[OK-Guy]

Ooh man, the all black looks so beautiful. Will match my PHA2 when it's in my hands!
Glad. I didn't go ahead with Zx1,f887 and even A17. This looks like it's made for me!
My Z1070, A865 and X1060 are still serving me well.

 
Z1070 swoon/pine...

 
I'm in a conundrum whether to upgrade, I love the looks & sound of my ZX1, I use it a lot on its own but the temptation to upgrade is very tempting.... I might do a Mimo & look forward to the ZX3. 

 

[Mython]

http://uk.businessinsider.com/sony-zx2-walkman-2015-1?r=US
 

 The company's new ZX2 Walkman is said to cost about $1,100, according to reports from The Verge and CNBC, although a Sony representative told Business Insider it hasn't decided on a final price or release date just yet.

 
 
Trying to guage how much they can get away with gouging for it, perhaps?

 

[Neo Zuko]

I've read $1000-$1200 and everything inbetween. I'm hoping for Amazon sales of around $800. Sony products will go on sale online unlike A&K.

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

  http://uk.businessinsider.com/sony-zx2-walkman-2015-1?r=US
 
 
 
Trying to guage how much they can get away with gouging for it, perhaps?

 
My wife always lectures to me "If you plan on spending $1000 on another one of your crazy 'headphone purchases' you better talk to me first"....
 
So, I'm hoping for $999...

 

[Mmet]

My expectations for the zx-2's sound :  it will maintain the same clarity of the zx-1 or will be slightly better ... deeper and more powerful bass .. more power and control over the loud volumes ... slightly warmer sound with better extended & smoother treble .. wish that player don't disappoint  

 

[no14Zereul]

128G with microSD? and It's too expensive. just enjoy ZX1..

 

[xjaynine]

Quote:

 
...Anyway, getting back to Sony and the ZX2... I see no reason why the huge price-increase can be justified between the ZX1 and the ZX2. It's too big a difference for too small a change in production costs. It doesn't stack-up.

Yeah, count me in as one in the price-shell shock group as well. On the surface it doesn't appear that it is a significant upgrade from the ZX1, but I am warming up to the concept behind theproduct, the more I about the ZX2 (in no small part due to T.R.A.N.C.E.'s influence 

).
 
From what I gather about the presentation Sony did in China in co-operation with some of the ZX1/2 engineers (once again a big thanks to lomenhk for sharing the link). The ZX2 project started off as a simple product refresh to the ZX1 (better battery, expandable storage and which then evolved into a methodical exercise into completely re-engineering and re-envisioning the foundations of the ZX1 to a higher standard of implementation. 

The ZX2 build is full of engineering design cues that's reminiscent of the level of sophistication found in Sony's full-sized higher end ES and reference series audio components. Look inside any statement Sony audio transport and amplifier (the SCD-1, TA-N1, TA-R10, TA-DR1a off the top of my head) and you'll find similarities in the audio-specific features/ upgrades that the ZX2 engineers chose to use implement.

It's not often find that this level of attention lavished onto a high-end DAP let alone a Walkman.
 

ZX2 Prototype as a heavily modified ZX1. Gold-plated copper shielding plate on the left (this fully encases and isolates the Android-related components).
 

S-Master HX DAC and amplifier (note the size of the super capacitor) and battery "blocks" on the rear PCB.
 

The reverse side of the PCB (side facing in the same direction as the screen). This appears to be where all the Android-related and flash memory hardware is housed. The prominent gold-plated square encircling the central component cluster (presumably the Android SoC, RAM, and flash memory) directly connects to the larger gold-plated copper shield to further isolate this block from the audio components.
 
I do wish that Sony ran more specialised press events like the one in China in the west, instead of defaulting to the same tried and ineffective general interest launches for some of their esoteric products. The general tech media is having a field-day bashing a $1200 (speculative) Android 4.2 device, and sadly little to no discussion/ illumination about the audio credentials.
 
Can't blame the media though. Sony was inviting a What general reception.

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

With all the "Lollypop" hype, especially at CES, I am a bit surprised by the outdated OS.  But with that said, I'm only concerned about the user interface and a few streaming apps.  So, its far from necessary...

 

[Neo Zuko]

They think it's just an android mini tablet that plays songs.

