[Artstar]

If I had paid that amount I would feel a little better although I purchased from Price Japan and with no discount offer for a tidy sum of $830AUD,
so you can understand where I'm coming from. At that price I demand Sony supply top of everything, cpu, screen etc.
This is part of Sony's business model to keep you coming back.

You don't seem to be willing to accept that you can't have the top of everything without compromises. You want top CPU, screen, etc? You'll get an Xperia-sized unit which will leave the majority of consumers thinking they may as well get the phone instead. That's not what Sony were aiming to do. They were aiming to create a well-featured audio player with the primary focus being SQ while maintaining a small form factor and long playback time.

You don't get that combination with a top CPU and screen.




"If it sounds good to you, that's all that matters. " - Artstar

 

[a_recording]

You don't seem to be willing to accept that you can't have the top of everything without compromises. You want top CPU, screen, etc? You'll get an Xperia-sized unit which will leave the majority of consumers thinking they may as well get the phone instead. That's not what Sony were aiming to do. They were aiming to create a well-featured audio player with the primary focus being SQ while maintaining a small form factor and long playback time.

You don't get that combination with a top CPU and screen.

"If it sounds good to you, that's all that matters. " - Artstar

 
Um. Look at the size of the iPod Touch and tell me that they could not have put more hardware into the ZX1. The ZX1 would have actually been thinner if it used a bonded glass display. It would have just cost more.
 
The ZX1 is no engineering marvel. I don't believe they were able to deliver on the basic premise of the design: to make a dedicated audio player that would outperform a smartphone.
 
Soomal's results seem to indicate that it performs on par with the Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 5S and worse than the HTC One M8.
 
The ZX1 only seems to be large because it is over-engineered. That big shiny gold headphone jack in particular seems like a giant bone to throw to the cable obsessives. It would not be surprising if it was determined that the ZX1 does not perform substantially better than the much smaller F880.
 
Now I would love to see more RMAA results and I'll eat my words if it turns out that the ZX1 turns out to be doing some kind of magic not showing up in Soomal's results. But from what I can hear, it doesn't sound like any kind of revelation.

 

[mochill]

Japanese edition doesn't have hiss and sounds way better the its z series Walkmans Android brother

 

[Cecala]

You don't seem to be willing to accept that you can't have the top of everything without compromises. You want top CPU, screen, etc? You'll get an Xperia-sized unit which will leave the majority of consumers thinking they may as well get the phone instead. That's not what Sony were aiming to do. They were aiming to create a well-featured audio player with the primary focus being SQ while maintaining a small form factor and long playback time.

You don't get that combination with a top CPU and screen.




"If it sounds good to you, that's all that matters. " - Artstar

You don't seem to be willing to accept that we are discussing the fact that ther ZX-1 is no better sound wise to the popular phones at there and the conclusion thus far is that you are better off buying a phone instead. Considering the price and that the ZX-1 'only' plays music I should get a top cpu, screen etc.
The Samsung Galaxy 6 looks like it will be a monster when released so I'll kill two birds with one stone and for the same price of the ZX-1. The Sony ZX-1 is a nice unit although far to expensive for what it delivers.
Finally, Sony was aiming to double dip period, provide two devices when clearly one would have been perfect.
You see it differently fine although next time I'll know what to do.

 

[a_recording]

@mochill On what basis do you speculate that the Japanese model is any different from the international models? Why would this even make any sense from a business perspective to put different hardware in the Japanese model? Or are you only saying that on the basis that because you can't hear the hiss, and you have a Japanese model, therefore the Japanese model is different?
 
The hiss is less noticeable on some headphones and moreso on others. It is quite quiet and unless you were to do use an A/B switch to rapidly switch between two sources you may not notice it. But you would also notice it simply by doing this in a quiet room: play a piece of music (to make sure the amps are active), pause it, listen, and then pull out the headphone plug, and then listen again. You can keep plugging it in and out and you will hear the difference. It is very quiet on some devices. On the quad balanced armature Primo 8 it is shockingly loud, like the kind of 'mic air' you get in old classical recordings. I'm not sure exactly why it is so bad on the Primo 8, but it probably has something to do with the crossover.
 
I do not think the hiss is so objectionable by itself (many players hiss), but it is objectionable in the context that Sony bills this devices as 24bit audio capable when it is limited to a lower dynamic range because of the hiss. It's like selling a car telling people it goes to 200 kmh, and the speedometer goes up to 200 kmh, but the car itself only goes up to 100kmh.

 

[AnakChan]

Alright folks can we just agree to disagree? Some folks like the ZX1, and some don't. Some claim their ZX1 has no hiss, whilst others do. I think if someone is going to find a universal answer that the ZX1 is poor DAP performer for everyone, they'll be seeking forever.
 
Stop with the "you's" and let's talk more about the "I/My/Mine".

 

[mochill]

Using dunu dn2000 which is my most sensitive iem I have

 

[a_recording]

I don't mean to get personal. I just don't want a spurious narrative about a fabled Japanese spec NWZ-ZX1 to evolve out of thin air.
 
As much as I appreciate relative and subjective impressions (I'm an art student for goodness sakes!) I think there needs to be a degree of open and objective discussion around common reference points.
 
As far as I am aware, I am the only person who went to the trouble of actually volume matching this player to compare with another. I did this because as a reviewer I simply do not want to tell people to buy something when I do not trust my own ears when it comes to the at times infinitesimal differences between sources.
 
