conext said:

 
Just went through the registration process (Google Translate is surprisingly accurate and helpful. if a bit literal).
 
Looks like I only got the store credit for Mora. Which, you'll also have to register an account with in order to use the credit code. But yes, it looks like it's good for one 24/96 track, or two tracks recorded in 320Kbps AAC format.

Click to expand...

 
they'll send you a code mid April ~ May if you do win

jonstatt said:

  The initial burst of hiss will never go away. That is "by design" although I appreciate you don't like it!
 
You raised a good point about sound adjustments. If you use the stock player, and use a modifier like Clear Audio+ it actually makes the sound louder. If you are using Tidal or Spotify, choosing the same mode actually makes the sound quite a bit quieter. I am wondering if a reason for this is that when using the stock player, it scans the track for the peak sound levels of the track and ensures that EQ adjustments won't cause clipping. But for 3rd party players, it does not have this information, so the more EQ you apply, the less volume you get. This can cause a radical difference if you A/B the same track in Tidal and in your own music collection.
 
I know the Chord Hugo is very popular, and understandably so. But from a brief audition I had with it, albeit good, I felt it overpriced. For example consider the Oppo HA-1 which is a desktop unit...it costs less and definitely sounds better. I realise you are paying for portability, but nonetheless it also compromises the power supply, DAC and balanced outputs. So the PHA-3 represents much better value for money and probably gets to within 80-90% of the Chord Hugo. The downside is if you are European you need to import the Japanese one to get the rechargeable battery version of the PHA-3.

Click to expand...

because the sound adjustment thing is set digitally, so the player just tells to the DAC section that a sample value is actually Xdb quieter(it just gives another value instead of the one on the track). now manufacturers can play with this all they want except that when you try to go above the maximum value of the DAC (0db) you hit a wall.
now when you use EQ or some DSP effect, some frequencies will go louder compared to default right? just push the bass setting up and there you have it. if the song was recorded close to 0db as max loudness, and you add 8db of bass, everything that should go above 0db will become 0db (because that's the max voltage the DAC can output).
that's pure clipping and we sure don't like that ^_^. so sony just lowers the volume level digitally by a margin so that you won't clip the sound in most cases when using EQ or DSPs. it's a very rational logic and in fact many DAPs do that without us knowing. others don't and you just clip the sound as soon as you add a value in the EQ, that's what gets people saying EQ sux when it has nothing to do with EQ but only with max sample value^_^.
so there you are, on one hand you don't achieve the max possible loudness but keep your music clean, on the other you can go louder but it may end up clipping.
 
and I suppose that's the margin of safety you remove when you disable the sound effect thing to get the dap louder. but nobody seems to want, or to be able to measure the difference as I got no answer when I asked and sony isn't giving us much to chew on .
but hopefully somebody will end up measuring a few stuff. I know everything there is to know about the 100$ fiio X1, it would be sad to never know anything about a DAP that claims high end specs like the ZX2(or pono...lol).
I'm surely a little gullible, but if I made a product that had amazing specs, actually superior to other portable products in some way, I would make all my propaganda marketing on it, and tell everybody how I got more SNR, less distortion and how I'm more "high fidelity" than the competition for a fact. instead sony words are wind and poor Jon Snow knows nothing.
poor Jon is already having a hard enough time.

castleofargh said:

 
because the sound adjustment thing is set digitally, so the player just tells to the DAC section that a sample value is actually Xdb quieter(it just gives another value instead of the one on the track). now manufacturers can play with this all they want except that when you try to go above the maximum value of the DAC (0db) you hit a wall.
now when you use EQ or some DSP effect, some frequencies will go louder compared to default right? just push the bass setting up and there you have it. if the song was recorded close to 0db as max loudness, and you add 8db of bass, everything that should go above 0db will become 0db (because that's the max voltage the DAC can output).
that's pure clipping and we sure don't like that ^_^. so sony just lowers the volume level digitally by a margin so that you won't clip the sound in most cases when using EQ or DSPs. it's a very rational logic and in fact many DAPs do that without us knowing. others don't and you just clip the sound as soon as you add a value in the EQ, that's what gets people saying EQ sux when it has nothing to do with EQ but only with max sample value^_^.
so there you are, on one hand you don't achieve the max possible loudness but keep your music clean, on the other you can go louder but it may end up clipping.

Click to expand...

 
 
Okay, that all makes perfect sense. But it doesn't explain why when you use the stock player and swtich on Clear Audio+, it goes louder, but if you are using a non-stock player like Spotify or Tidal on the ZX2, that things get a LOT quieter when switching on Clear Audio+. If I have no Clear Audio+, and play the same track in Tidal and my own collection, the volume is about the same...implying this 60% volume rule is always there, stock player or not. So why are the EQ affects on volume different when using the stock player and Tidal/Spotify? (P.S not expecting you to be able to answer as you point out Sony give little information away....)

jonstatt said:

Okay, that all makes perfect sense. But it doesn't explain why when you use the stock player and swtich on Clear Audio+, it goes louder, but if you are using a non-stock player like Spotify or Tidal on the ZX2, that things get a LOT quieter when switching on Clear Audio+. If I have no Clear Audio+, and play the same track in Tidal and my own collection, the volume is about the same...implying this 60% volume rule is always there, stock player or not. So why are the EQ affects on volume different when using the stock player and Tidal/Spotify? (P.S not expecting you to be able to answer as you point out Sony give little information away....)

Click to expand...

The priority of controls belong to the stock player and it "Sound Adjustment". It will not matter what other third party app/player you are using, they will all be affected by this "Sound Adjustment" stock app control. Don't believe me ? Adjust "EQ" here and see spotify SQ changed. Disable it, and things will change.

