[Rei87]

   
And you bought your Sony card 2nd hand. You know, I've not seen them sold in e-earphone since then. I've been camping hoping to pick them up again . Agreed that the difference you heard of the Premium vs non wasn't necessarily deemed as "better".
 
P.S. [OT]My AK380Cu looks small compared to your (then) new AK380 black.[/OT]

Heys its still new now....its been less than a month since I got it lol.....

 

[mysony1]

 


I really dont understand why people would protest statements without first hearing the actual product......I've heard it, and there are actual audible differences. I will not say that the sony card is 'better' because 'better' is highly contestable, but ther differences some cards present may push the sound presentation towards one that suits the listener, the opposite and make it worse, I understand that the thought of a potentially long journey in A/B SD cards is one most ppl will cringe at, and hence reject it. But still, it IS there.

A shot of some SD cards that I happened to find around me in which my audio circle has spent time testing for sonic differences
. 
 
  
And as for the old argument of CU, Black and normal not sounding any different. AK may claim that it doesnt, but almsot everyone who has heard both units simultaneously will almsot certainly disagree. Is the CU better? Prehaps, but once again, because 'better' is highly subjective in audio, I'll refrain from making a subjective ranking. None the less, they are no doubt different.  

 

 


I hope these pictures will suffice to show that we can, and have indeed carried out the necesssary tests? Or what's next? That it is a placebo effect because we sunk in so much money into this hobby that we intuitively sensed when gears were swapped during the blindfold test? 

 
And you bought your Sony card 2nd hand. You know, I've not seen them sold in e-earphone since then. I've been camping hoping to pick them up again . Agreed that the difference you heard of the Premium vs non wasn't necessarily deemed as "better".
 
P.S. [OT]My AK380Cu looks small compared to your (then) new AK380 black.[/OT]

Totally agree


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jonstatt]

On the Sony NW-ZX2, some SD cards generated quite a bit of electrical noise that transferred to the IEMs. You could hear it as a  buzz-buzz-buzz--------buzz-buzz-buzz very faintly as it was accessing the card. The stupidly expensive Sony one cured this. However I think the real fault is the ZX2 design for allowing this electrical noise to influence the analog circuitry.
 
I think it is also worth mentioning that the difference in price between an AK380 and an AK380cu is not that much. In fact in the UK the Black and Copper versions retail for the same price with only the original "finish" being cheaper. Sony are releasing their copper premium walkman with a MASSIVE increase in price over the aluminum version!
 
In general, I see less over-sell of snake oil by the Japanese than even some US companies (for example some ridiculously priced ethernet cable for audio purposes from a brand I won't mention). So maybe there really is something in the use of a copper chassis. However I wouldn't pay thousands extra for it as Sony are asking....

 

[Ruben123]

On the Sony NW-ZX2, some SD cards generated quite a bit of electrical noise that transferred to the IEMs. You could hear it as a  buzz-buzz-buzz--------buzz-buzz-buzz very faintly as it was accessing the card. The stupidly expensive Sony one cured this. However I think the real fault is the ZX2 design for allowing this electrical noise to influence the analog circuitry.

I think it is also worth mentioning that the difference in price between an AK380 and an AK380cu is not that much. In fact in the UK the Black and Copper versions retail for the same price with only the original "finish" being cheaper. Sony are releasing their copper premium walkman with a MASSIVE increase in price over the aluminum version!

In general, I see less over-sell of snake oil by the Japanese than even some US companies (for example some ridiculously priced ethernet cable for audio purposes from a brand I won't mention). So maybe there really is something in the use of a copper chassis. However I wouldn't pay thousands extra for it as Sony are asking....

That actually has nothing to do with the SD card then, but is more of a design fault of the Sony device itself!

 

[jonstatt]

That actually has nothing to do with the SD card then, but is more of a design fault of the Sony device itself!

 
I agree! While I won't accuse Sony of going as far as creating a problem on purpose in order to then make a new product to fix it, a well designed walkman should adequately shield noise induced by the SD card and the reader. However, what Sony advertise as "improved" in their expensive card, is actually true....just you shouldn't need it!

