Sony NW-WM1Z/WM1A DAPs

I received my 1A from amazon uk yesterday (ordered on 12th), only listened for about an hr or so with Andros. Pre-burn in and singled ended, sounds pretty damn good to me. Can't offer any comparisons since my experiences with high end daps are very limited.

In terms of the volume, it goes up to 120 max value, but if you aren't playing a song once you go over 100 it starts this crazy annoying beep, doesn't seem to have any warning when a song is playing though. Unfortunately there is no high gain option on the EU model. With that said,I find that 60 is plenty loud for me on midtown streets with andromedas, but I don't usually listen to really loud volume anyway. On the morning bus commute I was listening at around 40ish.

Amazon UK shows 754.58 pounds. If you are outside of EU, at the check out page you'll see the price without vat. Should be around 651 pounds with express shipping. If you use a CC without foreign transaction fee it should comes out to be around 813 USD as of right now (damn usd went up some since I ordered a few days ago).
Compared to new price of 1199 for uncapped us version (when it gets released), I think it's a fantastic deal if you'd only use it with IEMs. I also had no issues registering it on the US Sony registration site. Going to try it with Utopia this weekend and see how that goes.
As an andromedas user, I don't really feel like I need the uncapped model now, certainly not going to pay 50% more just to have it, but I do wonder exactly how much better does the 1Z sound.
I see the 1Z Japanese version on tenso for about 2400 usd, anyone have any idea on how much the tourist versions are (after bargaining)?

 

Glad to hear you like it. Have you owned/have a ZX2 to compare to? I heard its an overall improvement, but I have still yet to know as I never demoed it before. If I got it I would use it only with the andromedas like you.

Not sure about the tourist versions, but there is one person selling a capped 1Z on head-fi for around 2.2k...

If I got the WM1A I would def listen to around your levels...probably less and only go up to around 20 max.

My only one rule is I don't like listening to worse sound after I've heard something better.

I'm contemplating if it'll be close enough to the ALO CDM running full balanced.....because it beats the ZX2 i had before pretty easy. We should meet up at some point Driterxny, if its ok just to compare ...Though I have to wait until better tubes come from ALO ><.

 

2400? Great price. I wonder if you can get the tourist edition for the same. Few places I see them, 3100 and up.

 

1Z has a truly frightening price.

 

couldn't test it out with utopias, couldn't find a 3.5 adpater. But happy to report that there's no hiss with the andromedas, although in total silence I feel like I can hear something audible, but it's more of a feel than actually hearing hiss, so I'd call it near silent. Tried it with the original tfz5 and it sounded quite good too, but volume had to go at least 10 higher than andromedas, so perhaps hard to drive iems would require a high volume setting as well.

Cellist, I'm not sure if I'll be keeping it yet, might return it and get a gold version if price is right, and sorry never heard the zx2 to compare.

 

Wow, going for the gold! I don't know if the price hike is really worth it, but then again with reports of the Gungnir Multibit and Yggdrasil being close but 2x the price...I guess that extra % of sq might be worth it. I heard the Z sounds better more rich and it leads to a better sense of depth. As much as I like the andromedas, I don't think they are good to test the driving power of any dap because they are so sensitive and well driven by almost everything. Glad to hear though that there is no hiss on the model though.

If you could give a description of the sound as best as you can on specific tracks and comparisons on the same tracks to some other gear you own, it might be helpful in getting a better idea of the sonic capabilities. Of course we all expect a 1.2k devices to sound "good" to a certain extent. Just a matter of scaling in the high priced market.

As for the WM1Z Its quite surprising, because the prices in japan and australia are much lower than the US. Maybe in Japan if you can grab a tourist version, with all the tax relief and such...the price might be better than 3.3k

I'm thinking about asking an australian friend to purchase a WM1A in Australia and bring it over after the holidays. its 900usd(with australian gst added) vs $1,200+tax(aka lets hope it launches soon this week in the US).

 

The bling is coming!!

 

Christmas is here early!!! This sucker is heavy as hell. I could seriously hurt someone with this.

