[cosplayerkyo]

The ls50w's are very worth imo. They are pretty bright but they sound incredible for its price point. I would love to hear the SA-Z1 whenever that comes out though

 

[Tawek]

Okay yeah, that's about the same volume I use when doing "louder" listening (between -30db and -35db low gain)

For me, the most obvious sonic difference between the TA and the WM1Z is the sound staging. I find the TA not quite as wide as the 1Z but taller and deeper. Also on some bass heavy tracks, I sometimes find that the TA has a little more bass definition and clarity.

Hi
try Wm1z 3.02 firmware, E2 region / ex1000
you will be surprised how huge the soundstage is in height and depth

 

[candlejack]

I've done some more A/B'ing between the ZX300 and the TA and I think I might have spotted a couple of differences with the IER-Z1R: bass and air.

The bass on the ZX300 appears flatter in comparison (with more detail in the midbass), while the TA has an emphasis on the sub-bass region (which might not go well with the already sub-bass focused IER-Z1R). The TA has more air, notes and instruments seem better separated and thus clearer.

However, I'm still not sure to what extent these impressions match reality. For me the differences are still very small, but for some reason I'm really enjoying the TA... so much so that I find myself wondering: is this the best sound I've heard to date? And then I start A/B'ing and find that the ZX300 sounds (almost) equally as good. So, it seems I haven't made much headway in determining if the TA is "better" than the ZX300 (my enjoyment could still be due to the higher listening volume I tend to use on the TA, or just the psychological effect of seeing this beautiful device on my table), but one thing I know is I'm having fun so far (just as the gods intended).

 

[candlejack]

Quick question guys:
Is the SE output of the TA more powerful than the Bal?
Or is my HD600 4.4-mm "upgrade-cable" (Aliexpress / 25 Euro) so crap that it makes about 8 dBs just vanish?

 

[nc8000]

Quick question guys:
Is the SE output of the TA more powerful than the Bal?
Or is my HD600 4.4-mm "upgrade-cable" (Aliexpress / 25 Euro) so crap that it makes about 8 dBs just vanish?

Balanced is 1200mw, single ended 300mw so balanced has 4 times as much power

 

[candlejack]

Balanced is 1200mw, single ended 300mw so balanced has 4 times as much power

I was about to start arguing with you, but opened Sony.com and those are indeed the official specs. The power rating is given for a 32 Ohm load only, though. The HD600 are 300 Ohm, but what the hell?! Unless the cable is broken, you would still expect Bal to get louder than SE, even with a 300 Ohm load, not 8 dB quieter.

Does anyone here have high impedance headphones that they can test with both Balanced and SE?

 

[nc8000]

I was about to start arguing with you, but opened Sony.com and those are indeed the official specs. The power rating is given for a 32 Ohm load only, though. The HD600 are 300 Ohm, but what the hell?! Unless the cable is broken, you would still expect Bal to get louder than SE, even with a 300 Ohm load, not 8 dB quieter.

Does anyone here have high impedance headphones that they can test with both Balanced and SE?

I honestly don't know, I've only ever used the 4.4 balanced on both the TA and 1Z, never any of the other outputs

 

[candlejack]

I honestly don't know, I've only ever used the 4.4 balanced on both the TA and 1Z, never any of the other outputs

Yeah, and also your headphones are 40 and 64 Ohms I think, so you wouldn't be able to test this even if you used the other terminations.

But if the TA loses a lot of power on Bal with increased headphone impedance, then that might explain why Joshua Valour (YouTube reviewer) found it very underpowered, especially if he was using the Balanced output.

 

[nc8000]

Yeah, and also your headphones are 40 and 64 Ohms I think, so you wouldn't be able to test this even if you used the other terminations.

But if the TA loses a lot of power on Bal with increased headphone impedance, then that might explain why Joshua Valour (YouTube reviewer) found it very underpowered, especially if he was using the Balanced output.

I would find it very strange if balanced had less effective power than single ended but on the other hand I can't see how a cable could be defective so as to cause this but still play. My technical knowledge is not at a level where I could speculate as to reasons for your experience

 

[Redcarmoose]

I was about to start arguing with you, but opened Sony.com and those are indeed the official specs. The power rating is given for a 32 Ohm load only, though. The HD600 are 300 Ohm, but what the hell?! Unless the cable is broken, you would still expect Bal to get louder than SE, even with a 300 Ohm load, not 8 dB quieter.

