[jamestux]

I though to try hugo2. am I right that I can connect them via 3.5 to 3.5 connection?

Unless I've missed something there's no analogue in on the Hugo 2, it is a dac, not really an amp so you would need to use USB - then the Sony will become a transport, not a player

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

If you are going to use DSEE HX in any app and want to maximize sound quality then it will be advisable to switch off battery saver.

If you are using direct source, you can switch on battery saver in any app as there is no effect on sound quality.

 

[Facta]

Music from 3rd party apps benefit from ZX507's high quality playback or it bypasses it in favor of Android play?

 

[jaker782]

Since the ZX500 series does not have analog line out, if I connect it to an external balanced amp using the 4.4mm headphone out and crank the volume to max level, does anyone know how much voltage would be output into the amp? I'm wondering how using the DAP as a source would compare to using a DAC, which typically outputs 2V or 4V, depending on whether it is a single ended or balanced DAC. Thanks!

 

[omlettes]

Is there an option for soft start/pause that fades in and out on start/pause? I remember the NW-A45 having that feature. Once you're used to it anything else is so jarring.

 

[Earbones]

did new fw update, which allows hires streaming, instead of downsampling, really boost the sq to a heard-able degree?

Yes... and I am not someone who puts enormous stock in high-res vs standard streaming, assuming the same mix.

The problem is, many albums offered in high-res have also been remastered to take advantage of the higher resolution. Downsampling such albums can cause issues... For example, areas on a track that especially benefit from higher resolutions, delicate cymbal work for instance, may be put forward in the mix. But without the higher resolution playback to capture those subtleties, the track can just sound jarringly odd, mismatched, or otherwise wrong. The result is, albums mastered well for a wide scope of formats may sound better on Apple Music than albums remastered for high-res on, say, Amazon UHD when using a player that can’t handle the AUHD. This was particularly the case with a lot of Talking Head albums. They used to sound great on Apple Music, but not quite as good on AUHD... Just slightly uneven by comparison. Now the AUHD versions sound best.

As I’ve said before, the ZX507 is a hell of a DAP, and capable of outperforming many much more expensive DAPs, even when the Sony is pushing a downsampled hi-res album and the competition is playing it bit-perfect... For me, it was just that one extra bit of performance being “left on the table“, as it were. Upsampling is a wonderful step forward.

Hopefully bit-perfect and MQA are next...

 

[productred]

Yes... and I am not someone who puts enormous stock in high-res vs standard streaming, assuming the same mix.

The problem is, many albums offered in high-res have also been remastered to take advantage of the higher resolution. Downsampling such albums can cause issues... For example, areas on a track that especially benefit from higher resolutions, delicate cymbal work for instance, may be put forward in the mix. But without the higher resolution playback to capture those subtleties, the track can just sound jarringly odd, mismatched, or otherwise wrong. The result is, albums mastered well for a wide scope of formats may sound better on Apple Music than albums remastered for high-res on, say, Amazon UHD when using a player that can’t handle the AUHD. This was particularly the case with a lot of Talking Head albums. They used to sound great on Apple Music, but not quite as good on AUHD... Just slightly uneven by comparison. Now the AUHD versions sound best.

As I’ve said before, the ZX507 is a hell of a DAP, and capable of outperforming many much more expensive DAPs, even when the Sony is pushing a downsampled hi-res album and the competition is playing it bit-perfect... For me, it was just that one extra bit of performance being “left on the table“, as it were. Upsampling is a wonderful step forward.

Hopefully bit-perfect and MQA are next...

I totally agree that the ZX507 is one hell of a DAP and outperforms many much more expensive DAPs (from Korea and PRC in particular). The only reason why it is way less expensive is Sony is doing things its own way and somehow maintaining its own market not unlike Apple. The 507 is cheaper, sounds better, and weighs a lot less than the Korean/Chinese counterparts who boast about tons of premium off-the-shelf components packed inside but end up sounding inferior (and got superceded by their even more expensive, slightly altered but equally inferior sounding successors rolled out by the same brand in just a few months time).

I had loved Sony when I was a kid (Discman era). Then hate them towards the MD era as they roll out mediocre stuff clearly designed without the soul and passion. Then have to say they are doing very, VERY well these few years since maybe the Z5 and, of course, the legendary WM1 and now the ZX507. It shows that when you have a well-thought out top-notch product like the WM1 (and now the 507 as well), you don't really need to worry about replacing it. I now reach for my 507 more than my WM1 siblings for its sheer convenience with sound quality not compromised by size and weight.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Sony is the inventer of digital audio. They were the first to produce the PCM-1 processor back in 1970s, which the S-Master HX gen 2 on the ZX507 is the long lineage successor to this PCM-1 processor.

I believe that the reason why the ZX507 sounds so awesome is because of Sony's past technology advancements along with the skilful sound tuning by the artisan Sony sound engineers.

The sound from ZX507 DSEE HX AI on the fw2.00.10, is much different from what you will get from any other daps with off the shelf DACs and etc. With the right iem setup, you will find that music is alive, the singer's voice has clarity, depth, width and height, every instrument has its own position, imaging is very spot-on, a truly musical experience.

If you are interest in the history of digital audio:
https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/SonyHistory/2-07.html#block2

 

[sander93]

Yes... and I am not someone who puts enormous stock in high-res vs standard streaming, assuming the same mix.

