I won't say they are nuts, but I won't go as far as saying they are ground breaking in anyway and certainly a few of the features can be much better, especially for a self-proclaimed audiophiles DAP. The output power for an example is pretty much the same as a Clip+. I won't say you need tons of output power, but there should have been more. They should have expected some demanding headphone are going to be used and shouldn't have made the ZX1 as powerful as their old CD walkman back in the 80s. Also, If you really look into all the features in the ZX1, you will notice most of their design concept have been done by others a few years ahead, so it really doesn't score high as far as innovation is concerned. I also saw a pro-level measurement on the ZX1 recently on another forum, which isn't particularly impressive in any way, even on an objective level.
So they are not nuts, just cutting some corner in design. It is not as all-out as an audiophile DAP can be, and certainly not to the limit Sony can be. Now you have to ask yourself - why would a company as big as Sony with a design team so well funded want to cut corner on their design? Is there really nothing to be improved on the ZX1?
Last note: Time has certainly changed since my comment from ~1,5yrs ago, and for the most part the situation have became better. As such, I don't think it is fair to quote those words without context.
