[purk]

   
Hmm... so the cap affects sound quality as well?? I probably would've gotten a Japanese ZX1 in the first place if it wasn't for the 20% off voucher I used. Although I've never really desired to listen above the maximum volume limit of anything I've owned, I do find it pretty odd that they'd cap a player aimed at people who would most surely own harder to drive headphones.
Especially with all the talk about it's amp and hardware. Haven't tried PPCG's tip yet though, so I'll see if that makes any difference. 

Yes, on my A86X series but that may not be the case for the ZX1.  I advise you to compare your ZX1 to the Japanese ZX1 to see if you can notice any difference.

 

[cattlethief]

  Here is the way to increase the ZX1's output power
1. Make sure the xLoud & Clear Phase was checked in the sound setting
2. Lower down the volume
3. Go to Setting / Apps / ALL / Sound enhancements / then push "Disable" 
4. Enjoy!

After disable the Sound enhancements, EQ won't work anymore.
You have to restart the ZX1 to make it work again.

Tried this with the euro F886 didnt make any difference to sound or volume and you dont have to restart it to enable it again.

 

[McCol]

Hmm... so the cap affects sound quality as well?? I probably would've gotten a Japanese ZX1 in the first place if it wasn't for the 20% off voucher I used. Although I've never really desired to listen above the maximum volume limit of anything I've owned, I do find it pretty odd that they'd cap a player aimed at people who would most surely own harder to drive headphones.
Especially with all the talk about it's amp and hardware. Haven't tried PPCG's tip yet though, so I'll see if that makes any difference. 

I think its EU law that insists on the volume cap and not Sony themselves, although I might be wrong in this. I'm sure it was the French government a few years ago who insisted on a cap.

 

[misteralakista]

  Yes, on my A86X series but that may not be the case for the ZX1.  I advise you to compare your ZX1 to the Japanese ZX1 to see if you can notice any difference.

 
Haha I don't know anyone who would own a Japanese ZX1, unfortunately; and just the thought of buying it and importing it and returning a unit and waiting for the refund makes me tired! I'm still a student as well.. so... budgets.. 

I HAVE tried PPCG's tip to increase output power several times though, and it doesn't seem to work for me.
This is what I did -
1. The boxes for xLoud and Clear Phase were already ticked so I left those alone
2. Turned down Master volume. For my last attempt I turned down all 3 volume sliders.
3. Disabled Sound Enhancement.

 

[misteralakista]

I think its EU law that insists on the volume cap and not Sony themselves, although I might be wrong in this. I'm sure it was the French government a few years ago who insisted on a cap.

 
Yeah I knew this as well, but I think I read somewhere in this thread that the capping was supposed keep the volume down when an MP3 player was used WITH its supplied earphones, and since the ZX1 didn't come with any earphones the hopeful consensus was that a cap was not required... Why doesn't Sony add an option that disables the volume limit like what Apple does with its Shuffle!?! :'(
 
I do like the ZX1, though. It's really well made and while I'm still getting used to the sound signature I'm liking what I'm hearing so far. Two small quibbles I have with it is that Music Unlimited is not baked into the Walkman app which I really liked on my Xperia Z1 so there's no high quality offline downloading and I have to deal with the clunky Music Unlimited app.. and I don't know whether it uses aptX to stream music by bluetooth although the quick listen I had was pretty alright.

 

[cn11]

  Here is the way to increase the ZX1's output power
1. Make sure the xLoud & Clear Phase was checked in the sound setting
2. Lower down the volume
3. Go to Setting / Apps / ALL / Sound enhancements / then push "Disable" 
4. Enjoy!

After disable the Sound enhancements, EQ won't work anymore.
You have to restart the ZX1 to make it work again.

 
 

   
This actually works 

 
It must be a glitch, I needed about 25% less volume to reach the same level loudness as before.
 
Mad props to PPCG for figuring this out!
 
But this does change the sound of the ZX1, It gives you its pure sound without the enhancements. It doesn't sound anywhere near as refined as before, but it has more impact and energy, its nice to know this little trick to hear the ZX1 unrestrained! I actually prefer the sound after this trick, its much more raw, sound stage better too.
Thanks PPCG 

 

 
 
I tried PPCG's steps above... it really opened up things dramatically, and I got that kick in output volume (the first time). The problem is now I've tried enabling the sound enhancements again so that EQ was turned back on, and then wanted to repeat the steps so that I have the order down. The next time I ran through it, nothing. I wonder what's going on? Frustrating, because I liked what I heard.  
 
