The Walkman ZX300A is probably one of the more honest players Sony has put out recently. First off, the chip. It uses Sony’s newly developed S-Master chip, which is a higher hardware revision than what’s in the Black Brick and Gold Brick, and it supports more features too. In theory the sound should be on par with those high-end models, and the price is still low — the Chinese domestic version seems to be under 3000, which is downright reasonable compared to the Black Brick, the Gold Brick, and the “Sony Sixty Thousand.” So anyway, I’m broke, I can’t afford a Black Brick, and this is all I can manage. It has every feature I need, and I’m pretty happy listening to it. Then comes the even better part: this thing keeps getting firmware updates, and the latest one is a bombshell.

Ever since I bought the “Noise Cancelling Beans”, I’ve been using them almost every day. Honestly, I’m happy with them. Happy to what degree? Let’s put it this way: I’m even thinking about selling off all my audiophile-mysticism gear, because these are just too convenient. The Beans sound good enough, the battery lasts long enough, and there aren’t many connection dropouts. Apart from a little video latency, they’re more than enough for just listening to music. But a few days ago the Beans pushed out a 2.0 firmware update, said to further improve stability, so I figured I’d just upgrade.

A while back Slickdeals pushed a deal — Sony’s noise canceling earbuds on eBay for just $69.9… Couldn’t resist. Bought one, and picked up two more for a coworker and Jipiss. In the end it arrived with no customs fee, but it was overweight, so shipping cost 10 extra yuan — which I magnanimously passed on to Jipiss and made him pay.

I know the manufacturer Songri (Matsunichi) — back in school I was really into Pocket PCs, and there was a company with that name at the time, they made Pocket PCs. The specs were nothing special but the price was cheap, so it stuck with me. I never actually bought anything from them in the end. Years later, the next time I hear the name, it’s these pack-in earbuds.

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.

I only signed up out of boredom, and then I actually got invited. I’d almost forgotten about it, glanced at my phone and remembered, so I hopped on my bike and went.

If you search Quora for “what headphones are good,” you’re bound to come across a brand called Superlux. I’d never heard of this brand before, and probably nobody else had either, but there are just a ton of people on Quora hyping it up. Most importantly, it’s cheap—only 78 yuan, and shipping is fucking free. A while back I stopped even going on blind dates, felt empty inside, and just started buying shit. I’d sworn off buying audiophile-mysticism products, but I just wanted to see whether Superlux was all hype or not. Ordered on JD.com, said it ships from JD, but it still got third-party treatment. Anyway, it arrived. I listened to it for about a week, on and off. Not long, but I basically get it now—why people hype this thing, and why it’s so cheap.

I’m not really interested in Tongque’s earphones, but I do enjoy watching their founder pick fights with people on X (Twitter). Honestly, the way he goes after people is pretty on point — some folks really are that dumb and deserve it. I didn’t want to buy a Tongque earphone, though, because word was the sound was pretty mediocre. Then I saw the founder announce the new EN700 Pro in red and black, 12 months interest-free, and his line “if the sound’s bad, you can hit me.” So I bought one on impulse.

A crowdfunding product I stupidly backed last year. The JD crowdfunding page probably has a fairly detailed writeup. And as I said a while back, the company had no real intention of crowdfunding — they were just using it as a presale. Plenty of KOLs had already reviewed the thing before the campaign even finished. The box was actually pretty decent when it arrived.

As someone who’s already “retired” from the audiophile hobby, I’m not really interested in mysticism anymore. Mostly I just look for songs to listen to—following arrangers, following singers, seeing which singers look good… oh, I mean sing well. I used to use the Dunu DN20000J as my retirement IEM, but lately my tastes have gotten a bit heavier. That IEM, well… you know how it is. Back then I fell for the bullshit those KOLs were peddling, chasing after “female poison” and transparency. Who’d have thought I’d end up liking EDM and Hip-Hop? And even when it’s not EDM or Hip-Hop, ordinary pop just lacks something through the Dunu… So in the end, I guess I just prefer that dynamic driver feel? Finally I saw the JVC FX1200 on sale for JD Double Eleven, so I just bought it. As the flagship of dynamic drivers, I figured I’d experience its charm.