[Mindstorms]

Updated to the latest, sound didn't change for me.

I am experiencing this whole FW business very differently from everyone else it seems. I'm interested in understanding the mechanism through which the firmware controls the sound characteristics, so I want to know about configuration parameter mapping and measurable differences... no one else cares about this. When it comes to the listening experience, while there might be differences, they are not obvious to me and they definitely didn't impact how much I'm enjoying the player, so I don't care too much about firmware-rolling. Again, no one else seems to look at it like this.

Probably difficult to get a consensus even from the people who enjoy experimenting with different firmware. It's like asking people if they prefer a +2dB or -2dB EQ setting at 200 Hz.

Well I forgot to tell you the impact its very strong but you can only feel it if you have good iems that can reperesent correctly the sound and also very good hearing wich is my case... all except the fancy iems haha will clarify this is true for the 1A i really dont know whats happening here since i see 2.01?

 

[shady1991]

Out of curiosity, what ear/headphone are you running off it?

Mostly I am running Anandas and Beyerdynamic DT 880 32ohm.

 

[dazzerfong]

Well I forgot to tell you the impact its very strong but you can only feel it if you have good iems that can reperesent correctly the sound and also very good hearing wich is my case... all except the fancy iems haha

As someone with decent IEMs and decent hearing, no difference on my end. I originally thought there was a difference too, until I went to a store with a ZX300 running on the older firmware and A/B'd them. Zilch.

If it really was a 'big' difference, you won't need good equipment to tell the difference.

 

[Mindstorms]

As someone with decent IEMs and decent hearing, no difference on my end. I originally thought there was a difference too, until I went to a store with a ZX300 running on the older firmware and A/B'd them. Zilch.

If it really was a 'big' difference, you won't need good equipment to tell the difference.

thats weird maybe in this particular firmware or on zx300 there is no sound change and its something only for 1A 1Z you have same FW? than 1A users?

 

[dazzerfong]

thats weird maybe in this particular firmware or on zx300 there is no sound change and its something only for 1A 1Z you have same FW? than 1A users?

This is the ZX300 thread: I'm not talking about the WM1A/Z at all.

 

[Mindstorms]

yes I know I can see it quite clear on the top of my screen, but thank you I been asking if your firmware its diferent from 1A or 1Z no one answers me...I was triying to help a little but no luck here

 

[dmusicd]

Has anybody successfully managed to connect their Samsung S10 Plus to the ZX300 via bluetooth?

 

[dazzerfong]

Has anybody successfully managed to connect their Samsung S10 Plus to the ZX300 via bluetooth?

Did it on an S8, 3 different Bluetooth PC chipsets and my iPad. Did you press ‘Add Device’ before trying to add the device?

 

[shady1991]

As someone with decent IEMs and decent hearing, no difference on my end. I originally thought there was a difference too, until I went to a store with a ZX300 running on the older firmware and A/B'd them. Zilch.

If it really was a 'big' difference, you won't need good equipment to tell the difference.

Did you compare 2.02 to 2.01? I think this was the only time I notice a "big" difference.
Also just out of curiosity, if you ever compared, would you say, that the sound is very different when using zx300 as a standalone dap as opposed to as a USB dac? For me, a source changes sound so much that I go in trouble of connecting my dx160 and use zx300 as a dac, making my setup very uncomfortable to use.

 

[dazzerfong]

Did you compare 2.02 to 2.01? I think this was the only time I notice a "big" difference.
Also just out of curiosity, if you ever compared, would you say, that the sound is very different when using zx300 as a standalone dap as opposed to as a USB dac? For me, a source changes sound so much that I go in trouble of connecting my dx160 and use zx300 as a dac, making my setup very uncomfortable to use.

None. Always sounded the same to me no matter what mode I was in. Of course, in USB DAC the sound was delayed by 2 seconds but that's another matter.

And yes, it was between 2.02 and 2.01. If the difference was as large as you describe, there is something fundamentally wrong with either version/setup.

 

[shady1991]

None. Always sounded the same to me no matter what mode I was in. Of course, in USB DAC the sound was delayed by 2 seconds but that's another matter.

And yes, it was between 2.02 and 2.01. If the difference was as large as you describe, there is something fundamentally wrong with either version/setup.

It depends by definition of large, in this hobby we really nitpick most of the time. For the "sane" people, difference between my 850$ Anandas and 200$ k702 is very small, but we call this difference huge and we sell our kidneys for these differences. For me the difference between zx300 standalone vs zx300 dac with dx160 as a source, is almost 1/2 of the difference between zx300 and dx160, which one can argue is not huge at all, but I would use the word "big" because it is comparable to actual difference between the daps.

Anyway, I appreciate sharing your experience, I never understand why there are these differences and why I often enjoy technically inferior sound more, but I fail to find someone with the same experience.

