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Time flies. I thought ZX500 only came out a year ago... :<

It's kind of funny they couldn't be bothered to play more than one song for all the demo photographs haha

Can't see any obvious major upgrades over ZX500 ...

they suck ass, don't bother

@Armaegis Yeah the site looks nice and everything (the reason it comes up in my daily design feed) but also tries so hard to sound like Apple to me. Maybe even worse, since Apple at least provides some technical info on their site. Might serve as an okay dumbbell if you buy two... And speaking of Apple,...

@Gazny Thank you for the link! Now I know where they got that from :D

@tommytakis Ok, case closed lol. Thought so.

Definitely a setback but hopefully a stepping stone to something better. I wish you luck!

That really sucks. @zerodeefex comments are spot on. Especially applicable to poor management.

Thank you everyone! Your messages really helped me process all of this and now I'm more motivated than ever to make it work at another place (who knows, maybe in another country!). Funny how SBAF is the first place I think of when I'm down in the dumps; this place is something special. :)

Totally agree, have been using mine happily for close to half a year now, having sold other dacs like gungnir a2 and soekris 2541. Most underrated dac on the market now I think. @TomB / @dsavitsk really needs to get sbaf with a loaner.

@pure5152 It's because of your impressions on here that pushed me to go for it, so thank you! :D

Also huge thanks to @Ksorota for being a calm, helpful, and amazing seller.

Thanks, I found the write up here.
https://www.mrwalkman.ml/p/project-z-zx300.html
I did the update last Nov so PLUS didn't exist yet.

@gixxerwimp Apparently there are two versions of the firmware now for ZX300: Project-Z (warmer tone) and DMP-300 (neutral-ish). Interesting. I really should try the warmer one soon.

I didn't dive back in too deep, but I had the "DMP-300 FE" from last Nov. It didn't have PLUS mode. Installed the "Project_Z" and yeah it's quite a bit warmer ... I like!

Congrats on the resurrection!

2nd dose of Moderna kicked my ass for a day. Totally worth it.

I think it's a strong contender to the BF2 personally. I find it pretty offensive sounding in OS, but sounds pretty refined in NOS. Not as aggressive as the BF2 but also not as sleepy sounding as Metrum.

@famish99 Thank you! How's the USB on this dac? I kinda want to get away from Eitr and don't want to commit to a SPDIF source just yet.

USB sounds fine, a little buggy on Mac exclusive mode, but otherwise does the job.

Crazy good imaging too I guess?

@EagleWings Yeah, it's good enough even with my shitty room treatment, which I plan to fix soon!

Whoa. They are one of my "desert island" artists. Very sad, but thanks for nearly 30 years of amazing music.

I wonder what prompted the decision to break up now. I also wonder if there will be one final project from them before the year is out that they had been working on.

Based on the video, the silver helmet robot couldn't go on anymore, and asked the gold helmet robot to "pull the plug".

@Phantaminum I dropped it from a quite-high cabinet at a very specific angle on an object that punched directly into the driver. It's hard to explain....with tears in my eyes...

Ouch... that's a sad end to headphones or any valuable object.

Going for replacement? I wonder how the customer service is now.

@Thad E Ginathom Good timing! Garuspik (or his "intern"?) has surprisingly contacted me on email for a replacement solution after a "customer" told him about my situation (with some added choice words for SBAF haha). Will see how that pans out!

@gixxerwimp I have only seen a few mentions from Psalm and zerodeefex about being a tier or two below Vanatoo T0. Spec sheet has zero detail regarding the codecs but I suspect the usual aptx, aac, sbc – no LDAC mention anywhere on the box. I notice there's a few milliseconds delay of sound while using bluetooth as well, which sucks a bit.

Good example of how far you can take a simple small design when you can properly tune the power to the drivers. My experience with JBL Contol Ones is that they were lifeless lumps and only got close to any respect when you cranked them.

I bought the non BT for $50 I think a while back. I used them at work and they were pretty decent.

For $50, I'd take them over most compact monitors and keep the rest of the $$$ for good investments during the recession.

@Sqveak Damn. Guess I'll have to ask Zampotech to add some mean spike traps in the box now.

The postal workers are probably over worked and under paid. Just needs to be packed well.

That's really sad to hear. IIRC mine came in a thick plastic Russian Post plastic bag with Zamp's sturdy packaging on the inside. It definitely looked the worse for wear, but everything was intact. I'm sure you'll get sorted out as quickly as possible.

Mk2 much lighter (~465grams). In future i'll sell separately new headbands.

@Garuspik Looking forward to the new ones. Hope it's easy to install for dumb-dumb like me! :D

Another shoutout to @Garuspik for being so quick to respond 24/7 and providing me with detailed instructions on how to fix the headphone. Seriously, get some sleep man.

It's one of the only planar magnetic headphones I actually like (plus the price is great in the land of kilobuck crap).

Had the QuickStep back in the day and it remains one of my favorite two or three portable amps (along with the Leckerton). Sneaky powerful and nicely refined, dynamic sound.

Now I just feel bad for not knowing Meier Audio sooner. My stupid purchases back in the last few years could have easily been avoided...

Dr Meier's an original—and a treat to deal with! I don't use my Classic often nowadays, but I'm still holding on to it. Enjoy!

Looks interesting. I would get it just to have something different

It has hardware crossfeed and much better volumepot than Magni 3.

Thank you all! I'll try to get my hands on the amp. I just hope it doesn't sound much harsher than a Jotunheim.

@YMO I'm hereby convinced. Please eat more fiber though!

When I hear "slow" & "tubey" describe a tube amp... I run the other fuckin' way... faaast.

@FlySweep Haha that's basically what I felt! Never got turned off by something so fast.

That is an essential task bro. You can have all the carriers pickup packages at your place.