I think Sony hardly needs someone to represent. The list of areas in which they are (or were once) leaders is awe-inspiring and extensive. For example, I have been using their NEX cameras for many years and I am very pleased with them. Of course, Sony did not ignore the attention and a variety of audio equipment. Therefore, when the top player of the company and the hybrid headphones of their production came into my hands (they were no longer top, but recently they were), I did not deny myself the pleasure of how to drive them and share their opinions.
Since the player and headphones came to me for review without packaging, I’ll omit the part that describes the box and package, if you wish, you can easily find this information on the Internet, but I’ll tell you about the rest.
Sony ZX1 - almost a dying look: this is a player based on the Android OS. And if iBasso in their DX50 and DX90 Android is carefully hidden behind a custom shell, breaking out of which will not work, then the ZX1 just provides the user with an almost unchanged Android 4.1 interface. The company added a player widget, slightly changed the icons and wallpapers, almost everything else remained in place, including the ability to get root and break the player itself soft. I don’t know why we need a full-fledged Android on the player, especially considering the fact that only the built-in player offers maximum quality (apparently, only Sony has implemented direct access to the hardware for him), I found one for myself (although it’s a very nice plus) - DLNA support, allowing you to connect to my homemade Seagate NAS and listen to music from it over Wi-Fi. The player is timed to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the Walkman, so Sony worked hard at its design and usability at Sony, which ultimately resulted in a non-child price tag that puts the ZX1 on the same footing as top Chinese bricks. At the time of the review, the player was worth around 28,000 rubles.
Sony XBA-H3 is an ex-top hybrid model of headphones-inserts from the Japanese manufacturer, now they are replaced by new models, so this is a good chance to grab the H3 with discounts in the secondary market or sale. The price of new headphones at the time of the review ranged in the corridor from 10 to 12 thousand rubles. The headphones use Sony's own-made emitters, 16 mm dynamic for low frequencies, and two emitters with a balanced armature: one is broadband and the second is responsible for high frequency.
Specifications
Sony NWZ-ZX1
- Operating system: Android 4.1
- Audio format support: MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, WAV, DSD
- Equalizer: 5-band, there are sound enhancers
- Screen: 4 ″, TFT, FWVGA (854 x 480)
- Built-in memory: 128 GB, 114 GB user available
- Memory card support: no
- Full charge time: 3 hours
- Running time on one charge (listening to music): up to 32 hours
- Connectors: WM-PORT, 3.5 mm TRS headphone output
- Dimensions: 59.7 mm x 122.3 mm x 13.5 mm
- Weight: 139 g
Sony XBA-H3
- Frequency range: 3 Hz - 40 KHz
- Impedance: ≈ 40Ω @ 1 kHz
- Sensitivity: 107 dB / mW
- Emitters: dynamic, 16 mm, two reinforcing
- Cable: interchangeable, 1.2 m, complete with a regular and with a headset, Litz, oxygen-free copper
- Cable connectors: MMCX
- Weight: 10 g
Design
The player at Sony turned out to be spectacular, the hand of the company's designers is felt immediately. Silver aluminum, black glass of the screen, back panel with a coating "under the skin", all gives the impression of an expensive and stylish product. Everything is thought out, including a click when you press the side buttons. The designers even took care of balancing the weight of the player, which allows you to comfortably hold the ZX1 with one hand.
On the right panel are the playback control buttons, volume and power. Below are the WM-port and headphone jack. I don’t know why Sony didn’t use the standard MicroUSB connector, but large companies have their own particular vision of design. The same vision, apparently, made the 3.5 mm jack so strange. On the back panel is a speaker styled as a Walkman logo, its volume is average, for fans of listening to music on the street, it will not work (although fans of listening to music through the speaker on the street can buy the ZX1 only by selling a kidney).
The screen of the player does not reach the top solutions used in modern smartphones, but for the player it is more than good. The viewing angles are normal, the color rendition is good. Those inclined to masochism can easily watch movies on the player's screen.
With headphones with ergonomics, everything is much worse. Sony did not come up with anything better than placing a dynamic emitter vertically, perpendicular to the plane of the auricles. This led to the fact that the headphones are very strongly protruding to the side, wearing them, for example, with a cap is unrealistic. Headphones are supposed to be used only with the ear-oriented orientation of the wire, because of the size and weight of carrying them down the wire is not very good. Plots with a memory effect are made on the wires near the connector, they can be used to form the earbuds, this helps to properly seat the headphones. Immediately I advise you to use complete nozzles with foam filling inside (Sony Hybrids), they improve the fixation of the headphones in the ears and provide reliable isolation of the channel, which is necessary so that the bass remains percussive and clear.