I have said again and again and I will say once more: I do not think the ZX1 sounds bad. But I think the marketing and price reflects a bad direction in the industry when even a major player like Sony will release a product that seems to fail to meet it's stated technical objectives while at the same time marketing its advantages.
 
I do not want to see portable audio become a faith based industry. When people dismiss or outright ignore actual data points with a wave of the "everyone hears things differently" wand, I think the community is moving into dangerous territory.

 

[estreeter]

Oddly reminiscent of the ancient debate re whether the iPod took a major dip in SQ when Apple changed from Wolfson to Cirrus years ago. Who keeps a 9-year old lump of plastic simply because it has the 'right' sliver of silicon ?
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_iPod_models
 
I don't know how accurate this chart is, but it would seem that the 'best' iPhones from an audio POV all have Cirrus chipsets. 
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iphone#Model_comparison
 
Implementation is everything, even if Vinnie Rossi is adamant that the move to Cirrus was a mistake. 

 

[McCol]

I've found the ZX1 so far to be an excellent dap. Using with er4s and AKG k3003 with no hiss.
SQ wise it sounds as good as and in some genres better than my DX90. I've compared to phones in my house and friends phones and to my ears, with my earphones and for my musical genres it is a step above all the mobile phone devices I've compared to and that includes 5s.

Now I'm not saying that my opinion is the right one but I never bought this for anything other than music playback so screen etc doesn't really concern me tbh.

Is it worth almost twice the price of the DX90? Probably not but I will be keeping both as to me there is enough if a difference in sound presentation for me justify keeping both.

 

[AnakChan]

  I don't mean to get personal. I just don't want a spurious narrative about a fabled Japanese spec NWZ-ZX1 to evolve out of thin air.
 
As much as I appreciate relative and subjective impressions (I'm an art student for goodness sakes!) I think there needs to be a degree of open and objective discussion around common reference points.
 
As far as I am aware, I am the only person who went to the trouble of actually volume matching this player to compare with another. I did this because as a reviewer I simply do not want to tell people to buy something when I do not trust my own ears when it comes to the at times infinitesimal differences between sources.
 
I have said again and again and I will say once more: I do not think the ZX1 sounds bad. But I think the marketing and price reflects a bad direction in the industry when even a major player like Sony will release a product that seems to fail to meet it's stated technical objectives while at the same time marketing its advantages.
 
I do not want to see portable audio become a faith based industry. When people dismiss or outright ignore actual data points with a wave of the "everyone hears things differently" wand, I think the community is moving into dangerous territory.

 
It wasn't aimed at you specifically, not to worry.
 
BTW, did Warrren pass on the message to you that "I hear no hiss on my ZX1, nor did my work colleague" ??

 

[Dymloslouire]

   
Please let me know if I've misunderstood you but based on what I'm reading, you bought it at grey market prices because you wanted it ASAP, instead of waiting for official Australia distribution in May '14, and you feel that the Sony's NW-ZX1 is overpriced?

AnakChan,
from this statement (or a question) of yours, may i ask one thing?
have you directly compared ZX1 which has been brought from Japan and ZX1 which has been brought from anywhere except japan?

i have heard many things about the difference of sony's products (like.. japanese MDR-EX1000 that has a smoother treble and lusher mid than EX1000 that is produced to supply international market, IMO) and i would like to know, if there's sonic difference between Japan's ZX1 and international ZX1.
 
i'll go to hongkong by the end of July and i would like to purchase my ZX1 there if there's not a sound difference between japan and international version..
or else, i'm gonna wait sometime around next year when i go to japan..

 

 

[AnakChan]

  AnakChan,
from this statement (or a question) of yours, may i ask one thing?
have you directly compared ZX1 which has been brought from Japan and ZX1 which has been brought from anywhere except japan?

i have heard many things about the difference of sony's products (like.. japanese MDR-EX1000 that has a smoother treble and lusher mid than EX1000 that is produced to supply international market, IMO) and i would like to know, if there's sonic difference between Japan's ZX1 and international ZX1.
 
i'll go to hongkong by the end of July and i would like to purchase my ZX1 there if there's not a sound difference between japan and international version..
or else, i'm gonna wait sometime around next year when i go to japan..

 

 
Sadly nope, since I live in Japan I have -only- access to the ZX1 available in Japan. Mine was pre-ordered and I got my ZX1 on the 1st day it was available back in Dec.
 
I honestly can't say about the specific models you've mentioned (ZX1, or EX1000, etc). but threading on dangerous grounds of "generalisation", I have come across many Japanese companies that'll make something for themselves and something else for the international market (and I don't mean just electronics but cars, etc.). However the international models do usually have a different model name though.

 

[Retrias]

Anakchan , what do you think of the zx1 among your daps, does it still perform and still went down to actual sound sig preference, or does the zx1 just falls short to the other daps 

 

[Dymloslouire]

 
Sadly nope, since I live in Japan I have -only- access to the ZX1 available in Japan. Mine was pre-ordered and I got my ZX1 on the 1st day it was available back in Dec. 

Quote:

 
I honestly can't say about the specific models you've mentioned (ZX1, or EX1000, etc). but threading on dangerous grounds of "generalisation", I have come across many Japanese companies that'll make something for themselves and something else for the international market (and I don't mean just electronics but cars, etc.).

well, can't say or silent means yes to me

 

 However the international models do usually have a different model name though.

hmm, considering that the international model and the Japanese model have the same product code...
then it's safe to assume that the product is no different, then?