musicdragoon said:

^ Actually my ZX2 used 2 64 GB toshiba, while in ZX1 it is a single Sandisk 128GB. Don't know if that also affects the sound performance between these 2 brothers.

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t.r.a.n.c.e. said:

  ^ I'm sure it would, as I said, Toshiba are my best sounding SD cards, Toshiba makes their stuff in Japan, and very importantly, ZX2 separating the internal memory into two chips will also dramatically increase SQ over a single chip. Thanks for this info btw! Its little unadvertised things like this that make me really think that proper engineering and testing went into the ZX2.

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t.r.a.n.c.e. said:

   
No one is forcing you to buy it. All I'm saying is that I have heard significant differences between SD cards, they actually alter frequency balance on the DX90 and my Phone, and in the exact same way between specific SD cards, its like each SD cards introduces its own specific sound sig, as well different SD cards also having different noise floors. It is not some tiny improvement, it is clearly audible. So your last statement is like saying, why buy a ZX2 for 1.2K when you can buy an iPod for $300. The reason is because the ZX2 has better SQ right? Is the increase in SQ justified in its huge jump in price? Hmm. Same thing goes for Sony's 64gb SD card, I'm sure it will sound better than any other 64gb SD, thus the price increase. Why is it such a big price increase? Sony had to put engineering into this new product, very well knowing that not many people will buy it, audiophile daps like 1.2K ZX2 are a niche market, audiophile SD cards, are an evener nicher market, lol. I think the main reason Sony created this SD card is that when people eventually realize that the internal memory of ZX2 sounds better than their SD card, they will go and buy this, instead of complaining to Sony that their micro SD slot sounds bad, lol. Sony is just covering their own ass just in case.

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harmonix said:

  Sorry for hijacking your post TRANCE but I wanted to give my impressions of the ZX2 after the 100 hours of Burn in at this point.
 
Burning in 100+ Hours
The biggest difference between 0 hours and post 100 hours can be summed up into one word : COHERENCE
To be more precise there is coherence in the timing of various instruments, notes and harmonics across the entire frequency range to the beat. Right out of the box it was okay but this coherence deteriorated until say about 50 hours and then started to come back again. 
 
Black space
This was clear from 0 hours. Much more quiet than the ZX1 and something I liked about the AK120/240 but in the case of iRiver I suspected that there was some "frequency/harmonic content deletion" to make this more pronounced. Most instruments especially acoustic are very complex and never have a single fundamental frequency and to me this was being "manipulated" in the iRiver to make things "blacker". This is just a suspicion - short of taking apart the digital filtering code and testing the signal out this is a bit tricky...
 
Frequency Range
The bottom end is stronger, faster and more articulate at the same time. I'm using SE846 so was loving this part. Having said that the high frequency performance has also been extended - there are a few tracks which I am very familiar with that I now hear 'recording artifacts" - basically traces of high hat which to me are being picked up by a another microphone on the drum kit either inappropriate placement or set to an inappropriately wide pattern.
 
"Sound Signature"
For those familiar with the ZX1 - I would say the sound signature is familiar - that meaning fast and neutral. The downside with the ZX1 was electronic hash, haze some call it brightness/whiteness. Suspect this is due to poor EMI/RFI isolation but who knows. This is no longer present with the ZX2. The sound also seems "thicker" and less harsh but want to emphasize that thicker does not mean euphonic. At the same time this less harsh smoother quality also does not mean that percussive strikes/attacks are round out they are not. A clean strike you heard attack, harmonics, decay and echoes they are all there. 
 
Small Observations
I use my SE846 for the listening and never had to go above 50% and that was usually for DSD classical recordings. The volume control seems to have more intermediate steps than the ZX1 but that could be my faulty memory - just seems to have more "intermediate steps".
 
Chassis build quality - this thing is a rock. ZX1 is not in the same class. This could be a weapon. Swing carefully!
GUI - Typical Android. Responsive. Updates your library pretty quickly. Not too much fuss loading music.
 
