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

oh then maybr i wasnt imagining things....when i used different.cards on my smartphones in the past of the same file...i though they sounded different on movies...just couldnt exactly pinpoint why

 

^ Yep you weren't imagining things. I can hear the same differences between micro SD cards on both DX90 and my phone, LG G3.

 

[qsk78]

Can anybody tell about the ZX2 + XBA-Z5?
Will it significantly lose to the A15 + PHA-3 + XBA-Z5 balanced?
Thanks in advance!

 

[mr-duke]

   
 
Excuse me, but most of what I said in what you quoted was about ZX2 price in relation to Sony's own ZX1 product, and in comparison to Apple. Sure, I may have mentioned Fiio, very briefly, in an earlier post, but very little of my discussion has focused particularly on Chinese products.

 
 
LOL, it wasn't meant  to only quoted you - my message is to everybody that complain about the price! Not only you, and it is not because you compare to a specific brands.
 
I want you guys to know that SONY is a big company with thousands of employers! If they don't make god profit, how the hell can they pay the salary to the staff?? And remember all the development is in Japan and EU/US and thier engineers is is not cheap!!!! Compare to these Fiio, Ibasso Hifiman whatever, they are making big profit because it cant cost them much to develope thier products.
 
When sony bough Ericsson mobile division (Sony Ericsson) they have thier phones developed in Sweden, and can you imagine what a normal salary for a Swedish engineers? I know what they paid so i don't think Sony product is overpriced !! Sames goes for mobilephones that people complain about high priced.

 

[Mython]

Heheh! Actually, I know Sorensiim has told me many times how painfully expensive products and taxes are in Denmark, and I know stuff like alcohol is painfully expensive in Sweden. Then again, there are some of the best social support schemes in Scandinavian countries, so it's not all bad.
 
FWIW, the various Swedish people I've met, during the various activities and travels in my life, have been very likeable, down-to-earth people, so I'm happy they get paid properly!
 
 
I'll drop the ZX2 pricing discussion, now, as I've said my piece, but I'm still shaking my head in wonderment that more people aren't calling Sony out about the price-hike.
 
Oh well.
 
 
At least there's always something cheaper available, and with some careful, rational critique (

 

 

)
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/755054/ak-240-stainless-steel-edition-is-the-best-ak-240-ever-made-like-swiss-fine-watch-impression-and-appreciation-thread
 
 
 
...and, sincerely, I wish all of you who purchase the ZX2 a good experience with it, and I hope it turns out to be everything you hoped it would be. You deserve to get the flagship performance you paid for.

 

[radabz]

  Heheh! Actually, I know Sorensiim has told me many times how painfully expensive products and taxes are in Denmark, and I know stuff like alcohol is painfully expensive in Sweden. Then again, there are some of the best social support schemes in Scandinavian countries, so it's not all bad.
 
FWIW, the various Swedish people I've met, during the various activities and travels in my life, have been very likeable, down-to-earth people, so I'm happy they get paid properly!
 
 
I'll drop the ZX2 pricing discussion, now, as I've said my piece, but I'm still shaking my head in wonderment that more people aren't calling Sony out about the price-hike.
 
Oh well.
 
 
At least there's always something cheaper available, and with some careful, rational critique (

 

 

)
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/755054/ak-240-stainless-steel-edition-is-the-best-ak-240-ever-made-like-swiss-fine-watch-impression-and-appreciation-thread
 
 
 
...and, sincerely, I wish all of you who purchase the ZX2 a good experience with it, and I hope it turns out to be everything you hoped it would be. You deserve to get the flagship performance you paid for.

Funnily enough I was just reading that.
 
Now that's where I draw the line....
 
What next.
 
AK240MR (Moon Rock) 

 

[Cecala]

  Heheh! Actually, I know Sorensiim has told me many times how painfully expensive products and taxes are in Denmark, and I know stuff like alcohol is painfully expensive in Sweden. Then again, there are some of the best social support schemes in Scandinavian countries, so it's not all bad.
 
FWIW, the various Swedish people I've met, during the various activities and travels in my life, have been very likeable, down-to-earth people, so I'm happy they get paid properly!
 
 
I'll drop the ZX2 pricing discussion, now, as I've said my piece, but I'm still shaking my head in wonderment that more people aren't calling Sony out about the price-hike.
 
Oh well.
 
 
At least there's always something cheaper available, and with some careful, rational critique (

 

 

)
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/755054/ak-240-stainless-steel-edition-is-the-best-ak-240-ever-made-like-swiss-fine-watch-impression-and-appreciation-thread
 
 
 
...and, sincerely, I wish all of you who purchase the ZX2 a good experience with it, and I hope it turns out to be everything you hoped it would be. You deserve to get the flagship performance you paid for.

Not true, I have also brought up this excess on Sony in the past. The Sony ZX1/2 are not worth what they are charging period (please no hate mail). If people only knew the markup on these things they wouldn't believe it. At work we have this large Epson Pro 24inch photographic printer which was purchased 4 years ago for $5.5K new. To refill all the inks in one go costs 3.5K. This thing is very heavy, needs two people to lift it, is quite large in size, is filled with electronics and has a mechanical component to it as well. Finally it is made in Japan. How is this large, heavy, semi mechanical plus laden with electronics, made in Japan then transported and sold with a nice profit in Australia and around the world for 5.5K? Now consider the tiny size of the ZX2 ($1200US) and it does not make sense. Now some people will argue what about numbers, they sell more of these printers then ZX1/2's so they save costs in quantity. Maybe, maybe not. The factory to make these printers is also larger and more expensive to run than the relatively simple audio player. In the end it comes to the demographics friends, the audiophile will spend far more in chasing that perhaps  5% improvement and its this that Sony feeds on. I'm not blaming Sony alone here although Sony and Apple are perhaps the two worst corporations when greed is involved.

