[Richard Wray]

Hi all,

My ADACs are on their last legs (battery on its way out).

My question is in two parts

1) Has anyone heard of a successor (I've found nothing)
2) Or is the DAC in the new wireless X1000XM3 comparable to the ADACS?

Thanks

Richard

 

[MrBarbarroja]

Hi all,

My ADACs are on their last legs (battery on its way out).

My question is in two parts

1) Has anyone heard of a successor (I've found nothing)
2) Or is the DAC in the new wireless X1000XM3 comparable to the ADACS?

Thanks

Richard

Hi Richard!

So how long did the battery last? Since when do you own the headphones?
I got mine two weeks ago and started thinking about the battery life. As they are not telling in any way how much % is left, it is hard to manage the charging cycles in a healthy way.

Thanks!

 

[Richard Wray]

I bought my in 2014 when they first came out and have used them heavily.

They still work great, but the battery life just isn’t what it used to be. Not unusable though.

I tend to use them through an external DAC now so the battery is less of an issue.

Hope this helps.

 

[VDRIVN]

I've been driving mine externally almost exclusively (I find the internal DAC a bit narrow-sounding and quiet)
When I first got them the battery took about a couple of hours to actually start charging (the led was not lighting up) , you could tell that they've been siting for long years on the shelf. Also the outside portion of the ear pads, where they meet the plastic of the headphones themselves, cracked within the first few days of light use

I'm really curious in what state the battery is after this much neglect, I'll give it a go tonight and report back with the findings.

 

[Necron99]

These make a great pair! Digital sound!

 

[VDRIVN]

Nice setup @Necron99 !
How do you find the sound? And the loudness?

 

[mutnai]

These make a great pair! Digital sound!

I have them both! but I think MDR-1ADAC sounds better than ZX300 so it's a bit of money wasting combining this 2. NWZ-A15 would be enough
But, I'd moded 1ADAC input jack to get balance from ZX300. they do sounds better now, especially when having a good balanced cable.

Or is the DAC in the new wireless X1000XM3 comparable to the ADACS?

i think 1ADAC are better in sound quality, because data transfer is greater via cable rather than BT ..
since there are no other oportunity, 1000XM3 would be a great choise.

 

[Richard Wray]

I have them both! but I think MDR-1ADAC sounds better than ZX300 so it's a bit of money wasting combining this 2. NWZ-A15 would be enough
But, I'd moded 1ADAC input jack to get balance from ZX300. they do sounds better now, especially when having a good balanced cable.

i think 1ADAC are better in sound quality, because data transfer is greater via cable rather than BT ..
since there are no other oportunity, 1000XM3 would be a great choise.

I agree if the the 1000XM3 is going via BT but what about wired?

 

[mutnai]

I agree if the the 1000XM3 is going via BT but what about wired?

If wired, you need a good DAC , good cable and for balance connection - mod to the input jack of the 1000XM

 

[Richard Wray]

If wired, you need a good DAC , good cable and for balance connection - mod to the input jack of the 1000XM

The hardware in the 1000XM3 is pretty good.

not sure there is much need for a separate dac

 

[mutnai]

The hardware in the 1000XM3 is pretty good.

not sure there is much need for a separate dac

ohh I understand now , you are talking about active connection via cable
I thought about passive one . Yeah , S-Master HX from 1000XM3 is pretty good
But you must know , these aren’t the high end like cable ones )

 

[VDRIVN]

If wired, you need a good DAC , good cable and for balance connection - mod to the input jack of the 1000XM

Would you like to share the details on your balanced jack mod? I'd like to try driving them on the balanced output of my Q1MKII.
Thanks!

 

[mutnai]

3.5 mm female jack has balanced conection with 5 pole and this is good. we just need to separate second ground from the headphone's input jack , as it is used for automatic disconection of DAC circuitry . in case of pluging 3.5mm male standard audio jack, headphones are automaticaly turning off the DAC.
we need to take this second ground and connect directly to speaker's minus pole ( bypassing disconection sensor).
but at the same time, we are intending to maintain good functionality of the DAC, so i've mounted an external switch (with 2 positions and 3 pins-connectors) to bypass automatic disconection.
1 position puts back ground to his circuity and turns back DAC functionality with his sensor, but 2nd position disconects DAC and connects ground directly to one speaker (which hasnt directly connection to ground, i forgot which of them, left or right, i think right, the one with battery)
p.s. if you are hearing a noise when switching DSD songs on player, connection is wrong.

here are some photo .. , hope you'll understand

 

[VDRIVN]

@mutnai, thank you so much for your time, the pictures and the explanation.

I was under the impression that I needed to change the female jack, I didn't know it was balanced - so good news in this department!
The mod is simple enough and I might end up trying it.

 

[Necron99]

Nice setup @Necron99 !
How do you find the sound? And the loudness?

It sounds great, very clear and solid all around. I never received a reply from Sony about is the MDR's dac shut off when connected to a Sony Walkman or are you listening to the built in dac.