Product Reviews

To get the elephant in the room out of the way first - this machine exists in two forms, and is not the same worldwide. If you purchase this in Europe you will receive a system with a significantly neutered power output, as compared with that available in North America and Asia. This limitation is set in firmware at the factory and there is no known way to subvert this currently. The result of this is that the system will struggle to drive inefficient headphones and IEMs. Unfortunately when this was first initially advertised for preorder in Europe they did not inform customers of this limitation, and the specifications as advertised at the time indicate the presence of a high gain mode and improved power output via the 4.4mm Jack. This is visible on the internet archive mirror of the specifications page on Sony.co.uk dated the 12th April 2022. The website has been updated to reflect the neutered specification and impossible to compare JEITA output values. I find this change borderline deceitful especially given that I had preordered this device expecting the earlier advertised specification with High Gain and 250MW @ 16Ohms. The result of this is a player that has a great sound but is so terribly restricted in the equipment one can enjoy it with. I strongly suspect that Sony only tested the European firmware with their own MDR-Z1R and IER-Z1R. These products can be driven to an adequate level with this player but with little to no overhead after the fact. Comparatively inefficient planar magnetic headphones like Dan Clark Audio's Aeon RT and the Fostex T60RP are not sufficiently driven to an adequate level. As such I cannot recommend this player for these and other headphones like them. I'm disappointed in this product's performance given the poor power output and absence of high gain mode yet again in Europe for another of Sony's high end walkman players. The player itself is larger than the NW507 and runs a more recent version of the Android operating system (Android 11 vs Android 9) - the 507 is more pocketable than the 1AM2. but the 1AM2 feels more solid in the hand. Absent of this gross restriction this would be a 5* review with a recommendation to others to purchase - but given the increased cost over the NW507 and the same asthmatic performance for the European model I am compelled to rate this lower than my rating for that product. I cannot honestly believe the European model is the embodiment of the vision of the designers. If you are in Asia or North America - I would have no issue recommending this product at least for evaluation, in Europe; please avoid until Sony rectify this obvious hobbling. The European model is a poor value for money - and has little going in it's favour as compared to competitor's models at a similar price point.

Although there is an initial firmware update, which I have downloaded, oh my, has Sony got some work to do! It feels like bad beta software. Laggy. Crashes often. Processor can't seem to handle Android 11. I have tried downloading offline content on Tidal. Very slow or just crashes. No such issues with other DAPs, with the same version of Tidal. Everyone talks about the volume cap and I thought, oh, it can't be as bad as people are saying. Well it is! Full volume, using quite efficient headphones that are designed for mobile use, is really low. And I mean "really" low. I was stunned. Slightly better with earphones. All in all, a big disappointment. But Sony can improve performance with some very quick and significant firmware upgrades. They should have the resources to do this. But the volume cap (that, by the way, doesn't seem to affect Son'y's competitors)? I'm assuming that's not fixable.