[kiling92]

Anyway I got to be able to connect the WA11 Topaz in analog with the wm1a, and I realized that the walkman has a really good dac, but the amplification sucks, it literally acts as a bottleneck, and it's a real shame.
I was hoping the new revisions had more power but I understand that it is the same as the predecessor ..

 

[nc8000]

Anyway I got to be able to connect the WA11 Topaz in analog with the wm1a, and I realized that the walkman has a really good dac, but the amplification sucks, it literally acts as a bottleneck, and it's a real shame.
I was hoping the new revisions had more power but I understand that it is the same as the predecessor ..

Amplification don’t suck, you just have to be carefull when matching headphones and don’t expect them to power everything on the market, that was never Sony’s design goal as they prioriticed other parameters over outright driving power

 

[kiling92]

Amplification don’t suck, you just have to be carefull when matching headphones and don’t expect them to power everything on the market, that was never Sony’s design goal as they prioriticed other parameters over outright driving power

In the end I drove several low impedance headphones on my wm1a, with famous combos.
WM1A-stellia
WM1A-z1r
WM1A-9200
It plays with the right volume, but as far as my ear can hear, after pairing the topaz, the lack of power doesn't make the sound focused even at high volume.
In short, the wm1a dac combined with a more powerful amplification brings out the real potential of the walkman IMO
Maybe it is suitable for driving IEMs well, but even my xba z5 with better amplification sounded much better

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

i know. he kept on saying he wasnt made of money. Since i repair stuff he was gonna buy a screen but theres no screens available. i just gave up and said give me your old airpods.

Sounds like a bad friendship to me.

 

[aceedburn]

In the end I drove several low impedance headphones on my wm1a, with famous combos.
WM1A-stellia
WM1A-z1r
WM1A-9200
It plays with the right volume, but as far as my ear can hear, after pairing the topaz, the lack of power doesn't make the sound focused even at high volume.
In short, the wm1a dac combined with a more powerful amplification brings out the real potential of the walkman IMO
Maybe it is suitable for driving IEMs well, but even my xba z5 with better amplification sounded much better

It’s all about synergy. While I agree that with added amplification, it brings out that hidden beast in the 1A, as I use FiiO K5 Pro with a tube buffer, the 1A on it’s own stands it’s ground pretty well with the right gear.

 

[Redcarmoose]

In the end I drove several low impedance headphones on my wm1a, with famous combos.
WM1A-stellia
WM1A-z1r
WM1A-9200
It plays with the right volume, but as far as my ear can hear, after pairing the topaz, the lack of power doesn't make the sound focused even at high volume.
In short, the wm1a dac combined with a more powerful amplification brings out the real potential of the walkman IMO
Maybe it is suitable for driving IEMs well, but even my xba z5 with better amplification sounded much better

The issue is the amp is the DAC. So it is in the digital phase longer. That is why there is no digital out of the Walkmans. Still for my uses they work fine. I get what your saying about damping factor being better outside of a Walkman purchase. Still I use the Sony TA for the MDR-Z1R and high gain on the 1Z and 1A for the IER-Z1R, Z5 and the rest. Really tone is more important than amplification in my book.

I bet that Topaz is nice though. Especially when you can go 4.4mm in from the 1A!

 

[nc8000]

The issue is the amp is the DAC. So it is in the digital phase longer. That is why there is no digital out of the Walkmans. Still for my uses they work fine. I get what your saying about damping factor being better outside of a Walkman purchase. Still I use the Sony TA for the MDR-Z1R and high gain on the 1Z and 1A for the IER-Z1R, Z5 and the rest. Really tone is more important than amplification in my book.

I bet that Topaz is nice though. Especially when you can go 4.4mm in from the 1A!

There is digital out but not analog out on the WM players. The A players have both digital and analog out

 

[Redcarmoose]

Edit:

Your right. I stand corrected. No line out, but USB digital out.

There is digital out but not analog out on the WM players. The A players have both digital and analog out

 

[aceedburn]

The WM1A and WM1Z only has analog out? No digital out?

There is digital out via usb. I use it sometimes with my amp.

 

[Redcarmoose]

There is digital out via usb. I use it sometimes with my amp.

You are right! I forgot. I use it all the time! But only with an DAC/amp that can process USB, right? I mean not all can accept the signal right?

 

[newworld666]

The WM1A and WM1Z only has analog out? No digital out?

On my WM1A, unfortunately there is no pure line out via USB, but there is digital out to access to an external DAC ... I would have preferred a real line out (which bypass the amp of the WM1A) than have a digital usb output which is incompatible with BT Ldac input.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Right that would have been post internal DAC, but pre amplified.

 

[newworld666]

Right that would have been post internal DAC, but pre amplified.

Yessss .... I don't know if WM1A M2 manage to do this or not.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Yessss .... I don't know if WM1A M2 manage to do this or not.

I bet they don’t due to the S-Master process.

 

[MrWalkman]

I bet they don’t due to the S-Master process.

It's entirely possible to have analog line-out on 1A/1Z. Sony said they didn't connect the S-Master to the WM-port analog line-out pins because of concerns that it may act like some sort of antenna to noise.