Does anyone own an A306?
I'm still considering that used ZX300A and conflicted between saving my money as I am already catered for, or being able to snap up a deal on a good old Sony OS Walkman.
As I mentioned before I have a WM1Z for around home and the recently purchased A306 for work. As much as the A306 is a nice, small, all in one player, the Bluetooth is so weak, and the 3.5mm output is very low powered, something the ZX300 might be able to improve upon.
I have seen comments on the A300 thread where members say they rate the A306 above the ZX300. I remember the stock ZX300 being quite warm, and with my already warm XBA-Z5 almost suppressing the highs, so I don't know if it's the A306 brighter tuning they favour or it has some newer tech specs that have elevated the sound quality. In my experience as I went up through the tiers of the Walkmans (A15>ZX100>ZX300>WM1A>WM1Z) over the years the components and increase in power improved the overall sound quality. In my mind the lower priced, smaller form of the A306 might be lesser specced than the ZX300 that, tuning aside, not be able to compete for some aspects like staging or separation etc? From the custom firmwares we all know what a tuning can do, but for hardware I would like to know if the ZX300 should exceed the A306?
If I don't get it, my other option is to get a dongle like the Fiio KA5 as a higher powered output.