Edit- Also, now when I've got the sound enhancements enabled again, the preset ones seem to be doing nothing. The EQ still works, but not dynamic normalizer, clearaudio+, DSEE, the surround modes (I don't like them anyway), nothing. 
 
Thoughts? I don't want to have to do a player reset and have to reload all my music! 
 
Edit 2- Ok, weird.... so I plugged the unit in to get some charge going, and decided to try it again. The sound enhancements are all working again. I went through PPCG's steps and now I get the same bigger output power and sound expansion as the first time. Don't know what the trick is to getting this to work consistently!

 

[cheekybloke]

Hey hey heyyyyyyyy. This is Steve form Earcandi. I thought I should comment on the photo.
 
I think you've used far too much product there, and possibly not used the recommended method of employing a bathroom mirror during the moulding process..
 
Please see here for another review which contains an image of what it should look like once moulded:
 
http://www.giz4geeks.com/2014/03/31/giz4geeks-review-of-the-earcandi-custom-moulding-system
 
 
 
 

 

[misteralakista]

   
 
 
 
I tried PPCG's steps above... it really opened up things dramatically, and I got that kick in output volume (the first time). The problem is now I've tried enabling the sound enhancements again so that EQ was turned back on, and then wanted to repeat the steps so that I have the order down. The next time I ran through it, nothing. I wonder what's going on? Frustrating, because I liked what I heard.  
 
Edit- Also, now when I've got the sound enhancements enabled again, the preset ones seem to be doing nothing. The EQ still works, but not dynamic normalizer, clearaudio+, DSEE, the surround modes (I don't like them anyway), nothing. 
 
Thoughts? I don't want to have to do a player reset and have to reload all my music! 
 
Edit 2- Ok, weird.... so I plugged the unit in to get some charge going, and decided to try it again. The sound enhancements are all working again. I went through PPCG's steps and now I get the same bigger output power and sound expansion as the first time. Don't know what the trick is to getting this to work consistently!

 
Have you tried resetting the player by holding the power button for 8 secs? Worked for me. Hmm... maybe I'll try the output trick once more tomorrow...

 

[cn11]

   
Have you tried resetting the player by holding the power button for 8 secs? Worked for me. Hmm... maybe I'll try the output trick once more tomorrow...

 
No not yet... That reset doesn't wipe out your music I take it?

 

[misteralakista]

   
No not yet... That reset doesn't wipe out your music I take it?

 
Nope. It's basically a restart.
 
Edit - Oh I didn't realise you got your sound enhancements working already. After my failed attempts at increasing output I also had the problem of ClearAudio+ and the EQ not working so I tried holding the power button and it restored it.

 

[redrich2000]

can someone give a quick run through of the audio settings and enhancements and what they do?
Also, I downloaded Poweramp, is there anything else I should download.
 
Lastly, the battery drained from a third to zero overnight doing nothing. What's the deal with that?

 

[Timmey]

Hello all, I hope someone can help me out. I received a Sony Walkman F887 today, after charging for over an hour the player has a screen saver running but will not turn on none of the buttons do anything. I've tried resetting, it powers up then goes to screen saver mode. Power button does nothing except reset if held for 8 seconds
Thanks in advance
Timothy

 

[ads1107]

can someone give a quick run through of the audio settings and enhancements and what they do?

A wee bit of info here: http://www.sony-asia.com/productcategory/pa-mp3-walkman

Just click on the 4 different squares.

 

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

  Tried this with the euro F886 didnt make any difference to sound or volume and you dont have to restart it to enable it again.

 
I HAVE tried PPCG's tip to increase output power several times though, and it doesn't seem to work for me.

 
Damn, It might be that the UK volume cap is completely built into the firmware, meaning even this trick of disabling sound enhancement won't work to change the output volume
BUT I did notice while in the Settings>Apps>All that there was an app called Volume Limiter in my Jap ZX1, and it was disabled by default, maybe the UK models have it enabled by default and you can simply disable it! Have a look and see if its enabled then disable it, if its not enabled means the volume cap is built into the firmware and you can't change it.

 

[sonicaudio]

+1
The more I listen to certain tracks I think there is a cap as well.
Been using with the PHA-2 for the last hour or 2. Helps give it more volume, also seems to add a little to the quality of the sound. Although to be honest I don't think my k3003 need more power than is present. Will be trying the ety er4s in a bit.

All in all very happy with the sound, gives me something different to the dx90 and will be keeping both.

Looking foward to your impressions regarding zx1 vs dx90.