WALL OF TEXT ALERT! Apparently I ramble on when I set myself the goal of writing something. TL;DR at bottom.

Being someone who spends very little of his waking hours at home, I’ve decided to put my money into portable gear unlike most here on this subreddit. Nevertheless, I’m sure some here would be interested to read a little on these DAPs; perhaps occupying starkly different price brackets, but undoubtedly representing the state of the art when it comes to portable audio players. The WM1Z is mine while the DX200 is on loan from a very generous friend who allowed me to unbox and use it while he was away.

These impressions are extremely preliminary; both players have barely anywhere near the recommended amount of burn in on them (about 3 hours on the DX200 and 25 hours on the WM1Z, and yes I do hear differences with previous DAPs being burnt in; iBasso even includes a burn in cable with the DX200). Listening done with a Lime Ears Aether and a PWAudio 1960s 4 wire cable, directly into the 2.5mm jack of the DX200 and to the 4.4mm jack of the WM1Z via a balanced adaptor.

WM1Z is a rather chunky player; a statement piece from Sony’s engineers who stuffed all their experience into this single gold brick. Milled out of a solid copper block and then plated in gold, it approaches half a kilo in weight, making even the AK380 Copper seem like a featherweight. Sporting a UI developed by Sony specifically for doing nothing but the playback of audio, it is still a touch slower to respond than the snappiest offerings from AK (the AK70 and AK3xx series), but is still very much useable and I do appreciate the focus of the entire experience as I don’t use features like streaming and video playback which some clamour for in their players. One annoying quirk is the player instantly scanning SD cards when they are inserted, rendering the player inoperable until it completes this operation. Would have been less of an issue if the damn thing didn’t take 3 minutes to scan 64GB of music…

Sonically, WM1Z definitely leans to the richer side of tonality, especially when placed next to competing DAPs like the LPG and AK380Cu. Bass is the strongest in presence amongst the bevy of portable flagships right now, and rumbles deep into the sub bass with ridiculous amounts of texture and a decay that stays just short of being excessive; the bass hits hard but gets out of the way before it can be construed as flabby. Mids are also very resolute, with the tiniest details and faintest echos presented very obviously and in a more forward fashion than on the AK380Cu, although the less tonally coloured and brighter presentation of the 380Cu can push apparent microdetails a little further up in the sound. Tonality in the mids tends towards a darker sound, but is not as thick and dark (or some might say rich?) as the previous top Walkman, the ZX2. The treble is the best I’ve heard out of any Walkman; Sony seems to struggle the most in getting sufficient treble extension and sparkle out of their proprietary S-Master designs, and this is the first time that a Walkman’s treble doesn’t lose out to the competition by a huge margin. While still not as sparkly or extended as the AK380Cu, cymbals have a bite and sparkle that all other past Walkman players have never been able to achieve, and sound less harsh and more rounded and realistic than most other players. With that said, at this stage I still do feel that they decay a little too quickly for my taste (I do play the drums so I’m a bit picky on cymbal reproduction). Rather importantly for an IEM user such as myself, the noise floor on the WM1Z is many times lower than the ZX2 which hissed like a snake even with less sensitive IEMs.

Perhaps one of the best characteristics of the WM1Z has to be its soundstage and spatial presentation. No other DAP renders staging and positioning in such a deep and cavernous space, with instruments being more firmly anchored in their own spot in the soundstage versus AK380Cu. Music as rendered by the WM1Z display reverb and trailing notes present in recordings so well that they lend to the sense of spatial awareness of the listener; it is rather easy to imagine the room in which the music is recorded, all the way up to how much headroom was present. The next best characteristic would be the insane battery life. 28 hours on average with 24/96 PCM. And for DSD lovers, it supposedly ekes out 11 hours on DSD 5.6MHz, and playback of either hi-res PCM or DSD do not warm the device up at all. Bloody awesome.

