[nc8000]

Actually, both have the same size, the one that WM1 players also have.

Surely the WM1 players have a larger partition as they can handle many more tracks

 

[MrWalkman]

Surely the WM1 players have a larger partition as they can handle many more tracks

Nope, they have the same size. I have no idea, but if you are 100% sure that A55 can't handle more than 38k tracks, it could be something firmware related.

 

[Artmuzz]

I did an a and b comparison between the sound on the Sony A55 with the DMP-Z1 mod and the Sony A35 with the ZX300 mod and to my ears with the Beyerdynamics T5P the Sony A35 with the ZX300 mod sounds a bit more clear with slightly better dynamics and bass than the Sony A55 with the DMP-Z1 mod with exactly the same sound settings.

I did the SonyDestTool install selecting J Region before applyinig the DMP mod on my Sony A55 but the volume was still quieter than my A35 at the same volume. I then installed the DMP mod then I did the SonyDestTool install again this time E2 Region.

 

[kova4a]

I did an a and b comparison between the sound on the Sony A55 with the DMP-Z1 mod and the Sony A35 with the ZX300 mod and to my ears with the Beyerdynamics T5P the Sony A35 with the ZX300 mod sounds a bit more clear with slightly better dynamics and bass than the Sony A55 with the DMP-Z1 mod with exactly the same sound settings.

I did the SonyDestTool install selecting J Region before applyinig the DMP mod on my Sony A55 but the volume was still quieter than my A35 at the same volume. I then installed the DMP mod then I did the SonyDestTool install again this time E2 Region.

The a35 is killer with the non-plus zx300 port. Honestly, my a105 seems to sound a bit better after the last update but still isn't match for the a35.

I can't wait for the dmp version but I have a suspicion that I'll probably revert back to zx300.

 

[nc8000]

Nope, they have the same size. I have no idea, but if you are 100% sure that A55 can't handle more than 38k tracks, it could be something firmware related.

Don't know about A55 as I never had one but the A45 could not handle more than about 38.000 tracks out of over 45.000 tracks on my 1TB card but my 1Z had no problem handling them all. Another member in the main 1A/1Z thread said that they bottled out around 85.000 tracks and somebody else mentioned that thus was because the database partition was larger on the WM1 players

 

[jltimp]

45.000 tracks on my 1TB card

I can only get about 23,000 tracks on my 1TB card. A lot of them are high res though.

 

[MrWalkman]

Don't know about A55 as I never had one but the A45 could not handle more than about 38.000 tracks out of over 45.000 tracks on my 1TB card but my 1Z had no problem handling them all. Another member in the main 1A/1Z thread said that they bottled out around 85.000 tracks and somebody else mentioned that thus was because the database partition was larger on the WM1 players

I'm not sure anyone knew about the database partition size before all this

I can confirm it's the same size for all players.

 

[nc8000]

I'm not sure anyone knew about the database partition size before all this

I can confirm it's the same size for all players.

Then there must be som other reason why the WM1 can handle more tracks than A45.

This is what I found back in June. I downloaded the database Morgenstern uploaded and installed DBBrowser and that database contains 827 albums and about 9.000 tracks and folders and the database file is about 10MB so it would fit that if it can at the most be 100MB it will max out at around 80.000 tracks.

 

[nc8000]

I can only get about 23,000 tracks on my 1TB card. A lot of them are high res though.

All mine are 16/44 or 16/48 with some 320kb aac of things where I don't have the cd's to re rip in order to fit my entire library so all hires is down sampled

 

[Artmuzz]

The a35 is killer with the non-plus zx300 port. Honestly, my a105 seems to sound a bit better after the last update but still isn't match for the a35.

I can't wait for the dmp version but I have a suspicion that I'll probably revert back to zx300.

To be honest I didn’t really like the sound on the A35 before I installed the zx300 mod. My older Sony DAPs sounded a lot better but then I installed the zx300 mod and that’s when the sound quality got much better. The sound quality on the DMP modded A55 is really good but I feel that the sound on the zx300 modded A35 is a little bit better.

 

[Star Mastering]

To be honest I didn’t really like the sound on the A35 before I installed the zx300 mod. My older Sony DAPs sounded a lot better but then I installed the zx300 mod and that’s when the sound quality got much better. The sound quality on the DMP modded A55 is really good but I feel that the sound on the zx300 modded A35 is a little bit better.

Apparently an engineer named 'Sato-san' - there are two Satos in Sony, modded an A30 device many years ago to maximise its potential. Generally, it may be that A55 needs the zx300 sound tuning rather than the much-distanced high end Z1 to perform better, even if Z1 tuning is the best.

 

[Star Mastering]

The competition between stock devices A30/40/50 seems settled - A50 stock is tuned slightly better but most people can't tell any difference between the three. But between firmwares the difference could be a matter of preference.

 

[INGRAMLI]

Thanks for the work of MrWalkman,

The sound of my WM1A and WM1Z (i own both) are much closer after the FW mod, and both sound more realistic than they used to be with the stock firmware. The following is just my SPECULATION, so take a grain of salt if you disagree,

The chance is, the firmware of DMP-Z1 has no/less digital processing of the sound signal before sending it to the DAC (Under normal circumstance, it is better to tweak the sound by the selection of parts in the post DAC section than playing around with the digital signal, you want bit-perfect playback for best result), while the stock firmware of WM1A/WM1Z got the digital signal "tuned" (sort of EQ that is integrated into the so-called "direct" mode that cannot be disabled by the user) to the specific sound characteristic for market segmentation reasons. The FW mod remove that "EQ" for a unmodified digital signal to S-Master HX for a bit-perfect playback, which is objectively better on a "high fidelity" perspective, that's why most people come to same conclusion that it is better.

Maybe MrWalkman could give more insights into the technical details about the mods...Anyway thanks for FW again, I enjoy it a lot

 

[nc8000]

Well with my 1Z sick and the great fw mods for the lower tier players I picked up a second hand A55 with some cosmetic damage for £90 shipped to Denmark so I can give the new DMP based fw a try

 

[Gamerlingual]

Well with my 1Z sick and the great fw mods for the lower tier players I picked up a second hand A55 with some cosmetic damage for £90 shipped to Denmark so I can give the new DMP based fw a try

Best wishes and enjoy