Sony NW-WM1AM2 (uncapped) Review & Comparisons: Good but vastly overpriced for what it is

The Sony NW-WM1AM2 sounds very good. Also great in the hand, well designed and looks good. Sony DAPs/ Walkmen also have the best battery life. Great sound stage/stereo image/field of sound width/size/depth with satisfying bass and overall very musical. You'll definitely enjoy your music on this device. However, the device has an unacceptable noise floor. When listening to Music the noise floor will be maybe 5% of what you hear. Maybe less like 2% but the noise is there. The Fiio M23, Hiby R6 Pro 2, LG-V60 are all significantly cheaper, sound pretty much on a par and all 3 have zero noise floor/hiss. When you listen to those 100% of what you hear is the music. On the Sony it is maybe 95%. That is very poor for such an expensive device.

IEMs I have used with these devices:
Fiio JD7
Fiio FH3
Ziigaat Doscinco
Thieaudio Hype 4

The other negatives are an old, pretty slow chipset, only 720p screen, no Android resampling bypass (SRC), Android 11. Again, for £1300 you can and should be getting more/better/newer specifications.

Will likely sell the Hiby R6 Pro 2 for £400 and the Sony NW-WM1AM2 (Uncapped) £1000

[simonguppy]

After owning several Fiio players i decided to buy the Sony NW-WM1AM2 from japan on ebay. I've owned the sony now for over a year. The Fiio players were good except they all suffered with dodgy volume wheels and especially my fiio x7 and m11 i blew my ears out on several occasions. I liked the fiio music player and being able to put the dap in my poacket and remote it from my phone. The other main issue with the fiio players were that i would find the sound fatiguing i could listen to maybe one album at a time. The sony is just smoother sounding and a more premium product. The sony has way better battery life than the fiio players but slightly less output power. The sony is not designed to power hard to drive headphones. I had not really noticed the noise floor of the sony before now and yes it's there but in my opinion it is very small at max volume and less noticeable at lower volume. You will not notice it during playback. With Fiio players i always felt i needed to upgrade to the new model where as the sony i bought for keeps. I'm using fiio fh5 iem's with the sony and all is good.

[fzr]

It's the best overall quality and I like the physical volume control buttons. I got it below $1k new....using Noble Spartacus iems

[Zeastian]

Hello, just yesterday I bought the Sony and this review didn't exist. I was torn between the M15S and the Sony, but Sony Chile offered a special discount, and I bought it for $700. I hope I made a good deal. Regards.

[NetvoTV]

I want to get my first headphone and don't want to own many and I want to us it for all genres of music, movie like Tenet, gaming d want to make music and soundtrack in the future, right now decided to get Sony Z1R, I tried Sony MV1 open headphone and played Horizon Dreamer off YouTube and the vocal is fuzzy compare to M1, why? Should I get another headphone down the line in addition to the Z1R between M1, MV1 and B&O H95 (because 95 number mean a lot to me)? Is DAP like ZX707 and WM1AM2 worth to get or USB DAC off phone, MacBook, console and tv will get the same sound?

[Shinigamiof]

Have you come across any DAP that sounds good enough that it would be worth getting over the LGV60?

[capitanlevi]

Hello... I am using a 5v 1a charger to charge the walkman and I noticed that it takes 2 hours and 30 minutes from zero unlike the computer where it took the 4 hours advertised. Is it normal that it lasts less or is the charger inadequate?

[lubis]

Disagree. Fiio just screams 'cheap' even just from watching the video.

[welehweleh-zbjc]

sony are always overpriced, that's why i bought hiby m300, and i am regret it lol😂