[terrosa]

I've loaded my ZX300 with mostly ALAC and FLAC, but also about 15% of the tracks are DSD. I'm finding that the DSD files don't sound as good as the ALAC/FLAC. They aren't as bright and sound as if they're lower resolution than the others. I thought I'd optimized my settings for DSD and so am unsure what I'm doing wrong. Any ideas, or a list of what settings others have chosen to make DSD sound best would most appreciated..

via balance or 3.5mm jack?

 

[JerryHead]

via balance or 3.5mm jack?

Balanced

 

[terrosa]

Balanced

do they (DSD) sound warmer? I do find it a tad warmer and less bright on DSD. but then again, maybe i dont have the best ears

 

[JerryHead]

do they (DSD) sound warmer? I do find it a tad warmer and less bright on DSD. but then again, maybe i dont have the best ears

No, not exactly warmer. Just duller, and less powerful than the ALAC/FLAC. What are the 3-4 key settings on the ZX300 that maximize the SQ of DSD? Just want to be sure I have them right.

 

[Hedonism]

pardon me if this had been discussed before but 298 pages of replies are a lot to find out.

anyone compared the NW-ZX300 to the WM1A before? I have both, i find the differences are that the WM1A has better depth and it's bass goes further + more solid. Apart from these, they are pretty close. I am using the ZA, balanced.

When I was buying a new dap, I compared the two of them, and found the same differences. I also thought that the timbre/tone of the WM1A was teeny bit heftier/weightier, but that might just have been the bass difference you were talking about! Layering and resolution was ever so slightly better, but I would fail a blind test for sure.

I ended up buying the ZX300 for the portability and practical reasons. I can live with the difference in SQ (which is pretty minimal), especially with an extra 500ish USD in my pocket.

 

[nanaholic]

This player output power more than ZX100?

Much more.
All the previous ZX models (ZX1, ZX2, ZX100) outputs 15mW per channel. The ZX300 is 60mW on SE and 200mW on balance.

 

[Bepli]

No, not exactly warmer. Just duller, and less powerful than the ALAC/FLAC. What are the 3-4 key settings on the ZX300 that maximize the SQ of DSD? Just want to be sure I have them right.

I am guessing you are using different albums for each format. Convert the DSD to a FLAC copy and compare those too. They will be identical.

 

[JerryHead]

I am guessing you are using different albums for each format. Convert the DSD to a FLAC copy and compare those too. They will be identical.

I guess I'm confused. Why would converting a DSD to FLAC actually make them sound better? Aren't DSD actually supposed to sound superior to FLAC/ALAC? They always did on my ZX2. More punch, brilliance and better highs and lows. I just bought a bunch of DSD albums to play on my ZX300 and they actually sound worse. I'm still thinking that I'm not selecting something correctly in the settings..

 

[Bepli]

I guess I'm confused. Why would converting a DSD to FLAC actually make them sound better? Aren't DSD actually supposed to sound superior to FLAC/ALAC? They always did on my ZX2. More punch, brilliance and better highs and lows. I just bought a bunch of DSD albums to play on my ZX300 and they actually sound worse. I'm still thinking that I'm not selecting something correctly in the settings..

I wont go into comparing DSD and FLAC. I told you to compare the DSD version with a FLAC version of this Album (but you have to convert the DSD into FLAC because the mastering might be different). If they sound the same everything is alright and should sound like that. If they sound different (and the FLAC version still sound better) something is wrong with your player.

 

[Gosod]

Much more.
All the previous ZX models (ZX1, ZX2, ZX100) outputs 15mW per channel. The ZX300 is 60mW on SE and 200mW on balance.

Thank you friend for the great answe

r, I see this player needs to be cool.

So Etymotic 4S will play loud enough with the stock.?

 

[terrosa]

When I was buying a new dap, I compared the two of them, and found the same differences. I also thought that the timbre/tone of the WM1A was teeny bit heftier/weightier, but that might just have been the bass difference you were talking about! Layering and resolution was ever so slightly better, but I would fail a blind test for sure.

I ended up buying the ZX300 for the portability and practical reasons. I can live with the difference in SQ (which is pretty minimal), especially with an extra 500ish USD in my pocket.

you sum it up nicely!!!

 

[Mathieulh]

Much more.
All the previous ZX models (ZX1, ZX2, ZX100) outputs 15mW per channel. The ZX300 is 60mW on SE and 200mW on balance.

Isn't it 50mW on SE for the ZX300 ?

 

[nanaholic]

Thank you friend for the great answe r, I see this player needs to be cool.
So Etymotic 4S will play loud enough with the stock.?

I've never tried the Etymotic 4S, but according to the specs (100ohm and 90dB sensitivity) you should still get decent volume on the single end, while the balance side will give you a lot more over head.

 

[JerryHead]

I wont go into comparing DSD and FLAC. I told you to compare the DSD version with a FLAC version of this Album (but you have to convert the DSD into FLAC because the mastering might be different). If they sound the same everything is alright and should sound like that. If they sound different (and the FLAC version still sound better) something is wrong with your player.

I don't believe anything is wrong with my player. Maybe I'm trying too hard to compare the ZX300 to he ZX2. The ZX300 doesn't sound poor to me on any level, but I think SQ is maybe 80-85% of what the ZX2 outputs. But I do like the portability (size/weight) of the ZX300 much better. So maybe there's a trade off there.

 

[Mathieulh]

I guess I'm confused. Why would converting a DSD to FLAC actually make them sound better? Aren't DSD actually supposed to sound superior to FLAC/ALAC? They always did on my ZX2. More punch, brilliance and better highs and lows. I just bought a bunch of DSD albums to play on my ZX300 and they actually sound worse. I'm still thinking that I'm not selecting something correctly in the settings..

The ZX2 does not support native DSD playback, instead it converts them to 24bits@192Khz PCM internally before playing them back through the s-master DAC, therefore it should sound similar to a high resolution FLAC file, not that native DSD playback actually sounds that much different, especially since most DSD files available have already been converted at least once to PCM as part of the mastering process.

The ZX300 does support native DSD playback through the balanced output (not the SE though for some reason, neither do the WM1A or WM1Z support native DSD playback through the SE, it is instead converted to 24bits@192Khz PCM just like on the ZX2) but the sound quality would be tied to whatever you are listening to, if your audio file/sound track hasn't been mastered properly, it won't sound as good no matter the resolution or the file format. DSD playback will usually sound slightly warmer and quieter than PCM, not due to the encoding itself but due to the default DSD playback settings (slow roll off, -3 dB gain), of course these settings can be modified on the ZX300, for instance setting a sharp roll off will make DSD sound brigher, and thus closer to what you'd get on a PCM track.