[echineko]

That's one way to look at it. Another way is that the ZX2 seems 'comparable' to the 380 Of course the 380 is the bestest of the best. But for the best bang for bucks the ZX2 is king of kings.

The only thing they're "best" at is aggressive price controls and effective marketing. Would never recommend their overpriced gear to anyone, personally. But as I said, better not bring it up.

 

[Daxterous]

  ZX2 with SE846+Trrs is heaven with stock player.Everything is perfection from treble,detail,separation,soundstage.This is how i wanted  the se846 to sound before buying them.The synergy is a dream.

Totally Agree

 

[proedros]

To stop the volume ramping up in Poweramp within a few clicks of half way on the volume scale, turn off DVC (direct volume control) in settings/Audio/advanced tweaks and deselect DVC.

Also turning the sampling rate up to huge, gives a little more resolution in the sound, also found in settings/ advanced tweaks/ audio buffer size.

 
nice findings , thanx for sharing 

 
TRRS + poweramp player = best ZX2 combo for me so far (and we wait until @Whitigir discovers some new magic stuff )

 

[audioxxx]

nice findings , thanx for sharing 

TRRS + poweramp player = best ZX2 combo for me so far (and we wait until @Whitigir
 discovers some new magic stuff )

Very happy to put some input into the ZX2 cause.

Yes, the ZX2 keeps on surprising us, as time goes by. I am looking forward to what other software packages could possibly do, for this beast of a DAP.

 

[proedros]

as far as DVC goes , i think it improves the sound , i hear this and they say it does so i left it on
 
poweramp makes my ZX2 sing, really great player  very eager to getting the full version

 

[Whitigir]

Yeah, I have been always using slow resampling for highest quality and cutoff frequency at 99%...DSEE HX ....but it drains battery lol, however, it sounds so so so good

Man. If it wasn't for Poweramp alpha...I think. I would have sold it due to DP-X1 already. Out of the box, Dp-x1 had the greatest resolutions and details to this lower-trebles spectrum, and it sweet and addictive trebles.

The biggest different here was Poweramp Alpha = able to bring about the resolutions and energies into the lower-trebles spectrum, every other apps made it into "noises" that I heard in the background which I thought was Zx2 "hardware" and flaws....but it wasn't lol....

 

[proedros]

Quote:

Yeah, I have been always using slow resampling for highest quality and cutoff frequency at 99%...DSEE HX ....but it drains battery lol, however, it sounds so so so good

Man. If it wasn't for Poweramp alpha...I think. I would have sold it due to DP-X1 already. Out of the box, Dp-x1 had the greatest resolutions and details to this lower-trebles spectrum, and it sweet and addictive trebles.

The biggest different here was Poweramp Alpha = able to bring about the resolutions and energies into the lower-trebles spectrum, every other apps made it into "noises" that I heard in the background which I thought was Zx2 "hardware" and flaws....but it wasn't lol....

 
what dither option did you choose ?
 
i decided to play with them and chose ''shibata noise shaping(slow)'' 
 
to be honest though , i don't know what these dither options mean or do 

 

[Whitigir]

The only thing they're "best" at is aggressive price controls and effective marketing. Would never recommend their overpriced gear to anyone, personally. But as I said, better not bring it up.

Many people buy AK380 just for status, and self ego/feeling stuff. The only thing that interested me was the "copper design" and it "characteristic"

Remember ? Sony said that, and people thought Sony was crazy, and all Bs ? The thing was because Sony is class D amping circuitry, and ofcourse the conductivity for class-D circuitry really does matter....by native and designs, nothing effect sounds the way that class D does. In reality, it is almost impossible to make what Sony did with Zx2.

Why ? Because class D by design, everything affect it...but I guess because Sony with S-master and their experiences was able to pull it out.

I was surprised to see AK380 announced it, but they were very "careful" though, they stated that Copper affected the "instrument" characteristic...ofcourse, every housing materials sound different....because of housing resonances....but in no way did A&K stated "copper characteristic" improves AK380 sound quality in a "direct" way. It was more of an "implications", the decision is up to the buyer.

You know what I want ? What I really want ? God...if Sony read this. I pray for it. I want Sony to make Zx3 on the basic principles of Zx2, but using Solid Silver as the chassis, the wires conductor to the sockets, better super-capacitor, and Capacitors

 

[Whitigir]

what dither option did you choose ?

i decided to play with them and chose ''shibata noise shaping(slow)'' 

to be honest though , i don't know what these dither options mean or do 

Dither is "noises", in some way it helps shaping up the sounds better, it could be audible or inaudible to you, and up to preferences

http://www.darkroommastering.com/blog/dithering-explained

I tried triangular, but meh...I prefer "none" don't want my music colored, masked artificially . It is fun to play around, but I prefer things normal

 

[Caruryn]

It depends on the combination apparently.I don't find the trebles lacking in the slightest bit with silver cable Trrs and stock player.I should know,i'm the longer one in here who hadn't used trrs until recently and remember perfectly how lacking the dynamics and treble were with trs and why disabling sound adjustment was so important before.Actually it confirms what i was always suspecting that Sony the most popular dap manufacturer had mainly tuned the ZX2 to sound best with the most popular universal high end iem the se846 and for good reason looking at se846 sales.Every sony dap sounded best with se846 whether f800,ZX1,A10 not ibasso nor Cayin from my personal experience.The sound here is just perfect,doesn't need the slightest tampering.

