This is common as these headphones have been in the boxes for a very long time as production stopped many years back. Only solution is to use a headband cover.

Yes because the original earpads are a bit narrow in width. When mine wore off, I replaced it with the beats 2.0 pads which is a perfect fit for these cans. They’re much more comfortable and don’t change the sound signature at all. The beats 2.0 pads are a perfect replacement for the triple drivers.

Yeah mate. And the gold one is probably super old stock and the earpads might just crumble upon first use. LOL.

The grey and black one is the graphene version and was released for the US market. The gold and black is the titanium version released in Asia and the rest of the world. I had the pleasure of trying both extensively some years back and I settled on the graphene version. The differences in...

Yes. These are probably the most bass heavy headphones in my collection. Works well just straight off my iPhone or my lotoo paw

These cans remains as one of my favorites ever. They’re just so fun and engaging to listen to. Like I said before and I’ll say again, who gives a rat’s ass to graphs and measurements. My ears are wired to my brains and is the best measurement tool there is for me. Period!

Yes. Apologies. I stand corrected.

The Walkman doesn’t unfold the MQA file. It just recognises it and plays it as it is. As the walkman was released 7-8 years ago even before the MQA format was released.

Ah, that means that is the original bitrate of the files as the tag restore doesn’t change the file resolution but simply tag it as MQA.

I don’t have many MQA files as quite frankly I don’t really care much about the format but here are a few that I have that’s encoded by the player correctly as you can see in the images.

Yes. The files will be labelled as such if it’s encoded properly. I have a few MQA files.

Absolutely spot on. I’ve never believed or even relied on graphs for anything audio. My ears have always been the best measuring equipment I have and it’s connected to my brain and senses. So that’s the best representation of sound for me!

Likewise. I’m 99% of the time on local files as well. Nothing beats the satisfaction of true hi res.

Ahh. I use an iphone but rarely use it as a streamer. Mostly LDAC from my LG phone.

The BT receiver works well. No issues with it with whatever mode. Just that it glitches once in a while on plus v2 depending on the file bitrate and other unknown conditions. Not all the time.

This is a very normal behaviour in the Walkman. Although all sound processing options are turned off, the player might still be using some built in processors to alter the sound. But the differences are quite subtle in my testing. So if you want real pure sound it’s best to use it with direct...

Ditto. My K5 Pro AKM starts to crank from 9 o’clock.

Well put. I loved the sound of my stock 1A. Otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it. It’s not a cheap device mind you. But the custom firmware changes the sound signature and by adjusting all the various parameters to your liking, you can actually find a sound that you love and sticks. I’ve found...

Nailed it. If you find a combination you like very much then stick with it for a good while and enjoy the music instead of always chasing that elusive perfection. If we keep changing the sound signatures all the time we don’t enjoy our music and at the same time it diverts from the main purpose...

Indeed. I’ve tested almost all regions extensively. CEV has good weight in the sub and mid bass yet remains resolute and more resolving. MX3 is a bit too thick and subdued but has deeper sub bass. However I still feel J3 has the best all round cohesiveness that no other region has.

This actually ties in to the volume potentiometer gauge on your headphones. Some headphones have bigger jumps than others so there’s no way to change this behaviour from the Walkman.

Get the J3 enabled firmware here. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sony-walkman-custom-firmware-non-android.943661/post-16853385 Sorry, edited with working link.

Hi and welcome to the world of custom firmwares. Direct sound does not activate the firmware. The firmware is installed once you load it. Bear in mind that all the sound tunings for the firmware were done with direct sound on and without any other eq or sound processing. That’s the benchmark...

Reset settings is fine. No issues. Only need to restore to stock for factory default.

Hi and welcome to the world of custom firmwares for Walkman. You’ll never hear the same again! To answer your questions, it’s perfectly safe to use music center to load your music although in my opinion directly copying them over is much faster and convenient. And if you ever want to restore...