time between Extreme and Ultra (to be specific), do you know anything about it? I care less about the writespeed

 

[INGRAMLI]

I'm actually more interested in the library loading time between Extreme and Ultra (to be specific), do you know anything about it? I care less about the writespeed

1. I didn't compare different cards, so I am unable to give a definite answer;

2. In theory the loading of library involve only reading (barely, if any writing) so any modern sdxc cards should fit the bill well (I hardly see any reputable brands selling sd cards with read speed less than 90MBytes/sec, that is pretty much the baseline nowadays).

 

[unifutomaki]

It's hard to see how music files are ever going to bottleneck the read/write bandwidth of the microSD card. The library refresh is more likely to be limited by the CPU in these things than the storage.

 

[gearofwar]

It's hard to see how music files are ever going to bottleneck the read/write bandwidth of the microSD card. The library refresh is more likely to be limited by the CPU in these things than the storage.

If this is the case, we might be as well good with any Ultra then

 

[bflat]

hi guys, does anyone know if there are any benefits getting Sandisk Extreme ver over the regular one? I'm not sure if the wm1 series supports the speed of the Extreme

As others noted, no audio or performance difference but Ultra has 10 yr warranty versus Extreme lifetime warranty. Up to you to decide if the the warranty difference is worth the price.

Lastly, and this is a bit of a stretch but I often recycle my memory cards for DAPs for my digital camera when I upgrade DAP capacity. In that case, I do like have performance for both writes and reads. With the warranty and performance, I generally go with the higher end if the price is 10% or less premium.

 

[WilcoRoger]

Lastly, and this is a bit of a stretch but I often recycle my memory cards for DAPs for my digital camera when I upgrade DAP capacity. In that case, I do like have performance for both writes and reads. With the warranty and performance, I generally go with the higher end if the price is 10% or less premium.

This is a good point, I'm doing the same. 32 or even 64GB might be rather small for lossless music, but it can take a LOT of RAW files and incredible much JPG files.

Another point is that when I get a new SD card, I usually copy my library either with the built in card reader of the laptop or a dongle card reader. They do USB3 vs USB2 of the DAP, and when copying 2-3-400GB it makes a huge difference.

 

[perky2]

Fair enough, with all due respect, I don't trust my own ears, and while you may be correct, the DAC being a black box of its own, the only way to know for sure is to take actual measurements (even the drivers won't tell you anything that happens in the logic of the s-master DAC itself after all)

This is eventually what I did yesterday, I dusted off my Mayflower ARC, connected my NW-ZX300 (set to E destination) to the mic/line in of the ARC, fired up audacity and captured multiple samples of 2 specific FLAC tracks, one at 24bit/192khz (for all HI-Res purists out there) and one at 16bit 44Khz, I captured 5 different samples for each of the two tracks, then set the destination to J, rebooted (power off, power on, let the database rebuild...), captured 5 other samples for each of the exact same tracks. Made sure the time code matches on all samples, and compared.

Lo and Behold, besides few anomalies in the high frequency range (well outside of the audible spectrum, not sure if it was due to interferences, capturing equipment or whatnot, it is irrelevant in this context anyway), the curves, when compared from destination E to destination J, were as identical as I'd expect.

So while there were a caveats in this rough exercise, (for example, I don't have the equipment to capture anything from the balanced output, and I forgot to capture samples from a DSD track), I can conclude the following:

- Destination E and J use the same sound profile/signature, with a perfect match (at least in the audible spectrum and with my current equipment) on all curves.

- I did not test any other destinations, I am unaware of possible differences there, perhaps there are, I would rather not make assumptions or uneducated guesses.

- This exercise is easy enough to reproduce by anyone with a line in and audacity (and a walkman) and assess their own results.
(though I would suggest using an external DAC if possible to avoid EMIs), the equipment required for this is inexpensive.

- I cannot verify if there are variations on the 4.4mm output as the equipment required to capture from a balanced output is somewhat expensive and I was unwilling to purchase it for the sake of this experiment, you would be able to use a (low end, inexpensive) scope and wire it to the 4.4mm output should you wish to perform a differential analysis there.

- This is not someone using subjective measurements such as hearing, this is done using samples taken through (affordable) audio equipment.

I've just spent the last hour comparing different regions using the Rockbox SonyNWDestTool and I'm afraid I found no difference with any of them including the supposedly treble lifted CN region. I reset all settings between changing the region and obtained the remote control icon etc. for J and E regions but they all sound the same to me. I'm prepared to admit to having older ears but I would have thought I'd have noticed some difference following the comments on this thread.

 

[kiling92]

I've just spent the last hour comparing different regions using the Rockbox SonyNWDestTool and I'm afraid I found no difference with any of them including the supposedly treble lifted CN region. I reset all settings between changing the region and obtained the remote control icon etc. for J and E regions but they all sound the same to me. I'm prepared to admit to having older ears but I would have thought I'd have noticed some difference following the comments on this thread.

Try to compare KR and CN

 

[kiling92]

I don;t use music centre to transfer the songs. I transfer them directly to the walkman from my computer after updating the sense me info. It doesn’t add any extra folder or anything if you do it this way. Don’t use music centre to transfer your files into the walkman.

Ogni try to analize the songs,but if i transfer them without the app the walkman don't recognize the analyzed song

 

[Mindstorms]

I can not say which part make which part of the difference (MrWalkman fw and hw mod) and it has now been 3 months since I listened to the stock 1Z with stock fw so I’m unable to say but feel that this combo is on another level compared with a stock unit and I can see me using this for the next 10 years with no need or desire to up- or sidegrade

wich region and Fw are you?