[AUDIOBREEDER]

That's why I said "The problem is ...", because the ZX2 is big, heavy and 1.2k of dap, but I just know I would still take it to the gym for the beats!

Seeing 90% drop either headphone or daps onto the floor by trying to navigate the controls in the gym don't see the point in risking the drop.
Days of gym are over for me as I love to jog outside with the sansa clip and there have been times it fell out from my pocket but it has always been caught by my earphone (xba-s65) which hooks around the ear.

 

[jamato8]

How you finding the zx2 jamato8, now it's run in?

Excellent sound in all areas. I also like the UI and the screen.  I am running in the QA360 and I am very curious how they will compare. 

 

[Whitigir]

I also would like to add together with a capable IEMS, the Equalizer in the ZX2 is very clear...speaking from my experiences of years on Home Stereos ....very very clean EQ. I call it clean because I catergorize them in two types.

1/ clean : you can EQ, and using it with capable amplifiers, speakers, the sounds produced from different bands, frequencies doesn't get deformed....only over powered, if you can't utilize it well enough

2/ muddy: you can EQ, with capable amps and speakers, but the frequencies and other bands will get effected, distorted , over saturated....etc.

ZX2, truly is an amazing master piece.

 

[dsincere]

It seems class D is starting to creep into high end audio, if they sound this good, bring it on I say.
Their very efficient, and generally have 90% or higher efficiency, which is bringing us great battery life, also very low heat and very few components. Creating overall reduced cost of the amp, oh well. Not this time.

Yes the people for Benchmark produce some top equipment and said that Class D is moving up....they are also up on enjoythemusic.com as well ....I saw the show home theater geeks on the Twit network with Scott Wilkinson of AVS forums it was a good show about the Benchmark AHB2 Amp and just how good it is...as well as the size, power and how sweet it sounds ...it's a new age coming

 

[doki81]

just gotten my zx2 this evening...overall i am loving it..coming from x5...the UI for zx2 is definitely on win x5..SQ wise, ZX 2 is slightly warmer than x5 but i just spent only less than 30mins to listen to it...need more time to burn in

 

[Whitigir]

It seems class D is starting to creep into high end audio, if they sound this good, bring it on I say.
Their very efficient, and generally have 90% or higher efficiency, which is bringing us great battery life, also very low heat and very few components. Creating overall reduced cost of the amp, oh well. Not this time.

Class D is very efficient, light, powerful! As far as quality ? They are superb, sound quality ? Erhmm...it is an Amplifier only, it doesn't offer any sound.....however it may produce noises or humming with bad amps.

The class D with good DAC will only sound as good as that DAC

 

[Whitigir]

just gotten my zx2 this evening...overall i am loving it..coming from x5...the UI for zx2 is definitely on win x5..SQ wise, ZX 2 is slightly warmer than x5 but i just spent only less than 30mins to listen to it...need more time to burn in

30 ,mins only ? You haven't even started to taste that realistical bass beats and drum kicks with authority just yet . Keep on going, your heart will drop on the ground as how much you love it

 

[cjpinner]

Hey Guys,
 
Received my ZX-2 on Tuesday morning, have been running it fairly steady since then (overnights etc probably @ 30+ hours) and wanted to give some initial impressions.
 
The burn in process is definitely at work with the unit, I've been experiencing a lot of the same changes posted here. First hour or two the unit seemed "flatter and thinner" than I expected. It seemed similar to my experience with the ZX1 at the Sony store.
 
After that it went through a pretty manic period, sounding considerably warm, with fuzzy base that was overwhelming the mids. Trebble seemed veiled as well. Decided to let it run it's course overnight and come back to it the next day.
 
What a difference a day makes, the bass started to tighten up as well as go a lot lower. It began to separate itself from the mids and continues to become more and more defined. (Really loving the privilege of hearing this thing come together). 
 
Over the course of the day the treble had re-appeared, everything is becoming a lot more balanced at this point. Left it overnight again to work it's magic.
 
Came back to it this morning, wow, this thing is starting to really open up, details are becoming more and more stunning, also the soundstage is opening up, I'm feeling a lot more space between instruments than I was previously.
 
I can't believe how good this thing sounds already. I'm really looking forward to the next set of changes.
 
