[Magnepan Man]

I haven’t found anything like that on it, no.

I think one would have to be sensitive to pitch variations to notice it honestly. It’s distracting because it keeps me from getting lost in the music.

 

[Hanafuda]

I haven’t found anything like that on it, no.

I think one would have to be sensitive to pitch variations to notice it honestly. It’s distracting because it keeps me from getting lost in the music.

Do songs take the exact amount of time to play back on your zx300 vs other device(s)? Use an independent timer (stopwatch on your phone, etc). On a 5 or 6 minute track even a slight variation in playback speed would result in a measurable difference.

Also, if you do measure a difference, which source device is playing back the file closest to the published duration?

 

[JerryHead]

As an SE846 owner, how am I going to like the N3? Not quite as good in a few different areas I imagine?

 

[Magnepan Man]

I’ll look into it and do that test, but my ears are telling me that the Mac book is correct. It’s playing the music in the key I’ve known the songs to be in my whole life. Lol.

Also, some most tracks are not matching up duration time wise between my iPhone vs. the ZX300. They are always off by a second For example the iPhone will say the song is 5:00. The zx will say 4:59. They are both loaded with the same files. So I’m not sure what that’s about.

 

[Evshrug]

Well, that could be that the iPhone rounded up the time and the ZX rounded down... or it literally could be a bit sped up, thus raising the pitch. Does the ZX sound higher or lower key than your MacBook/iphone?

 

[Magnepan Man]

Well, that could be that the iPhone rounded up the time and the ZX rounded down... or it literally could be a bit sped up, thus raising the pitch. Does the ZX sound higher or lower key than your MacBook/iphone?

The zx sounds higher in key. Wondering if it’s growing pins during the break in process? I’m at 70 hours. Could it Maybe something in the clock circuit stabilizing for the DAC? Just throwing ideas. Totally brainstorming here

 

[superuser1]

Let's listen to some music; shall we

How do you find this adapter? I found other cheaper 4.4mm adapters cleaner.

 

[Maru-san]

The zx sounds higher in key. Wondering if it’s growing pins during the break in process? I’m at 70 hours. Could it Maybe something in the clock circuit stabilizing for the DAC? Just throwing ideas. Totally brainstorming here

What kind of files does this happen with. I tried it with several flac files of songs I really know and there is no difference at all.

 

[abitdeef]

No one else has noticed anything similar? You have to be listening critically. If you aren’t familiar with the track you’re listening to, you won’t notice it. But if it’s a song you’ve known for 40 years. You kinda know what the key is supposed to be in. For example, if I play a song on my computer through the headphones, and commit the passages pitch to memory and then play it on the zx, there is a noticeable difference in key that the zx plays it back. I don’t think many people would notice this phenomenon. It’s not obvious, like chipmunks, more like playing a 33 1/3 record at 34/ 1/3. Along those lines. Not sure what causes this. The player sounds fine, sound quality wise.....any input would be appreciated. Player does sound even better with more break in. But this is distracting for someone like me, with OCD. LOL.

I don't notice that with mine, no sorry. Have you tried a third source? I ask because maybe it's your PC that's off.

 

[quodjo105]

How do you find this adapter? I found other cheaper 4.4mm adapters cleaner.

The ibasso adapter sounds clean to me. I haven't tried other adapters yet so can't tell which is better

 

[Magnepan Man]

What kind of files does this happen with. I tried it with several flac files of songs I really know and there is no difference at all.

MP3 files. Again, it’s not a night and day difference. It’s literally something that many people, I feel would not notice, but it bothers me. I don’t think there is anything defective per se with the unit. I listened back to back from my computer and the zx and heard the difference in pitch. I also found a music video on YouTube and played both and the iTunes file played on the Mac matched the pitch of the video I was streaming.

 

[Maru-san]

MP3 files. Again, it’s not a night and day difference. It’s literally something that many people, I feel would not notice, but it bothers me. I don’t think there is anything defective per se with the unit. I listened back to back from my computer and the zx and heard the difference in pitch. I also found a music video on YouTube and played both and the iTunes file played on the Mac matched the pitch of the video I was streaming.

Can you reproduce this with a FLAC file? Difference in time and MP3s can be possible if they are VBR. I guess the ZX300 just reads out the metadata in this case while other players might analyze the track itself. That said this should not change the pitch in any way.

 

[Magnepan Man]

I don't notice that with mine, no sorry. Have you tried a third source? I ask because maybe it's your PC that's off.

Yeah, the computer is definitely playing it in the correct key. It’s matching my CD player. The zx is definitely slightly higher in key. It’s easy to know the correct pitch, Especially if you’ve heard a song a thousand times or grew up on it and have it literally recorded in your brain. I mean, it’s not a deal breaker for me, and I’ll probably get used to it but I just wish I knew what was causing this phenomenon. I tried everything. Downloading onto the internal memory, computing files to SD directly instead of having the SD get written to in the zx-300,

I read a thread about people complaining of a similar pitch issue on Spotify, And how it would sometimes Slightly raise if the computer would go to sleep, and a reset would fix it. Not the case here. .....They too said it’s hardly noticeable, but indeed noticable. This difference won’t come out and punch you in the face, it subtle. Lol. Just wish I wasn’t so sensitive to it and could just sit back and enjoy the music instead of agonizing about it not being “pitch perfect”.

 

[Magnepan Man]

Can you reproduce this with a FLAC file? Difference in time and MP3s can be possible if they are VBR. I guess the ZX300 just reads out the metadata in this case while other players might analyze the track itself. That said this should not change the pitch in any way.

I can’t make flac files with iTunes on my Mac, but i would assume I could just as well experiment with a wav file. That should be a bit perfect copy of the track. Then I could see if it is indeed something with the MP3. My mp3’s are for the most part 330 non vbr.

 

[slinkyjynx]

As a UK resident I'm a little gutted Sony have made it tough to get hold of a black ZX300 and also an XBA-N3BP, I can get the XBA-N3AP easily enough but the 4.4mm cable doesn't seem to be available anywhere. The XBA-N3BP is mentioned on the .co.uk website: https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/in-ear-headphones/xba-n3 - but nowhere else in the UK I can find apart from ebay imports.

Wish that wasn't the case - Can't easily donate my money to Sony as easily as I'd want!

Get the ones from amazon and then just buy a balanced cable? Any MMCX cable should work