[Gamerlingual]

The standard FE for me is king. MrWalkman did a stupendous job and he’s being a huge gift to the community. Thank you as always

 

[AudioMoksha]

Wow, just got this. Went step by step, had the WM1 MK1 earlier. Smooth uninstall and then installed the FE V2. Tested both, the hold button down and up boot sequences, and it does what it says. So excited to try this out now, super thanks

 

[lilahde]

With this revolutionary firmware, you should be crowned the Sony Walkman Guru! Thank you very much MrWalkman for the impeccable work! I'm using this fantastic FW on both my moded and unmoded WM1a. Beers coming up soon!

 

[normie610]

I’m still in awe on what @MrWalkman had done with FE plus. It even replaces R8 as the pairing to my external amp, the Romi BX-2+ to drive Diana V2. With the FE, soundstage width is still not as wide as R8, but the FE+ brings it on par with R8’s soundstage. Also, the FE+ brought the extra oomph at the sub-bass level making it the ideal source for this setup

 

[MrWalkman]

I’m still in awe on what @MrWalkman had done with FE plus. It even replaces R8 as the pairing to my external amp, the Romi BX-2+ to drive Diana V2. With the FE, soundstage width is still not as wide as R8, but the FE+ brings it on par with R8’s soundstage. Also, the FE+ brought the extra oomph at the sub-bass level making it the ideal source for this setup

With this revolutionary firmware, you should be crowned the Sony Walkman Guru! Thank you very much MrWalkman for the impeccable work! I'm using this fantastic FW on both my moded and unmoded WM1a. Beers coming up soon!

I'm glad you like it, guys, and thanks for the support!

 

[normie610]

With FE plus, 1Z is still right there among the best DAPs available today (if not THE best). Yes it might be underpowered to drive the more power hungry IEMs and headphones, but other than that and native streaming capabilities (which could be a dealbreaker for some), it has everything needed to be a top tier DAP. It has a very stable and responsive OS, it plays DSD256, has BT receiver, can function as DAC, and even do 8x MQA unfolding. It has excellent EQ (albeit a graphic EQ as opposed to parametric) and all kinds of DSP features. Plus it’s hard to find a player with that sexy and classy gold matte look

 

[gerelmx1986]

Approc 8h hours played on FE+, battery reached last bar, not yet blinking, so yeah can nwumes more battery, but, boy the sound makes me not care how fast battery drains

 

[MrWalkman]

Approc 8h hours played on FE+, battery reached last bar, not yet blinking, so yeah can nwumes more battery, but, boy the sound makes me not care how fast battery drains

8 hours sounds a bit too less, and it's not my experience as well.

Will try fully charging my player once and then letting it play music to some headphones, I'm curious.

 

[nc8000]

Approc 8h hours played on FE+, battery reached last bar, not yet blinking, so yeah can nwumes more battery, but, boy the sound makes me not care how fast battery drains

To me it consumes 20-25% more so a drop from 40 hours to a bit over 30 hours

 

[Dtuck90]

this is end game firmware I think. I can't imagine it ever sounding better

 

[pr0b3r]

Hi @MrWalkman do you think it's possible for the ClearAudio feature to be made available to ZX300, or a feature which is something similar? I got really curious about that since there were many good feedbacks regarding its sound improvements for the current and cheaper Walkman models.

 

[MrWalkman]

Hi @MrWalkman do you think it's possible for the ClearAudio feature to be made available to ZX300, or a feature which is something similar? I got really curious about that since there were many good feedbacks regarding its sound improvements for the current and cheaper Walkman models.

Hey, at this stage that would mean porting the A50 firmware for example, which I don't think it's worth spending time on.

You would lose the high gain option for example, the native DSD playing, etc.

"Sound improvements" of ClearAudio+ is processing the music by greatly boosting the bass, which makes stuff sound very boomy, and also adding some kind of hall effect. I certainly don't find it improving stuff.

When I first had some headphones, I thought that lows are boomy in songs, which was something interesting/cool, to have as much bass as possible, but in the end it was tiring. You would think it sounds cool, but you couldn't listen for too long until you got sick of that sound.

That's how ClearAudio+ is like - it sounds "cool", but your ears get tired of it quickly.

It was very interesting and refreshing to find some more normal/neutral headphones and actually hear how the song should sound like.

 

[MrWalkman]

Approc 8h hours played on FE+, battery reached last bar, not yet blinking, so yeah can nwumes more battery, but, boy the sound makes me not care how fast battery drains

I'm currently testing how long will the battery last on FE Plus.

- Battery charged to 100% with Battery Care setting off
- Direct Source on
- High Gain
- Sony Z7M2 connected to the balanced port at a volume of 75 (my usual listening volume under these circumstances).

The songs being played are mostly 16/44 FLAC files, with one album being 24/44, and a few MQA ones maybe - I'll take a look afterwards.

I'm using the screen only to check how much battery is left. The point is about the Plus mode consuming more battery when playing music anyway, not about the screen.


After more than 8 hours of continuous music playing, the battery still has all the bars.

 

[aceedburn]

I'm currently testing how long will the battery last on FE Plus.

- Battery charged to 100% with Battery Care setting off
- Direct Source on
- High Gain
- Sony Z7M2 connected to the balanced port at a volume of 75 (my usual listening volume under these circumstances).

The songs being played are mostly 16/44 FLAC files, with one album being 24/44, and a few MQA ones maybe - I'll take a look afterwards.

I'm using the screen only to check how much battery is left. The point is about the Plus mode consuming more battery when playing music anyway, not about the screen.

I started playing at 1:20 am, and after around 4.5 hours the battery still has all the bars.

Nice. But the first battery bar always lasts the longest. After which the other bars dissapear quite fast. But it’s good you’re doing the test.

 

[pr0b3r]

Hey, at this stage that would mean porting the A50 firmware for example, which I don't think it's worth spending time on.

You would lose the high gain option for example, the native DSD playing, etc.

"Sound improvements" of ClearAudio+ is processing the music by greatly boosting the bass, which makes stuff sound very boomy, and also adding some kind of hall effect. I certainly don't find it improving stuff.

When I first had some headphones, I thought that lows are boomy in songs, which was something interesting/cool, to have as much bass as possible, but in the end it was tiring. You would think it sounds cool, but you couldn't listen for too long until you got sick of that sound.

That's how ClearAudio+ is like - it sounds "cool", but your ears get tired of it quickly.

It was very interesting and refreshing to find some more normal/neutral headphones and actually hear how the song should sound like.

Thank you for your insight on this. I was curious and wasn't really hoping it's feasible at all, just wondered about it. If the sound will ultimately become artificial then it's not for me too. Much better stay on your ZX300 firmware tweaks and improvements. I appreciate the explanation. Looking forward to the update. Thanks!