Does anyone here have high impedance headphones that they can test with both Balanced and SE?

I tried the MDR-Z1R (1Z in cradle as digital source) with the included cables with both 4.4mm balanced and single-ended (3.5mm adapter) with the TA at -12.0dB and yes, surprisingly enough single ended IS louder. Lol.

Edit:
Gain set at low.

The TA is not really considered a loud and powerful headphone amp. It absolutely can not drive my AKG k701 headphones. But for using the MDR-Z1R, the MDR-Z7 or any IEM it’s perfect. It’s great with Sony headphones, but really hard to drive headphones need something else. I did watch that review and the only issue he had was the power output didn’t make amplifier “well rounded”. Meaning it does not work with a super wide variety of headphones due to the power output.

But he liked everything else a lot, thought it made his MDR-Z1R sound fantastic. He liked the build and features but said the power output was his only issue. If you only have the MDR-Z1R it doesn’t matter. In fact it’s maybe best for my personal use being it drives the Sony headphones as well as my IEMs really well. The only headphone in my collection it has issues with is the AKG k701......so I couldn’t be happier.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Yeah, and also your headphones are 40 and 64 Ohms I think, so you wouldn't be able to test this even if you used the other terminations.

But if the TA loses a lot of power on Bal with increased headphone impedance, then that might explain why Joshua Valour (YouTube reviewer) found it very underpowered, especially if he was using the Balanced output.

Still depending on the headphones, you should notice a very small but real improvement using 4.4mm. I would definitely try the 4.4mm cable if I had those Sennheisers. There is also a way to use the XLR4 balanced with an adapter. They have these XLR4 to 4.4mm adapters but they are hard to find. But? I would not be surprised if the XLR4 was the balanced output that was “more”?

Do the Sony specifications say XLR4 or 4.4mm or simply balanced; as the amplifier has two balanced connections.

I’ve never used XLR4 output and have no real need other than a curiosity. Lol

Another route would be to simply get an XLR4 cable for your Sennheisers. Then you would also know if XLR4 was truly louder than single-ended.

 

[Redcarmoose]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx9bOYEjkevIDYONBAstK-A


Joshua Valour does recommend the amp in one certain situation.

He is basically making a point that if your headphone buying trajectory was uncertain that the power output could become an issue not being able to power the possible unknown future purchase. He also says that if you were basically retired away from new purchases......and that the amp did power what you already had in your collection........that you would be fine with it. In fact that’s the only way he could recommend it.

 

[candlejack]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx9bOYEjkevIDYONBAstK-A


Joshua Valour does recommend the amp in one certain situation.

He is basically making a point that if your headphone buying trajectory was uncertain that the power output could become an issue not being able to power the possible unknown future purchase. He also says that if you were basically retired away from new purchases......and that the amp did power what you already had in your collection........that you would be fine with it. In fact that’s the only way he could recommend it.

Yeah, I watched his video a couple of times (I'm subscribed) and that didn't deter me from getting the TA. In fact, it helped with the decision.

 

[freeza2001]

he is one of my favor headphone reviewer along side the HEADPHONE show...but i found his zh1es review almost useless......

For the entire run time hes spend 70% of the time talking about the build and function....20% of the time complain about how underpower the dac/amp is....he didnt not explain the sound signature or describe the sonic difference between the sony and other amps....

and he said he is maxing out volume with arya on this amp which i found almost impossible....im using my arya at -33db on high gain with 4.4 balance and its quite loud already.....if i turn the volume into max the entire driver is shaking. The arya sounds like a mini speaker without putting it on my head...

 

[candlejack]

he is one of my favor headphone reviewer along side the HEADPHONE show...but i found his zh1es review almost useless......

For the entire run time hes spend 70% of the time talking about the build and function....20% of the time complain about how underpower the dac/amp is....he didnt not explain the sound signature or describe the sonic difference between the sony and other amps....

and he said he is maxing out volume with arya on this amp which i found almost impossible....im using my arya at -33db on high gain with 4.4 balance and its quite loud already.....if i turn the volume into max the entire driver is shaking. The arya sounds like a mini speaker without putting it on my head...

Ok, but the Arya is 40 Ohm. What I observed with the 300 Ohm HD600 is that power was considerably reduced on the 4.4 compared to 3.5*. If he was using the TA with something like the HD800, I could see how he would get close to maxing it out.

* still to be confirmed by other users.