[purk]

   
hmm, if the usual way I like is the way like to scream, and the zx1 I think is more like to talk louder, but not totally different, just a bit, but without this a bit I just can't feel satisfied. I like the sharp and high sound which could make me have gooseflesh like this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRbefCGnQ5E and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQKsr3Kdk48 and this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xxySvoUb2Y， however youtube's quality is not high at all, loseless file is much higher and sharper and with my earphones get higher and sharper but I want higher and sharper without any seal loof, lol, I think it's just not a healthy and common taste of sound

What you are saying is a "preference" and not necessary being better.  Do you have other benchmarks that you can compared your DAP with?  I happen to find the ZX1 to be quite refined sounding with my JH13pro+silver dragon cable compared to my other DAPs.  It has qualities that akin to more expensive gears.  No it is far and away from my best rigs, but it does sound noticeably more refined than other DAPs that I have in my possession including variation of iTouch 4 & iPhone 4.  It is also better sounding to my ears than my X3, X5, DX50, and modded AK100. 
 
I sure hope someone in Japan can run a RMAA test for us.  I personally don't trust RMAA  that was conducted in Europe given that it was done on a volume restriction unit.  I wish I have an iPhone 5S nearby so I can check it out myself.

 

[estreeter]

  I just got my zx1, don't like it at all, I prefer iphone5 much more, zx1's sound is just too slow, warm, fat, flat, Michael Jaskson's quick songs turned into "slow" songs, I like quick, strong, high density sound, can't accept zx1's sound. 
 

 
I think its fairly well accepted that the Zune is the playback device of choice for MJ fans - I'm surprised you didnt know that. 

 

[VaryCold]

   
I think its fairly well accepted that the Zune is the playback device of choice for MJ fans - I'm surprised you didnt know that. 

<they don't care about us>, this song zx1 is better than iphone, faster and more powerful but <beat it >,not the same feeling, and when I listen to adam lambert, the backgroud sound is louder than iphone but human sound is worse than iphone, and modonna's la isla bonita, in zx1, sounds like she bited her tongue then sing it, just a bit like that feeling. And some songs, the human sound is getting too close for me than iphone and for some other songs, the human sound is too small and background sound is too loud compared to iphone, well ,indeed, it's just all myself taste, I'm not saying zx1 is worse than iphone, it's just to me

 

[VaryCold]

  What you are saying is a "preference" and not necessary being better.  Do you have other benchmarks that you can compared your DAP with?  I happen to find the ZX1 to be quite refined sounding with my JH13pro+silver dragon cable compared to my other DAPs.  It has qualities that akin to more expensive gears.  No it is far and away from my best rigs, but it does sound noticeably more refined than other DAPs that I have in my possession including variation of iTouch 4 & iPhone 4.  It is also better sounding to my ears than my X3, X5, DX50, and modded AK100. 
 
I sure hope someone in Japan can run a RMAA test for us.  I personally don't trust RMAA  that was conducted in Europe given that it was done on a volume restriction unit.  I wish I have an iPhone 5S nearby so I can check it out myself.

indeed, it's all myself taste, I am glad that zx1 is popular so I can sell it quickly, lol, but will try one more month and try other ways to improve it, maybe I should try some earphones I didn't like with iphone, like se535, maybe I will like them with zx1, if it's not so expensive I may want to keep it, I like the design of zx1 but I found that there's no lock button like ipc and I always misclick the buttons

 

[Artstar]

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? 

If you can tell me that ZX1 units sold in markets outside of Japan have ATRAC support, then any theories of differences will certainly lack plausibility.




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

 

[Artstar]

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.

By whose judgement? Figures on paper are one thing and black and white in their own right.

Ultimately though, beauty is in the ear of the beholder. As such, there can be no fact, as you put it. Some people boost the hell out of the high frequencies and define that as clarity!

The only thing anyone can do is to trust their own ears. Reviews are a nice starting point but I refuse to accept any of them as gospel because in the end, I'm the one listening to the device with my choice of headphones - not the reviewer.

I'm not telling you that your opinion of the unit is wrong. It's not to your satisfaction and I appreciate that. However, your list of demands are not all that realistic, despite the argument about what has been packed into the iPod Touch. They're in two different leagues and at least to my ears, the difference is night and day. Couple it with my need for automated operation and the iOS device is swiftly eliminated from my list. Galaxy S6? I don't want a unit that size. All these aspects and more are combined to create the various devices out in the market to choose from. You see it as Sony milking its consumers, I see it as another product to add to my options available to me as a consumer.




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

 

[satish89]

For my $0.02, I agree with @Artstar for the most part; considering the RRP of phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8 is $899 AUD, pricing the ZX1 at $699 AUD with a lesser quality screen and lower end CPU but dedicated higher grade DAC's is a fair compromise IMO. I'd still have some reservations about paying $699 for this level of SQ over an iPhone if you already have an iPhone and SQ is your only concern, as from a value point of view you maybe could get better bang for buck elsewhere. Without access to my Sony X membership discounts, I probably wouldn't have much Sony stuff, as I feel they price their products a little higher than they can get away with most of the time. But as a complete package (and at the price I paid), I'm very satisfied with the ZX1 - I'm using it with the "Sound Enhancements" application disabled (which as reported earlier in this thread gives a slightly different sound signature and quite a bit more power/volume output) with my new XBA-H3's, and it's a great combo. That's just me though, I'm pretty far from experienced and this is my first foray into the higher-end DAP market. 

