[Hanafuda]

not that i know of. the hd660 comes with one i believe, but it's neither portable or closed.

the oppo pm3 is balanced, you just have to buy a cable. brise made a couple for the pm3.

You might want to hold out for a bit, as there is a MDR-1AMk2 coming out in spring, which will also come with a 4.4mm balance cable in the box. When that comes I expect prices for the MDR-1ABP will drop as Sony and dealers clear old stock.

Also I've tried a lot of closed portable cans, there are actually not a lot of choices in that price point with similar quality to the MDR-1A, probably because it's a niche within a niche (audiophiles don't go for close cans in general, which leaves only average consumers who would rather pay for Beats or something similar). To get better quality you'll have to pay double or more to an Ultrasone Edition M or something similar.

Thanks guys. Didn't know about the 1AMk2 on the horizon. What's changed? Can't find any info (that I can read, anyway).

Also, since the HD660S came up there in zeta's post ... anyone using the 660S with the ZX300, besides kms108? I know he posted several times before about the ZX300 barely being able to drive the 660S, but if I read his posts correctly he was speaking specifically of DSD files. Would I be disappointed in the ZX300 / 660S pairing if my collection is all FLAC?

 

[Partlys4int]

Thanks guys. Didn't know about the 1AMk2 on the horizon. What's changed? Can't find any info (that I can read, anyway).

Also, since the HD660S came up there in zeta's post ... anyone using the 660S with the ZX300, besides kms108? I know he posted several times before about the ZX300 barely being able to drive the 660S, but if I read his posts correctly he was speaking specifically of DSD files. Would I be disappointed in the ZX300 / 660S pairing if my collection is all FLAC?

Don't know what @kms108 meant, but your ZX300 should have no problem driving the 660S. Especially in balanced mode.

 

[Bepli]

Thanks guys. Didn't know about the 1AMk2 on the horizon. What's changed? Can't find any info (that I can read, anyway).

Also, since the HD660S came up there in zeta's post ... anyone using the 660S with the ZX300, besides kms108? I know he posted several times before about the ZX300 barely being able to drive the 660S, but if I read his posts correctly he was speaking specifically of DSD files. Would I be disappointed in the ZX300 / 660S pairing if my collection is all FLAC?

Hey! To answer your question specific, you can drive the 660S on the balanced out to about 117 db max. If you listen to this db at longer than 1 min your hearing will be damaged. So yes the ZX300 will be enough to drive.

 

[Hanafuda]

Don't know what @kms108 meant, but your ZX300 should have no problem driving the 660S. Especially in balanced mode.

I went back to check those posts, and I goofed. It was actually @psikey who posted those observations. Starting here . Apologies to both members.

Hey! To answer your question specific, you can drive the 660S on the balanced out to about 117 db max. If you listen to this db at longer than 1 min your hearing will be damaged. So yes the ZX300 will be enough to drive.

Thank you. Tells me all I need to know. : )

 

[Dsnuts]

So I got my new ZX300A running. Took the entire day yesterday loading a new 200 gig card with music and attempting to load all of it onto the player.

I have a warning for perspective buyers of the ZX300. It seems the ZX300 does not read any other format of card other than exFAT. My mistake was I formatted my new card on my Fiio X3ii. Which I always do for my other daps. Up till now I have zero issues in fact Fat32 for my other daps. N5ii, X5iii, X3ii, X3, X1 DX90. Shanling M3s. All love fat32 and infact these manufacturers recommend it.

BUT to my frustration I found out last night the hard way that the ZX300A won't even read a card formatted with Fat32. Long story short after help of Superuser I had to delete all my work loading my card as I had to reformat the card back to exFAT using SD card formatter and then it read my card just fine.

Of course I had to reload the 200 gigs of music back onto the card afterwards. Let me just say I had a splitting headache being in front of my computer all day figuring this out. So now I have music playing off the player. Love how it sounds it does remind me of my old Z1060 Sonys first android DAP. Similar in sonics but with more a refined sound.

So WARNING- DO NOT FORMAT THE CARD IN FAT32!-- Only exFAT! I almost gave up after trying out 4 different cards.

 

[Seler]

So I got my new ZX300A running. Took the entire day yesterday loading a new 200 gig card with music and attempting to load all of it onto the player.

I have a warning for perspective buyers of the ZX300. It seems the ZX300 does not read any other format of card other than exFAT. My mistake was I formatted my new card on my Fiio X3ii. Which I always do for my other daps. Up till now I have zero issues in fact Fat32 for my other daps. N5ii, X5iii, X3ii, X3, X1 DX90. Shanling M3s. All love fat32 and infact these manufacturers recommend it.

BUT to my frustration I found out last night the hard way that the ZX300A won't even read a card formatted with Fat32. Long story short after help of Superuser I had to delete all my work loading my card as I had to reformat the card back to exFAT using SD card formatter and then it read my card just fine.

