[proedros]

I thought you were torn between the Angie, Solar and Savant.

savant is out , angie/solar are in , but let the boy dream of even  more TOTL iems 

 
 
looking at these neutral/transparent iems as i think this kind of iems should pair best with my zx2

 

[rookie2009]

savant is out , angie/solar are in , but let the boy dream of even  more TOTL iems   

looking at these neutral/transparent iems as i think this kind of iems should pair best with my zx2

The Angie or Solar would probably be much better value too considering savant boasts a mighty 2 drivers

disclaimer:driver count in an iem may/may not ensure superior sound quality.

 

[Tony1110]

savant is out , angie/solar are in , but let the boy dream of even  more TOTL iems   

looking at these neutral/transparent iems as i think this kind of iems should pair best with my zx2

Savant will probably be similar to what you already have. I've tried warm IEMs and neutral IEMs and the ZX2 paired well with all of them. Even though it has its own sound, I'm not convinced there is such a thing as 'synergy' with portable stuff - not in the same way there is with desktop gear, anyway.

 

[Cagin]

  savant is out , angie/solar are in , but let the boy dream of even  more TOTL iems 

 
 
looking at these neutral/transparent iems as i think this kind of iems should pair best with my zx2

dreams of an empire? 

 

[nc8000]

thinking to get one of these 3 iems , can nayone say which one sounds better (synergy-wise) with his ZX2 ?

UM Miracle / JH13 / UERM


also 2 questions - are these hard to drive (i have a EU ZX2) ? and can i do the TRRS thing on them ?

JH13 (the original version) works great with EU ZX2 at volume between 1/3 and 1/2. Have never heard the other 2

 

[mollusk]

thinking to get one of these 3 iems , can nayone say which one sounds better (synergy-wise) with his ZX2 ?

UM Miracle / JH13 / UERM


also 2 questions - are these hard to drive (i have a EU ZX2) ? and can i do the TRRS thing on them ?

The UERM sounds great with the ZX2, but if you are looking for low frequency impact look elsewhere.

 

[Whitigir]

ATH-IM04 should have plenty of lows frequency impacts, and you can also do TRRS on IM04

 

[animalsrush]

savant is out , angie/solar are in , but let the boy dream of even  more TOTL iems   

looking at these neutral/transparent iems as i think this kind of iems should pair best with my zx2

Try Westone ES50 as they are called now. I have Westone ES5 and It is pretty much near neutral ciem and has amazing synergy with zx2

 

[krayzie]

Just bite the bullet and got a NW-ZX2 over the weekend after trying it out at Bay Bloor Radio paired with their demo Sennheiser IE800 set (I didn't even know these IEMs go for $1000CAD until I googled lol). During the demo I thought it was nothing spectacular but good enough to replace my D-555 Discman for night time home listening (I wanted convenience with my lossless library I built up over the years for my iPod Classic that I use in the car).
 
Got home and paired it with my trusty MDR-E484 (had to bring it out of retirement as I just don't own any other IEMs at the moment, haven't used a portable for almost 8 years) and I don't think I've ever heard dynamic range and stereo separation this amazing ever (only Dynamic Normalizer and DSEE HX on, everything else off). The burn-in is indeed real as the high end is already much more tamed with less than a dozen hours of listening thus far.
 
I honestly don't think Sony will make another Walkman this good as absolute high-end Sony models only come once in a long while.  It seems they engineered the ZX2 like how they did ES and R line audio components of past glory days.
 
Got to go back and demo that PHA-3 some day. Is a PHA-3 overkill to use with a pair of MDR-CD900ST or a PHA-2 is more than sufficient (what about sound quality difference)?  I tried it straight out of the ZX2 headphone out and it doesn't seem to have enough juice to drive the CD900ST properly.

 

[purk]

Just bite the bullet and got a NW-ZX2 over the weekend after trying it out at Bay Bloor Radio paired with their demo Sennheiser IE800 set (I didn't even know these IEMs go for $1000CAD until I googled lol). During the demo I thought it was nothing spectacular but good enough to replace my D-555 Discman for night time home listening (I wanted convenience with my lossless library I built up over the years for my iPod Classic that I use in the car).

Got home and paired it with my trusty MDR-E484 (had to bring it out of retirement as I just don't own any other IEMs at the moment, haven't used a portable for almost 8 years) and I don't think I've ever heard dynamic range and stereo separation this amazing ever (only Dynamic Normalizer and DSEE HX on, everything else off). The burn-in is indeed real as the high end is already much more tamed with less than a dozen hours of listening thus far.

I honestly don't think Sony will make another Walkman this good as absolute high-end Sony models only come once in a long while.  It seems they engineered the ZX2 like how they did ES and R line audio components of past glory days.

Got to go back and demo that PHA-3 some day. Is a PHA-3 overkill to use with a pair of MDR-CD900ST or a PHA-2 is more than sufficient (what about sound quality difference)?  I tried it straight out of the ZX2 headphone out and it doesn't seem to have enough juice to drive the CD900ST properly.

Man I m glad u are back here again. It has been a long while my old friend. I personally think that their next top of the line will even be more expensive. Why not cash in while they can? As tell and Kern was able to sell their 2400 dap quite well, so they should be able to do the same.

 

[krayzie]

Man I m glad u are back here again. It has been a long while my old friend. I personally think that their next top of the line will even be more expensive. Why not cash in while they can? As tell and Kern was able to sell their 2400 dap quite well, so they should be able to do the same.

Yea I still lurk around here once a while but generally been out of touch for such a long time. Glad you are still here. I was so surprised when I found out A&K is actually iRiver like holy smokes $3500 bucks really?!? I would love to see a teardown of that.
 
To be honest I always have an odd feeling that Sony will soon sell off their spun-off units one by one just like what they did with VAIO.
 
Once I realized Sony is using copper again on the chassis with OS-CON caps and probably mil-grade PCB I knew I got to pull the trigger, very nostalgic.

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

^ AK/iriver make good dap's but there is nothing special inside them to warrant their massive price tags, they simply have HUGE price markups to try make people think they are more premium than other daps, which seems to work on some people lol. AK240 teardown: http://www.head-fi.org/t/697166/the-astell-kern-ak240/5655#post_10984706

 

[audioxxx]

Maybe if Sony would be so kind to incorporate one of there top of the range phones (xperia) and used the same or better audio curcuits and boards, as well as layered external case design. With true balanced output's.
And I think they will have another hit if they do this.
But in any case I always look forward to audio time with my zx2, a classic rig for sure.

 

[Tony1110]

^ AK/iriver make good dap's but there is nothing special inside them to warrant their massive price tags, they simply have HUGE price markups to try make people think they are more premium than other daps, which seems to work on some people lol. AK240 teardown: http://www.head-fi.org/t/697166/the-astell-kern-ak240/5655#post_10984706

Spot on. The AK120 MKII costs £600 more than the ZX2 in my country and doesn't sound as good. I think they're probably the most commonly seen DAPs in the classified section.

 

[nc8000]

I sure am happy with my decission to buy a ZX2. I expect this to last me many years just as the top of the line Discman did years ago