[pr0b3r]

Just got my DIY 2.5mm to 4.4mm ultrashort adapter made by a friend. Time to burn in from the balanced port. I just tried it and immediately noticed the added airiness. I hope it will still get better later on.

 

[GreenBow]

I was thinking about buying a genuine Sony case of my ZX300. However that would lake a month to get come from Japan.

I bought a £6 (iGadgitz) silicone one for now. I thought the silicone one might be all I need.

The Sony one covers the screen, but leaves the buttons exposed to maybe get scratched. The silicone one covers the buttons, but leaves the screen with only a screen protector. Not bad though for £6.

My ZX300 is the silver one, but it looks stunning in the black silicone case.

 

[Ryokan]

Managed to get hold of a black ZX300 with 200 hours on balanced to compare with my silver un-capped ZX with approx 1000 hours on balanced - can't hear a noticeable difference admittedly didn't A-B for long as couldn't see the point.

 

[Hinomotocho]

I want to add after my last post though, just how good this ZX300 is sounding right now. Even with Mojo and Hugo 2 sat next to me at my desk, I am listening via ZX300.

The sound changed quite a bit during the first twelve hours. At first the ZX300 sounded off tonally, and sounded a bit lower quality. Making some sounds literally sound not right, compared to how I had heard them before in music. Once I had heard a sound, 'sound wrong', the music did not flow into the next sound properly. A sort of effect of thinking to the artist, "really, you ran that sound after that one". ....... Also all this thinking made the music not flow. I couldn't just let the music play away, without being in a conversation with it.

Now, however, this has improved, and that is why I am saying the music is becoming more cohesive. It's more together, flowing, and cleaner in tonality.

I think though that the synergy with these AKG N40 is doing a lot. There is something very good about them. I wrote about the AKG N40 in the Mojo and Hugo 2 threads. I was saying that the synergy they had with both Mojo and Hugo 2, was something else. For the price I honestly believe you could not find a better in-ear. They are straight down the middle of the road in terms of all audio qualities. Tonal balance between bass and treble, not thin - not thick sounding, smooth and stunning, with detail and excellent resolve.

Honestly my ZX300 sounds purrrfecct. .......... If it improves in sound by 200 hours, what is not to like, since I already like it now?

I'm open to the possibility that sometimes sound changes I perceive are psychological/exaggerated, but when I first got my ZX300 I tried 2 different well burnt-in XBA-Z5 and I couldn't stand them, I tired them again after 6 months and they sounded very different as the which I put down to the ZX300 burn-in.

 

[umbrellaus]

Actually this is the combo I'm using now and to my ears it's perfect, also heard improvement from SE to Balanced but that also involved cable swap and my balanced had many more hours of burn in already.
I like the extra bass, very controlled and powerful for such a small IEM. I know the AK players are meant to be more thin hence the AK version of the Xelento was tuned a bit warmer but I prefer a warmer sound so long as it doesn't loose detail across the other frequencies.
So I'd say there's nothing wrong with the combo but depending on your tone preference it might not match.

Welp, I can hear the difference, but not as much as ak320. The cable I use is the stock t8ie mark 2 cable with custom 4.4mm termination so I am not sure the cable is also one of the factors. I still cannot forget the ak320 sound signature, it's smooth and feels like pure silk. If you like bass, then I strongly recommend you to try out the a&k se100 in balanced output. I personally think the bass in se100 is strong and insane.

 

[Mal Waldron]

I'm planning get a new DAP. I'm using Shanling M2s and iBasso Dx50 with Xduo X5 and Cayin C5 to move, mainly, a pair of Beyer DT 1990 Pro and iBasso IT01. In general, I'm pretty happy with SQ. Assuming I won't be able to use the Beyers on balanced, I wonder if it's worth making this investment on this DAP. I' don't know if this Sony dap could get everything or, at least, a lot of the potential of the Beyers.

The other candidate could be the new iBasso dx120, as Im not interested on other devices with streaming services.

Thank you very much!

 

[Marvellous_DAP]

Looks perfect and will check out. Thanks alot!

It's what the other members is looking for, that is a custom made one, made from China.

 

[Marvellous_DAP]

Won't grab a Poly for the price as it kind of adds bulk to the overall set for me.