 

[mamamia88]

I have to say that I that stuff like this is doomed to failure.  In a world where smartphones are taking over mp3 players need to be able to do stuff that smartphones can't like be able to change tracks blindfolded and one arm tied behind my back.  Or have a battery that lasts more than one day of heavy usage.  If sony could release one of their e series with 77 hour battery life with something beyond a pathetic 16gb or with a micro sd slot I think they would have a winner on their hands. Unfortunately they are too stupid or too stubborn to do it.  

 

[estreeter]

Not sure exactly when smartphone manufacturers decided to start paying a little more attention to audio than they did in earlier iterations of their products, but I finally traded my throwaway Samsung on a Galaxy S 'Duos' a couple of days back and its obvious that they havent ignored Apple's traditional dominance in terms of music playback. I still far prefer the ZX1 on several levels (storage capacity as well as sonics) but I can understand how someone could pick both up, listen to a few tunes and ask themselves why they would pay the massive premium for the Sony if the majority of their music was lossy MP3 and AAC files.
 
Here in Thailand the Galaxy is 5K baht and the ZX1 23k baht (iPhone 5S and HTC One M8 are also around that price here) - the former has all the smartphone functionality most people need and the latter doesnt.  I just dont know how many sane people are going to buy the Sony over a smartphone and that's not an admission I feel comfortable making. I could wax lyrical to people about the joys of lossless audio and the gorgeous mids on the Sony but the gap in sound quality simply doesnt reflect the price difference IMO. Sony must have done their market research on this DAP - no corporation launches product without some assurance that it will sell - but I have to grudgingly accept that it's overpriced for what's on offer. I'm still not a fan of the 'smartphone as uber-DAP' mantra but Samsung have jammed an awful lot of functionality into something that costs less than a quarter of the Sony - reality bites me on the butt yet again  

 

[thievesarmy]

Just got a ZX1, bought used but like brand new from another member who imported it from Japan. It's my first android device so there's a little learning curve there, but it's not too difficult to figure out.
 
Question - there is a system 1.10 update that it wants to install. Should I do it? Any reasons not to? The update description starts with a warning that once installed I can't go back to the previous system version, but the details on the update are all in Japanese… they don't show in English even though that is the current language setting. I can see something about DSD but that's about all I can make out. Just want to make sure that updating is the right decision before I pull the trigger.
 
Thanks

 

[etnt]

  Just got a ZX1, bought used but like brand new from another member who imported it from Japan. It's my first android device so there's a little learning curve there, but it's not too difficult to figure out.
 
Question - there is a system 1.10 update that it wants to install. Should I do it? Any reasons not to? The update description starts with a warning that once installed I can't go back to the previous system version, but the details on the update are all in Japanese… they don't show in English even though that is the current language setting. I can see something about DSD but that's about all I can make out. Just want to make sure that updating is the right decision before I pull the trigger.
 
Thanks

http://www.sony.com.sg/support/download/588230/product/nwz-zx1
 
The changelog is here

  This utility updates the Walkman® player to system software version 1.10 and provides the following benefits:

1. DSD file format supported.
2. Addressed the issue where the WALKMAN may not properly playback the playlists transferred from Media Go.
3. Other functional improvements

 

[etnt]

FWIW, my wife is using the ZX1 paired with Noble 5 universal and she does not hear any hissing.
 
I've also briefly tried the zx1 with Monster Copper, TripleFi, RE0 and Xiaomi Piston (and her Noble 5) and detect no hiss on any of the pairing.

 

[VaryCold]

just found yesterday I had a bug, 

  What you are saying is a "preference" and not necessary being better.  Do you have other benchmarks that you can compared your DAP with?  I happen to find the ZX1 to be quite refined sounding with my JH13pro+silver dragon cable compared to my other DAPs.  It has qualities that akin to more expensive gears.  No it is far and away from my best rigs, but it does sound noticeably more refined than other DAPs that I have in my possession including variation of iTouch 4 & iPhone 4.  It is also better sounding to my ears than my X3, X5, DX50, and modded AK100. 
 
I sure hope someone in Japan can run a RMAA test for us.  I personally don't trust RMAA  that was conducted in Europe given that it was done on a volume restriction unit.  I wish I have an iPhone 5S nearby so I can check it out myself.

just found yesterday I had a bug, people told me that close sound enhencement could improve push power a lot, yes, it does, but when I open it again, the push power didn't reduced, and I can use eq again, but actually it desn't work, as long as the push power is large, the eq won't work, I don't know why there's this bug, those people are just happy they found a way that could improve push power, however, if they like original sound of zx1 ,it is good, but I don't like it, and I downloaded denon club app, that is a fantastic app, you can make different eq for every single song and it will save your change, however, when you use third party music player, the push power increasement doesn't work on this and you can play both music player and the button only works on original player, so I reset it, and the bug disappeared and this time I don't want that push power increasement anymore, I just want to use eq, and I found yes, I can use eq, it works, and what surprise me is that the buttons now could use for third party player now. I shouldn't listen to those people to use the damn bug(increase push power).so I am much more satisfied now, here is my EQ setting. Haven't finally decided, and I think every song needs different eq, but, this makes me feel better, hope sony could make its original player save different eq for every single songs. I will try more to develop its functions, but, I am much more satisfied with it now. however, I still love iphone's sound ,at least I don't have to change eq in iphone, I never did. but without eq, I can't accept the sound of zx1

 

 

[rawrster]

if you don't like the zx1 just sell it? and stick with your iPhone?

 

[mochill]

True^