[Redcarmoose]

I feel with FW 3.0 the MDR-Z1R and XBA-Z5 spund very very nice and detailed

Those are two pair I own too, they are better.

 

[Malevolint]

Just had a WM1A delivered to me, happy days

Probably doing it all wrong, seeing that I'm not looking through the previous 1647 pages, however - as an EU player, I've swapped the region with the RockBox program (although it doesn't tell me what region it is set in, it acknowledges the region is changed - I presume that is normal behaviour) - also, came with fw2.0 out of the box, but - I'm going to jump, without even listening to fw3.0

Hopefully all will be good

I would try 2.0. A lot of people are not fans of the sound on 3.0.

 

[animalsrush]

From distilling all comments I am thinking 3.0 is probably a subtler upgrade of 2.0 with leaner bass and wider soundstage.. can someone confirm . I am using wm1z and I have downgraded to 1.2 and stayed with it because i absolutely love the organic nature of the sound. Not a big fan of lean or neutral sound..

So hold off migration.. I don’t want to go through the whole process of upgrade/downgrade again.. hope fw didn’t change sound

Pc

 

[animalsrush]

Is there a way to set WM1A with 3.0 to sound warmer like 1.2?
I really like new features in 3.0 but the sound is so bright and flat for me that reversed to 1.2 now. Really tried to like it but just cant...
Listen and listen, 3.0 has bigger soundstage, more clear but hights are so engaging that anointed me. There is no way just to relax while listening, always look for something missing in the sound. Yesterday try my old ZX2, was not used half a year, and boom, everething missing from WM1A with 3.0 was there, relaxing, full bodied, i can "touch" the music...after that just installed 1.2...

Tried and with my wife......Put as identical, known for here song on both players, WM1A with 3.0 and ZX2, first was 1A, she likes it, listen a bit, the suddenly says - Something is missing here...Was not surprised at all. Put the same song with same earphones on ZX2, she said - Excellent, I can touch the music. What is wrong with the new model? /she means 1A/.

So for now I'm in the group for 1.x lovers... So good features in 3.0...such a waste for me.

Thanks for your impressions. in same boat here with 1z. Still sticking to 1.2 as I love the organic nature of the sound. Very hesitant to upgrade

 

[NaiveSound]

I enjoyed 2.0 more overall but the dsc/bt features are a must for me so I have to stay at 3.0

Sony doesn't care

 

[Malevolint]

Is there a way to set WM1A with 3.0 to sound warmer like 1.2?
I really like new features in 3.0 but the sound is so bright and flat for me that reversed to 1.2 now. Really tried to like it but just cant...
Listen and listen, 3.0 has bigger soundstage, more clear but hights are so engaging that anointed me. There is no way just to relax while listening, always look for something missing in the sound. Yesterday try my old ZX2, was not used half a year, and boom, everething missing from WM1A with 3.0 was there, relaxing, full bodied, i can "touch" the music...after that just installed 1.2...

Tried and with my wife......Put as identical, known for here song on both players, WM1A with 3.0 and ZX2, first was 1A, she likes it, listen a bit, the suddenly says - Something is missing here...Was not surprised at all. Put the same song with same earphones on ZX2, she said - Excellent, I can touch the music. What is wrong with the new model? /she means 1A/.

So for now I'm in the group for 1.x lovers... So good features in 3.0...such a waste for me.

I hear ya! I keep hopping between 1.2 and 2.0.

 

[Malevolint]

I know everyone is talking about firmware right now but I've been doing some experimenting and wanted to discuss it.

I got a pair of HD6XX's and they're pretty awesome. They sounded amazing out of my 1A after I put a balanced cable on them. Everyone is saying that they sound way better with a proper amp. I read around and settled on a Topping D30 and a Schiit Magni 3.

I finally got everything today and did some comparing. I only had about 20 minutes to compare, but I was shocked to find that I couldn't hear much of a difference in that time. I tested some bass heavy tracks, then some detailed vocal tracks and that wm1a sounds just as damn good. The volume gets more than loud enough through the 1A, but the Magni 3 can get much louder.

