A Few Days with Walkman ZX300A

I was using the FiiO X7 along with the Sony Walkman A35, but juggling two devices was a hassle, and the Sony WM1A was out of my budget. Then the ZX300 came along at a middle price point, with the China model being the ZX300A. I put in a pre-order, and after attending Sony’s listening event I felt it was acceptable, so I didn’t cancel. It finally arrived a while back, and I’ve been listening for two weeks now—mostly satisfied.

First off, the ZX300A is a China-exclusive model with only 16GB of storage, uses the latest generation MASTER chip… supports balanced output, and more importantly…

It supports USB DAC function.

Actually, after careful listening, the ZX300A’s sound sits between the FiiO X7 and the Walkman A35—way better than the A35, but not quite reaching the X7’s level.

The main thing is the sound is no longer as powerless as the A35; there’s a clear boost in the midrange and better control, so it doesn’t sound “cheap and characterless” like the A35.

But some say the ZX300A’s biggest feature is balanced output, so I got a balanced cable to test… When you plug into the balanced jack, the player shows a Balance icon.

It’s hard to describe the first balanced listening experience—at first it didn’t seem like much… but after listening for a while and switching back, you feel like something is missing.

I think balanced does improve technicalities, especially on well-recorded albums, but it’s a shame that most of the time I’m listening to moe-gei songs…

And some moe-gei songs are just terrible; I’ve listened 20 times and still think they’re awful.

Overall, this player is well worth it. If you like Sony’s gear and Sony’s sound, it’s a good choice. After all these years, Sony finally released a player with mainstream Chinese DAP features while keeping its own strengths—controls and battery life are excellent, it supports APTX, the system is stable, and pre-order customers got a leather case. Pretty good.

One last thing: the screen is frosted, so if you buy a glass screen protector on eBay, you’ll have issues with it not adhering properly due to the texture. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use a protector—you can find a special film on Sony’s official website; just buy it and apply it.

I feel like this film might have done some tiny work.