[spendthrift]

@andrewski Atleast that placebo comes in a box and not a plastic wrap like my sandisk did. Enjoying music a lot in my sandisk + zm2. Rock on!

BTW - my mdr z1r and ier z1r came in even bigger boxes and more luxurious packaging. (Did not ask me to keep the box level when opening though).

While I think they are the nicest things since sliced bread, others disagree. Hmm. Enjoying them with my zm2 + sandisk

 

[andrewski]

what in particular?
did you laugh with me or at me?

Definitely with. I was sharing that I need half an hour to adjust to volume, and mentioned that I listen to IER's at 38 low gain. You said that's still too quiet after more than three hours, and I'm still giggling

 

[The1Signature]

Definitely with. I was sharing that I need half an hour to adjust to volume, and mentioned that I listen to IER's at 38 low gain. You said that's still too quiet after more than three hours, and I'm still giggling

i believed you and wanted to try it out

full story: i was working, it was late, changed to easier tasks and admin issues. While doing this, i listened to music with the wm1zm2 and ier-z1r. True, different albums can vary in volume level...

however, the 3 hours of work were very silent in general

 

[spendthrift]

listen to IER's at 38 low gain.

I liked this. Thanks, I tried it for a few days and it’s different! Brain adjusts to it and it becomes definitely loud and clear.

Having said that, for my pick me ups, I need 80+ and bass slamming in my ears.

 

[The1Signature]

I liked this. Thanks, I tried it for a few days and it’s different! Brain adjusts to it and it becomes definitely loud and clear.

Having said that, for my pick me ups, I need 80+ and bass slamming in my ears.

I do feel this with 55-65

 

[andrewski]

How about tips?

I got my IER's last November. Blind, never tried them. I started with the triple comfort tips for a day. Didn't love them. Tried the hybrid tips for a few hours and didn't like them. I've been using Comply foam tips on my previous IEM's so tried those. Loved them, at first. Comply don't seem as durable as they used to be. They started to get too squishy and move around too much. So I imported Sony's foam tips, the EP-NI1000. They are very rigid. Seem like they can last a year. Rather uncomfortable, but if the sound is worth it. Nope, muffled and loss of detail. Maybe if I give it time? Nope. Back to triple comfort but smaller and deeper. My ears hurt. How about larger triple comfort and more shallow? Whoa, better, almost there. Just that for social reasons, removing and inserting makes my ear sore. Fine I'll try the hybrids again. Bingo! Everything is comfortable. My brain says comfort sounds really good.

These are my favourite IEM's. It took a while to make them mine.

And the MUC-M12SB1 Kimber cable is a big warm blanket that I'm completely addicted to. A little muddy until it's broken in. I can't go back to stock.

I recommend the IER-Z1R's for use with the AM2/ZM2

 

[User9876]

Lets be clear, I'm not saying we should ban the topic of SD cards and if they make an improvement to the sound one way or another. Feel free to discuss whatever you like but controversial subjects like this always end in pages of stuff I have to scroll through that is not really related to the subject of this thread. After all if an expensive SD card sounds better in a Sony DAP it stands to reason it would sound better in any DAP doesn't it?

There should be a special thread for discussing SD cards here on Head-Fi, perhaps someone could start one if not.

Anyway I'll just scroll past all the SD Card and copper vs silver cable discussions.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

I still really can't make out what kind of secret MSG that Sony added to the DSEE Ultimate for 1.07. I really felt that there's globs more timbre detail to instruments.

And songs like LiSA's Gurgene from her LEO-NINE album now feels much more multi-directional in the way which instruments appear. This song is very fast pace with lots of musical elements happening at the same time, somehow Sony DSEE Ultimate manage to keep every element super layered and coherent, this song now feels really very different in how it sounds with DSEE Ultimate off vs on.

I don't think DSEE Ultimate is just doing up-sampling to 32bit 192KHz, there's definitely much more complex sound processing going on inside this DSP in this 1.07 firmware.

 

[SRKRAM]

I still really can't make out what kind of secret MSG that Sony added to the DSEE Ultimate for 1.07. I really felt that there's globs more timbre detail to instruments.

And songs like LiSA's Gurgene from her LEO-NINE album now feels much more multi-directional in the way which instruments appear. This song is very fast pace with lots of musical elements happening at the same time, somehow Sony DSEE Ultimate manage to keep every element super layered and coherent, this song now feels really very different in how it sounds with DSEE Ultimate off vs on.

I don't think DSEE Ultimate is just doing up-sampling to 32bit 192KHz, there's definitely much more complex sound processing going on inside this DSP in this 1.07 firmware.