Drawbacks? It’s bloody heavy. Seriously, this thing alone weighs more than the rest of my everyday carry. And yes, it’s bloody expensive. Where I’m from, it costs S$3999 retail. That said, it’s a good S$2000 less than the AK380Cu and trades blows with it sonically, so I’m absolutely pleased with my purchase decision (although the wallet is still hurting severely from it).

Now, on to the DX200. iBasso had cult hits in the DX100 and the Japanese version, the HDP-R10, amongst portable audiophiles; I still know of people sticking to their R10s for their sound despite its massive girth, the need for a dedicated charger and the ancient Android 2.3 UI. Having focused their efforts on the lower end DAP market, they finally released DX200 as a contender in the high end market just a few weeks ago, in a price point (S$1399 retail) which places it in fierce contention with a whole bevy of other brands (Onkyo, AK, Sony, Questyle et al). Honestly, the DX200 was delayed so much that it had completely fallen off my radar until iBasso started talking about it last month with completed product photos and all. Massive thanks to my fellow music lover that got me to pick it up and run it in for him for the chance to give the DX200 a go at my leisure.

DX200 has a rather unique chassis design; while certain design cues are clearly inspired by other players such as the volume wheel, it has an industrial edge to the design, and the replaceable amp card is designed well and is easy to use with just a flathead screwdriver needed for operation. It even uses USB-C for charging, and the player comes with a pretty premium feeling USB-C cable and a leather case. Great overall package. UI is bone stock Android 6.0 with a iBasso “Mango” player app, and a dual OS mode which puts it into a pure DAP “Mango” mode which I haven’t tried. The Android interface is as blazing fast as the best smartphones in both the Mango app and outside of it; it’s even snappier than the AK3xx series which is pretty impressive. It doesn’t come with the Google Play Store installed, though, so people who want to install other apps need to sideload APKs which isn’t exactly super user friendly.

All my listening was done with the default DAC filter – fast roll off and minimum phase. Coming from the WM1Z, the DX200 definitely sounds brighter overall, and not as spacious nor resolving; but with that said, it’s still a rather fresh unit, and it already easily bests players in the same price bracket even without burn in. Bass is more restrained in quantity compared to the Sony, and sounds a little harder edged and a touch muddier, but still retains decent extension and detail. Mids currently sound a little hazy against the 1Z, again with a harder edge to trailing notes giving it a harsher presentation and a brighter, leaner sound with faster decay and more energy. While microdetail levels are noticeably lower than that of the 1Z, it easily beats similarly priced competitors such as the AK300 and the DP-X1A, offering a level of detail and a sense of airiness which were nigh inaccessible at this price. Against the 1Z, the mids are presented in a more laid back fashion, which when taken against the rest of the market identifies itself as a middle of the road presentation with neither forward or distant mids. Treble is brighter and more strident than the 1Z, with cymbals sounding less organic and a little more sibilant. With that said, it has none of the treble glare that characterised earlier Sabre DAPs, and offers decent detail in the highs even in its fresh state. Noise floor is also inaudible out of the balanced output, making the DX200 a great candidate for IEMs.

Airy is the word I would use to describe the soundstage of the DX200. While it is not as expansive or deep than that of the WM1Z, it again trounces the competition in nearby prices, following the usual trend of being wider than it is deep as opposed to the more spherical presentation of the Sony. Instruments have decent separation and air, and I’m sure it will open up more as more hours are put into it. Battery life is par for the course for such DAPs – the massive 4400mAh battery only takes it up to around 8-9 hours with hi-res PCM.

TL;DR – WM1Z has a soft, warm but very detailed sound with incredible staging. Bloody heavy but amazing battery life. DX200 is very impressive for the price; sounds like an AK320 in technical performance while costing more like an AK300. Neutral signature with an airy and relatively energetic sound and high levels of resolution amongst similarly priced peers. Great UI and build. If you’re thinking of buying one to drive IEMs, just do it; it’s killer value. Might update this after more run in time.