SONY NW-ZX2
Mar 7, 2015 at 11:24 PM Post #2,568 of 14,755
Yes but for different reasons. The caps and super caps need time for the electrical characteristics (I.e charge/discharge) to stabilise because of the chemical and material components within those devices. For wires there is another thing going on which is an interaction between the conductors and the dielectric/insulation material - that requires time to stabilise as well. We often forget that electrical energy has another component. Long story short the dielectric component itself has a polarisation caused by running electricity through the wires. That interaction between the two requires an "equilibrium".

Now my pet peeves

1) People should not expect answers as a right. It is a gift of time and effort from others

2) where the heck were people during high school physics? Come on maxwells equations were mentioned even though you typically don't dive into the differential equations until college.... At least the general principles should be there?


Thanks for taking the time to explain this a little better. I appreciate it.
 
Mar 8, 2015 at 5:35 AM Post #2,571 of 14,755
Sorry for being away, as our 28 hour travel/flight from Singapore to home turned into 48 hours of travelling h#ll. Newark stopover snowed in so Heather (wife) and I grabbed pretty much one of the last hotel rooms available at 9:30pm (ugh, no-tell motel h#ll.).
 
 
 
Quote:
  I am most certain that i will be moving to the zx2 and ditch my ak120, main reason is battery! I travel a lot in long haul flights and hate the consequences of running out of battery while listening to my favorite passage of Satyagraha.
 
Of course I also expect sound improvements vs ak120, I hope I am right.

 
IMHO the NW-ZX2 beats the AK120 and AK120II. Am home and literally dug out of the snow, massive paperwork, hundreds of e-mails, etc and now doing comparos with the AK240 (which was left at home by accident on the charger [AGAIN] needing a charge, as it was by accident hidden under my Red Bull magazine so didn't see it when last minute packing bits out to Singapore).
 
 
-- SNIP --


ZX2 plays very well on those subtles notes, timbres, and instruments tones, sometimes I can find the instruments resonances played through it.

Long version

Lows.....to say ZX2 play the music with the powerful lows, authority beats...I say authority because as you already know, different powers applied on a drum will have different sounds.....pardon my English....very natural in the lows spectrum.....it makes the job to pick out different beats, drums, and power of kicks or hand swings easily observable....it is that much of quality bass. In no ways it is bloated, artificial, cold, thin.....nothing of short......it will just jaw drops on the floor when you hear the kick drum and the hand drum distinctively differentiate each other
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.....and when you read this sentence, your imagination do it no justice ! Go kick a drum....listen to it, you will hear the house resonances from the drum....now imagine this realistic beats, filtered out the house resonances, with the power being enigeered and applied into the mix....that is it !

Mids.....spacious....airy...as you already knows, mids spectrum is where everything is being mashed together....so....why did I say spacious and airy ? because instruments layers and tones plays out too well....imagine a guitar vs electric guitar...vs violin....etc...if you can have those 3 in a song....you can totally tell which is which....all the extensions, decays, details are well layered, which contribute into a very spaciously soundstage.....it is as details as that you can pick out the figure of the notes from a guitar....like I said, when you hit it with weaker hit, it sounds weaker, and harder it will sound louder....despite being engineered, but the engineer will have to leave this part somewhat ....because it is the emotion, the souls, the feeling of each instruments, singer, song ? Correct ? I call it the "authority"........Gourd Lute, Flute, Violin...trumpets.....everything is distinctively differentiate from each other !!!

Gourd lute is a unique instrument with a Single string, but produce beautiful musics...well strings instruments are tricky in general to reproduce
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. It is totally unique in it own right, and easily be mistaken for a violin or Guzheng in some lower quality system, but ZX2 tell it differences from Violin and Guzheng , guitars....etc...
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...follow the link and check it out...
-- SNIP --

 
 
GREAT review and pretty much agree 100%. Are you looking for a job reviewing for EnjoyTheMusic.com(seriously)? If so, tag me via e-mail / PM.
 
 
 
Quote:
  Yes, but its not easy.  some soldiering skills are required.
 
A waste of NW-ZX2 if just mp3 in my opinion =(

 
 
Amazingly, have to disagree here (ducks for cover from Head-Fi'ers throwing TRRS cables at me). Wife uses MP3 for her dance/Zumba/pop music and on the way home from airport we compared the exact same MP3 file in her car stereo. Car is fed via thumbdrive, NW-ZX2 fed head unit via some cheapish 1/8" to 1/8" cable that came with my Audioengine speakers. No contest, the NW-ZX2 was jaw dropping better. Especially in the bass frequency depth and resolution (she wanted a subwoofer in her car and now, instead, the NW-ZX2 will do nicely). Car is a 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee with STOCK original speakers. So mid-field car, stock stereo speakers, basic $120 aftermarket radio i installed and tuned for her. With the Sony, stereo separation was MUCH better, mids and higher better, etc etc etc. So I save $ and the hassles of installing an amp and sub(s) and she gets an Sony PMP, which she can use while working out, dancing, in the car, home, etc.
 
