DAP discussion thread

Discussion in 'IEMs and Portable Gear' started by zerodeefex, Oct 8, 2015.

  1. mscott58

    mscott58 Friend

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    Guilty! The 1Z is really good so far. Ordered it and then the Amazon UK 1A deal came out and I figured what the heck.

    As for the weight I haven't traveled with the 1Z yet, but will this week. Also I use my portable rigs on trains and planes, so the weight is not as big an issue for me personality.

    Cheers
     
  2. Warrior

    Warrior RIP 2021

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    I walk with the Z. It's a bit of an adjustment, but I'm fine with it. When I strap my rha dacamp l1 to it, well that's a different story. Lol. J/k. I don't stack the Z.
     
  3. Grahad

    Grahad Guest

    Listened to the Sony WM1A, Pioneer XDR 300 and AK70 (or I tried to) today briefly with the CA Andromeda in SE. Was sort of busy so didn't spend as long as I should have / liked to. Take with a pinch of salt and a heaping of my preferences.

    WM1A: (Not sure how burned in the unit is, it's a demo unit, should be pretty used. Turned off all sound enhancement shticks.)
    Noticeably full bodied. Heapings of low level detail. Not a huge soundstage - wide, but not very deep - rather in-head feel. Bass is slightly bloomy compared to sources with lower output Z, but even with the guesstimated 2 ohms it's a sound on the warmer side. Treble is on the sparkly side instead of hot, and has quite some volume to spare (I mainly listened at normal gain, ~50). Very nice sound, certainly one that I can live with, although it's wee bit warmer than I'd like. Could be convinced otherwise if I had some alcohol in me, so that's a crapshoot. This is sort of like a Chivas, along the alcohol theme.

    XDR 300:
    Ear stabby metal stabby save me. Probably one of the chlamydia digitumatis vectors.
    Sounded metallic, with sharp piercing treble and thinnish mids. Acoustic guitars sound like they were wired with solid core wires instead. I'd take a Clip over this. This is the Absolut Vodka.

    AK70:
    In the (edited) words of AvE, PLAY, YOU F**K. I spent more time waiting for music to play than listening to music, even as the seek bar marched on merrily as though there was audio playing. Gave up on it in the end, although I'm surprised after so long iRiver hasn't fixed all the typos in their UI yet. This is what happens when someone fused the cap to the bottle.
     
  4. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Yeah, it's not the weight bothering me that I'm thinking about, more the destruction of the lining of inner jacket pockets, if I'm honest.. Half a kilo of player could be a bit of a pain in a nice jacket, with the bouncing of rapidly descending an escalator a few times a day.

    @Grahad - Eh? Fused the cap to the bottle? Oh, I see, everything is alcohol.. right.
     
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2017
  5. shotgunshane

    shotgunshane Floridian Falcon

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    I haven't heard the 1A but I spent a few days with the 1Z and can find some similarities in your impressions. I found the 1Z to be very full bodied sounding, rich and pretty laid back. Guitar driven rock lost some drive and aggression. I agree on the soundstage impressions. Overall it would seem the 1Z gets warmer and more laid back, more pleasant sounding if you will, than the 1A from everything I've read. Not sure if accurate but I read over in the HF threads that OI was around 1 on these two.

    Weight wise the 1Z is incredibly heavy. Almost awkwardly so. If feels even heavier than I remember the ZX2 being.
     
  6. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

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    Its around .94 so it should be bassier than the ZX2 if the signature is similar. I will be getting my wm1a in a couple hours(whenever ups decides to deliver)
     
  7. Grahad

    Grahad Guest

    I heard the 1Z and 1A on unfamiliar music prior and yeah the 1Z is a phatter 1A to me. I actually like the 1A more over the 1Z as the 1Z takes it too far into the K10 amazeballs type of territory. The 1Z certainly feels like a gold bar in your hands and as wieldy as one.

    Can't even open it to get to the liquid inside - I can't even get the AK70 to play my music. I get like 2s of sound, then minutes of silence. iRiver wut???
     
  8. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Nasty. I had a play with most of the current range lateish last year, and that didn't happen to me at all- the UI worked. The issue was more that the sound was a little underwhelming for what was a range of surprisingly expensive devices.
     
  9. mscott58

    mscott58 Friend

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  10. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    I suspected that the price wouldn't last. Luckily I ordered a 1a a couple of days ago, and it's on the way from Amazon Europe (presumably because you filthy colonial devils snapped up the UK stock).

    Oddly, I was wondering this morning if they would cotton on to the problems with how disastrously weak the pound is right now, especially against USD, and take measures to foil happy shoppers like your good self.

    This looks more extreme than when HD650 went Prime-only after being depleted by smart US shoppers. I guess this isn't Amazon's first rodeo, they do love to look for patterns in data, after all.
     
