I started off with just onboard audio from laptops, including my favourite but outdated VAIO DSD. I was limited to 24/48 on the newest laptop, and felt intense frustration. No DSD under $100 either. All that changed in 2020, when, what had only been a pricey COZOY TAKT PRO in 2018, exploded into an entire market of audio dongles. DSD128 became reachable with just up to $30. Thanks to Apple removing their jacks. It should become clear that desktop DACs have less meaningful purposes when far smaller devices are now cheaper and even perform better. But dongles weren’t enough. DSEE HX AI existed. And after mrwalkman’s comeback, shortly after my request, the mods finally got me into walkman, a very difficult device to get for a reasonable price in many places. Then I grabbed whatever ultra-budget Sony earphones I could get, including IER-H500A, EX150AP/255AP Black, EX150AP Mint Green, ZX110 and MH410c both with EQ. All were $14 or $20 or free.
An audio enthusiast with 6 years of useless experience reading subjective words of others, a Sony fan who got into audio in 2007 after getting an extensive classical CD collection and subsequently in 2013 due to the ‘incredible’ quality of SHARP’s 1 Bit radio cassette CD/MD players and Sony’s MD Walkman. Of course – compared to laptop speakers – any source is better!
I also became interested in the engineering and science aspect of sound due to the work of Mr Ayataka Nishio, ‘father of DSD audio’, an engineer at Sony who created SBM for CDs, 1 bit audio, Sonoma editing systems, SBM Direct, VAIO DSD audio hardware and software design advice and assistance, activities popularising DSD Audio in Japan, and finally the original 2013 ver of DSEE HX. Then he made it possible to livestream DSD256 via PrimeSeat software and recorded 100+ concerts for this. He is actually about as legendary as Doi the ‘creator of CD’ or the S-Master amp designer whose name I forgot (after retirement he created the Vinyl Processor DSP for walkmans). Not many legendary engineers of the 90s remain at Sony now, although their teachings and influence probably remains. One of the many influences is seen in the way that Sony places emphasis on subjective enjoyment and does not reveal specs as a marketing tool. As a consequence, only their top of the line products measure well enough, and the standard products have suffered bad designs … in most cases.
My foray into audio extends only to the limits of DSD audio and DSEE HX. Although I gradually learned some technical terminology, it was not structured or systematic learning. I have forgotten much of it. I still don’t truly understand 1 bit audio. Each layperson’s understanding of it seems different, and to understand it from an engineer’s perspective one needs to read AES papers etc.
It has been around a year since I first came to recognise the NW-ZX500 series. Being a person who didn’t really ‘get into audio’ until becoming exposed to Sony Japan Marketing, via the Japanese media and VAIO PCs with their Sound Reality DSD chip CXD9872/ALC889DSD, it seems necessary to consider and share how audio and Sony appear to me now.
No doubt there are people who never take any interest in audio, for whom the cheapest earbuds and random audio jacks in phones etc are sufficiently satisfying and capable of delivering good sound. They are likely the main adopters of the wireless boom. Generally, the most rare sight is a person with big headphones on, the next is the person with IEMs on, and finally, wireless headphones/IEMs/buds. Despite the IEM’s small size, the cable is still an unnecessary obstruction. And because most standard IEMs tend to be weak at recreating ‘air’ and distance, the IER-Z1R, M9, M7 were created. Of course, we can find exceptions in IEMs which don’t simply recreate details ‘up close’ and lack the ‘air’. The question is whether full size headphones have ‘air’ and distance. Whether every piece of gear needs to be pushed to its design limits and whether consumers truly need the variety. There probably never was a need for WM1Z, but that need was created after the product was unveiled.
The IER-Z1R is for consumers. It has one 12 mm dynamic driver just like MDR-EX255/650, except it has ‘magnesium alloy inside’ it, requiring it to be made in Japan. Then it adds a BA driver and another 100kHz 5 mm dynamic driver. Zirconium alloy housing, unique design, and hefty price tag. The talk session notes contained interesting explanations from one main designer. Like others, he claimed that IEMs lacked air and that IER-Z1R achieved it. He gave an answer that IER-Z1R is good paired with WM1x, even PCM-D100, acknowledging that the famed DSD recorder actually plays excellently, and DMP-Z1. He claimed that there is no need for ageing, unlike large speakers. And he knew that the way it is worn affects the sound in much greater ways. He also wrote after the session that 100 people will have 100 views on what constitutes good sound. But he, and the New York mastering studio involved in testing, believed that the sound heard in the New York mastering studio was achieved by IER-Z1R. And that consumers can trust Sony when it asserts that this is one of the ideals they have achieved. They don’t intend to make large profits from this, but wish to share the fruits of their creation. Sounds great of course.
IER-M9, M7 are penta and quad BA arrays respectively, designed for on stage pro use, seemingly making the 16 mm driver MDR-EX800ST (2010) obsolete. Strangely EX800ST is becoming favoured by those sick of BA and multi driver IEMs. Thus, variety is created.
The headphone amps pages explain S-Master processes in greater detail, and show the two 40 bit DSEE HX DSP chips by Analog Devices ADSP.
Regarding the MDR-EX750/IER-NW750N, IER-H500A /IER-NW500N, IER-NW510N distinction, they are all Walkman A series specific earphones. Some could do binaural recording with Xperia. NW510N is the 6 mm driver IEM for NW-A100 series, with a strange shape that hides in the ear. MDR-EX750 is notable for its balanced circuit connected to a single ended plug. It is not clear whether later iterations had the same balanced circuit, or whether NW750N, its walkman version, had this. Or whether the sound improves due to it. But it is remarkable that my experience with using IER-H500A with A55 matched another user’s with their IER-NW500N. Perhaps due to A55’s incompetence, they’d stopped listening to it via other headphones, until they dropped into a Sony store and tried NW500N. Somehow the 9 mm driver IEM works well with A55, from a non-critical layperson’s perspective.
When would a person be able to tell that the combination is good? Perhaps it is no different to any other combination so long as it is also a 9 mm driver with similar specs. Perhaps it is the fit with the ear that differed. But overall, the effect is to allow A55 to playback sources without causing any dissatisfaction, and to have the user begin to feel that the A55 is really a music toy. Perhaps not outrightly fun or warm sounding but definitely something to play with rather than a professional sound.
Would all the effort be necessary, if an MH410c (free with old Xperias) with EQ to increase the bass and tame the peaks can deliver enough quality?
All DACs will become dongle DACs and DAPs will become extinct.
www.sony.jp
