[nofarewell]

I have had this since yesterday and i this is my little observation first off if you are in the uk or Eu make sure you remove the volume limiter straight away , the damn "check your volume" warning came up as soon as you first turn it on and use it for the first time it sounded quiet so i had to increase the volume ..but the rockbox fix should sort that out.
I mostly compared it to my ZX100 and i put the Cayin N3 in the mix ...First off i love the new sony UI and the touch screen was perfect worked smoothly firmware I.00 no bugs at all kudos sony .
Now comparing the sound i used the same song on both the ZX100 and ZX300 all sound settings off ..volume matched at 16 on the ZX100 and 96 on the ZX300 .
Out of the the single socket both had a nice bass slam detailed and controlled good mids and a nice treble ..the ZX300 has a slightly wider soundstage but i felt that the sound signature was the same i think the magic is with the balanced socket but i have no cables to check it..with the Cayin N3 it held its own having slightly treble extension but the bass slam and mids details was no where as good as the sony's.
Build quality wise the sony ZX300 wins with the gorgeous buttons on the side even the hold button has a nice dimpled grip to it ,and the screen is bright and detailed a very good contrast and resolution.
The ZX300 is great dap if you are going to make use of the balanced socket to my ears the ZX300 and ZX100 sound the same from the normal headphone out albeit the ZX300 has a slightly better soundstage and the build quality with the side controls is just gorgeous ...those of you on the fence about getting silver just buy it is nice with the side control buttons ..

Did you actually remove the cap before this comparison? The zx300 has much more than the zx100 right?

 

[psikey]

Is the software a simple App I can run on a Windows 10 64bit machine & just choose options or is it a command line type of thing. Can you leave as UK and just remove volume cap or have to change it to another region that includes English like the Hong Kong version?

 

[musicisthekey]

Before doing a comparison, make sure to turn NFC off. When it's on, it degrades sound quality ever so slightly.

 

[goody]

Did you actually remove the cap before this comparison? The zx300 has much more than the zx100 right?

did not remove the volume cap on the ZX300 but i matched the volume to the ZX100 they sounded the same to my ears ...

 

[goody]

Before doing a comparison, make sure to turn NFC off. When it's on, it degrades sound quality ever so slightly.

i was testing it with my bluetooth headphones and i took the pics ...i turned it off for testing

 

[goody]

i think the balanced out is where the magic is on this player plus the power unfortunately i could not test it i dont have the cables

 

[Partlys4int]

I have had this since yesterday and i this is my little observation first off if you are in the uk or Eu make sure you remove the volume limiter straight away , the damn "check your volume" warning came up as soon as you first turn it on and use it for the first time it sounded quiet so i had to increase the volume ..but the rockbox fix should sort that out.
I mostly compared it to my ZX100 and i put the Cayin N3 in the mix ...First off i love the new sony UI and the touch screen was perfect worked smoothly firmware I.00 no bugs at all kudos sony .
Now comparing the sound i used the same song on both the ZX100 and ZX300 all sound settings off ..volume matched at 16 on the ZX100 and 96 on the ZX300 .
Out of the the single socket both had a nice bass slam detailed and controlled good mids and a nice treble ..the ZX300 has a slightly wider soundstage but i felt that the sound signature was the same i think the magic is with the balanced socket but i have no cables to check it..with the Cayin N3 it held its own having slightly treble extension but the bass slam and mids details was no where as good as the sony's.
Build quality wise the sony ZX300 wins with the gorgeous buttons on the side even the hold button has a nice dimpled grip to it ,and the screen is bright and detailed a very good contrast and resolution.
The ZX300 is great dap if you are going to make use of the balanced socket to my ears the ZX300 and ZX100 sound the same from the normal headphone out albeit the ZX300 has a slightly better soundstage and the build quality with the side controls is just gorgeous ...those of you on the fence about getting silver just buy it is nice with the side control buttons ..

Your pictures show really well how much the screen has improved compared to the ZX100

 

[goody]

Your pictures show really well how much the screen has improved compared to the ZX100

yes the screen is really good notice the ZX300 has no reflection it has an antiglare coating on it

 

[Partlys4int]

yes the screen is really good notice the ZX300 has no reflection it has an antiglare coating on it

Every device should have that. It's so much better. The only downside is that colours pop a bit less, but the dark colours are better.

 

[nofarewell]

i was testing it with my bluetooth headphones and i took the pics ...i turned it off for testing

So a unit without the cap sounds louder and with more weight I guess. I am asking because I have only 3.5 stuff for SE at the moment.
I'll plan to implement some 4.4 balanced stuff but only in the future.

 

[goody]

Every device should have that. It's so much better. The only downside is that colours pop a bit less, but the dark colours are better.

yes the colour scheme is more subdued on the ZX300 but the contrast is better and the letters are very sharp

 

[gobb]

I only have on-ears solo3 for standard, so its hard to compare as i use iems for balanced. But balanced using iems XBA-N3BP sounds amazing, so clear, I hear stuff I havent heard before in my older songs. Its a big step up to my older a35.

 

[gobb]

Is the software a simple App I can run on a Windows 10 64bit machine & just choose options or is it a command line type of thing. Can you leave as UK and just remove volume cap or have to change it to another region that includes English like the Hong Kong version?

You can remove cap in current region if its applied. No need to change the destination. At least that was the case with a35, havent tried with Zx300 as i had to change dest. But should be same. You need cmd prompt afaik.

 

[goody]

So a unit without the cap sounds louder and with more weight I guess. I am asking because I have only 3.5 stuff for SE at the moment.
I'll plan to implement some 4.4 balanced stuff but only in the future.

yes if you take the cap of it has even more power the ZX300 has more power than the ZX100 for sure

 

[psikey]

i was testing it with my bluetooth headphones and i took the pics ...i turned it off for testing