4 Reasons Not to Buy the Sony ZX1

1. The battery life is garbage

Charged it full this morning, and by evening I’d listened for maybe three and a half hours, 45% left, FLAC files. 89% of that juice went to standby. No idea why the ZX1 guzzles power in standby — I already had airplane mode on. I figured physical buttons meant no need to light up the screen, so it should sip battery…

2. The controls are garbage

If the F800 series was already bad because you had to hit the Walkman button and then swipe on the screen to change tracks, then the ZX1 rolled everything back except the physical buttons… Say I want to glance at what song just came on, or check the time. On the F800 I at least press the Walkman button once and the lock screen shows the current track and the time. The ZX1 doesn’t do that. You have to go fish for that power button that’s borderline impossible to hit… and after that you still have to unlock the thing and open the player app again… 3. The sound upgrade is minor

Sound-wise I honestly don’t hear a night-and-day difference. Compared to the F800 and F880, the gain in output power is pretty obvious, and a couple of my IEMs do sound noticeably better because of it… but nothing else changed much. If you already have an amp or whatever, don’t bother.

4. Too expensive

Not much to say. Faith is expensive as hell!!!

Verdict:

If you’re not a Sony brainlet fan like me, aren’t held hostage by FLAC, and don’t want to burn that much cash, an iPod Classic or an F880 is the better buy…