 

[dazzerfong]

It depends by definition of large, in this hobby we really nitpick most of the time. For the "sane" people, difference between my 850$ Anandas and 200$ k702 is very small, but we call this difference huge and we sell our kidneys for these differences. For me the difference between zx300 standalone vs zx300 dac with dx160 as a source, is almost 1/2 of the difference between zx300 and dx160, which one can argue is not huge at all, but I would use the word "big" because it is comparable to actual difference between the daps.

Anyway, I appreciate sharing your experience, I never understand why there are these differences and why I often enjoy technically inferior sound more, but I fail to find someone with the same experience.

See here's the problem. I classify large as going from Airpods to Andromeda. From Andromeda to A12t is small. And my phone to ZX300 absolutely almost no difference.

I like buying fancy things, but I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say differences are large or night or day as one more elaborate folk have said. Someone here even said that swapping from a 1k cable to a 2k cable changed the sound fundamentally.

That's the kind of hyperbole I absolutely detest as it leads newcomers to pointless rabbit chasing.

Don't take this as a stab at you: I'm just venting at the state of hi-fi these days. That being said, firmware rolling is hardly expensive nor dangerous so I personally don't see any harm in doing so.

 

[candlejack]

See here's the problem. I classify large as going from Airpods to Andromeda. From Andromeda to A12t is small. And my phone to ZX300 absolutely almost no difference.

I like buying fancy things, but I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say differences are large or night or day as one more elaborate folk have said. Someone here even said that swapping from a 1k cable to a 2k cable changed the sound fundamentally.

That's the kind of hyperbole I absolutely detest as it leads newcomers to pointless rabbit chasing.

Don't take this as a stab at you: I'm just venting at the state of hi-fi these days. That being said, firmware rolling is hardly expensive nor dangerous so I personally don't see any harm in doing so.

That's exactly, and I mean EXACTLY, what my experience and stance are as well.

 

[candlejack]

lets do something im never unsincere why would i be unsincere send me a PM i will help you you can use the search tool for when i use the word firmware right me in PM i will help you I noticed the changes even in my zx100.. with chifi iems so there must be something wrong... and its very noticeable VIA SE

I'll try to do that.
Edit: OK, there are just too much stuff to go through, sorry. You know what Im interested in, so if you want to reply directly to that, I'd appreciate it.
I did find the following post very interesting though.

If we all start a company I could be in the firmware placebo effect area! lol and dont laugh

---

Well I forgot to tell you the impact its very strong but you can only feel it if you have good iems that can reperesent correctly the sound and also very good hearing wich is my case... all except the fancy iems haha will clarify this is true for the 1A i really dont know whats happening here since i see 2.01?

I think the IER-Z1R are pretty good IEMs and my hearing is fine too. My auditory memory might be subpar though, and I also have trouble sometimes isolating instruments/sounds in a mix, unless I'm really looking for them. So that might be why I cannot pinpoint differences very well, but it shouldn't mean that I can't tell that there is a difference.

So, for example, I didn't realize this track by Iron Maiden had brass and wind instruments in it until I saw a live performance by a cover band. Then, listening specifically for those instruments I could quite easily identify them in the original track. However, I'm absolutely convinced that, even before I was made aware of this, if you had given me the exact same song with these instruments removed from the mix, I would've immediately been able to tell something is off. It's a beautiful song, btw, worth listening for the music.

But this is not what happens for me when I change firmwares. Any differences that might be there simply don't stand out to me.

Iron Maiden original



Children Of The Beast cover

 

[shady1991]

See here's the problem. I classify large as going from Airpods to Andromeda. From Andromeda to A12t is small. And my phone to ZX300 absolutely almost no difference.

I like buying fancy things, but I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say differences are large or night or day as one more elaborate folk have said. Someone here even said that swapping from a 1k cable to a 2k cable changed the sound fundamentally.

That's the kind of hyperbole I absolutely detest as it leads newcomers to pointless rabbit chasing.

Don't take this as a stab at you: I'm just venting at the state of hi-fi these days. That being said, firmware rolling is hardly expensive nor dangerous so I personally don't see any harm in doing so.

Well, if difference between phone and zx300 is minimal then we clearly care about sound nuances very differently from each other. Almost every device I have heard renders the soundstage very differently (positioning, size of the image, depth illusion) and I really struggle to imagine how would people not care about source, for me difference between DAPs is much more apparent than difference between 128kbps mp3 and DSD.

And the problem with cables is that although they do sound different, it does not mean that some sound better than other, everything affects the sound for some reason and whenever people hear the difference they immediately assume expensive sounds better. Most of the time, I trust people who claim to hear difference between different setups, but I never trust their preference, because its mostly determined by their prejudice.