[NLNH]

I believe I hear hiss, simple as that, little snakes in the background with Ref.1.

Fidue A83 acceptable hiss.

If I'm spending $1600 USD on an earphone I don't want any noise.

 
power vs hiss 

 

[BruceBanner]

  I just contacted with CS of Shozy and it seems there'll be no more Alien after Gold Edition. They're working on new player and I bet it'll be screenless too..

 
Good. lol

 

[BruceBanner]

   
Update: It seems they're thinking/working on player that having a screen..
 
Also, they think they priced Alien too cheap, so next one can be little bit pricy..

 
Drat.
 

Great, nothing like a good price increase..

 
^
 

 
I am curious to see what's their take on a flagship quality player with a screen. With a larger budget they might be able to work around the technical downsides of including a screen.

 
Well... if u believe a screen is responsible for hiss I would personally say that's a bit bs. Since owning the Alien I have tried other DAPs (with screens) and have heard no hiss with the same IEMs, and other threads I follow with other DAPs users report similarly.
I think it just depends how the screen is implemented.

If the screen takes away from the Alien sound signature then that would be a shame, what really makes Alien unique is the fact it is screenless and sounds the way it does, with that (screenless) comes certain advantages also. I for one would hate to seem them abandon that format and join the rest of the screened club. I think they just needed to improve more on what they had stumbled onto begin with, with a little more thought and more buttons they could actually really open up the functionality of the DAP without the hassle that a screen DAP brings (tech cost, UI cost etc, all of which is something the customer ends up paying for). Hands up who already owns a screened DAP? lol
 
Instead of a screen and a EQ, what about keeping it screenless and giving us tone control? A dedicated Shuffle button, better button placement, rectangular shaped for a easy case design, or keep the weird Alien design shape but go to the effort to provide some kind of protection purchase.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

 http://headpie.blogspot.jp/2016/04/shozy-zero-iems-review-expatinjapan.html
 

 
Great Review. Thank you so much for sharing.  
Can I double check if it is made of Mahogany or Red Sandalwood? Penon Audio website says that it is made of Red Sandalwood. Those two wood has very different characteristics.
It sounds like it is good all-arounder without particular emphasis.

I will check for you.

 

[RedJohn456]

   
Drat.
 
 
^
 
 
Well... if u believe a screen is responsible for hiss I would personally say that's a bit bs. Since owning the Alien I have tried other DAPs (with screens) and have heard no hiss with the same IEMs, and other threads I follow with other DAPs users report similarly.
I think it just depends how the screen is implemented.

If the screen takes away from the Alien sound signature then that would be a shame, what really makes Alien unique is the fact it is screenless and sounds the way it does, with that (screenless) comes certain advantages also. I for one would hate to seem them abandon that format and join the rest of the screened club. I think they just needed to improve more on what they had stumbled onto begin with, with a little more thought and more buttons they could actually really open up the functionality of the DAP without the hassle that a screen DAP brings (tech cost, UI cost etc, all of which is something the customer ends up paying for). Hands up who already owns a screened DAP? lol
 
Instead of a screen and a EQ, what about keeping it screenless and giving us tone control? A dedicated Shuffle button, better button placement, rectangular shaped for a easy case design, or keep the weird Alien design shape but go to the effort to provide some kind of protection purchase.

 
uhhh not sure where you got the bolded that part from? :/  

 

[Onix]

Instead of a screen and a EQ, what about keeping it screenless and giving us tone control? A dedicated Shuffle button, better button placement, rectangular shaped for a easy case design, or keep the weird Alien design shape but go to the effort to provide some kind of protection purchase.

 
 
I would go for a physical equalizer, like those from old Walkman type cassette players.

 

[Wyd4]

I would go for a physical equalizer, like those from old Walkman type cassette players.

Haha that brings back some memories

 

[H20Fidelity]

What Alien needed was:
 

1. Ability to resume (not start at folder 'A' every single boot)
2. Faster selection of folder/track with continuous clicks (waiting for each album/track to be recognized ate up time)

 
I posted here somewhere in the end after long-term ownership these key points made me move back to screen players. I listen to a lot of single tracks, some might be in the middle of the card, getting there without Alien without rearranging folder names was the downside.
 
Its all fun at the start, you have this awesome form factor player, looks amazing, a real conversation piece and it sounds excellent, just like meeting a new girlfriend. After while when the bedroom activity dies down she starts to piss you off a little. 

 

[ExpatinJapan]

I just have one folder filled with my favorite single tracks- easy but not ideal perhaps.

Starting off at the last song and an easier shuffle mode would be good.

For full albums i use my Centrance hifi-skyn with ipod touch 6G 128GB and Flacplayer app by Dan Leehr.

 

[BruceBanner]

  What Alien needed was:
 

1. Ability to resume (not start at folder 'A' every single boot)
2. Faster selection of folder/track with continuous clicks (waiting for each album/track to be recognized ate up time)

 
I posted here somewhere in the end after long-term ownership these key points made me move back to screen players. I listen to a lot of single tracks, some might be in the middle of the card, getting there without Alien without rearranging folder names was the downside.
 
Its all fun at the start, you have this awesome form factor player, looks amazing, a real conversation piece and it sounds excellent, just like meeting a new girlfriend. After while when the bedroom activity dies down she starts to piss you off a little. 

 
ahahahah, perfect! tbh I would still use mine prolly if it had MP3 support, I can actually put up with a lot of **** when seeking what I want, but eventually converting every new MP3 album I came across was a PIA. Converting my older stuff was easy, one bulk task etc, it's the fact that many new stuff I come across is not easy to obtain FLAC or WAV. I keep it now as a reference device.
 

   
 
I would go for a physical equalizer, like those from old Walkman type cassette players.

 
Ha! That would be very cool. As long as they were quite stiff and not easily knocked about

 

[RedJohn456]

Guys a a shozy dap with a screen isn't going to come anytime soon.... trust me

 

[Onix]

   
ahahahah, perfect! tbh I would still use mine prolly if it had MP3 support, I can actually put up with a lot of **** when seeking what I want, but eventually converting every new MP3 album I came across was a PIA. Converting my older stuff was easy, one bulk task etc, it's the fact that many new stuff I come across is not easy to obtain FLAC or WAV. I keep it now as a reference device.

 
 
@BruceBanner, did you try to use Foobar to convert and load the converted files directly into the SD card? Works wonders for me the other way around, FLAC/APE to mp3. Converting mp3 to WAV should actually be faster.

 

[BruceBanner]

   
 
@BruceBanner, did you try to use Foobar to convert and load the converted files directly into the SD card? Works wonders for me the other way around, FLAC/APE to mp3. Converting mp3 to WAV should actually be faster.

 
I did yeh, in the end I started to do on the fly conversions, but still it was tedious. But thanks for the thought <3

 

[ER4S]

  Guys a a shozy dap with a screen isn't going to come anytime soon.... trust me

 
Right, it'll not come soon

 

[musicday]

Guys, don't judge a book by its covers, just get to listen to this player especially with the Shozy Zero IEMs after they both fully burn in 150-200 hours, and hear how music is reproduced  the great details. And did I mention that this play cost only £140?

 Fully recommended to anyone who is serious/passionate about the music.
My review is up: http://www.head-fi.org/products/shozy-alien-dap/reviews/15793