Small Gripes
1) Wish the screen was a bit more oleophobic - my greasy fingers smudge it too easily....
2) The case quality is nice but wish they had a cutout for the screen on the other hand maybe this trains me to only put GOOD music on the ZX2 instead of the entire kitchen sink....
 
 
Conclusion
So is this the best DAP out there? Haven't heard all of them but yes for the ones I have heard.
Is this better than the ZX1? For sure - by a mile and then bit more!
Is this better than the AK240? For my tastes yes and because of the reasons above. Your mileage could vary.
Is this better than the Hugo - SQ wise I think the Hugo still wins. The Hugo can power an HD800 but it's not a DAP... pick your poison

Click to expand...

harmonix said:

Sorry for hijacking your post TRANCE but I wanted to give my impressions of the ZX2 after the 100 hours of Burn in at this point.

Burning in 100+ Hours
The biggest difference between 0 hours and post 100 hours can be summed up into one word : COHERENCE
To be more precise there is coherence in the timing of various instruments, notes and harmonics across the entire frequency range to the beat. Right out of the box it was okay but this coherence deteriorated until say about 50 hours and then started to come back again. 

Black space
This was clear from 0 hours. Much more quiet than the ZX1 and something I liked about the AK120/240 but in the case of iRiver I suspected that there was some "frequency/harmonic content deletion" to make this more pronounced. Most instruments especially acoustic are very complex and never have a single fundamental frequency and to me this was being "manipulated" in the iRiver to make things "blacker". This is just a suspicion - short of taking apart the digital filtering code and testing the signal out this is a bit tricky...

Frequency Range
The bottom end is stronger, faster and more articulate at the same time. I'm using SE846 so was loving this part. Having said that the high frequency performance has also been extended - there are a few tracks which I am very familiar with that I now hear 'recording artifacts" - basically traces of high hat which to me are being picked up by a another microphone on the drum kit either inappropriate placement or set to an inappropriately wide pattern.

"Sound Signature"
For those familiar with the ZX1 - I would say the sound signature is familiar - that meaning fast and neutral. The downside with the ZX1 was electronic hash, haze some call it brightness/whiteness. Suspect this is due to poor EMI/RFI isolation but who knows. This is no longer present with the ZX2. The sound also seems "thicker" and less harsh but want to emphasize that thicker does not mean euphonic. At the same time this less harsh smoother quality also does not mean that percussive strikes/attacks are round out they are not. A clean strike you heard attack, harmonics, decay and echoes they are all there. 

Small Observations
I use my SE846 for the listening and never had to go above 50% and that was usually for DSD classical recordings. The volume control seems to have more intermediate steps than the ZX1 but that could be my faulty memory - just seems to have more "intermediate steps".

Chassis build quality - this thing is a rock. ZX1 is not in the same class. This could be a weapon. Swing carefully!
GUI - Typical Android. Responsive. Updates your library pretty quickly. Not too much fuss loading music.

Small Gripes
1) Wish the screen was a bit more oleophobic - my greasy fingers smudge it too easily....
2) The case quality is nice but wish they had a cutout for the screen on the other hand maybe this trains me to only put GOOD music on the ZX2 instead of the entire kitchen sink....


Conclusion
So is this the best DAP out there? Haven't heard all of them but yes for the ones I have heard.
Is this better than the ZX1? For sure - by a mile and then bit more!
Is this better than the AK240? For my tastes yes and because of the reasons above. Your mileage could vary.
Is this better than the Hugo - SQ wise I think the Hugo still wins. The Hugo can power an HD800 but it's not a DAP... pick your poison

Click to expand...

harmonix said:

  Sorry for hijacking your post TRANCE but I wanted to give my impressions of the ZX2 after the 100 hours of Burn in at this point.
 
Burning in 100+ Hours
The biggest difference between 0 hours and post 100 hours can be summed up into one word : COHERENCE
To be more precise there is coherence in the timing of various instruments, notes and harmonics across the entire frequency range to the beat. Right out of the box it was okay but this coherence deteriorated until say about 50 hours and then started to come back again. 
 