 

[proedros]

  It depends on the combination apparently.I don't find the trebles lacking in the slightest bit with silver cable Trrs and stock player.I should know,i'm the longer one in here who hadn't used trrs until recently and remember perfectly how lacking the dynamics and treble were with trs and why disabling sound adjustment was so important before.Actually it confirms what i was always suspecting that Sony the most popular dap manufacturer had mainly tuned the ZX2 to sound best with the most popular universal high end iem the se846 and for good reason looking at se846 sales.Every sony dap sounded best with se846 whether f800,ZX1,A10 not ibasso nor Cayin from my personal experience.The sound here is just perfect,doesn't need the slightest tampering.

 
i will be waiting for some ZX2 user who owned 846 and moved on up to better iem to destroy your train of thought 

 

 
(i am glad that finally you LIKE the zx2 

 and kinda envious that you don't feel like upgrading to other iems )

 

[Caruryn]

   
i will be waiting for some ZX2 user who owned 846 and moved on up to better iem to destroy your train of thought 

 

 
(i am glad that finally you LIKE the zx2 

 and kinda envious that you don't feel like upgrading to other iems )

There is not going to be any destroying at this level,different preferences maybe.Everything is subjective but the synergy is important.There is a reason why i still hold on to Cayin N6 and haven't sold it yet.It is because it sounds better with ie800 and plays to its strengths.The same with se846 and ZX2 with trrs.Without it i can see people selling the ZX2 easily.

 

[Whitigir]

It depends on the combination apparently.I don't find the trebles lacking in the slightest bit with silver cable Trrs and stock player.I should know,i'm the longer one in here who hadn't used trrs until recently and remember perfectly how lacking the dynamics and treble were with trs and why disabling sound adjustment was so important before.Actually it confirms what i was always suspecting that Sony the most popular dap manufacturer had mainly tuned the ZX2 to sound best with the most popular universal high end iem the se846 and for good reason looking at se846 sales.Every sony dap sounded best with se846 whether f800,ZX1,A10 not ibasso nor Cayin from my personal experience.The sound here is just perfect,doesn't need the slightest tampering.

Another magical things about Zx2 is the amping section of the design circuitry. Keep in mind, ZX2 is the first DAP ever on the market to have

SuperCapacitor


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercapacitor

No other DAP on the market have this. Or know how to implement such


Capacitors can varies in power under the form of either voltage or current

A super-capacitor is able to super-charge and release it power almost instantly to supply either the current hungry headphones, or voltage addicting headphones on your gear. Put it simply, zx2 can pair well (great synergy) with every thing within it handling power. In some ways, don't know what, but DP-X1 did not make my Th-900 sing the way that it should, not like Zx2, and I suspect many people said that 900 is a headphones that is current addict.

Another thing is that the super-capacitor in Zx2 was confirmed by Sony to be able to steadily supply 3x the max power rated by Zx2, and it is 15mw. Now, many people say quest-style qp1r has the power to drive some full size headphones....however it max power is only 40mw....now take Zx2 15*3=45mw....

Hey, whatever....I love my Zx2 and my full size headphones.

End of rants, but yeah, Zx2 is the only Dap to have "SuperCapacitor" and that is a fact

 

[Whitigir]

This is the super-capacitor we are looking at


Quoted:
Sony has incorporated a number of new technologies into the NW-XZ2. First and foremost is its use of supercapacitors to enhance power output capabilities .... a supercapacitor can augment a Class D power amplifier’s peak power output by over three times (300% better)! This makes it possible for the NW-ZX2’s headphone amplifier to produce quite a bit more power during dynamic peaks

Link:
http://www.shopbrantford.com/brantstereo/?listing.action=products&productid=10295064&view=details

 

[Kerouac]

Hahaha, you guys should really stop now. I'm almost regretting I bought the P1 instead of the ZX2 (I was really torn up between these 2 daps) some months ago

 
As for the SE846, I've heard it sometimes (with blue filters only) and from memory I thought it sounded very good. But I don't remember that it sounded as freaking good (looking at you also, audioxxx & rookie2009

) as the one that I have in my ears while typing this. BUT! I heard it from another source (I think it was DX90 at that time, without trrs connection) and as Caruryn mentioned, synergy plays a major part in the whole listening experience. So, if I ever get the chance I would love to audition the SE846 some time again and of course same goes for the ZX2 (which I unfortunatelly never have auditioned)

 
Cheers to ya all and I (still) like lurking this thread