 

[Replicant187]

ZX2 sure is expensive but so is other flagships from Hifiman or AR or Lotoo whatever.
videogame consoles like PS4 can make profits from software sales (Sony gets a cut from every single CoD copy sold) but with DAPs you have to make profits from the DAP itself.

 

[Wnuwk Siphon]

Not true, I have also brought up this excess on Sony in the past. The Sony ZX1/2 are not worth what they are charging period (please no hate mail). If people only knew the markup on these things they wouldn't believe it. At work we have this large Epson Pro 24inch photographic printer which was purchased 4 years ago for $5.5K new. To refill all the inks in one go costs 3.5K. This thing is very heavy, needs two people to lift it, is quite large in size, is filled with electronics and has a mechanical component to it as well. Finally it is made in Japan. How is this large, heavy, semi mechanical plus laden with electronics, made in Japan then transported and sold with a nice profit in Australia and around the world for 5.5K? Now consider the tiny size of the ZX2 ($1200US) and it does not make sense. Now some people will argue what about numbers, they sell more of these printers then ZX1/2's so they save costs in quantity. Maybe, maybe not. The factory to make these printers is also larger and more expensive to run than the relatively simple audio player. In the end it comes to the demographics friends, the audiophile will spend far more in chasing that perhaps  5% improvement and its this that Sony feeds on. I'm not blaming Sony alone here although Sony and Apple are perhaps the two worst corporations when greed is involved.

Whether or not ZX1/2 are worth their money depends entirely on the person who paid for it. And like said above, Sony gets paid only once for their product (and the development, service etc.), while Epson seems to have created quite a nice steady income for themselves with their expensive ink. No wonder the machine itself is so 'cheap'...

 

[listenhear]

   
iRiver (A&K) has undoubtedly done more damage to the DAP industry, from a consumer-pricing standpoint, than any other DAP manufacturer I can think of.
 
Do we largely have them to blame for the unnecessary price increase of the already-fat-margin ZX1 to the ZX2?
 
I'm sure each of us will draw our own conclusions about that.

 
actually, the cost of ZX1 is around CAN$530 while it retails for $749. however Sony has a huge margin on Z7, Z5, especially PHA 3 and their Xperia phones. I can give you the actual cost if someone is interested.

 

[Mython]

   
.... Sony has a huge margin on Z7, Z5, especially PHA 3 and their Xperia phones. I can give you the actual cost if someone is interested.

 
 
By all means - please do 

 

 

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

Interesting fact, Sony Playstation 3, released at $1K price (the most expensive gaming console in history) actually cost Sony $800 to make each console, and Sony dropped the selling price down to $500 not long later due to low sales, and actually sold the Playstations at a huge loss below cost price, hoping to make the money back through game sales, which they did, but only after a couple years of selling at a loss did they start making profit. Sony are not evil, they are a business. They do what needs to be done to make a profit, that could mean selling below cost price, or selling at bigger markups for niche audiophile markets. Bottom line is I wouldn't call them greedy, their just doing business. As Listenhear says, different products have different markups, but its usually nothing outrageous, seems to me its always in line with the rest of the industry and their competitors. Sure Z5 is expensive, but K3003 and IE800 are even more expensive, so really, Sony is doing nothing wrong there, just simply trying to compete in that particular price segment, and they always have a range of products at every price point if you want something cheaper, so there is nothing to complain about really.

 

[mack303]

actually, the cost of ZX1 is around CAN$530 while it retails for $749. however Sony has a huge margin on Z7, Z5, especially PHA 3 and their Xperia phones. I can give you the actual cost if someone is interested.

It would be appreciated to know.Thanks

 

[listenhear]

   
 
By all means - please do 

 

 
ok, but only hope to shed some light, so you don't think Sony is gouging the customers at least not with their mp3 player, TV, and the late Vaio, they carry good to very small margin.
 
A17 retail: $299.99 cost: just over $200
 
Z7 retail: $699.99, cost: $378.88
 
Z5 retail: $699.99, cost: $347.31
 
Z7 balnaced Kimber Kable retail: $249.99, cost: $135.31
 
Z7 portable Kimber Kable retail: $229.99, cost: $124.49
 
Z5 upgrade balanced cable retail: $119.99, cost: $64.95
 
Z5 upgraded portable cable retail: $109.99, cost: $59.54
 
PHA 3 retail: $999.99, cost: $541.26

 

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

^ These kind of markups are pretty standard in the AV and audio industries, if you think thats bad, take a look at some speaker markups, its usually over 5x and up to 10x for the higher end stuff.

 

[listenhear]

and based on ZX1 and A17, I can say ZX2 is expensive to put together, I wouldn't be surprised the cost is around $850 - $930, though I don't have the figures yet as it's still in pre-order status in North America.