The problem is, many albums offered in high-res have also been remastered to take advantage of the higher resolution. Downsampling such albums can cause issues... For example, areas on a track that especially benefit from higher resolutions, delicate cymbal work for instance, may be put forward in the mix. But without the higher resolution playback to capture those subtleties, the track can just sound jarringly odd, mismatched, or otherwise wrong. The result is, albums mastered well for a wide scope of formats may sound better on Apple Music than albums remastered for high-res on, say, Amazon UHD when using a player that can’t handle the AUHD. This was particularly the case with a lot of Talking Head albums. They used to sound great on Apple Music, but not quite as good on AUHD... Just slightly uneven by comparison. Now the AUHD versions sound best.

As I’ve said before, the ZX507 is a hell of a DAP, and capable of outperforming many much more expensive DAPs, even when the Sony is pushing a downsampled hi-res album and the competition is playing it bit-perfect... For me, it was just that one extra bit of performance being “left on the table“, as it were. Upsampling is a wonderful step forward.

Hopefully bit-perfect and MQA are next...

I am interested in one thing. perhaps there was a collision. sony stated (in previous FW) that it downsamples streaming. however, u can use sony's upsampling and other sound effects to adjust the sound of all music apps. thus u can upsample cd/mp3 to 32bit 192/176.4
thus, how did it combine together?

 

[Devodonaldson]

I am interested in one thing. perhaps there was a collision. sony stated (in previous FW) that it downsamples streaming. however, u can use sony's upsampling and other sound effects to adjust the sound of all music apps. thus u can upsample cd/mp3 to 32bit 192/176.4
thus, how did it combine together?

Newest firmware in sound settings there is a hi-res switch you turn on. It restarts the player. Now all other Android audio apps stream at 32-bit/192 I believe. No more downsampling period. Eats more battery, definitely worth it. Sounds awesome.

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

I have been experimenting with all sorts of adjustments to try understand how these affects the ZX507. Please note that all the below is my own observations.

Subjectively speaking, I think I managed to improve my ZX507 sound quality by doing further optimizations to the android system.

3 things which I think might help improve sound quality or performance.

1. Use microsd card formated by the walkman itself. Meaning if your card comes preformatted or formatted by windows/Mac, you have to transfer out your music and format the microsd card again with the Walkman before transferring music back. By doing this, it may optimize the walkman's data access performance at the operating system file system level and microsd card's read controller layer.

2. If you are using DSEE HX, please switch off Battery Saver if you want to maximize sound quality. I believe the AI processing needs alot of CPU power to do it's job properly. Using battery saver will reduce processor speed which inturn affects the AI's full potential.

3. Use of google playstore android optimization apps. It seems that there is a subjective improvements to performance and sound quality after doing additional extensive cache clearing and hibernating apps and etc. This is for those adventurous enough to try out.

I am sharing this as recommendations, it is up to you to decide if these are steps which you want to do as the improvements may or may not work depending on your hearing ability, how resolving your audio gears are, your listening volume and listening environment.

 

[WhatsHiFi]

So I’ve tried a volume caped UK version for a week now. As already stated by others I use around 100/120 for my MDR-Z1R. The sound is beautiful with 4.4 but I’m having a hard time hearing any difference with the original or Kimber cable.

Also tried it out with the new 1000XM4. Totally awesome as well! However I cannot understand why there’s only cap with cable and not wireless. Here I use the player at 80/120 instead. That doesn’t make ANY sense?! Since it’s not consistent.

I guess that confirms that there’s no hardware difference between the EU version? Why won’t a FW change it then?

I really want to keep it unit, but not if I’m capped like this...

 

[bland125]

So I’ve tried a volume caped UK version for a week now. As already stated by others I use around 100/120 for my MDR-Z1R. The sound is beautiful with 4.4 but I’m having a hard time hearing any difference with the original or Kimber cable.

Also tried it out with the new 1000XM4. Totally awesome as well! However I cannot understand why there’s only cap with cable and not wireless. Here I use the player at 80/120 instead. That doesn’t make ANY sense?! Since it’s not consistent.

I guess that confirms that there’s no hardware difference between the EU version? Why won’t a FW change it then?

I really want to keep it unit, but not if I’m capped like this...

A few things wrong here. You need to understand what Bluetooth is and does.

The amplification of the EU ZX507 is capped. When you use bluetooth with your XM4, the power comes from the amplification in the headphone and the ZX507 is now just a source sending a digital signal to the XM4 which needs to be converted and amplified. The ZX507 is still capped but since you are not using it's amplification section, it goes unnoticed really.

The Z1R and the XM4 are 2 different headphones with different power req. It's normal that, when both used wired (XM4 is likely fully passive when wired but I am not sure) to the ZX507, they require different volume levels. I'm not sure this is what are you comparing but just in case.

From what we've seen, a FW update or flash will not remove the cap. No one seems to know really how it is capped. Could be hardware, could be software but like root not Android or anything a FW usually manage. There is not way around it yet.

 

[WhatsHiFi]

I value the information regarding on why the XM4 are having correct volume levels. However I was not comparing. I’m confused on why this device is capped when nothing else seems to be. Not BT headphones nor other DAC/DAPs. That’s what makes me annoyed. Especially if it’s capped via hardware and these devices are somewhat crippled for life.

Also, thanks for explaining the current status of the cap and it’s non removal!

I’m just happy that I’ve found an awesome device that’s so portable and delivers fantastic sounds. Now just to decide if I’m on to find a non capped to find out if it makes any difference for my experience.

 

[sander93]

I have question.
I observe zx507 extensive heating while both charging from 1A iphone charger and playing cd music on 3.5mm output high gain 70/120 at the same time.
I don't observe any excess heating while I am charging it and playing cd music on balanced 4.4mm. (high gain 70/120)
by the way it seems that zx507 chargers significantly slower while playing on 3.5 than playing on 4.4.
Did anyone observe the same issue?

why does it heat and charge slower while playing on 3.5 mm?