 

I'm still contemplating, I think the weight factor is a big issue as well, the 1A isn't exactly light already, I can't imagine having double that weight in pants pocket in the summer.
Haven't had time to do any critical listening. All I can say is that it's very enjoyable. I feel like it complements the Andromedas very well, although I could use a touch more of warmth in the vocals, so maybe 1z would be better in that regard.
Been burning in about 10-15 hrs a day since I've gotten it, sounds more cohesive now, volume seems slightly louder as well, I'm using lower volume level than the first day.
One thing that's really impressive is that it never gets hot or even warm, and this was after running for 22 hrs straight.

 

If the 1a feels heavy, forget the 1z it's like a brick. I prefer heavier daps, but this is really at my limit, if not over it. It's very heavy. Definitely has a warm analog like sound to it, from my first 15 minutes of listening to it. Have to get the burn in going though. I need to know if I will keep it.

 

Drifter if you decide to go for the gold let me know! I guess I will let go of the ALO CDM now.

 

Coming up on 40 hours of burn in... Can't say I hear any difference as of yet, but I definitely like the sound of the Z. Even in direct mode, with no eq, I like the sound. Might be the best sounding dap I own or I've heard with eq off.

 

I'm joining you with the wm1a soon!

 

Nice bro, when are you going to receive it?

 

I'd be interested in your impressions of WM1A pairing with the Andromedas, after the inevitable 'New Toy Syndrome' has passed of course.

I have been holding off getting a ZX2, to check what the WM1A brings to the table.

After hearing how good the Andros sounds with the Yggdrasil-Rag SE (despite their lean sound) I am feeling a bit underwhelmed running them from my phone!

 

Well I am moving back and forth right now, so I'll get to it around Jan. 5. Also going to order a 4.4m to 2.5m jack so I can use it with my studio monitors balanced as well as the andromedas. I'll def leave some impressions when I can. I will miss the ALO CDM, but given I move around so much, I thought a dap would be better. ALO sounded beautiful, but it didn't particularly excel at anything. Great beautiful tonality, but I don't need a beautiful amp when my studio monitors have good amps, and the andros can be driven easily. Also the dac portion slopes down -3db after 10 k, which i feel is a problem for me. I have no other transducers so just using it for the andros makes no sense.

Warrior how are you liking the Sony Sound? That Gooey slow decay, nuance filled...microdetail king sound...I hope the WM1A is an improvement over the ZX2. I heard they fixed the tonality so its more neutral, has real balanced, better power, no hiss with andromedas and is even more detailed.....though it may be not as lush as ZX2. ZX2 for me had a bit of congessions in lower treble area, which I hope is addressed.

Tell me about it....I can't listen to the s5 anymore actually. I find the bass anemic actually so I don't know how lean your rag sounds. This is me coming from alo cdm....didn't like the timbre so much on the s5, i turned on the virtual tube amplifier on it....does not sound like tubes at all. LOL

 

It's quite good... Very enjoyable to say the least. Definitely not as lush as the zx2, but overall a great enjoyment. So far I'm happy with my purchase. I haven't abed it yet with my Cowon S... But I will next week. Just want to have a little love burn in.

Looking forward to your impressions of the 1a.

 

Anyone know if there is a keyboard to search for songs manually? I can't find it... And nobody knows HF seems to know either. I read on HF, from one individual that it does, but he's not certain. That would be by far the biggest oversight ever for this dap.

 

on zx2 there was a search glass button on the top right corner....check if its there Lol....maybe the sony os got too proprietary so they couldn't include a keyboard

 

Doesn't recognise my SD cards, so I couldn't really listen to this with music I'm familiar with. The 1Z is really hefty, whereas the 1A is a lot more reasonable. No search button that I can locate either.

Gave it a go on SE, but it had better control in the lowest registers versus the ZX2. Didn't manage to listen to it for a long time, but between the 1Z and the 1A you get better heft and body with the 1Z, and hint of more details. Fair bit of lag on the interface though, feels sort of jarring on an expensive DAP.