[Ojisan]

On the Japanese Amazon site, it’s listed for 407000 yen, which is roughly 3.5K USD, but not sure if that’s the real price for us here in the states.

e-earphone has it listed for JPY 396000. What Hi-Fi reported US$3200 (search bing).

In Japan, there is a thing called "open price" and it will fluctuate a little. Check this 2 year price chart for 1Z OG.

 

[discord]

e-earphone has it listed for JPY 396000. What Hi-Fi reported US$3200 (search bing).



In Japan, there is a thing called "open price" and it will fluctuate a little. Check this 2 year price chart for 1Z OG.

Yeah, I just saw their price at 3200 https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/so...ld-plated-variant-for-almost-triple-the-price

We’ll just have to wait for when Sony actually shows these on their website. I think WooAudio price is incorrect, and is the only place in the U.S. that’s even listing these on their website.

 

[hoofman]

Nice website. Thanks for sharing.
I'll just leave the link is here for anyone who are also interested: https://kakaku.com/item/K0000907179/pricehistory/
Underneath the graph there is a section reads 1ヶ月 ３ヶ月 １年 ２年 which stands for 1 month - 3 months - 1 year - 2 years

 

[nanaholic]

Don’t be offended, but as far as AndroidOS is going and DAP technologies. I think Ibasso Dx300 is years ahead. SOC Snapdragon 660 and 6Gb RAM, Quad DAC, FPGA Master, Dual Batteries and Dual Power Supplies, Dual Operation Systems of Android and MangoOS (Linux based dedicated OS), modular Amplifier modules with Discrete Super Class A architecture that offers 8.3Vrms output with Balanced True Line Out .

Also Real world FLAC playback upto 96Khz out of Balanced port is 16 hours

Do we even know what the FPGA in the ibasso does? Cos I can program a straight passthru on a FPGA and slap it into the DAP and claim "look at that FPGA magic in my DAP!!!!111" while in essence it does absolutely nothing.

At least in Sony and Chord products I know their FPGA is actually used for SOMETHING (S-Master FPGA emulation/DSD re-mastering and DA conversion respectively).

 

[Cecala]

Excuse my language, I will temper myself, but its products like WM1ZM2 that lead to snake oil accusations in this hobby. We want to reward companies improve quality, not increase copper purity, triple the price then make outrageous claims of improved sound.

Your telling the head of the choir here. This has been going on since the 70s, it's a Japanese thing.

@Cecala if you don’t like it, don’t buy it. Or is somebody putting a Gun in your head and saying you must buy it? I don’t think so…

No one is putting pressure on me to buy anything although as I have said before it is disappointing to say the least. I truly love Sony, I was very much looking forward to this release, Sony's design aesthetic is the best out there. I recently purchased a TV from them and am very happy. They have updated their processor to the new XR variant providing very real TANGIBLE results. There is no way this new player is worth that sum of money. The more people except this behavior the more Sony and others will persist. I expect top drawer in every department considering the price and Sony did'nt even update the SOC, something which is badly needed. This new Sony should be like the iBasso DX300 in tech. If Sony had this new player listed at 10K, there would be people yelling at me that it's worth every cent. We will wait for reviews and take from there.

 

[Hinomotocho]

Economics and business are not my area so I have no idea how Sony are doing financially.
How much of their Walkman spec choice was purely financially motivated, maybe playing it safe in the current global situation, not wanting to invest in a fairly small department to pursue new/different tech.
Was there any element of stubbornness sticking with their chosen tech, or a pride or arrogance they don't need to make significant changes, just add streaming?

My post is just out of interest, nothing against them and their choice.

 

[Gamerlingual]

So per the interview, the differences between the 1A and 1Z (2nd versions) are just the extra copper in the 1Z and the Kimber Kable used? They said the listening experience is almost identical?

 

[chewyR]

Economics and business are not my area so I have no idea how Sony are doing financially.
How much of their Walkman spec choice was purely financially motivated, maybe playing it safe in the current global situation, not wanting to invest in a fairly small department to pursue new/different tech.
Was there any element of stubbornness sticking with their chosen tech, or a pride or arrogance they don't need to make significant changes, just add streaming?

You have to remember the primary market for these devices is the JAPAN market. Within Japan Sony sells an entire lineup of low middle and high end hardware, everything from computers, interchangeable lens cameras, audio recorders, televisions, etc. When you look at the walkman there are models starting at about $100 usd, then you get the signature series at around $1300 usd, then up you go to amps until you hit the DMP-Z1. Headphones alone, you can buy Sony made CIEM called 'Just Ear', and not many DAP makers are developing CIEM. So I guess its give and take. In my mind Sony is outperforming every other company in its class, by far.

Most people here have been plenty happy with the NW-WM1A/Z, and we all had extremely high hopes for the M2, but really the M2 just improved on the M1. Some people are disappointed not much has changed, but how much do you really want to change. Do you want a device that can do everything the Dx300 does? Sony has their own Walkman OS and they have an android flavor, so maybe one day we get that dual boot system. For now this represents the first iteration of an android device in the signature series. If I had to guess from here there will be more regular improvements. I would be shocked if this model is still being sold in 5 years.

