Sony Walkman custom firmware (non-Android)

[justsomesonyfan]

there are plenty of spots in the waiting room. im really hoping that the new fw doesnt become some abandoned project, im anticipating this more than when i ordered my 1a from japan.

I hope that too, but I doubt that'll happen, if anything it'll become a 'one and done' one final update, as it will cover practically all of the wm1a/z's weak spots, and at that point there will be nothing to improve upon.

 

[Lookout57]

It's not abandoned, MrWalkman moved to a new country last year for work and then lost a family member he was close to earlier this year.

He said once things settle down he'll be releasing something.working on it again.

 

[SoundChoice]

Thank you to Mr Walkman for an amazing firmware. You are a treasure to our community.

Please help me figure out if I'm getting normal battery life from my A55. I like a warm signature, so I'm using Mr Walkman's WalkmanOne firmware (WM1Z signature, J region, plus mode 2, DAC mode normal). I bought it from Ebay recently, and it's supposed to be new. With the Battery Saver on (charges to 90%), I fully charged it, then ran it overnight playing 50% volume and a combination of FLAC and mp3s (320). I did all I could to turn off things that could maybe burn battery faster: bluetooth off, Direct mode on, no fancy sound effects. Not using SensMe (which I love, by the way), but just playing all songs, random.

At 13 hours, I got the LOW BATTERY warning, and at 15 hours it's empty.

The Sony specs page lists battery life from 12 hours (with FLAC and LDAC) up to 45 hours. But I'm not sure how reliable this is.

Is 15 hours 'normal' battery life for a new Walkman NW-A55? I have a little bit of time left to return it to my Ebay seller. Your advice is welcome. Thanks!

 

[greymousetaxi]

Thank you to Mr Walkman for an amazing firmware. You are a treasure to our community.

Please help me figure out if I'm getting normal battery life from my A55. I like a warm signature, so I'm using Mr Walkman's WalkmanOne firmware (WM1Z signature, J region, plus mode 2, DAC mode normal). I bought it from Ebay recently, and it's supposed to be new. With the Battery Saver on (charges to 90%), I fully charged it, then ran it overnight playing 50% volume and a combination of FLAC and mp3s (320). I did all I could to turn off things that could maybe burn battery faster: bluetooth off, Direct mode on, no fancy sound effects. Not using SensMe (which I love, by the way), but just playing all songs, random.

At 13 hours, I got the LOW BATTERY warning, and at 15 hours it's empty.

The Sony specs page lists battery life from 12 hours (with FLAC and LDAC) up to 45 hours. But I'm not sure how reliable this is.

Is 15 hours 'normal' battery life for a new Walkman NW-A55? I have a little bit of time left to return it to my Ebay seller. Your advice is welcome. Thanks!

yes that's normal. they heavily exaggerated on battery specs

 

[nc8000]

Thank you to Mr Walkman for an amazing firmware. You are a treasure to our community.

Please help me figure out if I'm getting normal battery life from my A55. I like a warm signature, so I'm using Mr Walkman's WalkmanOne firmware (WM1Z signature, J region, plus mode 2, DAC mode normal). I bought it from Ebay recently, and it's supposed to be new. With the Battery Saver on (charges to 90%), I fully charged it, then ran it overnight playing 50% volume and a combination of FLAC and mp3s (320). I did all I could to turn off things that could maybe burn battery faster: bluetooth off, Direct mode on, no fancy sound effects. Not using SensMe (which I love, by the way), but just playing all songs, random.

At 13 hours, I got the LOW BATTERY warning, and at 15 hours it's empty.

The Sony specs page lists battery life from 12 hours (with FLAC and LDAC) up to 45 hours. But I'm not sure how reliable this is.

Is 15 hours 'normal' battery life for a new Walkman NW-A55? I have a little bit of time left to return it to my Ebay seller. Your advice is welcome. Thanks!

Yes that’s roughly what I get with the config in my signature. Playing red book flac over ldac to XM4 I get at most 6-7 hours

 

[WilcoRoger]

15 hrs? Not so bad at all. I THINK I get more out of it wired, but I never listen that long in one go.
Runs circles around my Hiby R3 Pro in terms of battery life and a few other things as well.

 

[SoundChoice]

Yes that’s roughly what I get with the config in my signature. Playing red book flac over ldac to XM4 I get at most 6-7 hours

Thank you again. Forgive me if there's a list somewhere with what all the switches do, but what effect does MX3 (or even MX) and 'alt' DAC of DIM=1 have?

