[big joe]

Then what good is it?

In my experience Sony players usually have better build quality, UX design and battery life than their competitors. (A100 series not withstanding lol) For example there are DAPs from Shanling and Fiio which never organize utilizing the Album Artist tag or have gapless playback, while Sony players do. I'm not going out and about with hard to drive headphones so convenience and battery life are my priorities. It's totally fair to want balanced though, you do you.

 

[Orfik]

In what real life scenario this even matters?
With DAP and iems, volume matched, there is no audible difference unless something is seriously wrong with one of the outputs.

I can hear an audible difference between between the single ended and balanced connections on my devices, so if there's something wrong it's wrong with almost everything I've encountered. There's clearly more headroom.

 

[Orfik]

In my experience Sony players usually have better build quality, UX design and battery life than their competitors. (A100 series not withstanding lol) For example there are DAPs from Shanling and Fiio which never organize utilizing the Album Artist tag or have gapless playback, while Sony players do. I'm not going out and about with hard to drive headphones so convenience and battery life are my priorities. It's totally fair to want balanced though, you do you.

The maximum power output on the A306 is 1.1mW, the max on the R5 Gen2 is 4.5mW in class A mode and by the looks of things the Hiby will probably come out to being cheaper. I owned that DAP and I never had a single hiccup using it along with it being built very well, so I don't think Sony is that far ahead of the game anymore.

Does anyone know what dac it's using?

 

[Tiax]

Why are so many of headfiers using balanced iems

Don't know, there is too many delusional people around here for me to care what they do.
They probably read too many nonsensical claims here on head-fi, and never bothered to do a proper volume matched, blind test. It's their money in the end so whatever.

 

[Roland P]

Still waiting for out-of-the-box support for dlna/smb support. Just play back files from a share, that’s all I want.
I now use Sony’s Hi-Res Audio Player for windows on my laptop.

 

[rlw6534]

Still waiting for out-of-the-box support for dlna/smb support. Just play back files from a share, that’s all I want.
I now use Sony’s Hi-Res Audio Player for windows on my laptop.

+1 for network support from the Walkman app. That plus bit-perfect streaming would make this ideal.

 

[psikey]

+1 for network support from the Walkman app. That plus bit-perfect streaming would make this ideal.

Bit-perfect is really not an issue. I was annoyed at first but since Sony implanted the Hi-mode 32/192 option you really can't audibly tell the difference (I can't anyway) and that's comparing to the Hiby R5II and external DAC's I've used at bit-perfect.

In the case of Amazon HD music the App itself for Android/IOS it always outputs at 32/192 to DAC.

 

[goody]

A well implemented 3.5 can sound equally as good as 4.4. Balanced obviously does give more power if you need it.

Knowing how good sony implement their 3.5 mm i have no problems buying this ..watching the pennys right now ,i still have the R5 so until i sell i will not get the WM1AM2

 

[psikey]

I have & love my WM1AM2 but curious about this so just pre-ordered a blue one from Amazon.co.uk.

Can see how bad UK/EU ones are volume crippled and easily return with Amazon.

Showing at £349 and delivery est. 4rd March

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BS1Q3ZFZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Only listing Blue & Black for UK, not grey one (even on Sony website)

And no official case option as usual for UK. Wonder why Sony never want to sell cases into UK market !

 

[cfc7]

I have & love my WM1AM2 but curious about this so just pre-ordered a blue one from Amazon.co.uk.

Can see how bad UK/EU ones are volume crippled and easily return with Amazon.

Showing at £349 and delivery est. 4rd March

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BS1Q3ZFZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Only listing Blue & Black for UK, not grey one (even on Sony website)

And no official case option as usual for UK. Wonder why Sony never want to sell cases into UK market !

Are those from UK still impacted by the volume cap?
From what I know, the legislation only refers to the EU countries.

 

[exile1973]

Are those from UK still impacted by the volume cap?
From what I know, the legislation only refers to the EU countries.

I have a feeling they will be. We might have left the EU but as far as I can tell nothing has changed legally from the EU days.

I certainly won't order until I know they are not as without balanced they're far too quiet.

 

[psikey]

Are those from UK still impacted by the volume cap?
From what I know, the legislation only refers to the EU countries.

We still follow most EU rules for now.

 

[cfc7]

I have a feeling they will be. We might have left the EU but as far as I can tell nothing has changed legally from the EU days.

I certainly won't order until I know they are not as without balanced they're far too quiet.

We still follow most EU rules for now.

That's too bad...I was hoping we could buy uncapped models from UK.

 

[psikey]

That's too bad...I was hoping we could buy uncapped models from UK.

I imported my A105, ZX507 & WM1AM2 from Japan but did try Amazon UK versions first before sending them back due to low volume issue.

 

[cfc7]

I imported my A105, ZX507 & WM1AM2 from Japan but did try Amazon UK versions first before sending them back due to low volume issue.

Have you order them from Amazon.jp or other seller?
I saw some good prices at accessoryjack.com and they deliver here but I understood that even if they are ok, they are not authorized though.