Black space
This was clear from 0 hours. Much more quiet than the ZX1 and something I liked about the AK120/240 but in the case of iRiver I suspected that there was some "frequency/harmonic content deletion" to make this more pronounced. Most instruments especially acoustic are very complex and never have a single fundamental frequency and to me this was being "manipulated" in the iRiver to make things "blacker". This is just a suspicion - short of taking apart the digital filtering code and testing the signal out this is a bit tricky...
 
Frequency Range
The bottom end is stronger, faster and more articulate at the same time. I'm using SE846 so was loving this part. Having said that the high frequency performance has also been extended - there are a few tracks which I am very familiar with that I now hear 'recording artifacts" - basically traces of high hat which to me are being picked up by a another microphone on the drum kit either inappropriate placement or set to an inappropriately wide pattern.
 
"Sound Signature"
For those familiar with the ZX1 - I would say the sound signature is familiar - that meaning fast and neutral. The downside with the ZX1 was electronic hash, haze some call it brightness/whiteness. Suspect this is due to poor EMI/RFI isolation but who knows. This is no longer present with the ZX2. The sound also seems "thicker" and less harsh but want to emphasize that thicker does not mean euphonic. At the same time this less harsh smoother quality also does not mean that percussive strikes/attacks are round out they are not. A clean strike you heard attack, harmonics, decay and echoes they are all there. 
 
Small Observations
I use my SE846 for the listening and never had to go above 50% and that was usually for DSD classical recordings. The volume control seems to have more intermediate steps than the ZX1 but that could be my faulty memory - just seems to have more "intermediate steps".
 
Chassis build quality - this thing is a rock. ZX1 is not in the same class. This could be a weapon. Swing carefully!
GUI - Typical Android. Responsive. Updates your library pretty quickly. Not too much fuss loading music.
 
Small Gripes
1) Wish the screen was a bit more oleophobic - my greasy fingers smudge it too easily....
2) The case quality is nice but wish they had a cutout for the screen on the other hand maybe this trains me to only put GOOD music on the ZX2 instead of the entire kitchen sink....
 
 
Conclusion
So is this the best DAP out there? Haven't heard all of them but yes for the ones I have heard.
Is this better than the ZX1? For sure - by a mile and then bit more!
Is this better than the AK240? For my tastes yes and because of the reasons above. Your mileage could vary.
Is this better than the Hugo - SQ wise I think the Hugo still wins. The Hugo can power an HD800 but it's not a DAP... pick your poison

Click to expand...

cecala said:

 
Thanks for this review. Can you state the version number of the the Sony Audio Player. I want to see if they ungraded it over the ZX1. I've been using Poweramp although always believed the stock player sounded best.

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xjaynine said:

 
What's funny is that prior to the release of the ZX2 there was some sentiment writing it off as a case of the Emperor's new clothes; same S-Master HX, Android OS and parts, just a new shell with a few minor audio component tweaks. Not to mention the poking fun at the more subtle audio circuitry enhancements; the gold plated copper shielding, the soldier, and the thicker PCB.

Fast forward to the release of the DAP and a good majority of impressions and owners have been reporting positive experiences. 

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mython said:

   
 
Oh, I think we all know that is a skewed interpretation of why people have criticised the various component changes.
 
It's not so much that the changes are not worth doing (they are worth doing)
 
It's that the changes are not worth charging another $450 to customers who should rightly have received TOTL performance in the $750 ZX1.
 
That's something quite different from what you're implying above

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jamato8 said:

 
Ok, and having heard many changes in sound due to things that many say won't make a difference, $200 for a 64gb card is almost 1/5 the cost of the ZX2 and the micro SD card topology is pretty well done. They may have made some improvements but 200 for a 64gb card when you can buy Sandisk 64 for 39 dollars? 

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mython said:

   
 
Oh, I think we all know that is a skewed interpretation of why people have criticised the various component changes.
 
It's not so much that the changes are not worth doing (they are worth doing)
 
It's that the changes are not worth charging another $450 to customers who should rightly have received TOTL performance in the $750 ZX1.
 
That's something quite different from what you're implying above

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musicdragoon said:

My ZX2 also goes over 100 Hr +, agree with your impression. Enjoy your music

But don't listen to swing music or you may hurt the others around you

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