If you can't convince yourself, we'll help you by you giving us your credit card and home address
Anyway, just kidding
Btw, how do you "try"?

RM2199 pre-order price at Sony Store, The Curve

Any idea when is the ETA?
Seems like the launch date in HK has been postponed to mid March while in Singapore heard rumours might be in April.

Well Amazon here has a nice 30-day return policy if you're not satisfied with the item. I have just returned an electornic equipment around 200 euros, turns out it didn't work with my current equipment model. It was hassle-free and I got the refund within a day. So one way could be to order some headphones and then return those I don't like.

I also tried looking up the Sony Germany website and apparently I can try to order through the Sony Education store since I'm a student and they offer up to 20% discount on certain items and 30-day return policy (I think should be the same as amazon, but I'll need to double check).
1. NWZ-f886 is listed at 329 euros compared to sony malaysia at RM999. Unfortunately this item was not available for sale in the Education store, they mostly discount the older walkman models. It's up for 299 euros on Amazon though, so if I can't wait till end of the year to get it when I'm in Malaysia then I might get it from Amazon.
2 The XBA-H1 is listed as 99 euros on the official sony website, and in the Education section they're available for 90 euros. That's quite a nice deal compared to the RM499 listed on Sony Malaysia. I'm highly tempted to grab this as most reviews have stated that the H1 seems to be the most neutral-sounding one compared to H3 which can be a bit bassy.

It's available for sale now in Germany for 698 euros (> RM 2.8k).

Unfortunately I have not seen it in stores, only the f886.

Wait for your decision then!

recently aqquired a SA5000
will make a 50mm driver comparison between this nano composite and newer generation liquid crystal polymer

H1 the most neutral?
I found it the least neutral though, bass overpowering the mids is more apparent compared to the H2 and H3. And the highs are playing hide and seek too.
If you get the chance maybe you should try them first. H1 was my least preferred choice.

Ok now I'm back to being confused again..

sa5000: at least the bass impact is there, no rumble at all. i found it is somewhat similar to grado open can design, where driver itself positioned very close to ears.

normal volume ok. turning loud only brings mid-high and treble to over power the whole spectrum, maybe because of insufficient drive.

more to come

The SA5000 has non existence low bass, cold mids and high energy treble. But do take notice to the imaging and detail, it will surprise you somehow. The Soundstage is also almost don't exist at all. But the Imaging will show you the way

Take your time. Your recabled one does not have the treble that sounds shh and have more warm mid. Bass is the same.

Never try to amp it from my side. Maybe balance amp would work better for yours.

This post has been edited by lincm: Mar 9 2014, 08:26 AM

yes, the imaging feel like bookshelf speaker. a solid sound came from center did suprise me

Edited my sentence to avoid confusion, in Bold.

Never though of that the sound from the center!! I was referring to how the imaging can sound to put you into music itself.


Now thinking of it, yes, my W1000x does not exhibit the sound from center, although the soundstage is bigger, it cannot produce the better sensation of SA5000 of being in the music.

However, you need to have the mood of listenong to feel that. I didn't for the first month of intermediate use.

=============
modern "transparent" 50mm driver from 1R (DSEE, SMASTER AMP, NC off): a lot mid bass mix into pronounced vocal, a bit echo feel but not muddy.
"just fine" treble for a closed can. musical instruments is natural but stick closely together.
spongy ear cup give some distance between ears and driver, create little front soundstage (not bad)

==============
(DSEE, SMASTER AMP, NC on): at begining mid bass sink into drain, got bass beat only. a few minutes later, the NC adjust itself to my room. there the bass and midbass become controlled.
vocal and treble level & speed raise noticeablely, perhaps the internal amp push-pull driver diaphragm with higher pressure?
sometimes overdone become artificial or "digitize" playing mp3, seldom happen to lossless audio.

i like deaf feeling during silence part... dont have the seashell effect in ear cup



==============
classic "white" 50mm from SA5000: roughly need +3 to +5db volume compared to 1R.
strangely... im assure there is bass kick, along with "ok" mid bass like you mentioned. a virtual center channel that develop in front my head some other songs it went to behind. haha i like this a lot

vocal got minor shh, otherwise excellence! towards ending of song (fade out), still can hear the last breath of singer.
even cover vocals are energetic, saxophone got the "pressing" feel.
high-treble has great seperation details of EFX, strings and woodwind instruments.

it is able to reveal "empty holes" in mp3, especially percussion. can say analytical?
no good sound stage because similar to grado design

==============
i find myself not saying much in-depth music details about 1R because it will not catch your attention, a mellow fellow. where as SA5000 will bring more engaging towards the songs you play

thanks you lincm, i appreciate this SA5000 a lot

This post has been edited by ktek: Mar 9 2014, 01:29 PM

Woot! I've been waiting for a while thinking/hoping this would come and it finally did!

There is a 20% discount now on all Walkman till end of March, thanks to the Xperia Priviledge app that is available for Xperia phones. That pushes the prices from 329 euros to 263 euros on the official Sony store.

And just in time for my birthday next month too!

And the final decision is?

Muktamad? (Jalaluddinhassan.jpg)

Haha.. Lol jalaluding hasan

I'm definitely getting the walkman for now. As for the earphones, I'll ponder on that for a bit longer while i use the default ones that come with it.

I was initially favouring the H1, but then Lego Warfare said it was bassier than H3.
So i think would wait for a sale (hopefully not too long a wait) on earphones first and grabbed both to try them out, and return the one I don't like.

You're bass shy? Haha

Btw, I think Sony has some enhancement, and at the very least, you can eq the bass to negative to negate any bump on bass.

Just wanted to ask a simple thing , having a friend using a sony led tv . I would like to know how to check the model of the sony led tv.
Since he doesn't remember and the manual at the store room moreover the TV is mounted on the wall which I can't get a peak from behind.

Does sony have any special button to check the model on the remote control ?

got DLNA network function? check if default DLNA is using model number.