 

[1note]

Head-Fi is an amazing resource and influence on me in different ways, and the source of considerable enjoyment for me. I love this hobby.  After reading the absolutely enlightening Stax SR-L700 thread yesterday I went out and bought then today as what was described fitted exactly what I wanted.  And now after reading this thread I have just ordered 2 of these sound cards on principle. I can understand speculation and theorizing both ways and I think this is healthy and the fun of the hobby. But what I find objectionable is outright dismissal of something on the basis of one's own "scientific" view without hearing the cards. It reminds me of poor Dr Lister who was ridiculed for some 20-30 years and nearly thrown out of the British Medical Association for observing that he had a vastly improved patient survival rate after he operated with clean hands and clean clothing due to things floating around and on surfaces that could not be seen ie that the doctors of the day could not objectively determine existed. Admittedly this should have been more easy to verify due to actual statistical survival rates but why do we put something down that we have zero experience with? It has been my experience that anything but not everything can make a difference in hi-fi, sometimes good, sometimes bad. The proof is in eating the pudding.  I do not care whether I or others can or cannot explain something that apparently makes a difference to me.  I try and be open-minded but cautious given the massive price gouging that is now going on in our hobby in relation to many products that are mediocre cost wise or even rubbish.  But this does not mean I reject everything that I am not familiar with out of hand. Thanks for a informative thread and happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

 

[haiku]

On the AK380 thread one member made the recommendation to try the Samsung Evo+ MicroSD if one wants the best SQ. Mine arrived yesterday. I´m just baffled how this is possible, but the Samsung sounds so much better than the Sandisk I´ve used before. Maybe it´s the Samsung´s resistance against electro - magnetic radiation which makes the big difference. Anyway, my AK Dap sings so beautiful now, for me this is just jaw dropping. What an upgrade. Worth every penny imo.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

  On the AK380 thread one member made the recommendation to try the Samsung Evo+ MicroSD if one wants the best SQ. Mine arrived yesterday. I´m just baffled how this is possible, but the Samsung sounds so much better than the Sandisk I´ve used before. Maybe it´s the Samsung´s resistance against electro - magnetic radiation which makes the big difference. Anyway, my AK Dap sings so beautiful now, for me this is just jaw dropping. What an upgrade. Worth every penny imo.

 
That was me and a few others. Sammy has good micro-SD cards. 

 

[haiku]

   
That was me and a few others. Sammy has good micro-SD cards. 

 

Thanks again, buddy. Great recommendation.  

 

[karloil]

Now i want to try this out - IT Show is just around the corner and hopefully i get a good price for the Evo+. Just curious, i know it's a challenge to get the Sony card but has anyone tried the Pro and/or Pro+? Any feedback? Or should i just settle with the Evo+?

 

[karloil]

Yep, background sounds more 'silent', 'blacker' (for the lack of a better term) - I was once a cable non believer until i tried it - not this microSD topic has proved me wrong again!!!
 
if you're a Sandisk user (like me), we just wasted our money and should have jumped to Samsung cards to start with.

 

[Indrajit]

Yep, background sounds more 'silent', 'blacker' (for the lack of a better term) - I was once a cable non believer until i tried it - not this microSD topic has proved me wrong again!!!

if you're a Sandisk user (like me), we just wasted our money and should have jumped to Samsung cards to start with.

Hi i was reading this posts. I have a Cayin N3 music player and a sandisk memory card. I have a question - Does the samsung EVO plus sound better/cleaner compared to sandisk?

 

[karloil]

Hi i was reading this posts. I have a Cayin N3 music player and a sandisk memory card. I have a question - Does the samsung EVO plus sound better/cleaner compared to sandisk?

my vote goes to Evo+ - they sound better in the sense that the background is more darker. So in some genres, it may bring some improvements to the rest of the frequency range.

 

[Indrajit]

Th

my vote goes to Evo+ - they sound better in the sense that the background is more darker. So in some genres, it may bring some improvements to the rest of the frequency range.

Thanks

 

[Indrajit]

my vote goes to Evo+ - they sound better in the sense that the background is more darker. So in some genres, it may bring some improvements to the rest of the frequency range.

Hi i tried a newly--arrived Evo+ with my N3 music player. I did not feel any differences in clarity or noise reduction through Evo. On the opposite i felt the old sandisk ultra class10 sounded slightly punchier and more revealing. So i wanted to ask if a memory card needs to be used for some time to perform at its optimum level as i am not getting any differences in the present ?