[dharmasteve]

Seeing as I already have the Black Bat, there was only one way to find the TRUTH. 'Curiosity killed the cat'.....I ordered the Open Hearts....£22 with coins. The only way to find out! Smabat say they tune the Black Bat themselves, and the specs are slightly different, but copying is pretty rife in ChiFi. Maybe an OEM make both the Open Heart and the Black Bat. We shall find out. The Black Bat is a bass monster, with reasonable treble detail and recessed mids, but not too recessed. It can't match a DD + 2 BA's for detail and treble though. Sherlock Holmes, IEM detective, is on the case. Now to wake up with my Macchiato.

Regarding the Smabat Black Bat. It is a mega bass IEM, but I have made a discovery....on some tracks the bass does bloom/bleed. In fact on one or two tracks it was more a haemorrhage. In general it keeps itself from bass bloom, so on 2PAQ, Ambitionz Az A Ridah it keeps the bass nicely in check, but on Katie Melua, Ghost Town the bass blooms like a giant fuzzy blue rinse perm. It very much depends on the recording. It's still a nice IEM and suitable for people who want to damage their hearing. It may well be that the Open Heart (all these bleed references) version at £23 may be the Black Bat twin. Every one should have one so they can realise that being a bass head is not neccessarily a safe thing, or good for ones capacity to hear.

 

[Vruksha]

Fwiw the A6 and A7 does sound very different.

The NM2+ is a class leader in its price range (given that you enjoy their signature). That being said the A6 is a lot more fun and quite special imo.

Would it be a safe bet to invest on A7 as an upgrade from NM2+? Do they sound quiet different from each other or just slight difference? I know comparing a single DD and hybrid is not fair but Technically does A7 excel on a huge margin?
Conning from NM2+, I am looking for more speed attack/decay and better air, instrument seperation even on the busiest tracks, Most of my playlist is metal/rock so keeping that in consideration. I am also considering B2 as an option for comparison.

 

[jwbrent]

@jwbrent What about the new FADs?

If you mean the A3000 and A4000, I don’t know anything other than what was released on final’s Japanese website. Scaled down versions of the A8000, it seems.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Would it be a safe bet to invest on A7 as an upgrade from NM2+? Do they sound quiet different from each other or just slight difference? I know comparing a single DD and hybrid is not fair but Technically does A7 excel on a huge margin?
Conning from NM2+, I am looking for more speed attack/decay and better air, instrument seperation even on the busiest tracks, Most of my playlist is metal/rock so keeping that in consideration. I am also considering B2 as an option for comparison.

That's me too. So I'm hoping the A7 are my final buy for metal/rock. i'm looking for the same thing you are, so if the NM2+ doesn't provide that now, i'm glad I didn't pull the trigger. Thanks. I'm looking at a used Sony XBA-Z5 atm. We'll see how that works out?

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Anyone here have the Z5 and enjoy them?

 

[Vruksha]

I like the NM2+ they are my daily drivers now, I listen to a lotta extreme metal subgenres like death/black. Surprisingly the NM2+ keeps up for a DD it's quiet impressive but at times when the track gets too busy i feel they struggle to keep up (pls kind in mind this is a very demanding genre so it's literally asking too much from a $170 DD iem) that said they can easily keep up with Slayer and usual thrash to an extent even death metal.
A7 is getting a lotta praise I wonder if they can do extreme metal better than NM2+, I've heard B2 is good for such genres it just sounds slightly thin according to many reviewers but for extreme metal I think it's better not to have thicker notes.. guessing it will sound muddy (just my personal opinion, I could be wrong)

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

I like the NM2+ they are my daily drivers now, I listen to a lotta extreme metal subgenres like death/black. Surprisingly the NM2+ keeps up for a DD it's quiet impressive but at times when the track gets too busy i feel they struggle to keep up (pls kind in mind this is a very demanding genre so it's literally asking too much from a $170 DD iem) that said they can easily keep up with Slayer and usual thrash to an extent even death metal.
A7 is getting a lotta praise I wonder if they can do extreme metal better than NM2+, I've heard B2 is good for such genres it just sounds slightly thin according to many reviewers but for extreme metal I think it's better not to have thicker notes.. guessing it will sound muddy (just my personal opinion, I could be wrong)

I listen to extreme metal, and many of my test tracks include Absu, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, and Emperor. So if the A7 can peel those band's music craftfully, then they will be my metal be all end all.