 
 
Are you sure ? Google is spying on us in our sleep ? If so I am going to buy an iPhone to replace my android then....

 
Since Apple people never believe me, please e-mail Steve from Home of Gibson Research Corporation. Ask him about Apple and gov and others who have free reign accessing your data. Not saying Android is better, and if you're truly retentive you want a 'tweaked' Blackberry (mainstream products,... yet there are others depending on your retentiveness and security/encryption needs).
 
 
 
   
Steve from Enjoy The Music also stated that a lot was lost in translation, so most likely the Sony engineer misunderstood Steve's question. So I would say there is still no conclusive answer to that.

 
 
Verified, 15mW per channel via  other Sony websites. Sony will not tell me the output impedance so we'll never know. They want to keep it a secret it seems as did ask the designer (live) AND their head of Sony Singapore (via e-mail).
 
Am at 50% volume output with the Noble K-10 custom and that is good volume level. Sometime need more or less depending on song/track/mood. Of course the Audeze LCD-3 Steampunk edition need not apply without using an external amp. JH Audio 13's are almost the same volume as Noble and JH Audio Roxanne custom need a bit more volume level as did the Angie and Layla universals, yet still fine unless you want something insanely loud or the track was recorded on the quiet side of norms.
 
 
  I think it hits a "dumb phase" between 20-50 hours. Starts showing it's stuff around 100 and IMHO full break in @ 150-200 hours... then compare

 
 
Yup. Initially reviewed a store sample that had MANY hours. Was sooo bummed that I could not buy one on Feb 11th.  So, the moment it was possible bought a unit in Singapore. It was that great and could not live without it per se. Sounds good out of the box, if a bit lacking ultimate rez/smoothness (as compared to 200+ hours of use). Like you said, at 20 to around 50 hours I was bumming. It sounded a bit thickish and I was beginning to sh&t bricks cuz $1200 aint chump change as was worried I just bought a 'break in' wonder that sounds impressive out of the box and then goes South. As a reviewer, this is why guys who just 'churn and burn' gear every week worry me. Some gear can sound great new and then go South (of course the opposite happens more often then not). Still, at around 20 hours I began to worry.... a lot! After about 100 hours I was A BIT more relived. Now with hundreds of hours on the NW-ZX2 it is 5:33am and jamming out to Steely Dan Dirty Work within the office while the wife sleeps in the bedroom.
 
Am also bouncing back and forth between the AK240 and NW-ZX2 and taking listening notes. Sorry, no spoilers until my article goes live.. but it WILL be very interesting.
 
BTW, have also noticed DLNA lowers sound quality IMHO and microSD cards are... interesting... as compared to using internal storage with the Sony. The difference in SQ with microSD cards is moreso with the Sony than with the AK240 (read into that as you choose until the review). i shall say this, the Sony NW-ZX2 and Noble K-10 custom are a match made in heaven. I'd say it'd take at least $20k in highly synergistic home audio to come close, perhaps $40k depending on how much you listen to deep/fast bass music (dubstep, Tiesto, Prodigy, Skrillex, etc) as extremely high quality very deep bass can get very $$$$ and finding tweeters/amp combo that is this smooth, extended and clean.....
 
 
JMHO, your mileage may vary.
 
Mar 8, 2015 at 6:51 AM Post #2,572 of 14,755
I think a few would like to know if the ZX2 has an EU volume cap on it or not. What I have determined is that max on an EU ZX2 is slightly louder than the same on a EU ZX1, but it is not massively different. Technically a ZX1 or ZX2 should not be influenced by the cap as they do not include any headphones, therefore, as all headphones vary, there is no way to say how loud it will be at any given setting.
 
I have the AKG K3003 IEMs. They are regarded as mid sensitivity for IEMs. I noted that Steve above is using the Noble K-10. I have no idea if they are more sensitive or less than the AKG's. I have good hearing and like to listen to my music such that surroundings are drowned out (such that if someone came into the room and spoke I am unlikely to notice) but not so loud that it makes my ears bleed.
 
If I am listening to a well mastered hi-res track, such as something from Linn Audio, particularly jazz or easy listening, then I am listening about 2/3 of the way up. A good "measure" is to say where the "blue volume dot" lines up with the wording below it "Music, Video, Games & Other Media". Note I am using the top volume to adjust, just I am using the text below it as a measure. In this example I am typically line up around the "e" of "Other".  If I listen to the dreadfully compressed hi-res version of Michael Jackson's Xscape album, then it is just above the "&".
 
But in general only 50% of the way up on the volume would be too quiet for nearly any track I am playing.....
 
I realise this is not even close to answering whether there is a cap but I thought it could be an interesting point. At the very least, I can say I could not listen on max for anything so I have more "power" than I need for the AKGs. Sony have also in the past used different volume profiles. So the max level is the same for example, but the in-between points follow a different curve.
 
Mar 8, 2015 at 7:04 AM Post #2,573 of 14,755
  I think a few would like to know if the ZX2 has an EU volume cap on it or not. What I have determined is that max on an EU ZX2 is slightly louder than the same on a EU ZX1, but it is not massively different. Technically a ZX1 or ZX2 should not be influenced by the cap as they do not include any headphones, therefore, as all headphones vary, there is no way to say how loud it will be at any given setting.

