[Dinche]

  Oh looks like the ZX2 has made its way over to Australia! It's in stock at Sony AU, but bad news, its priced $1599  

 
 
http://www.sony.com.au/product/nw-zx2

 
Ouch!
 
Thats like around $1250 USD.

 

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

^ Yeah, but for us we just see it as $1600, we don't give a damn how much it is converted to USD, for many years we enjoyed a good dollar, but currently not, if the ZX2 was released last year it would have been $1200 AUD, but our dollar has dropped since then, it is a bit painful that we have to cough up an extra $400 just because of recent economic changes.

 

[muah]

^ Yeah, but for us we just see it as $1600, we don't give a damn how much it is converted to USD, for many years we enjoyed a good dollar, but currently not, if the ZX2 was released last year it would have been $1200 AUD, but our dollar has dropped since then, it is a bit painful that we have to cough up an extra $400 just because of recent economic changes.

Buy it and claim GST and enjoy it in Bali. That should bring the AUD 1599 to AUD 1454 after AUD$145 GST refund. Which is less than what I paid in Singapore. =) (SGD$1599=AUD$1493)

 

[Whitigir]

So I bite and got the zx2 on ebay.  I hope this is a good decision since I was debating on this or ak240.

You did what I did....and I am in love with the dang thing

 

[kokushu]

You did what I did....and I am in love with the dang thing

Battery life is what make me decide this over ak240.  If I could get good sound as ak240 that would be great.

 

[harmonix]

  Battery life is what make me decide this over ak240.  If I could get good sound as ak240 that would be great.

Please come back later and let us know what you think... after ~150 hours 

 

[GuyDebord]

I am most certain that i will be moving to the zx2 and ditch my ak120, main reason is battery! I travel a lot in long haul flights and hate the consequences of running out of battery while listening to my favorite passage of Satyagraha.
 
Of course I also expect sound improvements vs ak120, I hope I am right.

 

[kokushu]

You know what is funny.  There is a bunch of articles and youtube video saying that nobody will buy the zx2 and that there is no market for it.  It goes to show that average people don't understand the market to well.

 

[spatzi]

What background processes have you got going in android while on standby? Trying to figure out what I can shut off to conserve battery. When I leave the unit, I stop the song playing and that's it, the screen shuts off after fifteen seconds. 8 hours later I play it again and the battery has dropped 5%. Disable everything with Google? The first 10% of the battery seems to drop really fast (2 hours use max) and I never get more than a 99% charge. It starts slowing down after that to average 3% per hour for MP3. I tried a reset but battery still won't hit 100% on full charge.

 

[Whitigir]

What background processes have you got going in android while on standby? Trying to figure out what I can shut off to conserve battery. When I leave the unit, I stop the song playing and that's it, the screen shuts off after fifteen seconds. 8 hours later I play it again and the battery has dropped 5%. Disable everything with Google? The first 10% of the battery seems to drop really fast (2 hours use max) and I never get more than a 99% charge. It starts slowing down after that to average 3% per hour for MP3. I tried a reset but battery still won't hit 100% on full charge.

Did you ever ticked the DSHEE box to convert MP3 to high res ? Or Flacs even ? This stuff drain my battery like nothing else. Whenever I disable sound adjustment app, I get louder volume, and more battery life....last night I tried Sound adjustment enabled to boost some bass, and ticked DSHEE....and the whole night...like 10 hours or so, I got from 85% to 3%...... And no, it did not shut off

 

[starfly]

  You know what is funny.  There is a bunch of articles and youtube video saying that nobody will buy the zx2 and that there is no market for it.  It goes to show that average people don't understand the market to well.

 
Well, what is even funnier is that it's easy from our Head-Fi bubble to think that a lot of people are buying these ridiculously expensive DAPs, but we seriously are in the minority. Most people will just not spend that amount of money on anything related to audio, as for most people it's simply not a high priority. My wife just bought a $40 DAP the other day as her old one was broken and she thinks it sounds perfectly good. And honestly, most people think that way. Take a look at the HiFiman RE-600 IEM. Here on Head-Fi many people rave about it, but when I let a non-audiophile listen to it they think the SQ of it sucks. Yeah, maybe they don't have trained ears or they just like a different sound sig or they just don't care that much. But then once they find out it costs $400, they then really scratch their head wondering how something so crappy sounding (to them) can cost so much.
 
The only thing people are willing to buy into is stuff that's seriously overhyped, and made 'sexy' or 'cool' in the eye of the public, such as Beats Audio. But that's just good marketing.
 
I'm honestly starting to get doubts if I want to shell out 1200 bucks on a DAP. I think I'll end up going for the A17 and save myself 900 bucks. Still unsure, but I think I'll probably go that route. The main thing making me unsure, believe it or not, is the lower storage of the A17 (64GB) vs the ZX2 (128GB). I still need to do that ABX test for FLAC vs. MP3 to make sure that MP3 would be good enough, because then I'd have plenty of storage.

 

[spatzi]

Did you ever ticked the DSHEE box to convert MP3 to high res ? Or Flacs even ? This stuff drain my battery like nothing else. Whenever I disable sound adjustment app, I get louder volume, and more battery life....last night I tried Sound adjustment enabled to boost some bass, and ticked DSHEE....and the whole night...like 10 hours or so, I got from 85% to 3%...... And no, it did not shut off

When you say 'adjustment enabled to boost some bass' do you mean you used the equalizer grid or clear bass? the only Eq I use is clear bass on 2-3. (It has ten steps) Sony explains in the manual that EQ kills the battery, some as high as 70%, but clear bass is never mentioned.

