[MrWalkman]

Exited to hear about the upcoming FW with new regions! J1, J2 J3 what are the differences, compared to J or MX3? Hoping that they maybe have better dynamics!

I didn't spend enough time listening in the past days, and especially not comparing them, for now.

However, differences between J and J3, for example, should be similar to differences between E and MX3.

 

[Fiery Jack]

So do J2 and J3 still maintain the original J signature as it was pretty neutral compared to MX3 and E?

 

[MrWalkman]

So do J2 and J3 still maintain the original J signature as it was pretty neutral compared to MX3 and E?

Think that E2 and MX3 are "derived" from E, in this order.

J2 and J3 will be "derived" from J similarly.

 

[NickleCo]

How much do you think was just hardware characteristics of the WM1A? I favour Bright on E, do you think that combination may have produced a significant difference to your perceived impressions for something like the bass and note thickness?

My 1A also came with a strap.

I cant comment much for hardware characteristics as i was not able to fw roll at the time. But i can say for sure the harshness would not have been present (or at least lessened) when on stock fw.

edit: I did some fw rolling and it significantly reduced the bass bloom on higher volume! But the note thickness is still very much present (and im not complaining lol!). Theoretically i could achieve p6 characteristics with enough rolling.

 

[WilcoRoger]

Using usb audio out?

I got around to snap a few pictures. The cable is not the Sony one, but one I snatched in Wanchai (HongKong) The case is a cheap hard plastic one off Amazon. The totally cool thing is the adhesive sheet between the A55 and the Fiio - it's from Japan, cheap there, impossible to get elsewhere. It's very, very strong, but still easy to detach if so needed.

The case is attached to the DAC/AMP, so if I need to take out the A55, I just snap it out the case, no need to detach the adhesive. The screen protector is a matte one, again off Amazon. It's sold as for the A35, but works well with the A55. (I hate the fingerprint collector original screen and screen protectors)

You can also see how perfectly the form factor of the A55 and the Q1mkII line up.

PS - the pix clearly show how "black" is a relative thing - just look at the end-plates

The last pic shows the A55 running Walkman One, playing on USB out, with HD650 on the balanced port.

 

[aceedburn]

I got around to snap a few pictures. The cable is not the Sony one, but one I snatched in Wanchai (HongKong) The case is a cheap hard plastic one off Amazon. The totally cool thing is the adhesive sheet between the A55 and the Fiio - it's from Japan, cheap there, impossible to get elsewhere. It's very, very strong, but still easy to detach if so needed.

The case is attached to the DAC/AMP, so if I need to take out the A55, I just snap it out the case, no need to detach the adhesive. The screen protector is a matte one, again off Amazon. It's sold as for the A35, but works well with the A55. (I hate the fingerprint collector original screen and screen protectors)

You can also see how perfectly the form factor of the A55 and the Q1mkII line up.

PS - the pix clearly show how "black" is a relative thing - just look at the end-plates

The last pic shows the A55 running Walkman One, playing on USB out, with HD650 on the balanced port.

Nice setup. Sometimes trial and error plays a very important part. Also helps to know a bit on how cables and their different variations work.

 

[WilcoRoger]

Nice setup. Sometimes trial and error plays a very important part. Also helps to know a bit on how cables and their different variations work.

Thanks. I'd hasten to add "nice and cheap"

A55 - 109€ (Amazon.de Black Friday deal)
Q1mk2 - ~100€
HD6xx - 200€ (with freight and EU VAT)
balanced cable - ~50€
case - ~5€
protector - 2€
adhesive - ~5€

So under 500€, line, hook and sinker.

 

[aceedburn]

A little off topic subject. I recently found out that the Sony Music Center Music app for android outputs bit perfect audio from the usb c port. I hooked up my Oppo phone with my FiiO K5 Pro using a usb c to usb b cable which supports up to DSD512 and the sound quality is absolutely amazing. The FiiO dac LED changes color based on the file bitrate, blue for 44.1khz and below, yellow for 48khz and above and green for dsd. The Sony music centre app also supports native dsd output and this reflects on my FiiO as well. Amazing discovery as far as I’m concerned.
Another thing to note is that if I enable DSEE HX in the music centre app the led shows yellow for all file types and green for dsd. This shows that DSEE HX converts all files to 48khz except dsd which is natively played back. I can also select D2P and DOP if I wish but I think native sounds best. And it also has the host of DSPs like surround VPT, normaliser and EQ.

It’s an amazing free player that looks and sounds great and I think is very underrated I must say for what it does. I’m curious to know how this would play out in a Sony android Walkman compared to the stock Walkman player. Of course the other DSPs like vinyl processor and phase lineariser is not present in the music centre app.

 

[bana]

First of all, I want to say thankyou mrwalkman for these awesome custom fw. After 6 years my journey of portable audio, finally end up searching for an affordable small DAP that has a good battery life with LDAC reciever capabilities, walkman series caught my attention here. I've tried couple DAP and Bluetooth Receiver such as Fiio BTR5, Hiby R3 Saber, Oriolus BT reciever, Shanling M0, etc.. None of them satisfied my ear in terms of the sound or battery life, mostly doest last long as LDAC reciever and sound degradation really bad. At first i never looked at Sony DAP as they tend to sound warm and muddy at stock fw, till last month i brought cheap used A35 series that comes with R Firmware, wow.. An amazing sounding DAP, crystal crisp and good dynamic+resolution, even as LDAC reciever it perform very good, nearly no difference as wired connection. Finally a versatile little DAP with excellent battery life. Last week, i sold the A35 and brought the brand new A55 instead. Walkman One fw was the best so far. My setting: Bright, Alternate DAC, Plus V2. I Made custom case for it, and it looked dope all functional side buttons, and fully protected case.

Nice case. Have you made more?

 

[MrWalkman]

WM1A hooked up to an old amplifier, listening via the Sony Z7M2 - Electromures Delia AWS-303 (1989). Awesome experience!

The WM1A has the WM1Z sound signature, with the Plus v2 mode.

 

[camera]

WM1A hooked up to an old amplifier, listening via the Sony Z7M2 - Electromures Delia AWS-303 (1989). Awesome experience!

The WM1A has the WM1Z sound signature, with the Plus v2 mode.

Sir, how could you connect WM1A to an amp? I tried to connect WM1A to Sennheiser HD650 via a portable amp, but it ended up double amping as the WM1A didn't support a line out from its audio jacks.

 

[MrWalkman]

Sir, how could you connect WM1A to an amp? I tried to connect WM1A to Sennheiser HD650 via a portable amp, but it ended up double amping as the WM1A didn't support a line out from its audio jacks.

There's no way other than double amping, but it sounds very good, at least in my case.

I turned volume to max, on low gain.

 

[nc8000]

Sir, how could you connect WM1A to an amp? I tried to connect WM1A to Sennheiser HD650 via a portable amp, but it ended up double amping as the WM1A didn't support a line out from its audio jacks.

The class D amp in the Walkman is so clean that it is ideal for using as a “line out” as well as headphone out

 

[MrWalkman]

The class D amp in the Walkman is so clean that it is ideal for using as a “line out” as well as headphone out

Unless there's potential to damage something, I go by the ear. If it sounds good, then all is good

 

[jaker782]

Unless there's potential to damage something, I go by the ear. If it sounds good, then all is good

I see you are using 3.5mm jack due to external amp being single ended. I guess sound quality does not suffer much in this usage case over using 4.4mm balanced jack, which is supposedly superior? Alternative is to use 4.4mm to single ended adapter, which I suppose is not recommended.