 

[aceedburn]

Thank you again. Forgive me if there's a list somewhere with what all the switches do, but what effect does MX3 (or even MX) and 'alt' DAC of DIM=1 have?

The regions like MX3 or J3 alter the sound signature and so does the other settings like alternate DAC etc. There is no exhaustive chart on what the various changes actually do to the sound but every combination sounds different. It’s best to try out the combinations yourself. As for me at the moment, I’m rocking wm1z sound signature with MX3 with normal DAC and Plus V2 as it gives me my most desired sound tuning with my gear setup. Mileage may vary with different headphones, amps etc. take some time and experiment with the combinations. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with what you hear.

 

[andnej]

Thank you again. Forgive me if there's a list somewhere with what all the switches do, but what effect does MX3 (or even MX) and 'alt' DAC of DIM=1 have?

The alternative DAC removes the upper mid accentuation, the sound become cleaner.

Put WM1Z sound, J3 region, alternative DAC initialization, and you get a similar sounds to WM1AM2.

Put Warm, J3, alternative DAC, vinyl processor, DC Phase Linearization Type A Standard. And you'll get SP 2000 T Tube mode on sound.

Please use V2 for the setting above.

 

[BaltColts]

Hello andnej, I like your last post comparisons. Did you find anymore in your experiments?

 

[andnej]

Hello andnej, I like your last post comparisons. Did you find anymore in your experiments?

Those were the latest finding which I am currently enjoying now.
Those setting above were tuned while listening to the actual devices

 

[yatik44]

how's the npaudio wm1a with the newest firmware?

Well. Can't really compare to anything else. I am totallhappy with what I hear even if I would love to try others mods to see if any difference ! But at least, that works perfectly with my headphones which could be a little bassy sometimes

 

[pecotunkA]

Thank you to Mr Walkman for an amazing firmware. You are a treasure to our community.

Please help me figure out if I'm getting normal battery life from my A55. I like a warm signature, so I'm using Mr Walkman's WalkmanOne firmware (WM1Z signature, J region, plus mode 2, DAC mode normal). I bought it from Ebay recently, and it's supposed to be new. With the Battery Saver on (charges to 90%), I fully charged it, then ran it overnight playing 50% volume and a combination of FLAC and mp3s (320). I did all I could to turn off things that could maybe burn battery faster: bluetooth off, Direct mode on, no fancy sound effects. Not using SensMe (which I love, by the way), but just playing all songs, random.

At 13 hours, I got the LOW BATTERY warning, and at 15 hours it's empty.

The Sony specs page lists battery life from 12 hours (with FLAC and LDAC) up to 45 hours. But I'm not sure how reliable this is.

Is 15 hours 'normal' battery life for a new Walkman NW-A55? I have a little bit of time left to return it to my Ebay seller. Your advice is welcome. Thanks!

I have the same DAP as you the A55. And while I haven't done a super long duration test like you have, I know that the A55 is hilariously under-powered. Last time I checked it's max output is 35mW+35mW and running a higher volume level will run down the battery a lot faster.
Also as you say decoding FLAC consumes more battery than MP3. It might have been on random but played 80% FLAC files, that is also a possibility.

 

[nc8000]

I have the same DAP as you the A55. And while I haven't done a super long duration test like you have, I know that the A55 is hilariously under-powered. Last time I checked it's max output is 35mW+35mW and running a higher volume level will run down the battery a lot faster.
Also as you say decoding FLAC consumes more battery than MP3. It might have been on random but played 80% FLAC files, that is also a possibility.

It all depends on what you want it to run, with 90% of my phones it has plenty power

 

[pecotunkA]

It all depends on what you want it to run, with 90% of my phones it has plenty power

Yeah I mean it does have enough volume level if that's what you mean. Just my experience with what I thought was a pretty standard set of headphones the Beyerdynamic TYGR300R, which I mistakenly thought was 96dB/mW (according to official spec) but google shows me DIYAudioheaven spec is 93dB/mW (I assume this was measured?).

I get enough volume but with the Beyerdynamic I am running the A55 (factory firmware) with custom EQ at 80~86/120 volume and I don't consider myself to listen particularly loud, just pretty average I listening level I think. So it works perfectly fine, I just feel like I am wringing the output on the A55 (not too much left for headroom?).

Edit: I also should mention I am not using the dynamic normalizer, or any kind of gain corrections on files. So there is should be no reduction in gain from that aspect.