[bloodyf8]

Got my first pair of IEMs for the Sony ZX300! After a really long long long shipping time with Aliexpress, everything came perfectly.

This Shanling bag holds perfectly the ZX300 + 2 pairs of IEMs no doubt.

Do you feel your zx300 getting warm/hot when playing music on that hardcase ? im planning to get same hardcase for my zx300

 

[tonyg1]

Most likely not, considering it's wired up the same way as the ZX300 on the analog front-end. The extra ring is used as an additional ground.

I'll be sticking with the ZX300 (probably even if the ZX507 did support remote operation). For me the sound quality and battery life are my priorities...

 

[U2Joshua]

the ZX507 audio circuitry is identical to the ZX300 with only the power delivery being different to accommodate the new SoC's

Is this in fact confirmed, or rather speculation/assumption?

It’s funny how within the preceding half dozen posts you have opinions of one player sounding better than the other. If, in fact, the two players have identical guts I am not tempted to upgrade to the 507, at all. Having been anxiously awaiting more details, I’ve been optimistic that the press claims that the 507 uses “all new polymer capacitors,” meant “all new” compared to its predecessor, the 300.

 

[dazzerfong]

Is this in fact confirmed, or rather speculation/assumption?

It’s funny how within the preceding half dozen posts you have opinions of one player sounding better than the other. If, in fact, the two players have identical guts I am not tempted to upgrade to the 507, at all. Having been anxiously awaiting more details, I’ve been optimistic that the press claims that the 507 uses “all new polymer capacitors,” meant “all new” compared to its predecessor, the 300.

It is the same:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/new-sony-nw-zx500.914486/page-56

They do use all new polymer caps - that's because caps get refreshed often. Especially since 2018, a lot of caps have been depreciated by manufacturers to consolidate inventory and reduce overhead of managing so many variants of caps.

However, the caps still have the same capacitance, amp rating and material. Make of that what you will.

You can make an argument it makes bass reproduction better, etc. However, ultimately it's the design of the circuitry which determines the overwhelming majority of performance, not the single cap you used in a certain application.

That being said, I'm not going to convince folks who are convinced themselves that there's a sound quality difference between the 300 and 507. Instead, I focus on the difference in features between the 300 and 507, as that's a much more objective comparison.

 

[524419]

Is this in fact confirmed, or rather speculation/assumption?

It’s funny how within the preceding half dozen posts you have opinions of one player sounding better than the other. If, in fact, the two players have identical guts I am not tempted to upgrade to the 507, at all. Having been anxiously awaiting more details, I’ve been optimistic that the press claims that the 507 uses “all new polymer capacitors,” meant “all new” compared to its predecessor, the 300.

Instead of upgrading to a new Player, try changing the internal stranded copper wires for Solid OCC Copper 20 gauge neotech cables. I have done the Mod to the ZX300 and the 1A, and difference in Sound Quality is pretty significant.
These old Sony Players with a little bit of help, are still the best sounding players on the market.
No need to upgrade.

 

[geisterfaust]

Do you feel your zx300 getting warm/hot when playing music on that hardcase ? im planning to get same hardcase for my zx300

Hi lad.

I can't tell you since I only use the case for storing the DAP and IEMs, I always use it outside of the case.

 

[dazzerfong]

Instead of upgrading to a new Player, try changing the internal stranded copper wires for Solid OCC Copper 20 gauge neotech cables. I have done the Mod to the ZX300 and the 1A, and difference in Sound Quality is pretty significant.
These old Sony Players with a little bit of help, are still the best sounding players on the market.
No need to upgrade.

You're telling me changing a 1 or 2-inch wire made a significant sound quality difference?

Yep, I need to quit the medical industry and get into the audiophile industry.

Also, Neotech, really? You can get much better stuff. Gonna get some Monster cables, be right back.

 

[524419]

You're telling me changing a 1 or 2-inch wire made a significant sound quality difference?

Yep, I need to quit the medical industry and get into the audiophile industry.

Also, Neotech, really? You can get much better stuff. Gonna get some Monster cables, be right back.

I am speaking from experience, you are speaking out of your @SS.
And yes, Neotech Solid Copper Wires, 20 gauge to be exact, sounds much smoother, and has audibly lower distortion. The skin effect of stranded copper wires, is the issue.
I have tried 28 gauge, 26 gauge, 24 gauge, 22 gauge, 20 gauge, 18 gauge, and Cardas Litz wire. Neotech 20 gauge cable Was by far the best sounding. Perfect balance of bass and treble, With a deep holographic soundstage.
the 1 foot of wire needed costs a $1.50. So don't quit your medical job yet.

Also, for everyone complaining about HISS with sensitive Iems, the darker and Blacker background of the Solid Wire Will be a be huge plus.

 

[tonyg1]

This is such an interesting place. On the one hand you have posts like this one, that ooze solid reasoning:



And then you have someone suggesting you should change the cables in your Sony DAP to pretty significantly improve its sound quality.



I wonder how technical discussions go in audio engineering departments.