 

[kms108]

  With all the "Lollypop" hype, especially at CES, I am a bit surprised by the outdated OS.  But with that said, I'm only concerned about the user interface and a few streaming apps.  So, its far from necessary...

I think they took in consideration as being a stable and almost bug free OS, whiles the latest OS are still being tested and updated.

 

[Neo Zuko]

I think they took in consideration as being a stable and almost bug free OS, whiles the latest OS are still being tested and updated.

They should just go all custom to where you don't see the Android layers. Then there isn't a comparison at all.

 

[xjaynine]

They think it's just an android mini tablet tgat plays songs.

  With all the "Lollypop" hype, especially at CES, I am a bit surprised by the outdated OS.  But with that said, I'm only concerned about the user interface and a few streaming apps.  So, its far from necessary...

Yeah pretty much, but I can't fault the general public—although misinformed—for having this type of response. Besides actually getting people to have some hands-on time it's tough to hype audio-related improvements from a marketing perspective.
 

They should just go all custom to where you don't see the Android layers. Then there isn't a comparison at all.

  I think they took in consideration as being a stable and almost bug free OS, whiles the latest OS are still being tested and updated.
 

 
That's my theory as well. If you follow the chatter on XDA-Developers.com there's a general understanding that up until Android 5.0 the audio processing chain that Google implemented in their older Android builds was messy at best. Getting Android to natively output bit-perfect USB audio was also a challenge. From memory Sony had to write some custom software that allowed for USB audio for the Xperia Z2 series, which was launched a good 3-4 months after the ZX1 and over half a year after the launch of the F880 Walkmans.
 
Anyway, what do people think of the ZX2 with the new audio-related 'improvements' in mind? For me the jury's still out until I've read Mimouille's or AnakChan's impressions (didn't they spear head the original ZX1 hype? lol)

 

[Mython]

 
The general tech media is having a field-day bashing a $1200 (speculative) Android 4.2 device, and sadly little to no discussion/ illumination about the audio credentials.
 
Can't blame the media though. Sony was inviting a What general reception.

 
Yep.
 
Sony only have themselves to blame.
 
If the ZX2 came out of the starting blocks at $800-$850, it'd be much better received by the press and by customers.
 
My objection to the projected $1200 price is not due to not understanding the differences between the ZX1 and the ZX2.   I get it, and I still say that if the projected $1200 turns out to be true, then they are price-gouging.
 
I appreciate that some ZX1 fans do not agree with me, and that's totally fine - I have no desire to offend them or to disregard their differing viewpoint - I respect them.
I can only speak of my own experience of the ZX1, and I do not feel it sounds as realistic as it should do - I was quite shocked, actually. So, for me at least, Sony have NOT yet proved themselves to be capable of producing a DAP with the high-end sound quality to justify a north-of-$1000 pricetag - heck, not even a north-of-$600 pricetag.
 
When I hear a ZX2, I may feel it is an improvement over the ZX1, but whether I feel the ZX2 actually sounds appropriately realistic is a different matter. So far, I'm expecting the ZX2 to sound a bit gutsier than the ZX1, but given that the majority of the silicon looks to be essentially the same (both DAC and amplification), I'm not optimistic as far as realism is concerned.
 
If the ZX2 does sound realistic, then I will not hesitate to honestly admit it, publicly.
 
But if I produced a device that did not perform to a high-end audiophile standard, then I certainly wouldn't have the cheek to expect customers to pay almost double the price for an improved device.
 
We're not talking about a copper and gold-plated paperweight here. The ZX DAPs are being marketed as uber-premium audiophile Hi-res music playback devices. That means they should rightly perform at the bleeding edge of musical realism, or they have no business being marketed as audiophile products.

 

[bmichels]

 Finally a ZX-1 with DSD and micro-SD support .... 

  

 

 

[xjaynine]

We're not talking about a copper and gold-plated paperweight here. The ZX DAPs are being marketed as uber-premium audiophile Hi-res music playback devices. That means they should rightly perform at the bleeding edge of musical realism, or they have no business being marketed as audiophile products.

Totally respect that. Being somewhat of a casual poster but heavy reader on head-fi, I've often found your that posts come from a well-informed position and do add value to the general discourse. Sometimes positive sentiment needs to tempered with some realism in order to achieve a richer understanding of the topic at hand.

As interesting as the enhanced gold-plated copper structure is to me. Its merit is somewhat unproven at least in the context of implementation in a DAP.