[highfidelity69]

I still say it's too expensive.
It ain't flawless to me, or I'd have kept it.
Noise+hiss, UI not snappy, folder browsing mode on DP-X1 is near instant, try A to Z with the scroll bar. Even my Cowon Plenue D beats the ZX2 in that regard. The ZX2 ain't lightweight or small, but it sure feels rugged.
It has the best battery for android streamer daps (take note competitors) but it is not endless.
AR M20 costs half, is less noisy (ZX2 hisses a lot), has half the battery of the ZX2, but it' still more than the other stream daps.
How much longer would App streamers support Android 4?
I know you can find the ZX2 cheaper elsewere, but official Sony store still sells it for 1200, and that ain't ok. 

No hissing on my ZX2

 

[nc8000]

No hissing on my ZX2

The hiss depends on the phones used. With my JH13 I hear it when no music is playing, with my Signature Pro I don't hear it at all. There is also more hiss with trs than with trrs

 

[highfidelity69]

The hiss depends on the phones used. With my JH13 I hear it when no music is playing, with my Signature Pro I don't hear it at all. There is also more hiss with trs than with trrs

​No hissing with my JH16's, even when there is no music playing, what cable are you using with your JH's, I use a www.stefanaudioart.com  cable,  http://www.stefanaudioart.com/shop/endorphin-single-ended-audiophile-headphone-cable-for-the-jh-audio-jh-1613-pro/  cable "when I am home"  and a moon-audio silver dragon cable  https://www.moon-audio.com/silver-dragon-iem-cable.html  "when I am on the go", no hissing with either.

 

[Dithyrambes]

Hiss with andromedas...great pairing but sometimes the hiss is annoying. Actually hisses more on trrs for me. Wad hoping for the opposite.

 

[nc8000]

​No hissing with my JH16's, even when there is no music playing, what cable are you using with your JH's, I use a www.stefanaudioart.com  cable,  http://www.stefanaudioart.com/shop/endorphin-single-ended-audiophile-headphone-cable-for-the-jh-audio-jh-1613-pro/  cable "when I am home"  and a moon-audio silver dragon cable  https://www.moon-audio.com/silver-dragon-iem-cable.html  "when I am on the go", no hissing with either.

Whiplash Audio TWau Reference

 

[salavat]

Installed recently Tidal on my ZX2, Hi-Fi plan. I listened to the same tracks I already have and know how they should sound...I am kinda biased whether it is CD quality (44/16 with over 1MB/sec streaming)... or specific sounding of Tidal on ZX2...
 
What is your experience with Tidal? Have you compared directly local and streamed soundtracks?
 
PS. I am using JH Angie with 'balanced' (4 pole) connection to ZX2.

 

[Dithyrambes]

Installed recently Tidal on my ZX2, Hi-Fi plan. I listened to the same tracks I already have and know how they should sound...I am kinda biased whether it is CD quality (44/16 with over 1MB/sec streaming)... or specific sounding of Tidal on ZX2...

What is your experience with Tidal? Have you compared directly local and streamed soundtracks?

PS. I am using JH Angie with 'balanced' (4 pole) connection to ZX2.

for how much zx2 is marketed as a android player capable of streaming.....sony being sony gimp ed it so everything else sounds worse than their stock player. Your hearing is sound. The same track 16/44.1 will sound better on the sony player. I don't know why but it just does. Also tidal sounds slightly different as they enhance the sound in some way...when I hear through the desktop dac...using the same track on tidal vs jriver/foobar, it sounds different.

 

[Whitigir]

It is due to android 4.4 as a whole OS ... not Sony....lol

 

[cj3209]

My ZX2 stutters with some hi-res files (flac 24-bit files).  Not sure why...Using MAD player...annoying...

 

[gerelmx1986]

  My ZX2 stutters with some hi-res files (flac 24-bit files).  Not sure why...Using MAD player...annoying...

using microSD card (s)lower than class 4 (C4)? look in the MAD player if you can see a BUFFER option also this sometimes helps out, some programs use a buffering to pre-load data to combat slow access times
 

 

[cj3209]

using microSD card (s)lower than class 4 (C4)? look in the MAD player if you can see a BUFFER option also this sometimes helps out, some programs use a buffering to pre-load data to combat slow access times

Nah, its a Samsung evo 64gb class 10 msd card. May have to adjust settings in mad as you said.

Thx.

 

[RPB65]

I don't bother with ZX2 and streaming. The UI is rubbish. I use my Mojo and iPhone for that. It looks better and actually does what you want it to instead of lagging up for ages.

 

[walbum4262]

I don't bother with ZX2 and streaming. The UI is rubbish. I use my Mojo and iPhone for that. It looks better and actually does what you want it to instead of lagging up for ages.

I don't get this lag people are talking about, I have absolutely zero lag on my unit. Of cause it's not a state of the art iPhone 7 with a super duper awesome CPU

But the zx2 CPU gets the battery life to last longer and gets the job done, its a dap meant to play music not to fiddle around with in my case so I only have limited interaction with it ones the music is starter.

Also under setting/apps and the all tab I pretty much force stopped, disabled and cleared memory on all stuff not related to playing music and keeping the zx2 runnning about 40 programs

 

[RPB65]

I don't get this lag people are talking about, I have absolutely zero lag on my unit. Of cause it's not a state of the art iPhone 7 with a super duper awesome CPU

But the zx2 CPU gets the battery life to last longer and gets the job done, its a dap meant to play music not to fiddle around with in my case so I only have limited interaction with it ones the music is starter.

Also under setting/apps and the all tab I pretty much force stopped, disabled and cleared memory on all stuff not related to playing music and keeping the zx2 runnning about 40 programs

I'll check those settings on mine and see what I can do. That may help.
The lag I get is using streaming via Qobuz app. Music pics for albums often don't even load up. Small screen size is no good for me. I prefer the sound from Mojo.
Hi-res locally stored music is another story. I am talking about streaming only. The Android software is sh1te too. Even with nothing running I find it laggy. But you are right though, I am used to an iPhone 6S+

 

[Cagin]

I mostly used my ZX2 in folder browsing mode only. Other times it's just loading my youtube playlist and let it run through the night while sleeping.
 
To illustrate what I mean when I say the ZX2 has a laggy UI:
 
Go to the root music folder of your library, using windows select all, tell me how many folders you got (like Band/Artists). Eject from pc.
 
Then on the player, go folder browse mode, start at top, then using the side speed scroll, go to the bottom Z. Tell me how fast it takes you.
With a time/#folders calculation, can compare between daps.
 
Not only does the ZX2 not display the list of names as fast as it scrolls, the display rate is not snappy, you can see the frames aren't smooth. Compare that to the Onkyo DP-X1.
Mind you as a gamer I can still detect the DP-X1 is not 100% instant, but it's at 95%. And it lists all the names as fast as scrolled.
Plus you have the advantage of seeing the first word or letters on the right side as  you speed scroll instead of just A-Z letters on the ZX2. It may minor things to you, but to me, it makes it invaluably faster to find the music I want to listen to. Especially as I'm sensitive to 'mal des transports' so the less I spend time watching a screen, the more my chance are of not wanting to get off public transport because I feel ill.
 
Fun bit: my Cowon Plenue D has a really bad display rate and it has an even harder time to display the lists of names/folders than the ZX2, yet it can go from A-Z faster than the ZX2 ^^ With muscle memory I can find my music faster, but not to the point of DP-X1 for sure.