I wonder if DSEE applies to streaming services. DSD conversation doesn't affect volume on streaming services as it does with local files, so I wonder if all the DSP enhancements apply to streaming.

 

[kumar402]

I wonder if DSEE applies to streaming services. DSD conversation doesn't affect volume on streaming services as it does with local files, so I wonder if all the DSP enhancements apply to streaming.

yes, it does.
I have used EQ with streaming and it does change the sound as per the EQ

 

[andrewski]

i believed you and wanted to try it out

full story: i was working, it was late, changed to easier tasks and admin issues. While doing this, i listened to music with the wm1zm2 and ier-z1r. True, different albums can vary in volume level...

however, the 3 hours of work were very silent in general

To be clear. I really do listen to IER's at 38 low, and MDR's at 52 low. But I don't imagine that's loud enough for 99% of others. I wasn't trying to recommend anyone try. Just sharing

Edit: Maybe I should do the honourable thing and trade someone for a capped version

 

[andrewski]

Lets be clear, I'm not saying we should ban the topic of SD cards and if they make an improvement to the sound one way or another. Feel free to discuss whatever you like but controversial subjects like this always end in pages of stuff I have to scroll through that is not really related to the subject of this thread. After all if an expensive SD card sounds better in a Sony DAP it stands to reason it would sound better in any DAP doesn't it?

There should be a special thread for discussing SD cards here on Head-Fi, perhaps someone could start one if not.

Anyway I'll just scroll past all the SD Card and copper vs silver cable discussions.

That thread would destroy the world, let's not go there

 

[Vamp898]

Lets be clear, I'm not saying we should ban the topic of SD cards and if they make an improvement to the sound one way or another. Feel free to discuss whatever you like but controversial subjects like this always end in pages of stuff I have to scroll through that is not really related to the subject of this thread. After all if an expensive SD card sounds better in a Sony DAP it stands to reason it would sound better in any DAP doesn't it?

There should be a special thread for discussing SD cards here on Head-Fi, perhaps someone could start one if not.

Anyway I'll just scroll past all the SD Card and copper vs silver cable discussions.

It should not be banned, but it should be forbidden to spread wrong information.

The data is read into the RAM first before any processing (uncompressing, decoding and so on) and is then processed using the RAM, so what SD Card you use is unimportant because it is never used to actually process any data.

So it should be totally fine to talk about SD Cards as long you don't act like your imagination about how things might work are facts.

 

[rlw6534]

It should not be banned, but it should be forbidden to spread wrong information.

The data is read into the RAM first before any processing (uncompressing, decoding and so on) and is then processed using the RAM, so what SD Card you use is unimportant because it is never used to actually process any data.

So it should be totally fine to talk about SD Cards as long you don't act like your imagination about how things might work are facts.

SD cards can certainly create electrical noise or EMI, especially when reading or writing, but this discussion seems to be about actual sound quality. On that aspect, I remain skeptical.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

SD cards can certainly create electrical noise or EMI, especially when reading or writing, but this discussion seems to be about actual sound quality. On that aspect, I remain skeptical.

This is from an interview done in 2014 with the Sony ZX-1 Walkman Designers, as you can read from the translated text, especially the parts in bold is that the S-Master HX amp does amplifies it's own power supply noise. The microsd card is obviously connected and powered by the Walkman's battery. Can this connection influence the sound? Your guess is as good as mine.

https://www.sony.jp/msc/enjoy/products/feature/20140501/

Irie: "S-Master" is a fully digital amplifier that performs all signal processing digitally . By eliminating the feedback circuit that requires digital-to-analog conversion, "S-Master" minimizes the deterioration in sound quality caused by analog-to-digital/digital-to-analog conversion. The circuit that converts digital signals to analog signals is surprisingly simple, basically just a coil and a capacitor.
When I first encountered the S-Master, it had such a simple structure that for a moment I couldn't understand why it produced sound (lol). Because of its simplicity, even the faintest sounds contained in the original sound can be amplified accurately without being drowned out by other sounds, allowing for faithful reproduction of the original sound .
--Does the fact that you can amplify even faint sounds mean that it also amplifies noise?

Irie: That's right. "S-Master" reacts to signals very obediently, so it reproduces and amplifies not only the audio signal, but also the noise contained in the signal and the electric power that is the source of the amplification power.

The solution is to completely eliminate the noise itself . Creating a clean power supply with low noise and the circuit that generates it is the key to the design of the "S-Master" amplifier installed in the Walkman, and is directly linked to improving sound quality.