[purk]

 
+1, I like the A17 myself with the PHA 3. I would say it comes down to which device has the better amp/DAC section. If it is the PHA 3 then by all means complete it with the A17 as a transport, otherwise you are wasting money on one part of the chain to an extent anyway. I suspect the DAC/amp in the PHA 3 is the better of the two with the ZX2 offering the large screen and ability to run apps, but if you're still keeping a phone, I say use that for apps.

I agreed with you on this.  However the ZX2/ZX1 are able to play DSD even though it does convert it to PCM first.  The ZX1 is a great and most logical solution, sadly the battery life is not too great when connect digitally.  The ZX2 is within 5-10% of the PHA3 single-end output.  I really do enjoy the ZX2 the most out of all the portable gears that I have thanks to its all day all night battery life as well as its really refined and sweet sounding headphone out.
 

  I went with the A17/PHA-3 combo myself. I have several AK DAPs for all-in-one use. The A17 seemed like a nice, easy, small transport for the PHA-3 (and saved a lot of money). 
 

 
Yes the A17 is a great choice for the PHA-3.  Sadly it doesn't support DSD.  I only wish that the battery on the ZX1 is less of an issue with the PHA-3 b/c the ZX2 is just very pricey for just transport duty.   
 
Quote:

  You raise an interesting point. I have been looking at this PHA 3 and the more I look the more I realize it is more of a desktop/portable headphone/iem amp/dac all in one. Somewhat unique approach from Sony. If you connect the unit to a pc/mac then it is functioning as a mini desktop all in one with balanced out. If you connect it to a dap through analogue then it is only a balanced amp. I don't know of another device designed this way (there might be some). If they had used a more practical connector for the balanced outputs it would be even more interesting. They used the top Sabre dac and the standard xmos usb interface. If there is any failing or compromise here it is the xmos but you can choose from many available outboard usb devices to improve the performance of the xmos if you so choose. 
 
They made this device very flexible and to my way thinking very user definable for it's application. Considering all that at the prevailing street price it is an interesting solution.

The PHA3 doesn't have a phase inverter built in so it will operate only in singled end and not in balanced output.  I personally will not get the PHA-3 for its headphone output only as the SE output isn't quite optimal for hard to drive phones.  I would recommend getting a Headamp Pico Power or iFi Micro for beefier headphone output.  You get the PHA-3 fot its awesome DAC & balanced headphone combination.

 

[jonstatt]

   
That's if you're connecting digitally, no?
From how i understand, if you go ZX2 ==> Analog Sound Out ==> PHA-3, you're not degrading ZX2's sound and it's playing as is...that way you're only using it as an AMP (DAC on PHA-3 isn't touched) or you can also take advantage of the Balanced Sound from the ZX2....no?

 
The balanced output only works with a digital connection to the PHA-3. So if you use line out from the ZX2, the balanced output is switched off unfortunately.

 

[Chodi]

  The PHA3 doesn't have a phase inverter built in so it will operate only in singled end and not in balanced output.  I personally will not get the PHA-3 for its headphone output only as the SE output isn't quite optimal for hard to drive phones.  I would recommend getting a Headamp Pico Power or iFi Micro for beefier headphone output.  You get the PHA-3 fot its awesome DAC & balanced headphone combination.

I stand corrected. If you connect a dap you get only single end output. That makes the PHA 3 more practical as a mini desktop unit. I am beginning to understand why they ship this to the EU with a power chord. 

 

[aznpos531]

Just received my dual 3.5mm balanced cables from Plus Sound today and the PHA-3 sounds amazing through the balanced output!
Unfortunately, after using the PHA-3 on the go a few times I've more or less given up on it as a part of my portable rig and am now using it as a desktop DAC/Amp for my PC. While it sounds amazing and it's great to have such good sq on the go, I haven't found an elegant solution for carrying the unit and the 4.5 hr battery life just isn't quite enough.

 

[Chodi]

Just received my dual 3.5mm balanced cables from Plus Sound today and the PHA-3 sounds amazing through the balanced output!
Unfortunately, after using the PHA-3 on the go a few times I've more or less given up on it as a part of my portable rig and am now using it as a desktop DAC/Amp for my PC. While it sounds amazing and it's great to have such good sq on the go, I haven't found an elegant solution for carrying the unit and the 4.5 hr battery life just isn't quite enough.