 

[nanaholic]

Economics and business are not my area so I have no idea how Sony are doing financially.
How much of their Walkman spec choice was purely financially motivated, maybe playing it safe in the current global situation, not wanting to invest in a fairly small department to pursue new/different tech.
Was there any element of stubbornness sticking with their chosen tech, or a pride or arrogance they don't need to make significant changes, just add streaming?

I can say with a certain degree of confidence it's product driven rather than business driven. The original ZX-1/2 when released was considered "insanely priced" because the audiophile DAP market didn't exist back then, yet the team pushed the then CEO Kaz Hirai to get the product greenlited because it was a huge financial risk. And now the rest is history as we see all the other players trying to take a slice of the pie Sony created.

S-Master technology is completely inhouse - it's the core component which differentiates Sony from the other 20 run of the mill Chinese/Korean DAP makers just pulling off another AKM/ESS/Cirrus Logic chip off the spec sheet and adds it to the shopping cart, then read the spec sheet again to see how to wire up the chip. Sony CAN use AKM/ESS/Cirrus Logic but if they do they are then just another run of the mill DAP maker and they have far less differentiation as a result.
Because the S-Master is completely inhouse (Sony doesn't sell it to other makers) it also takes them many more years to improve on a design with limited resources, not unlike how it takes Chord 7 years to make a new Mojo when you design silicon all by yourself because the complexity and difficulty is at an entirely different level. Just the nature of the beast when you keep your secret sauce all to yourself with very limited resources.

 

[dennarwhal]

So per the interview, the differences between the 1A and 1Z (2nd versions) are just the extra copper in the 1Z and the Kimber Kable used? They said the listening experience is almost identical?

That is correct. In the Japanese interview, they said that this time round the differences are smaller. However, the difference is not just in copper and Kimber Kable, the capacitors inside are different as well.

I apologise before hand if I am wrong, I am still new to speaking Japanese.

 

[chewyR]

So per the interview, the differences between the 1A and 1Z (2nd versions) are just the extra copper in the 1Z and the Kimber Kable used? They said the listening experience is almost identical?

I think this is mostly true. The gap between the original 1A and 1Z was narrowed extensively. Not as much for modders to go after this time around. Basically, they looked at everything the modders were doing and just made it irrelevant.

 

[dennarwhal]

Economics and business are not my area so I have no idea how Sony are doing financially.
How much of their Walkman spec choice was purely financially motivated, maybe playing it safe in the current global situation, not wanting to invest in a fairly small department to pursue new/different tech.
Was there any element of stubbornness sticking with their chosen tech, or a pride or arrogance they don't need to make significant changes, just add streaming?

Sony's EP&S, under which portable audio products fall under, is not doing well financially due to the poor sales of Xperias. Audio was not mentioned. This was what was reported for the past quarter from Oct-Dec 2021.

Keep in mind Japanese accounting starts from April, not January

 

[Gamerlingual]

If that’s the case and I decided to go Android, the 1A is the way to go. But as it stands, the current 1A and 1Z are awesome.

 

[Redcarmoose]

That is correct. In the Japanese interview, they said that this time round the differences are smaller. However, the difference is not just in copper and Kimber Kable, the capacitors inside are different as well.

I apologise before hand if I am wrong, I am still new to speaking Japanese.

That is how I understand it too. And......you get the Android experience, which some may want? And....they are new, some people just like something new and different, even if that difference is small.

But who knows after the new Walkmans are ran-in they may have a lovely new sound. That case % of more copper, adding grounding. The Kimber and the new capacitors may make a difference, we just have to find out what that difference truly sounds like.

Remember there wasn’t too much difference between the original WM1A and WM1Z. Those subtle differences made about a 10% improvement, but when you started concentrating on that 10%, it became and island you could visit, build a house and live on!

 

[dennarwhal]

That is how I understand it too. And......you get the Android experience, which some may want? And....they are new, some people just like something new and different, even if that difference is small.

But who knows after the new Walkmans are ran-in they may have a lovely new sound. That case % of more copper, adding grounding. The Kimber and the new capacitors may make a difference, we just have to find out what that difference truly sounds like.

Remember there wasn’t too much difference between the original WM1A and WM1Z. Those subtle differences made about a 10% improvement, but when you started concentrating on that 10%, it became and island you could visit, build a house and live on!

The guy who did the interview, I believe his name is Sekine Kazuhiro. I have not heard his name before but I trust the engineering Sato-san put in. And yes, you are right about the 10% percent difference for the previous generation.

When you start considering how much more it costs this time around, I need to stress again that no matter how much gold or how pure the copper is, I highly, extremely doubt how long the WM1ZM2 will last compared to the WM1Z due to android and its lacklustre CPU. Especially with the smaller differences between the A and Z this time.

Once again, I urge everyone to please try it or at the very least, read up on as many reviews as possible, before you make this 4000USD purchase.

Edit: Added reasons as to why I think new one wont last as long