Anyway, I am still happy with the ZX300 for the portability though having the 4.4mm balanced cable with my IEM is still some kind of inconvenience when needed a 3.5mm plug. Will check out KMS108's recommendation for the adapter so that I could still use the balanced cable in flight.

The Mojo would only potentially be a better option if the Poly was faultless. Had it been perfect I would probably have one already. (It may be worth trying a Poly, if you're prepared to have to return one.) The Poly has been a bit of a disaster for Chord. I personally do not own a smartphone to drive a Poly, but any old cheap fully functioning phone will do. (I need to get one though, to get a decent phone/camera.)

The ZX300 wins out for battery life though. Plus as you say, for on the go, it's sound quality is fine. That's how I find it, even with only twelve hours running-time, and only the single ended port. .......... A Mojo - Poly would mean charging almost every time you came home. It would mean disconnecting the Poly from Mojo, if you wanted Mojo to use elsewhere. (Like maybe on a PC.)

I think the a Poly would be a viable option is if you were lucky and got a faultless one. There are people totally happy with their Poly, so Chord got it right somewhere. ... However all things said, I think I might still prefer to use the ZX300. I bought mine for £450, and that is half the price of a Mojo - Poly. Were I to lose the Mojo Poly, I would be distressed. Battery life also matters to me. ZX300 is perfectly adequate to me. (Seriously adequate.) ..... Therefore I bought a ZX300 and not a Poly.

 

[McCol]

Bought and received a ZX300 yesterday after a few years away from the walkman range. Think my last one was probably the 1060. For me there has always been something special about the Sony house sound, it probably dates back to the early eighties when family friends had a Sony separates system. It had a detailed yet warm sound that I hadn't experienced from various family members hifi's and never really experienced again for many years despite hearing some excellent systems. I've always felt that the Walkman's I have owned since the late 80's had this house sound to varying degrees's, cassette and minidisc players over the years to my ears always had this sound. The 1060 changed this a bit for me, I felt the sound had changed, a brief time with the zx1 left me feeling the same.
After recently selling my DX200 and buying a Fiio Q5 to use with my Iphone I decided I wanted a new DAP that was just a DAP and nothing else, no streaming or apps etc etc. Looked at the new DX120 and a few others but decided to give the ZX300 a punt after reading through this thread. Got one at a good price from @Van Dam

Used the Rockbox tool to change the EU setting and after a few hours of listening I couldn't be happier. To these old ears that old Sony sound is back, the detail is there but there is that warm kind of organic sound that doesn't feel too bassy or muddy but just sounds so musical and engaging. Technically it may not match the DX200 I owned for a few months but for putting a smile on my face it more than matches and probably surpasses anything I've heard for quite some time. Oh and it is a lovely unit to hold, very tactile and well built, with a nice easy interface.

 

[psikey]

I keep hoping a new "ZX400" will have Spotify/Tidal support in a similar form factor keeping the 4.4mm balanced.

I sold my ZX300/DFR and Mojo after getting the LG V30+ phone and use Tidal/Spotify for 95% of my listening these days but would still love a small dedicated player like the ZX300 if they add offline Spotify/Tidal support.

The V30 series is by far best phone audio I've ever heard and same or close to dedicated sub £500 DAP/DAC's whether using my high sensitivity SE846's or my HD660S headphones (only have these two now too).

 

[Bepli]

I keep hoping a new "ZX400" will have Spotify/Tidal support in a similar form factor keeping the 4.4mm balanced.

I sold my ZX300/DFR and Mojo after getting the LG V30+ phone and use Tidal/Spotify for 95% of my listening these days but would still love a small dedicated player like the ZX300 if they add offline Spotify/Tidal support.

The V30 series is by far best phone audio I've ever heard and same or close to dedicated sub £500 DAP/DAC's whether using my high sensitivity SE846's or my HD660S headphones (only have these two now too).

Well you are not the aim customer :S
The engineers of the new gen Walkman's always stat multiple reasons why they don't want WiFi on these players anymore.
1. The introduced noise from more electronics.
2. The OS limitations and the work they would need to put into it to make it work well. There own OS costs less and is easier to update.
3. The push notifications and other stuff that are not removable. They want a music player and nothing more or less.
Also with the introduction of the Bluetooth receiver mode in the new Update coming soon to all of the players will give you the option to stream music. Now people come and say that this reduces the quality, but the highest quality streaming would be CD quality and this works transparent with 3 options, aptx, aptx HD and Sony own LDAC. Also if you think about MQA this isn't possible because of the implementation MQA them self force on to the Phone makers.