That was my point. Are you using the PHA-3 mostly at home with your iem's? I wonder if the gain works well with your iem's?

 

[aznpos531]

That was my point. Are you using the PHA-3 mostly at home with your iem's? I wonder if the gain works well with your iem's?

I have used it a few times on the go but recently I've just been leaving it home to use with my PC; it's just too bulky and battery life isn't so great. If it could have even another 2 hours of battery life I would deal with the bulkiness.
At home I mainly use my HE-500s with the PHA-3 but I have used my CIEMs as well. I leave the gain on high most of the time with my full-sized HE-500s with the volume pot set to about half way. With my CIEMs, I have the gain set to low and the volume pot set to about a 5th to a quarter of the way (they're quite sensitive).

edit: One thing I've noticed using the new balanced cables, things sound much louder. I find myself dialing down the volume from half way to about a third of the way.

 

[jonstatt]

  I stand corrected. If you connect a dap you get only single end output. That makes the PHA 3 more practical as a mini desktop unit. I am beginning to understand why they ship this to the EU with a power chord. 

 
I just wanted to make sure this point was clear. You DO get balanced output with a DAP as long as the DAP is connected digitally. So for the ZX1/2 or A17 if you connect it with the provided WM-Port to USB cable then balanced output works fine. It is if you connect it with a line out connection that you lose the balanced connection.

 

[Chodi]

   
I just wanted to make sure this point was clear. You DO get balanced output with a DAP as long as the DAP is connected digitally. So for the ZX1/2 or A17 if you connect it with the provided WM-Port to USB cable then balanced output works fine. It is if you connect it with a line out connection that you lose the balanced connection.

Ah so if you connect it to your computer using usb you will get the balanced connection? Or are you saying that for some reason this will only give you balanced output if connected to a dap? Seems like usb in both cases so they should get the same results. I'm new to this portable equipment so forgive me if I am off base.

 

[jonstatt]

  Ah so if you connect it to your computer using usb you will get the balanced connection? Or are you saying that for some reason this will only give you balanced output if connected to a dap? Seems like usb in both cases so they should get the same results. I'm new to this portable equipment so forgive me if I am off base.

 
A USB computer connection will also give you balanced. At this time, a computer connection is also the only way of getting pure DSD to the PHA-3.

 

[Chodi]

   
A USB computer connection will also give you balanced. At this time, a computer connection is also the only way of getting pure DSD to the PHA-3.

Thanks I finally got this straight. Then it is basically a mini desktop unit with dsd 128 capability. I don't really know of another unit like this on the market? 

 

[djricekcn]

   
I just wanted to make sure this point was clear. You DO get balanced output with a DAP as long as the DAP is connected digitally. So for the ZX1/2 or A17 if you connect it with the provided WM-Port to USB cable then balanced output works fine. It is if you connect it with a line out connection that you lose the balanced connection.

;l,.which means no matter what DAP you''re using, you're going to get the PHA-3's DAC quality for balanced audio.

 

[lithrai]

Does PHA-3 work with Xperia Z3 Compact? Can someone confirm this stack?

 

[Sonic Defender]

I'm going to be opportunistic in this thread and let people know that my nearly new PHA 3 is up for sale for the stupidly good price of $575. I love it, but frankly I don't need it as I have no true need for a portable rig of this caliber. My loss is your gain.

 

[aznpos531]

I'm going to be opportunistic in this thread and let people know that my nearly new PHA 3 is up for sale for the stupidly good price of $575. I love it, but frankly I don't need it as I have no true need for a portable rig of this caliber. My loss is your gain.

I wish you would have sold it at that price a month and half ago before I got mine for $800
Good luck

 

[Sonic Defender]

I wish you would have sold it at that price a month and half ago before I got mine for $800

Good luck

I just bought it about a month ago myself! I'm taking a huge hit to sell it simply because while I love it, I'm just using it on the bus for my daily commute! As I'm sure you can imagine, it really isn't designed for the daily commute, much to good a device to use it like that. I'm hoping somebody smart who needs a quality item like this sees the price and realizes that is a deal! Like I said, my loss.