Bought a NW-A55 with a Hifiman Sundara a couple of weeks back. Burnt in the headphones overnight a few times so it has about 60-75hrs total. The A55 itself has likely 30-40 hrs on it.
Then did more reading up and decided to go "all in" - balanced 4.4mm, etc. I also hated the fingerprint magnet that the A55 is and preferred the matte screen on the ZX300. The premium build with all metal body/buttons and higher mW output was also attractive.
So bought a ZX300.
Then the anti-climax.
It sounded like crap. Like same song, headphones, etc - just A/B on the players. Man, the A55 trounced the ZX300. It was night and day. Such wide soundstage, great low-end bass, and volume was higher (at 100 points on both players) on the A55. The difference was so obvious to my ears that I was shocked (I ran like a child and complained to my wife that my $700 player couldnt stand up to the $250 player... but thats a story for another time). Then I read the "guide to getting high quality sound" guide that Sony helpfully included on the player itself! I assume that Sony must've included it in there because folks returned the players due to the unfavorable initial impressions, perhaps? Was that guide there in the very first player firmware versions?
Either way, I am looking to hear any similar stories from fellow ZX300-ers (I did search and read thru the forum posts - ZX300 and burnin seems to be a real thing, so that's somewhat comforting). I have started the burnin process - upto 12hrs now. Let it running thru the day, I want to see how it sounds at the 25 hr mark and then 50 hr mark before I make a decision on which player to keep.
Thanks for listening! (pun unintended)
Then did more reading up and decided to go "all in" - balanced 4.4mm, etc. I also hated the fingerprint magnet that the A55 is and preferred the matte screen on the ZX300. The premium build with all metal body/buttons and higher mW output was also attractive.
So bought a ZX300.
Then the anti-climax.
It sounded like crap. Like same song, headphones, etc - just A/B on the players. Man, the A55 trounced the ZX300. It was night and day. Such wide soundstage, great low-end bass, and volume was higher (at 100 points on both players) on the A55. The difference was so obvious to my ears that I was shocked (I ran like a child and complained to my wife that my $700 player couldnt stand up to the $250 player... but thats a story for another time). Then I read the "guide to getting high quality sound" guide that Sony helpfully included on the player itself! I assume that Sony must've included it in there because folks returned the players due to the unfavorable initial impressions, perhaps? Was that guide there in the very first player firmware versions?
Either way, I am looking to hear any similar stories from fellow ZX300-ers (I did search and read thru the forum posts - ZX300 and burnin seems to be a real thing, so that's somewhat comforting). I have started the burnin process - upto 12hrs now. Let it running thru the day, I want to see how it sounds at the 25 hr mark and then 50 hr mark before I make a decision on which player to keep.
Thanks for listening! (pun unintended)
. The instrument separation has improved quite a bit even as I listened to various source on the ZX300.