  11. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

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    LOL CHEERS! glad I ordered quickly. It just came into the house and I'm getting to doing the volume cap trick. Just plugged in the andros.....I have to say they still haven't solved the hiss problem.....:(. Its less than the zx2 but, the moment i plug into the earphone jack i can hear background hiss come in clearly. Love the design. Looks very sexy ><......ergonomically works well in the hand as well.
     
  12. Drifterxny

    Drifterxny Friend

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    that's because the current batch is sold out, the 1k units are sold by Advanced MP3 Players and not amazon itself, it'll be back with 750pounds price whenever Amazon gets their next batch.

    Wierd, that's not the experience with mine, have you tried a different cable? or maybe i'm just deaf
     
  13. mscott58

    mscott58 Friend

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    While it does show units for sale from the third-party (Advanced MP3 Players) for £1000, if you click through to the "other sellers" section you'll see that the Amazon UK direct price is now also £1000 (and the US price would be lower after removing VAT, going down to £833 or so). Might it go back to £750 UK price when they're in stock again? Not sure.
     
  14. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

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    Well they said new stock would arrive the 17th. So we can check tomorrow. Yes drifter the hiss is there. Listening now and will post some impressions soon.
     
  15. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    They were out of stock when I ordered mine at the weekend, allegedly back in stock on the 23rd of Jan. I went ahead and ordered to lock the price in anyway- and much to my surprise, I got an email overnight, telling me that my order had been dispatched- and that it was due in on Thursday, via Amazon EU S.a.r.L. - clearly they are subtle and shifty buggers.

    Also, they're showing as "in stock" with Amazon themselves for me, now, just at the higher price. However, that's "in stock", with "free expedited delivery", which tends to mean stock held in a European warehouse.

    Edit:

    An almost sane-sounding HFer said:

     
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2017
  16. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

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    So far, i have to say I feel a bit lukewarm about the WM1A.....I know people will say I'm crazy but I think 1Z should be better.

    Compared to the ZX2, its a lot of energetic and you notice the expanded soundstage and extended treble.

    But it comes with a lot of drawbacks. The player doesn't sound as lush or musical anymore...it sounds a bit more analytical.

    The treble though more extended sounds a bit grainy and crispy....to the point where for me it seems the main emphasis. It does add edges around every note, giving more detail but also adds a little harshness...making it slightly unnatural. Treble reminded me a bit of the mojo, esp on cymbal hits. There is much less bass quantity in comparison, especially to the ZX2, as it its a more brighter tuning than a warm analog tuning. Its more towards QP1R signature than the ZX2.

    The soundstage does seem bigger, but also for me it feels odd. It was wider but didn't have much depth. Its almost like watching a movie on a big screen, but someone just moved the display closer to your face. So when you look at the screen it looks bigger because its very close, but in actuality, the soundstage isn't that big. What I would prefer for a real bigger soundstage is if there was more screen room and everything scaled according to the screen space, giving a more natural presentation. I really sometimes felt the soundstage was a blanket over my face, which along with the treble was a bit fatiguing. Vocals and mids are very forward(a bit like the mojo).

    Also something I miss with this presentation, is though it seems larger scaled and more detailed, the WM1A does not have the same driver grip as the ZX2 on the transients. Its really not as explosive and punchy, which didn't give me the toe tapping I was hoping from the sony. The unit has been playing for only 10 hrs, so I will keep burning it in (recommended around 200 hrs) to see if there are changes.

    All listening was done on TRRS 3.5mm single ended without volume cap, in Direct Mode.
     
  17. TRex

    TRex Almost "Made"

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    @Cellist88 sounds like WM1A is closer to QP1R/Mojo mix than ZX2. If that so, 1A characteristic is much different than ZX2.

    Looks like Sony is pursuing "correct" sound. Waiting for 100hr impression!
     
  18. mscott58

    mscott58 Friend

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    Early thoughts on the 1A versus 1Z are up on HF. Sorry, but easier to link to HF here than vice-versa!

    http://www.head-fi.org/t/815841/new-sony-nw-wm1z-wm1a-flagship-hi-end-dap/7620#post_13182899

    TL;DR (from the posting) - For me NW-WM1Z>>NW-WM1A, although still have to burn both in and then try out the 4.4mm balanced output. Can only dream of what the 1Z will sound like with a good balanced cable and fully settled in. The 1Z displaces my AK100/Mojo/CV5 stack as my new portable reference. As such, the ~3x price difference is worth it for me, but as another hobby-member told me the other day, I'm crazy.


    Cheers all
     
  19. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

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    Well I heard the SE is quite different, but they should be using the same circuitry once switching over to balance.
     
  20. Warrior

    Warrior RIP 2021

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    Nice, glad you are enjoying them Michael. I agree, definitely better sounding than my mojo as well.
     

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