Of course I had to reload the 200 gigs of music back onto the card afterwards. Let me just say I had a splitting headache being in front of my computer all day figuring this out. So now I have music playing off the player. Love how it sounds it does remind me of my old Z1060 Sonys first android DAP. Similar in sonics but with more a refined sound.

So WARNING- DO NOT FORMAT THE CARD IN FAT32!-- Only exFAT! I almost gave up after trying out 4 different cards.

Can someone confirm that please?

 

[Dsnuts]

Believe me I spent literally all day yesterday figuring this out. None of my Fiio, IBasso or shanling dap cards would read at all. And that was when I realized all of them was in Fat32.

I threw in a card from an old Sansa clip that was in exFAT and it read just fine. So the fact that it only read after I reformatted to exFAT proves to me that this was indeed the case.

 

[Bepli]

Believe me I spent literally all day yesterday figuring this out. None of my Fiio, IBasso or shanling dap cards would read at all. And that was when I realized all of them was in Fat32.

I threw in a card from an old Sansa clip that was in exFAT and it read just fine. So the fact that it only read after I reformatted to exFAT proves to me that this was indeed the case.

Awkward, exfat, ntfs and fat32 all work for me

 

[Dsnuts]

Well my player is the ZX300A from Joybuy so there might be some differences from the 64 gig version.

I think out of the box most micro cards are already formatted in exFAT so I would have saved myself from all this if I just threw in the card in the player from the get go. But for at least the ZX300A from China seems to be the case.

It could be related to the Asian market firmware.

 

[kms108]

For best results, just format the card with the ZX300.

 

[abitdeef]

i doubt it. i never turn it off and im experiencing the same. Well at least i think i am.

I'm home sick, I'll do a battery run down- balanced burn in test. I never shut mine off and don't notice significant drainage at all. I'm almost at the end of a cycle anyways.

 

[abitdeef]

Awkward, exfat, ntfs and fat32 all work for me

Mine works on fat32 also. Maybe it's just the 300 A?

 

[OptionalLemon]

Well my player is the ZX300A from Joybuy so there might be some differences from the 64 gig version.

I think out of the box most micro cards are already formatted in exFAT so I would have saved myself from all this if I just threw in the card in the player from the get go. But for at least the ZX300A from China seems to be the case.

It could be related to the Asian market firmware.

Maybe they were trying to save costs on licensing to offer an even better price on the 300A? As long as they didn't hold back any sound file formats, once you know about the formatting restrictions, I don't find it a big deal. Frustrating until you find out though, for sure.

 

[nanaholic]

Thanks guys. Didn't know about the 1AMk2 on the horizon. What's changed? Can't find any info (that I can read, anyway).

Also, since the HD660S came up there in zeta's post ... anyone using the 660S with the ZX300, besides kms108? I know he posted several times before about the ZX300 barely being able to drive the 660S, but if I read his posts correctly he was speaking specifically of DSD files. Would I be disappointed in the ZX300 / 660S pairing if my collection is all FLAC?

The 1AMk2 now has a page at Sony. They also listed it as 299.99
https://www.sony.com/electronics/headband-headphones/mdr-1am2

As far as I've gathered the major improvement is in a massive weight reduction (now under 200g, compared to 225g previously), a tweak to the colour scheme (now full black or the beige/brown, no colour highlights), and the introduction of the Fibonacci sequence pattern for the grill that is carried over from the flagship Z1R.

Also the HD660S sounds great from a ZX300, but that's an open back full size can and is quite a bit more expensive than the 1A, plus I won't call it portable as it doesn't even collapse or folds, so I don't think it is something you are looking for if you are specifically looking for a portable can.

 

[Hanafuda]

The 1AMk2 now has a page at Sony. They also listed it as 299.99
https://www.sony.com/electronics/headband-headphones/mdr-1am2

As far as I've gathered the major improvement is in a massive weight reduction (now under 200g, compared to 225g previously), a tweak to the colour scheme (now full black or the beige/brown, no colour highlights), and the introduction of the Fibonacci sequence pattern for the grill that is carried over from the flagship Z1R.

Also the HD660S sounds great from a ZX300, but that's an open back full size can and is quite a bit more expensive than the 1A, plus I won't call it portable as it doesn't even collapse or folds, so I don't think it is something you are looking for if you are specifically looking for a portable can.

Thanks for the response & info! But I've been running "1AMK2" through google and etc all day today, coming up with nothing. 1AM2, huh. LOL
The HD660S would be something for down the road, not first. I need a closed headphone right now. I already have the MA900 which is SE of course but I'll wager it'll still sound pretty nice on the zx300. But eventually (after the wallet recovers), I'll probably want to get an open headphone to see just what the balanced output can do.