All listening sessions have been done with Westone W60's using an aftermarket cable (locally built). After the sony breaks in completely I want to have the cable terminal re-done with a TRRS jack to take this thing to the next level.
 
One of the biggest surprises with this unit has been how well it implements 16/44 material. I knew it would excel at the hi res material but I keep being blown away by how well it handles CD quality music as well. Especially with the DSEE HX (which I was experimenting with this morning). I need some more time to evaluate this as I just started using it, but my initial response was positive. I also want to experiment with the battery time relating to using it. Sony states up to 66% less battery when using it. @spatzi it seems like your battery might be defective, I also have a 501 serial and I haven't been having any run time issues, you might want to make sure you're not using the DSEE HX or any other equalization, I think it really affects battery life (speculation at this point).
 
I'm not impressed with the Clear Audio + using IEM, I'd rather listen to music without it, it seemed to V curve the sound and muddy things up. I did enjoy using the Clear Audio + when hooking the unit up as a line out on a modest stereo (friends house/work etc).
 
Also make sure all your album art is tagged properly, I'm fanatical about that and found out quickly that I had to re-tag a bunch of albums (itunes doesn't tag each file by default). I've been using XACT for mac to do this with about 95% success.
 
Loving the unit so far, this completely destroys my Ipod Classic + Fiio E12A combo I was using before. Also if people think the ZX2 is large try carrying the ipod brick around for a week. In my opinion the ZX2 is more than a reasonable size.
 
More impressions to come!

 

[Whitigir]

Use MP3 tags program to easily edit all albums cover art and tags...etc.

I dislike Room effects, and clear audio +....I prefer Equalizer, and or Sound Adjustment off.

 

[cjpinner]

Use MP3 tags program to easily edit all albums cover art and tags...etc.

I dislike Room effects, and clear audio +....I prefer Equalizer, and or Sound Adjustment off.

Yeah me too, I'm just experimenting with the DSEE HX now but I want to experiment with how much battery it chews through before I settle on using it or not. Sound wise I prefer it but the difference is subtle, from what I gather it's mostly just upscaling the audio to a higher bit/sample rate. 

 

[Conext]

  I'm not impressed with the Clear Audio + using IEM, I'd rather listen to music without it, it seemed to V curve the sound and muddy things up. I did enjoy using the Clear Audio + when hooking the unit up as a line out on a modest stereo (friends house/work etc).

I really get the impression that ClearAudio+ is basically meant to help crummy sources (like phones) and/or crummy headphones (like the default pack-ins that phones and other mainstream portable audio comes with) sound better. Essentially, automatically EQing the typical shortcomings those devices have, and packaging them all into a single preset. It does weird stuff to the sound signature on the ZX2 + good headphones.

 

[Dezeinstein]

Are some of you receiving your pre-orders from the US Sony Store? I ordered in early Feb and have been stuck on "Preparing for Shipment" for more than a week now. Getting impatient, as I do with anything short of Amazon Prime 1-day.

 

[alwass89]

  Are some of you receiving your pre-orders from the US Sony Store? I ordered in early Feb and have been stuck on "Preparing for Shipment" for more than a week now. Getting impatient, as I do with anything short of Amazing Prime 1-day.

 
I pre-ordered mine from the US Sony Store website Jan 29 and it is set to be delivered to me tomorrow. It shipped on Monday the 9th.

 

[cjpinner]

  I really get the impression that ClearAudio+ is basically meant to help crummy sources (like phones) and/or crummy headphones (like the default pack-ins that phones and other mainstream portable audio comes with) sound better. Essentially, automatically EQing the typical shortcomings those devices have, and packaging them all into a single preset. It does weird stuff to the sound signature on the ZX2 + good headphones.

+1 That was my impression as well. Overall I've been really impressed with how everything in this unit comes together, UI/Sound/Build/Features. The unit looks and feels much nicer in person. I just purchased a 128GB micro SD yesterday, so I'm going to load that up tonight and take some time to see how that function of the unit works. I really feel that Sony has a winner on their hands with this unit. If the Clear Audio + is there to help folks with less than stellar headphones then that's very thoughtful IMHO.

 

[Dezeinstein]

Thanks for the reply. Did you call to get the ship date, or did it show on the Sony site?