 

[audio123]

My Dunu SA6 meanwhile has a starkly different look to the one @audio123 received. While some may find it odd that you can't pick your own faceplate, this randomness adds a sense of anticipation and frankly all the faceplates I've seen so far are beautiful at the very least.

In terms of sound: these compete really well in the $500/600 bracket and frankly I can't really find anything wrong with the overall tonality. Resolution is very competitive for the price range, imaging is great and the midrange has a natural timbre and tonality without sacrificing on the technicalities. The soundstage isn't the widest and bass rumble and texture is lacking compared to certain dynamic driver IEMs but for an all-BA configuration I quite like the bass response here unlike most all-BA setups out there. Those vented Sonion woofers are doing their job well.

I concur. Dunu has a gem in the SA6. Just brilliant.

 

[Vruksha]

I listen to extreme metal, and many of my test tracks include Absu, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, and Emperor. So if the A7 can peel those band's music craftfully, then they will be my metal be all end all.

Sweet! I love Emperor and Absu You have an A7 coming right? Pls leave your impressions after testing with some extreme metal tracks buddy.

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Sweet! I love Emperor and Absu You have an A7 coming right? Pls leave your impressions after testing with some extreme metal tracks buddy.

Absolutely. I'm always looking to share my iem performance with fellow metalheads. \m/ \m/

 

[jeejack]

There's something about Sony Walkman NW-A55 that separates it from the rest. It's not the sound output, which is good but not the best in class. It's not as powerful as the Cowon Plenue V and Hiby R3 Pro as both gets louder. This also doesn't have Android like the Fiio M6.

It's more about the overall package. The build is stellar, display is sharp and has good contrast, the buttons are clicky and got little nubs on them to identify blindly, the headphone jack is logically placed at the bottom and of course it holds charge for a long, long time and you don't need to turn it off to achieve that. There's also BT receiver mode so you can stream from Tidal/Spotify running on your phone. The feel in hand is perfect and it's so easy to grip I didn't even bother with a case.

Really nice DAP overall and if you don't need to run power hungry headphones or Final IEMs with very low sensitivity - this will serve really well.

Have you tried MrWalkman firmware?
I am very interested in buying one

 

[FreeWheelinAudioLuv2]

Have you tried MrWalkman firmware?
I am very interested in buying one

What's it do? is it like rockboxing?

 

[unifutomaki]

What's it do? is it like rockboxing?

The UI remains the same great Sony interface, but it changes the tuning of the digital amp to be more like the DMP-Z1 and adds support for progressive jpg album art. There's also an "R" variant that does the above but also ports over some UI bits and additional DSP features (selectable DSEE HX bias, Vinyl Processor modes, Direct Source) from the ZX300 (albeit losing the FM radio, language learning and ClearAudio+ features since the ZX300 doesn't have them). The stock A50 is a great sounding player but the custom firmware takes it to a new level. I've settled on the non-R custom FW for stability reasons.

 

[kmmbd]

Have you tried MrWalkman firmware?
I am very interested in buying one

Yes, I'm currently running the custom firmware and it's been a great improvement overall. The bass response is much better now and not as anemic as before. DC Phase Linearizer is nice. Battery life also seems unaffected. Very stable and pretty simple to install and revert to stock so I highly encourage getting an A55 and trying the Mrwalkman firmware.

 

[peter123]

Would it be a safe bet to invest on A7 as an upgrade from NM2+? Do they sound quiet different from each other or just slight difference? I know comparing a single DD and hybrid is not fair but Technically does A7 excel on a huge margin?
Conning from NM2+, I am looking for more speed attack/decay and better air, instrument seperation even on the busiest tracks, Most of my playlist is metal/rock so keeping that in consideration. I am also considering B2 as an option for comparison.

To me the A7 is a great upgrade from the NM2+. While I'm really impressed with the what the NM2+ delivers for the price I do feel that it rely on a brighter signature to bring out the resolution and detail. The A7 manage to deliver the same with a, relatively, warmer sound that makes them more natural sounding. The NM2+ can also have too little bass for me when used outdoors in noisy environments.