[Shane D]

A big thank you to Super User and my buddy Sony. Before I even had a chance to go to my computer and try out Superuser's suggestion I got a reply from Sony (on a Sunday!). Most of it I had already tried, but there was a link to the firmware update. I downloaded it, opened it and had it ready to run. It asked me to connect the DAP and I did, once I was a single mouse click from update. Then nothing happened for one minute, two minutes, three minutes and in the forth minute there was enough power for it to turn on. It started to go into reboot mode and I had hit the mouse key. The download started and never stopped. Even thought the DAP was still going off and on in the boot-up sequence. I waited and finally it said it was done and my screen changed to the "do you want to close the USB storage feature". I didn't touch anything! There was even a warning about not unhooking it if files were being downloaded. I backed away from the table slowly and went and had a shower. 20 minutes later I came back and it still seemed good and now it had some power. I closed EVERYTHING to make sure that nothing was feeding it files or data (paranoid now!) and unplugged it from the computer and got my regular menu!!! I then inserted my micro SD card (which I had put in my A17) and let it build the database/library which took at least 15 minutes (110GB/6,000 songs). And the moment of truth...It seems to work perfectly!!!! I have it on a charger now getting fully juiced.

I want to thank superuser1, SONY and everyone else that tried to help!!!! As we have all previously read in this thread, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER unplug a Sony DAP while it is downloading anything.

Shane D (A Very happy camper)

PS: If anyone wants me to post a link to the firmware update, let me know.

 

[Signal2Noise]

My unit has bricked. It is locked in a repeating boot up loop.
...

Fwiw, if a device shows signs of life it is not "bricked". A bricked unit is just that, dead. No life whatsoever. Even a continuous boot loop is a reassurance that the device can be troubleshooted/fixed.

I see that Sony and forum folk helped getting your ZX300 back to operational order. Good news!

 

[geagle]

Very, very glad you solved it @Shane D !!

 

[Shane D]

Fwiw, if a device shows signs of life it is not "bricked". A bricked unit is just that, dead. No life whatsoever. Even a continuous boot loop is a reassurance that the device can be troubleshooted/fixed.

I see that Sony and forum folk helped getting your ZX300 back to operational order. Good news!

I get what you're saying as I have had two phones that "bricked". This felt just like that, in that it was unusable. I also restored those two phones with much help off the net.

Shane D

 

[Shane D]

Very, very glad you solved it @Shane D !!

You and me both!

Shane D

 

[superuser1]

You and me both!

Shane D

Phew that was a close call. Keep that FW file in a secret secure location

 

[Shane D]

As per one request:
https://www.sony.com/electronics/su...-nw-nwz-zx-series/nw-zx300/downloads/00015423

I am not sure if this is country specific or not. I am in Canada and it seemed to make no reference to .ca

Shane D

 

[shady1991]

So... A week ago I modded my AKG k702 and beyerdynamic dt880 to take balanced cables. Then I made cables and tried balanced output of my walkman for the first time and now that it had 30 hours of burn in I want to share my impressions.
SE vs BA
The sound coming from BA output is unbelievably good. I was already impressed by SE but not-so-big sounstage was bothering me. Also SE didnt have enough punch, I would decribe the sound as silky smooth but with balanced sound is more punchy while maintaining pleasant silkiness. The soundstage is bigger by quite a margin and imaging is also improved.
The other change is in treble region, having two treble boosted cans, the high end was little bit ear piercing on SE but surprisingly, balanced has more recessed treble(weirdly only on high gain), Im not sure if the quantity is less but it feels like its coming from far and it is way more pleasant.

Zx300 vs Fiio x3ii+cayin c5
As most of audiphiles here, I really enjoy comparing the sound quality of different gears and then talking to the people about it, most of whom dont even pretend to listen to me as they dont even know what stereo means.. Anyway.. Zx300 beats fiio+cayin in every aspect, the sound signature isnt very different so it was very easy to make conclusions, sony has bigger soundstage, much better imaging, clearer treble, better instrument separation but the biggest step up is in low end, the bass guitar sound coming from sony is something else, it's much better than anything I have ever heard.

Zx300 vs LG V10
Comparision with LG V10 isnt as straightforward because sound signature is very different. Soundstage on LG is the widest I have ever heard and it beats even zx300 when it comes to width (left and right). But sony has better depth and it still feels much more spacious. LG renders ambient sounds weirdly, there always is a particular point where the sound is coming but on sony ambient sounds are.. well.. more ambient. So this together with other reasons makes sony sound more spacious. Also there is no contest when it comes to the very low and very high end of the frequency spectrum, Zx300 is clearly league ahead of the V10 in that. Overal it still doesnt make my V10 obsolete as the wider soundstage and the boosted lower mid/midbass on LG makes sound more natural sometimes (probably because of my AKG has recessed lower mid). I have to admit that listening to Violin is more fun with LG because of these reasons, Violins sound more Cello-like on LG and i kind of like it. But still I would say ZX300 is in different league than V10.

Overall, I am very very happy with the results of my first DIY modifications. One thing is clear that if you have zx300 you have to go Balanced. I think I will still use SE sometimes as it is also very good on its own way but the balanced output just puts smile on my face everytime..

 

[grig]

out of curiosity what DAC is in the zx300 i could't find anything about this .... ??

 

[superuser1]

out of curiosity what DAC is in the zx300 i could't find anything about this .... ??

 

[PCheung]

The S-Master HX Full Digital Amplifier CXD3778GF

 

[andkoppel]

Hi.

I just got my ZX300 from amazon.es. It's the EU version so it has the volume limited. I want to uncap it. I have visited the Rockbock page and the procedure is quite clear, but there is a step that is confusing: how to set the SPS and the destination codes. It refers me to a service manual page for Sony devices but the 300 is not liste.

Any help would be welcome.

 

[geagle]

@andkoppel the destination codes are the ones down below on the rockbox page itself - for instance, J for Japan, which is what I used on my own ZX300a to be able to create playlists on the DAP itself - so I probably typed something like this:

scsitool-nwz-vX.exe H: dest_tool set J off

where:

H: - stands for how your computer labels your ZX300 as a drive (so it probably should not be "H:" for you, but something else)
J - stands for destination Japan (but you can use something else, as long as table below on the rockbox page says that volume is uncapped)
off - is the SPS (sound pressure regulation) setting - meaning you want it off , even though, apparently, in later sony models this should be automatically regulated by the destination code and so probably won't have any effect on the ZX300 - just DON'T select a destination code which is capped

Hope that helps

 

[andkoppel]

Thx geagle, very helpful. Done.

Funny was that although the original definition was CEW2 it had the SPS off (0), but it was capped all the same.

Thx again.

 

[geagle]

yeah, from that same table, you can see that CEW2 does indicate volume as being "capped and warning [Check the volume level] at some point" .... as the page says, for later sony models the destination is what matters, apparently, to have volume capped or uncapped. One just needs to pick one which is uncapped