Despite the first impression, if you get used to it, it is quite easy to wear the Sony XBA-H3, since the entire headset is outside and only the sound guide should be placed in the ears, these hybrids normally fit for almost any ears. Proper selection of nozzles allows you to wear them indefinitely.
The well-thought-out flat cable design makes it very convenient: it is confused a little, the microphone effect is almost absent. Connectors are reliable and fix cable well.
Sound insulation on an average level.
Sound
The following headphones were used to listen to the player:
The first thing you can say with the ZX1 is to immediately forget almost any tight overhead headphones, it simply does not have enough power to fully reveal even medium-tight models. Moreover, the volume usually remains even with a margin, degradation of the details and especially the control of the bass.
The situation is greatly improved by the use of sensitive IEM. The player shows good resolution and microdynamics. The sound is fairly smooth and neutral. The main guarantee for obtaining the maximum sound quality is to turn off all the built-in "improvers", instructions on how to do this are on the Internet, any attempt to use all these CLEAR STEREO and other DYNAMIC NORMALIZER lead to a noticeable degradation of sound.
The bass is sufficient in quantity, it is well controlled, and, although inferior to top players in attack speed, it will still satisfy the majority of listeners. The mids are clean, there is no artificiality, the separation of instruments is at a good level. HF - slightly simplified, but served without intrusiveness, which leads to a pleasant, not tiring sound of the player.
The following equipment was used for listening:
- Resonessense Labs Concero HP as a DAC and Headphone Amplifier
- Apple MacBook Pro Retina 2013 as a source
- Audirvana Plus 2.0.2 as a player
- HiFiMan 901 and Fiio X5 as portable players
- VSonic Gr01 and HiFiMan Re600 as headphones for comparison
- High-resolution recordings in Lossless-formats (Dr. Chesky The Ultimate Headphone Demonstration Disc and others)
Despite the ergonomic problems, the sound of the hybrids Sony failed. Reading about the 16 mm emitter, I expected an incredible infernal bass from them, but in this case it turned out to be pleasantly deceived. The H3 does not have a typical V-shaped frequency response typical of other hybrids with a rise in the low and high frequencies, the engineers who tuned the crossover tried their best.
The bass is slightly raised relative to the midrange, but very little. In general, the frequency response of these hybrids surprises with its evenness. Despite this, the dynamic emitter does exactly what is expected of it - it plays the bass, giving it an amazing density and depth. The bass is felt just physically, giving exactly the effect that hybrid headphones love.
The middle frequencies are even and very detailed. Even with the most top-end sources XBA-H3 are able to convey the maximum information embedded in the record.
HF is also very good, they are enough to transfer the smallest nuances of music, but at the same time thanks to the successful tuning, there is no sharpness and fatigue, even on low-level sources.
Of course, I can not say a little about the combination of NWZ-ZX1 with XBA-H3. They play well together (it would be surprising if Sony would have done otherwise), giving a very unusual sound. I would call it a festive, somewhat reminiscent of the signature sound of Audio-Technica headphones. The bundle seems to show you: here are very deep woofers that go almost to the bass, and here is an interesting acoustic guitar solo, there is a violin, the sound of which dissolves in space. At first, such sounding is discouraging, sometimes music is lost due to various kinds of “interesting things,” so this bundle will either immediately please you or make you want to change something. Certainly she would not leave anyone indifferent, but I would not advise taking it without listening.
Compatibility
I already wrote about the compatibility of the player with different headphones above, so I will not repeat.
As for the XBA-H3, I can only mentally take off my hat to Sony engineers. Headphones turned out surprisingly versatile and not capricious. It is quite possible to listen to them not only with simple players, but also with smartphones (with the exception, perhaps, of the cheapest ones), while headphones also do not succumb to top-end sources.
findings
NWZ-ZX1 for me was a little misunderstood. I do not quite understand his target audience. For simple music lovers, it is too expensive, for spoiled audiophiles - its sound is too simple, for comparable money you can buy a player that sounds much better (although, of course, it looks much worse). Sony fans, of course, have already endowed him with incredible sound in their reviews, comparable to the best examples of audio equipment, but this is not so. The sound of the ZX1, of course, is good, but it does not reach the “excellent” one. If the player cost about $ 400, it would be a very good offer, but for 680 - it is not very competitive. Sony recently announced new, more budget models with high-resolution sound support, I think they will be more interesting in terms of price / quality ratio.
XBA-H3, in turn, the company failed. More linear than most hybrids, the frequency response makes them genre-independent, while the percussion bass and excellent resolution across the range show why the hybrid technology was chosen. Despite the controversial ergonomics, the headphones are very, very good, and the coming price reduction makes them a very interesting purchase.
The article is based on materials .
Comments
Post a Comment