Sony NW-ZX300
Dec 31, 2017 at 10:53 AM Post #3,511 of 12,862
Everything except wider sound stage, I guess I didn't word that right. :) but I guess the balanced is very wide, not that it's clip+ narrow it's more 3d than really wide, but not narrow. Neck for all I know it could be that wide with burn in, but it's not quite as wide as ak70 more like mojo sound stage- which I like. I like everything to have it's own space in the sound stage, it's like wow I never heard that before.

Then you go to your other daps, and you hear it but it's not separated like on the zx300 and it stands out more on zx300. If this makes sense. Definitely better treble and dynamics than x5iii zx300 isn't warm, not analytical but definitely revealing.

And unlike the older Sonys which sounded rich and amazing but hissy, zx300 is very clean on the output none of that aggravating hiss that sonys used to have with sensitive iems.

I would like to also add this is the second best sounding dap I've personally have listened to. Even though ak70 has more power and a bit more spread out sound stage I like the tone and detail of zx300 better. Only opus #1 sounded better, but in tonality zx300 is very close and has better bass response. I feel that balanced out (from what I've read) is going to make opus #1 go crying home to mummy! Opus #1 is probably one of the best values in daps, but the zx300 is so beautiful and better built than opus, plus the much better battery life. If the balanced sounds like mojo or better, than for the money nothing is going to beat zx300!

And that is from headfi members with cred, that said the balanced sounded like mojo or better.

Very interesting, do you feel the instrument separation on SE is competitive with Mojo? or is Mojo still a noticeably better in that regard? I liked the sound stage on the Mojo I demoed, larger than X5III (might be because of the sheer clean instrument separation)
 
Dec 31, 2017 at 2:09 PM Post #3,512 of 12,862
Very interesting, do you feel the instrument separation on SE is competitive with Mojo? or is Mojo still a noticeably better in that regard? I liked the sound stage on the Mojo I demoed, larger than X5III (might be because of the sheer clean instrument separation)


I think from memory that the separation on SE is indeed comparable to mojo. Of course this is from memory but the speration is excellent after some burn in. Of course it doesn't produce anywhere near the power of mojo. With reasonably easy to drive stuff after burn it the ZX300 SE sounds excellent. I've got no complaints and find it very enjoyable with all genre of music. Radio head OK computer never sounded so good, HD DSOTM sounded incredible, and Haken the mountain was like a religious experience, good masters really shine and you can pick out every little detail, but It doesn't sound analytical, very musical with the Sony 'body' that their stuff always seems to have, but not really warm sounding either.

Hard to explain.
 
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Jan 1, 2018 at 3:21 AM Post #3,515 of 12,862
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Jan 1, 2018 at 3:37 AM Post #3,516 of 12,862
This is the perfect dap for me. Ease of use like the a35 but sounds better. Perfect.
 
Jan 1, 2018 at 11:12 AM Post #3,520 of 12,862
No podcast support, but there are bookmarks. Just swipe to the left from your playback screen.

At least on my A10 Sony's 'bookmarks' are just a favorites/enqueue type of function, they don't feature any resume ability like you would want with podcast, audiobook or other long recordings. Did this change on zx300 or is it same type of deal?
 
Jan 1, 2018 at 1:02 PM Post #3,521 of 12,862
Same. And something weird happened on my unit. After trying out the usb dac with my phone, it was no longer able to detect my sdcard. Restarting the device fixed it but I lost all my bookmarked songs from the sdcard... what a pain!
 
Jan 1, 2018 at 6:45 PM Post #3,522 of 12,862
I recently placed an order for the NW-ZX300 thanks to all the reviews and opinions that I have read here. I'm currently using the NW-ZX100 and I love the sound and battery life. I'm not an audiophile but I do enjoy listening to music with a good quality pair of headphones/earphones.

Since I don't know much about balanced vs unbalanced headphones, I started reading and learning a lot! For now I will be using the DAP with my B&O H6 Gen. 2 but I would like to try a Sennheiser HD6xx or the newer HD 660 with balanced cables. I'm leaning more towards the HD 660 because they require 150 ohms instead of 300ohm.

I have a couple of questions:

1) Has anyone used headphones that require 150ohm with the NW-ZX300?

2) Which balanced heaphones/earphones are you using with this DAP and how do you like them?

cheers!
jon
 
Jan 1, 2018 at 7:15 PM Post #3,523 of 12,862
Anyone in Japan able to please recommend a balanced cable for my XBA-A3? I am looking at the Sony MUC-M12NB1 as I have the standard MUC-M12SM1 and after 2 years have found it to be very durable and a definite upgrade in sound over the lousy stock cable. I read on another forum comments saying the Sony cables 'kill the bass' so I was wondering what other similarly priced cables I could look at. I've been told to avoid the re:cable brand because of durability issues. A quick search seems to show Nobunaga labs or Beats Audio - does anyone have any experience they could please share.
 
Jan 1, 2018 at 7:35 PM Post #3,524 of 12,862
2) Which balanced heaphones/earphones are you using with this DAP and how do you like them?

I still haven't received my zx300, ordered on 26th of Dec from Sony, but I was in a similar position to you and wanting to evaluate this balanced headphone malarky.
There aren't a large number of 4.4mm headphones to choose from, I personally LOATH the Sennheiser sound signature... [rant]years ago I bought a pair of HD800 bcos they were all the rage and supposed to sound the best, with the best reviews, 5* all the way... well they sounded like murdering cats, only thing they consistently did was hurt my ears, make me hate music, and 100hr brake in BS didn't help!; so I when through great lengths to return that crap and I auditioned a whole bunch of Sennheisers, HD600 or 650, IE8, PCX... all sounded like terrible to me, then I found the Denon AH-D5000 and audio Bliss.[/rant]

So given that Sennheiser was out of contention, I was limited to Sony for native balanced solution; MDR-Z1R, MDR-1ABP and XBA-N3BP. I got a good deal on the MDR-Z1R (A$1700/US$1330), so I'm waiting for those to be delivered. Historically never been a fan of Sony cans, I found them too balanced :wink:, but they say the Z1R is pretty warm with some sparkle so I'm hoping they sound nothing like Sennheisers flat + screeching.

I'll update y'all once they've had +100hrs.
 
Jan 1, 2018 at 7:55 PM Post #3,525 of 12,862
Anyone in Japan able to please recommend a balanced cable for my XBA-A3? I am looking at the Sony MUC-M12NB1 as I have the standard MUC-M12SM1 and after 2 years have found it to be very durable and a definite upgrade in sound over the lousy stock cable. I read on another forum comments saying the Sony cables 'kill the bass' so I was wondering what other similarly priced cables I could look at. I've been told to avoid the re:cable brand because of durability issues. A quick search seems to show Nobunaga labs or Beats Audio - does anyone have any experience they could please share.
Since you live in Japan, you have the advantage of a vast range of iEM and cables to test out, visit e-earphones plenty for you to try out, they also have many second hand cables at a bargain price, of which they are in excellent quality.
 

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