I completely agree that the Hugo is overpriced for what it provides. The PHA-3 provides a similar experience and I'm now considering purchasing one myself. As it relates to the discharge hiss, I noticed that when the ZX2 is used with he PHA-3, there was NO audible hiss which leads me to conclude that the hiss is related to the ZX2 amp capacitors powering up for use.
 
In any event, the ZX2 is a very good DAP and I'll be keeping it! 

jonstatt said:

   
Okay, that all makes perfect sense. But it doesn't explain why when you use the stock player and swtich on Clear Audio+, it goes louder, but if you are using a non-stock player like Spotify or Tidal on the ZX2, that things get a LOT quieter when switching on Clear Audio+. If I have no Clear Audio+, and play the same track in Tidal and my own collection, the volume is about the same...implying this 60% volume rule is always there, stock player or not. So why are the EQ affects on volume different when using the stock player and Tidal/Spotify? (P.S not expecting you to be able to answer as you point out Sony give little information away....)

Click to expand...

maybe sony doesn't trust other apps to keep their stuff below clipping? or maybe they just lowered the volume so that people would feel like the sony player sounded better?

Update note. I've now got about 150 hours on my ZX2 and can confirm that it changes a LOT through that time. As others have said, it's not linear - it got better fast after the beginning, then somewhere around 100 hours became nearly unlistenable: bright, thin, sibilant, really nasty. That's all gone now, it sounds great. Not sure if it's still changing, but if so it's slowed down and stabilizing. So hang in there, it takes a while

And with mostly Apple lossless CD rips, plus a little high-res, I'm getting 40 hours plus battery life.

barbes said:

Update note. I've now got about 150 hours on my ZX2 and can confirm that it changes a LOT through that time. As others have said, it's not linear - it got better fast after the beginning, then somewhere around 100 hours became nearly unlistenable: bright, thin, sibilant, really nasty. That's all gone now, it sounds great. Not sure if it's still changing, but if so it's slowed down and stabilizing. So hang in there, it takes a while

And with mostly Apple lossless CD rips, plus a little high-res, I'm getting 40 hours plus battery life.

Click to expand...

Ah...the gigantic soundstage will appear some where around 200 hours, then followed up with the excellent Depth of field around 220 hours or so, and "Done" ...well, for me, that was what it did.

ddanois said:

 
Are you using any sound adjustment settings? I have the AK240 and the ZX2 and find that the ZX2 can vary greatly in sound quality due to these settings. Might be the source of such differing opinions. I have been using the ZX2 for over a week now and the biggest issue for me remains the "discharge hiss" that is present when starting the unit. Sony makes clear that the unit needs about 100hrs of burn-in play to reach its best but, even after a full week of 24/7 playing, the "discharge hiss" is still present.
 
On another note, I have run the ZX2 with the Audezee EL8, Noble K10, Shure 846 and JH Audio Layla and the ZX2 performs well from a volume/clarity perspective. However, I also tried all of these with a friend's PHA-3 in the mix and there was a significant improvement in SQ. Can't speak to the DAC differences or "cleanliness" of the amp but there is an obvious improved difference. Only downside was the size of the bundled package but this combo really gives the AK240/Hugo combo a serious run for the money.

Click to expand...

What's your thought on the K10s and Layla with the ZX2?? I have the ZX2 and looking for a new pair of CIEMs. I'm considering the Angies but curious about your perspective.
 
Thanks much!

jacone said:

 
What's your thought on the K10s and Layla with the ZX2?? I have the ZX2 and looking for a new pair of CIEMs. I'm considering the Angies but curious about your perspective.
 
Thanks much!

Click to expand...

I demoed the Layla universal, didn't know it was because of universal thing that i can't actually notice any substantial improvement over my JH13 fpr with litz cable. The price differences is ridiculous

jacone said:

 
What's your thought on the K10s and Layla with the ZX2?? I have the ZX2 and looking for a new pair of CIEMs. I'm considering the Angies but curious about your perspective.
 
Thanks much!

Click to expand...

The K10s are spectacular in terms of musicality. Everything is well balanced and the SQ with the ZX2 is still exceptional. The Layla is as good but, IMHO ,has a wider soundstage than the K10 and is very engaging. I should note that I still have the JH16 and the Layla has put the JH16 in the drawer.
 
I haven't tried the Angies so you should probably demo the Layla and Angie to compare.

whitigir said:

Roflmao...I rather use my stock case.

Click to expand...

Buy the standard high quality leather case by Sony from eBay for about $115...works great and smells great!

Anyone have chance to compare android phone+ ifi Micro vs a Sony zx2? I love how the micro sounds, but I have been travelling so often and carrying my ciems along with a stack seems cumbersome. I'm thinking about getting the zx2 and selling the micro, but only if the zx2 sounds as good or better than the micro. I love my micro, but not much room in economy class on the airplane.

cn11 said:

  Musicaacoustics has the ZX2 for $968 right now. If I hadn't already bought one early on, I'd be all over that! Says shipping is $40 though....
 
http://www.musicaacoustics.com/#!product/prd1/3478060981/sony-nw-zx2

Click to expand...

broke down and bought one, thanks for the heads up
now for that glass screen protector and case!

d_4_dog said:

broke down and bought one, thanks for the heads up
now for that glass screen protector and case!

Click to expand...

Its a great DAP, it's giving me some great tunes time,very realistic, I need a good quality glass screen protector as well.
Post your source, if you find a good seller. Thanks.