Show us your headphones

One I have is 25.5 x 11 cm (10 x 4.5 inch approx) and fits like a glove.

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Was going to measure or ask you. Cheers.

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My current headphones are:-

Grado SR325e;
Grado SR80;
B & W P5; and
B & W PX

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I also have Sony 1Z Walkman and MDR Z1R, and I might buy naim atom headphone version for MDRZ1R , should sound really right

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Focal Clear MG as a first headphone for Atom Headphone edition. Looking forward to how they sound after the burn in. I’m on the slippery slope to buying headphones now …

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Lol… yes it can become very addictive. Enjoy the Clears!

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Get a geekria cover as above. Especially with Focal headphones. Great cans, poor design of headband cover in that it can’t ( easily) be changed. And gets dirty real quick.

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Sennheiser HD600, just waiting for the balanced cable to arrive.

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Where did the Beyerdynamic picture come from??? Very strange!

Thanks for the tip- appreciated!

Seeing the picture of your focals prompted me to post this picture of mine with the cable I got Val at Arctic Cables to make up.

They are wonderful headphones aren’t they?

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Just a brief comment and then I am gone.
I had the Atom HE in house and found that for 90% of headphone owners it is a great all in one solution.

Unfortunately I felt my Sony Signature Walkman WM1Z walked all over it - no comparison. Headphones used were Utopias and Sony Signature Z1R’s.

Let’s not forget even though it is a “walkman” it is still priced the same as the Atom HE.

The HE was great at everything - Naim app, headphone amplifier, fit, finish and build. Ultimately, imho, it’s aging DAC chip let it down.

Sony, like dCS, Chord, and now Linn, have created their own proprietary DAC with a FPGA. This is what the Signature WM1Z uses - absolutely spectacular as the numerous accolades over the years will attest. Today, 5 years after introduction, it still remains at the pinnacle of portable DAP’s.

Your mileage may vary.

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haha true.

For sure, Walkman WM1Z is something I will never sell. and I will never sell my MDR Z1R as well. Great combo!
I love every details about WM1Z, sound, look, material, set ups …
The only part I don’t enjoy with WM1Z is it can’t connect to internet, so it’s not convenient if I want to listen to new songs or radios. It’s hard to find tracks with good sound quality for free.

I haven’t heard much nice DAC yet.
The only part I don’t enjoy with WM1Z is it can’t connect to internet, so it’s really not convenient if I want to listen to something new songs or radios. It’s hard to find tracks with good sound quality for free.

I ordered Atom because I love my NDX2 and ND555, I love the sound I got from Naim streamers, it’s really engaging, also the Naim app is very convenient.
And the best looking all in one box to me.

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I can’t say I’m surprised at your findings here, the Sony players are very good. My old ZX2, which was Sony’s flagship player before the WM1Z superseded it, still sounds excellent, although I suspect the HE would drive more demanding headphones much better.
Given the increase in popularity of streaming I wonder if Sony will return to it with their top DAPs in future. It’s a very useful feature of my ZX2, even though I mostly use it from an SD card.

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I’ve edited for you.

Conversely I didn’t get on at all well with my ZX-2. I think it was probably designed with IEMs in mind (which I don’t like) and just sounded flat and breathless when used with full sized headphones, even those that should have been easy to drive.

I think you’re right Richard, I use my ZX2 exclusively with IEMs (Shure SE846) and for me it’s a great match when I need something very portable. I believe the newer Sony players are better able to drive ‘proper’ headphones, but I haven’t tried.

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They have indeed and Naim may follow suit, but at the moment many prefer the way their implementation of the BB DAC reproduces music. I’m one of them. Curiosity got the better of me and I auditioned what Chord had to offer. Nice detail and a spatial characteristics but I was surprised by how very much better Naim was for me at timbre, textural detail and microdynamics. I think we need to concentrate on the whole solution not just where the DA conversion happens and how….

Sony “fixed” this several years ago with a firmware update. The WM1Z now has the ability to operate in DAC mode. You can connect an iPhone to it (Sony Walkman cable > Apple CCK > iPhone) and play all the streaming services from your iPhone. It works magnificently - just the inconveniences of having to be cabled to the iPhone.

Not looking to derail the thread - just providing some correction.

Best
Gregg

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Yes, I believe Sony were trying to adopt a purist approach to sound quality on their high end players by removing wifi and browser functionality etc. Mine runs Android for this stuff, which makes it convenient.
Those CCK connections to an iPhone are a PITA but I guess if you get iOS convenience with Sony sound quality it’s not such a bad idea.

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