Doing some spotify comparisons with vinyl recorded on a $50,000 system. it's amazing the differences, and not always the way you think it will go. Paul Simon Graceland album on vinyl rip and Spotify is a clear win for Spotify. Blue oyster cult first album on vinyl compared to Spotify version equals big win for vinyl. Sometimes the remasters on spotify are easily better than even the best original vinyl rips.

 

[kosmik-]

  I am most certain that i will be moving to the zx2 and ditch my ak120, main reason is battery! I travel a lot in long haul flights and hate the consequences of running out of battery while listening to my favorite passage of Satyagraha.
 
Of course I also expect sound improvements vs ak120, I hope I am right.

 
I was looking at AK120II but I decided to go with ZX2 for the following reasons:
* Spotify. The way I discover new music is Spotify. This is also the only reason why I would use USB DAC on AK120 - just to listen to Spotify from work PC/laptop.
* Build. ZX2 is built like a tank and has a really good case out of the box.
* Price. Here in Russia ZX2 costs 900-1000 USD depending on our currency fluctuations.

However I don't think ZX2 can drive large headphones. I have B&W P7 and on classical recordings and on e.g. Pink Floyd "The Wall" which is recorded with high dynamic range I have to turn volume almost to the top.

 

[kokushu]

   
Well, what is even funnier is that it's easy from our Head-Fi bubble to think that a lot of people are buying these ridiculously expensive DAPs, but we seriously are in the minority. Most people will just not spend that amount of money on anything related to audio, as for most people it's simply not a high priority. My wife just bought a $40 DAP the other day as her old one was broken and she thinks it sounds perfectly good. And honestly, most people think that way. Take a look at the HiFiman RE-600 IEM. Here on Head-Fi many people rave about it, but when I let a non-audiophile listen to it they think the SQ of it sucks. Yeah, maybe they don't have trained ears or they just like a different sound sig or they just don't care that much. But then once they find out it costs $400, they then really scratch their head wondering how something so crappy sounding (to them) can cost so much.
 
The only thing people are willing to buy into is stuff that's seriously overhyped, and made 'sexy' or 'cool' in the eye of the public, such as Beats Audio. But that's just good marketing.
 
I'm honestly starting to get doubts if I want to shell out 1200 bucks on a DAP. I think I'll end up going for the A17 and save myself 900 bucks. Still unsure, but I think I'll probably go that route. The main thing making me unsure, believe it or not, is the lower storage of the A17 (64GB) vs the ZX2 (128GB). I still need to do that ABX test for FLAC vs. MP3 to make sure that MP3 would be good enough, because then I'd have plenty of storage.

Its not about what the average people do.  You missing the point, a lot of them don't acknowledge there is a headphone market that we know of.  In this part of the market there is the high cost of ak240 and it still sell.  Most of us would think the zx2 is a reasonable high end price and dap like dx90/fiio x5 to be a bargain.

 

[spatzi]

Well, what is even funnier is that it's easy from our Head-Fi bubble to think that a lot of people are buying these ridiculously expensive DAPs, but we seriously are in the minority. Most people will just not spend that amount of money on anything related to audio, as for most people it's simply not a high priority. My wife just bought a $40 DAP the other day as her old one was broken and she thinks it sounds perfectly good. And honestly, most people think that way. Take a look at the HiFiman RE-600 IEM. Here on Head-Fi many people rave about it, but when I let a non-audiophile listen to it they think the SQ of it sucks. Yeah, maybe they don't have trained ears or they just like a different sound sig or they just don't care that much. But then once they find out it costs $400, they then really scratch their head wondering how something so crappy sounding (to them) can cost so much.

The only thing people are willing to buy into is stuff that's seriously overhyped, and made 'sexy' or 'cool' in the eye of the public, such as Beats Audio. But that's just good marketing.

I'm honestly starting to get doubts if I want to shell out 1200 bucks on a DAP. I think I'll end up going for the A17 and save myself 900 bucks. Still unsure, but I think I'll probably go that route. The main thing making me unsure, believe it or not, is the lower storage of the A17 (64GB) vs the ZX2 (128GB). I still need to do that ABX test for FLAC vs. MP3 to make sure that MP3 would be good enough, because then I'd have plenty of storage.

So true. My wife still listens to music through an ancient ipod and crap ear buds. No complaints. Owning both the zx2 and the a17, I have to say the a17 is a great deal. It's SQ is very close to the zx2, maybe 25% less, but unless you're listening to them 10 seconds apart you will never remember the differences. I am always amazed at the battery life of the a 17. It is clearly superior to the Zx2 and doesn't need to be carefully watched and babied in order to preserve battery. When left on standby it drains much slower than the zx2 due to not having android on it. It's also a lot more portable, and with an amp (topping NX 1) it's even better.

Of course the downside is less internal storage space and no access to spotify streaming services, which is the main reason I got the zx2 other than the better sq. I used to be a flac guy, but after blind testing recently against LAME MP3 VBR I've gone back to VBR as I hear no differences between them.