 
Asked Sony and they said something along the lines of dictated by country.... but others have said that might not be true. Only way to verify is to have two units from a known non-capped country and EU version side-by-side. Another option if you can't get them side-by-side is to use the same test-tones on both units and measure the output.
 
Mar 8, 2015 at 7:39 AM Post #2,574 of 14,755
I think the volume caps is requested by the government for health and safety reasons.
 
Mar 8, 2015 at 7:43 AM Post #2,575 of 14,755
  I think the volume caps is requested by the government for health and safety reasons.

 
It is....but if the headphones are not included, there is no way to know what the actual volume to your ears will be, so it becomes a mute point.
 
For example the PHA-3 is sold in the EU and it is designed/aimed at full size cans. If they limited it to the same power as the ZX2 etc, then it would be utterly pointless. Headphone amplifiers like the Oppo HA-1 are sold in the EU without any difference to the US version. So I am not quite sure at what point the volume cap is relevant and enforced. For example a cellphone typically includes a bundled pair of earphones, so would have to comply. The lower end Sony's like the F886 include earphones so need to comply.
 
Although Steve is right, that the only way to be sure is to have two units side by side from JP/US and EU, if two people listen to the same track with the same IEMs and give their feedback of where they would listen to it, it is certainly far from precise (e.g. hearing difference, preference differences), but it would give a ballpark to confirm if it is wildly different.
 
Mar 8, 2015 at 7:59 AM Post #2,576 of 14,755
Information for anyone who needs it related to buying cables for the ZX2 as previously mention within this thread.
I visited the local Sony center yesterday and spoken to a the service center staff regarding purchasing these cable, and this are the following information.
 
Digital cable for PHA 3 to ZX2, stock number #184863311
 
HKD 249 approximate USD 32 and YEN 3878
 
 
USB to ZX2 (supplied charging cable) stock number #183832911
 
HKD 80 approximate USD 18.30 and YEN 1246
 
 
WMC-NWH10 Digital cable
 
HKD 280 approximate USD 36 and YEN 4361
 
Prices are listed in HKD, so the price may vary from different countries, and yes japan is cheaper, and can be purchase off the shelves.
 
 
 
Apart from the WMC-NWH10, the other two must be purchased a spare parts from the local service center, and the WMC-NWH10 can be purchased in most Sony shop or service center, you may have to ask for them, as they are not put out on the shelves.
This information is from the Hong Kong Sony service center, they say in other countries you should be able to purchase them the same way, if you have a online store you need to email them as these parts are not listed.
 
Hope this helps for those who are after these cables.
 
Mar 8, 2015 at 8:08 AM Post #2,577 of 14,755
 
  I think the volume caps is requested by the government for health and safety reasons.

 
It is....but if the headphones are not included, there is no way to know what the actual volume to your ears will be, so it becomes a mute point.
 
For example the PHA-3 is sold in the EU and it is designed/aimed at full size cans. If they limited it to the same power as the ZX2 etc, then it would be utterly pointless. Headphone amplifiers like the Oppo HA-1 are sold in the EU without any difference to the US version. So I am not quite sure at what point the volume cap is relevant and enforced. For example a cellphone typically includes a bundled pair of earphones, so would have to comply. The lower end Sony's like the F886 include earphones so need to comply.
 
Although Steve is right, that the only way to be sure is to have two units side by side from JP/US and EU, if two people listen to the same track with the same IEMs and give their feedback of where they would listen to it, it is certainly far from precise (e.g. hearing difference, preference differences), but it would give a ballpark to confirm if it is wildly different.


I agree on what you are saying, but if they put the caps on, what can you do.
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I'm still deciding if I'm getting the Hong Kong version (international Version) or the Japan version, but I'm lean toward the japan version as it will be cheaper, but has no warranty.
 
HK version is HKD 8880 approximate USD 1144.80 and YEN 138304.10
 
Japan Version YEN 110290 Without tax approximate HKD7081.32 and USD 912.91, but i'm sure I will be able to get it cheaper if I shop around Tax Free.
 
Mar 8, 2015 at 8:11 AM Post #2,578 of 14,755
Regarding volumes cap. From Steve interview with the engineer, I have learned that it will only happen in UK and US....and that The Japan version does not have it. I have a Japan version, and I can pump it up without that yellow warning :). Still, there is an option to turn on this cap.

So, if you have this popup warning from stock, then you are mostly being capped .
 
Mar 8, 2015 at 8:13 AM Post #2,579 of 14,755
Regarding volumes cap. From Steve interview with the engineer, I have learned that it will only happen in UK and US....and that The Japan version does not have it. I have a Japan version, and I can pump it up without that yellow warning
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. Still, there is an option to turn on this cap.

So, if you have this popup warning from stock, then you are mostly being capped .


How are you liking you jap version.
 
Mar 8, 2015 at 8:15 AM Post #2,580 of 14,755
My Jap version landed here. Cant wait to get my hands on it!
 

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