After so many people talking about how hard the HD6Xx/650 is to drive properly, I'm kinda scratching my head over here lol.

I'll probably still keep the amp for when I want to get some truly power hungry cans and so that I can save the 1A from excessive usage though.

That's all lol. I love my WM1A

 

[KaiserTK]

I think the 1A does an ok job at powering the 650s, but even if it can provide enough volume, in my opinion there’s not enough depth and ‘meatiness’ to the sound like being powered off a desktop tube amp. For this reason I felt the 660S/58X a much better fit with the 1A.

*I did this comparison off SE so 4.4 out might give you different results.

 

[Redcarmoose]

From distilling all comments I am thinking 3.0 is probably a subtler upgrade of 2.0 with leaner bass and wider soundstage.. can someone confirm . I am using wm1z and I have downgraded to 1.2 and stayed with it because i absolutely love the organic nature of the sound. Not a big fan of lean or neutral sound. But it’s safe to say 1.2 was more tube sounding and 2.0 was more solid-state. 3.0 is still solid-state, only more clear and refined.

So hold off migration.. I don’t want to go through the whole process of upgrade/downgrade again.. hope fw didn’t change sound

Pc

It is a subtle upgrade of 2.0. I don’t have much experience with the software before 1.2 but 2.0 was way, way louder. 1.2 was this analog and narrow rather dreamy and narrow soundstage slow and grainy affair. 2.0 pushed the technicalities of both players and widened the soundstage adding speed besides the added power.

Though to be honest my 1.2 was before my 1Z had hours on it, so I’m just going on first impressions. It’s probibly great after burn in, as you know!

But 3.0 is a rearrangement of the imaging with some musical information going way way out in the soundstage. It may actually be slighly quieter, though no one really notices it. 3.0 has bass attenuation and the bass ends up pulled into the mix and focused. So 3.0 is going farther with the direction of 2.0. IMO

 

[denis1976]

Hello, i try to reverse to 1.2 firmware and had a problem , it don't have acess to the music library and apears an error message, does anyone has the solution for this?
Thank you

 

[Vlad0]

Rebuild music database manually. Option is under reset submenu

 

[blazinblazin]

I feel with FW 3.0 the MDR-Z1R and XBA-Z5 spund very very nice and detailed

I guess 3.0 is great with warmer headphones.

 

[hamhamhamsta]

Thanks, I sure think I still have a lot to discover about the amazing capabilities of the 1Z... I'll sure clock much more time than the previous owner 190h in 4 months, my monthly average being more like 150/180 hours

I fear I might become antisocial and lost in the beauty of music, I have to schedule breaks

It's cliché but I am rediscovering albums right now, hearing layers I never heard before (more than details it's more about how the soundstage is rendered, the incredible depth, the beautiful transients and nuances with a very emotional portraying of both instruments and vocals...). I am also rediscovering CL2, Phantom and VE8...

Bass has such texture, electric guitar such bite... yum !

This guy has been poisoned by 1Z.

I guess 3.0 is great with warmer headphones.

Yes, 3.0 definitely is great with warmer headphones. . In fact my Seinheiser Momentum sounds really great out of SE.

So yeah, any warmer phones work very well with 3.0, especially 1Z

 

[davidmolliere]

This guy has been poisoned by 1Z.
Yes, 3.0 definitely is great with warmer headphones. . In fact my Seinheiser Momentum sounds really great out of SE.
So yeah, any warmer phones work very well with 3.0, especially 1Z

Yeah I have, this is what I liked about the ZX2 times 100! I expected great SQ but not that amazing...
Since I own warm or neutral warm IEMs this is a great fit in terms of synergy

 

[Tawek]

This guy has been poisoned by 1Z.

Yes, 3.0 definitely is great with warmer headphones. . In fact my Seinheiser Momentum sounds really great out of SE.

So yeah, any warmer phones work very well with 3.0, especially 1Z

Yes since I update 1z to 3.0, now I'm only listening to the SE for me it sounds as good as the balance