All in all I would say that Sony does it perfectly right now. A pure music player with great performance and everything you could wish for right now, they players even decode MQA which is proven already to be just more money making.

 

[Bepli]

Also about MQA, everyone that buys into this crap doesn't understand what they are doing. For 99% of MQA releases it is encoded in the cloud and just put out, no special treatment and nothing changing in the mastering, also there so called "Origami" process is flawed and there "deblurring" is just a Filter which is proven to have a lot of issues for music reproducing. No one that really cares about the music should buy into that. It's a flawed lossy money making scheme and it doesn't offer any improvement. Everything they do can be done at home lossless by using a DAC that has such a filter which are not even that expensive anymore.

 

[shootertwist]

still waiting for the release of the zx300 (128gb) or the update of the current hardware's firmware... that wireless streaming via phone will be handy and looking forward to it. Would like to buy a zx300 now but until the update it cant do wireless streaming yet, would prefer to make sure the update comes hope i dont have to wait long really itching to use them, my last sony was the ZX2

 

[nanaholic]

Well you are not the aim customer :S
The engineers of the new gen Walkman's always stat multiple reasons why they don't want WiFi on these players anymore.
1. The introduced noise from more electronics.
2. The OS limitations and the work they would need to put into it to make it work well. There own OS costs less and is easier to update.
3. The push notifications and other stuff that are not removable. They want a music player and nothing more or less.
Also with the introduction of the Bluetooth receiver mode in the new Update coming soon to all of the players will give you the option to stream music. Now people come and say that this reduces the quality, but the highest quality streaming would be CD quality and this works transparent with 3 options, aptx, aptx HD and Sony own LDAC. Also if you think about MQA this isn't possible because of the implementation MQA them self force on to the Phone makers.

All in all I would say that Sony does it perfectly right now. A pure music player with great performance and everything you could wish for right now, they players even decode MQA which is proven already to be just more money making.

Also don't forget that it is cost prohibitive and highly complex to maintain compatibility with n numbers of streaming apps (Tidal and Spotify aren't the only services around in the world)- even if the device itself is Android based (see AK devices and the numerous problems it has).

Your smartphone (especially flagship phones) will always be the best platform to support streaming apps because it is going to be updated fairly regularly with the streaming app being optimised to run on them with the latest and fullest feature set, so using it as the digital transport and using the player as a DAC/BT receiver is always going to be much better experience than having your DAP (always running an outdated Android build even if it does run Android) will provide. I think it is nigh time for people to stop demanding their DAPs be streaming compatible and instead asks DAP makers to make BT receiver mode as being standard instead.

 

[pr0b3r]

I keep hoping a new "ZX400" will have Spotify/Tidal support in a similar form factor keeping the 4.4mm balanced.

I sold my ZX300/DFR and Mojo after getting the LG V30+ phone and use Tidal/Spotify for 95% of my listening these days but would still love a small dedicated player like the ZX300 if they add offline Spotify/Tidal support.

The V30 series is by far best phone audio I've ever heard and same or close to dedicated sub £500 DAP/DAC's whether using my high sensitivity SE846's or my HD660S headphones (only have these two now too).

I don't want to be a killjoy for you man, just want to share my experience with LG. Mine was a V20. Though your case might be different, I wouldn't wait till the same thing happens to me just like many other LG users. My V20 died all of a sudden without any warning whatsoever. It was pure stock, no malicious apps installed that I know about, it just suddenly died while I was browsing on Facebook. After some numerous web searching, I found out that I was only one of the many owners of the same phone who experienced the same thing. Most people were saying that the board has the tendency to suddenly die and stop functioning, giving you a bricked phone which is unrepairable unless you buy some replacement parts. I was really disappointed since I liked the sound of it. That's when I decided it's still better to have a dedicated DAP than to rely solely on a nice sounding smartphone. Plus, LG's screen was the worst I had in a smartphone. You may already know about the persistent issue of image retention. That's not something I would expect from an expensive phone.

I'm glad I did not sell my DAPs to have my phone fixed or to buy a new one. Nowadays, I'm just happy with a decent smartphone and having a dedicated DAP or two for my music.