[davidmolliere]

I made the math. ZX507's balanced power output is 200 mW. To achieve 90 dB volume, the connected headphone must have a sensitivty of 67 dB/mW and above. For 100 dB it must be 77 dB/mW mW of above. Since all headphones have a sensitivity of 77 dB/mW and above ZX507 should be able drive (almost) every full sized headphone. Correct ?

There is a big difference between driving a headphone loud enough and have enough headroom and current to drive them well enough. Sensitivity is one item, I don’t see any mention of impedance and it definitely matters... (https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/power-calculator.html#dc)

Don’t mistake me here, I am a big fan of Sony house sound (owned the ZX2, ZX300, 1A, 1Z...) you can’t beat that analogue sounding signature but I can’t wait to have them release something that can handle a bit more output power... maybe that’s not compatible with S-Master digital amplification though. On the flipside, they have the best track record for battery life... can’t have it all.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

ZX300 vs Z507, circurity same, but ZX507 has new type of capacitor(which according to Sony Engineers has improvements to bass reproduction)

ZX300:

ZX500:

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

ZX300 vs Z507, circurity same, but ZX507 has new type of capacitor(which according to Sony Engineers has improvements to bass reproduction)

It is the same old FT cap used in ZX300, now with fancy gold lettering...

Same high polymer conductor, same 100uf capacitance, same 6.3A rating.

Best case scenario is it is a slight revision of the FT cap, given they haven't changed the name or spec of it, it is either the same old cap, or difference will be minimal at best.

 

[xenoVa]

edit: has been answered

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

Checking the spesifications:
ZX-300 : 1.6 - 4.2 mW (SE and balanced)
ZX-500: 50mW SE and 200 mW balanced
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/walkman/nw-zx300/specifications
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/walkman/nw-zx500-series/specifications
The output power is now much more. Doesn't this mean audio circuitry has been changed ?

Hahah, that is a mistake on the UK site, output power of ZX300 is 50mw and 200mW, same as ZX500. For reference, output of WM1A/Z is 60mw and 260mW.

https://www.sony.jp/walkman/products/NW-ZX300/index.html
https://www.sony.com.au/electronics/walkman/nw-zx300/specifications

 

[xenoVa]

Sony only mentions the output power at 16 ohms. Any information about the output power at the other impedance levels such as 32, 100, 300 ?

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

Sony only mentions the output power at 16 ohms. Any information about the output power at the other impedance levels such as 32, 100, 300 ?

It can be calculated, but it's not pretty, for a rough estimate just half the power for each doubling of impedance. Sony have the weakest daps on the market in their respective price ranges.

If you want an all-round excellent dap I can supply new AK SE100's for $1050...

It's really hard for me to recommend a dap under 1K, all seem to have significant drawbacks (for my tastes anyway).

 

[xenoVa]

Question: My headphone has 16 ohms of impedance 95 dB/mW sensitivity. For 110 dB of loudness (highest volume someone will ever need) 31,6 mW of power is required. So does it matter if the amplfifier has a maximum output power of 200 mW, 500 mW or 3000 mW ? At most 31,6 mW of power will be supplied, does the extra avaible power bring any advantage ?

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

I think there's a difference in solder used between the ZX500 and ZX300. Probably will have some minor effects to the sound.

Google translated:

Adopting high-quality solder for S-Master HX IC
Sony's exclusive high-quality solder is used for the connecting ball between the S-Master HX (CXD-3778GF) IC and the board. Achieved translucency and glossy vocals.

https://www.sony.jp/walkman/products/NW-ZX300/feature_3.html


Adopted "high quality solder" with gold
By adopting “high sound quality solder” with gold added to the contacts important for sound quality such as the soldering part of the headphone output, transmission loss is thoroughly eliminated and dynamic stage feeling and scale feeling are reproduced.

https://www.sony.jp/walkman/products/NW-ZX500_series/feature_4.html

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

Question: My headphone has 16 ohms of impedance 95 dB/mW sensitivity. For 110 dB of loudness (highest volume someone will ever need) 31,6 mW of power is required. So does it matter if the amplfifier has a maximum output power of 200 mW, 500 mW or 3000 mW ? At most 31,6 mW of power will be supplied, does the extra avaible power bring any advantage ?

Yes, volume level is not the only aspect. More power brings more current and voltage swing, if your headphones can take advantage of it, this will reward you with richer and more dynamic sound. There is no formula to figure this out, so it is always better to have more power than you need.

 

[KaiserTK]

Has anybody tried extracting the Sony player app from the ZX500 and using it with other Android devices?
I don’t know if it’s compatible or even possible, but that would be a great alternative to other Android player apps.

 

[omlettes]

I'm not really an android user so this is probably a basic question, but my understanding is there is some sort of OS-level playlist support that all

Has anybody tried extracting the Sony player app from the ZX500 and using it with other Android devices?
I don’t know if it’s compatible or even possible, but that would be a great alternative to other Android player apps.

Why would you choose Sony’s app over any other app? Playlist support is awful — you can’t create playlists, you can only add one song at a time. It has fewer display options. EQ seems equal or slightly behind other apps. It is more picky about album art and gets some of it wrong when you embed more than one image.

Why wouldn’t you use one of the half dozen other excellent android players?

 

[KaiserTK]

I'm not really an android user so this is probably a basic question, but my understanding is there is some sort of OS-level playlist support that all


Why would you choose Sony’s app over any other app? Playlist support is awful — you can’t create playlists, you can only add one song at a time. It has fewer display options. EQ seems equal or slightly behind other apps. It is more picky about album art and gets some of it wrong when you embed more than one image.

Why wouldn’t you use one of the half dozen other excellent android players?

I’ve had numerous buggy issues with Hiby and Fiio apps, and overall UI of Neutron and UAPP didn’t appeal to me. I used the Walkman for a long time so maybe I’m just biased towards it.

If you know of better alternatives I’d like to know (via PM). Thanks.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

You should try this, it's UI is exactly like the walkman app but installed on Xperia Mobile phones. Not sure if it will work with other non sony devices though. Give it a try:

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/sony-mobile-communications/walkman-music/

 

[magicrandy]

Just to report on the ZX507:

I was able to play 24bit 96Khz FLAC file with USB Audio Player Pro with Bit Perfect Setting using HiRes Direct Driver(which bypasses Android Audio SRC).

Also Youtube Music app really sounds good on the ZX507. It really opens alot of Live Concert music videos that can only be found on Youtube. Always thought that youtube audio quality sounds as crappy as Spotify but ZX507 has really changed my view on listening to youtube music videos. Now youtube audio quality has reach a acceptable(almost CD Quality) level with the ZX507(with DSEE HX turned on).

In comparsion, I feel that the old ZX2 DSEE HX although improves tonality, the soundstage information gets destroyed in the upsampling. With the ZX507's DSEE HX upsampling, I still can hear soundstage information as good as before upsampling.

Can you use USB Audio Player Pro with Amazon Music HD to play the Ultra Hi Res files at 24bit 96Khz?
Randy