(Junior Engineer) - Sir, I just found a way to improve your carefully considered DAP design!
(Technical Lead) - That's great news, Noobi-san, please tell me.
(J.E.) - It's not even that complicated, it's surprising you haven't thought of it yourself, Gosu-san. We replace the standard copper wires with 7N OCC OFC Frozen [...] wires.
(T.L.) - Very interesting. So you tested it and it measures better?
(J.E.) - Well, no. We just listened and trusted our ears. And almost all of my fellow junior engineers most definitely heard the improvement.
(T.L.) - Ok, that's not bad either. So you ABX tested the two versions and had an almost 100% success rate?
(J.E.) - Well, no. We only had the one prototype, so that's the one we modified. Then, we used our memory to compare it to its original version.
(T.L.) - Hmmm... And what did the senior engineers say when you told them about this?
(J.E.) - They laughed with joy and excitement and told me to rush into your office to tell you about my great discovery.

You're telling me changing a 1 or 2-inch wire made a significant sound quality difference?

Yep, I need to quit the medical industry and get into the audiophile industry.

Also, Neotech, really? You can get much better stuff. Gonna get some Monster cables, be right back.

I hope that the replacement wire was installed using the correct solder, because according to Sony (Z500 Series) " ADVANCED SOLDER CONTAINING GOLD: The exceptional conductivity of gold ensures absolute minimum signal loss. For clearer sound and vocals, a premium, audio-grade lead-free solder with a small amount of gold connects the circuit of the NW-Z500 to the battery". Amazing...

 

[524419]

I hope that the replacement wire was installed using the correct solder, because according to Sony (Z500 Series) " ADVANCED SOLDER CONTAINING GOLD: The exceptional conductivity of gold ensures absolute minimum signal loss. For clearer sound and vocals, a premium, audio-grade lead-free solder with a small amount of gold connects the circuit of the NW-Z500 to the battery". Amazing...

Cardas Solder was good enough in my case. Mod took me about 15 minutes to complete. No Gold required.


ADD: If anyone does decide to do this MOD, use plenty of flux to ensure a clean solid connection.

 

[dazzerfong]

Cardas Solder was good enough in my case. Mod took me about 15 minutes to complete. No Gold required.


ADD: If anyone does decide to do this MOD, use plenty of flux to ensure a clean solid connection.

Rookie - real men go fluxless. Flux residue has a detectable impact on high* frequency content. Also, use of too much flux (i.e. more than what your resin core gives) creates shorts all over the damn place.

Guess you don't know what you're doing after all.

* gigahertz

 

[robulation]

I’d love to see pictures of this...

 

[tonyg1]

I am speaking from experience, you are speaking out of your @SS.
And yes, Neotech Solid Copper Wires, 20 gauge to be exact, sounds much smoother, and has audibly lower distortion. The skin effect of stranded copper wires, is the issue.
I have tried 28 gauge, 26 gauge, 24 gauge, 22 gauge, 20 gauge, 18 gauge, and Cardas Litz wire. Neotech 20 gauge cable Was by far the best sounding. Perfect balance of bass and treble, With a deep holographic soundstage.
the 1 foot of wire needed costs a $1.50. So don't quit your medical job yet.

Also, for everyone complaining about HISS with sensitive Iems, the darker and Blacker background of the Solid Wire Will be a be huge plus.

On "skin" effect: I can see that stranded wires might have an impact over a reasonable distance where Radio Frequencies are involved (except for Litz construction) but I'm surprised that there'd be any detectable difference between solid and stranded (uninsulated strands) at audio frequencies...

 

[tonyg1]

I am speaking from experience, you are speaking out of your @SS.
And yes, Neotech Solid Copper Wires, 20 gauge to be exact, sounds much smoother, and has audibly lower distortion. The skin effect of stranded copper wires, is the issue.
I have tried 28 gauge, 26 gauge, 24 gauge, 22 gauge, 20 gauge, 18 gauge, and Cardas Litz wire. Neotech 20 gauge cable Was by far the best sounding. Perfect balance of bass and treble, With a deep holographic soundstage.
the 1 foot of wire needed costs a $1.50. So don't quit your medical job yet.

And how does this create an enhanced "deep holographic soundstage"? I'm assuming (maybe incorrectly) that this relates to a 3-dimensional sound effect that fools the ear into perceiving sounds from individual sources as coming from different directions/distances corresponding to their actual location at a "live" performance (so something like the old quadrophonic system but with two earpieces plus some form of delay to individual recorded tracks. Apologies if I'm misunderstanding but Holographic is obviously a borrowed term normally applied to images not audio.

 

[524419]

And how does this create an enhanced "deep holographic soundstage"? I'm assuming (maybe incorrectly) that this relates to a 3-dimensional sound effect that fools the ear into perceiving sounds from individual sources as coming from different directions/distances corresponding to their actual location at a "live" performance (so something like the old quadrophonic system but with two earpieces plus some form of delay to individual recorded tracks. Apologies if I'm misunderstanding but Holographic is obviously a borrowed term normally applied to images not audio.

Less noise, and a cleaner audio image with a blacker background, gives the illusion of a deeper soundstage. The DMPZ1 is the absolute best that I have ever heard that creates that effect, the modded 1A and ZX300 sound deeper and have higher resolution than stock.