[Stercom]

I'll definitely check out the drum moon gel pads. I assume you're talking about this: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/rtom-moongel-percussion-dampening-gels  I'm also going to try a Bright Star Audio isolation platform that a friend will let me borrow. 

Just a quick update. I've now tried the gel drum pads and I agree they are very effective under the HAP-Z1ES and a great value! The Bright Star Audio isolation platform used in conjunction with either the Herbies IsoCups or gel drum pads solidified the bass even more and took just a slight edge off of the lower treble/upper midrange. At this point, I prefer the gel drum pads but I have a number of other isolation products I'm going to try with the Bright Star platform.

[steve in jersey]

I will add that you can probably find a "Herbie's" item that works for just about any isolation / vibration reduction application you can think  of , (& here's the kicker), at a "real world" price.

I do have one complaint though . I feel that he should have named it "Steve's Audio Lab"

( That has a better "ring" to it, don't you think ; & being part of the "Steve" Club I think he's required to do
that anyway, according to the handbook)

[bwillcox]

The effect of a reduced "noise floor" is that there "may" be some more of the small details in the background
of whatever recording you happen to be listening to may start showing up in any number of recordings, making recordings sound less like recordings & more like live music making

& like I've said this "micro detail" may or may not even be present for entire genres of musical recordings that
are'nt heavily acoustic music based .

i do apologize if I offended you by by making the comment that I found it humorous that you were listening
for the effects I was talking about. The truth is you could be at this hobby for many years & not come across any mention of any of this , until 1 day you come across something in a recording & then you think "this must be what that "Nut" was talking about (or not)

(Hope this clears somethings up; If not don't worry about it, the HAP - Z1ES is a great sounding player whether or not this is part of the equation) (We good now?)

Sure. I was just not understanding where you were going. I listen to lots of hirez acoustic music (both flac and dsd) on my HAP-Z1ES (I gave up trying to transfer the 35,000 or so ripped CD tracks to it) and have to say that I too am very impressed with the sound. I also stream some of the same tracks through my Oppo BDP-103D and my Yamaha CX-A5000 prepro for listening, but must say I prefer using the Sony box. In addition to enjoying the SenseMe selection and shuffling of the tracks, there's is also some audible quality that I prefer. I'm no good at putting words to sound differences unless they are extreme (which isn't the case). All I can say is that the HAP-Z1ES is the box I most often turn on to listen to. 

[Regnad]

vTuner appears to be working again, be sure to re-boot...

[OzarkTom]

vTuner appears to be working again, be sure to re-boot...

 

[OzarkTom]

ABC Lounge Radio is now back and wife and I are enjoying it.

[gbeard]

Sweet! Vtuner! 

My friends, I think we have a very nice box. 

[Stercom]

I'm not going to try to explain this or say much more than if you own a Sony HAP-Z1ES you have got to try a Synergistic Research base with it. If not for the sonics then for the visual appeal - the size and metal finish are almost exactly the same as the HAP-Z1ES.

[Stercom]

For all who may not have seen this Dave of ZenWave Audio is reporting he found out at RMAF 2014:

"Sony Rooms, the big speakers with a Pass amp, the bookshelf speakers with the Sony amp, both rooms have the excellent HAP-Z1ES music server. They announced an exciting upgrade to the firmware, the USB port will be able to accept a hard drive that is NOT formatted especially for the Sony, so a friend can bring their hard drive over, plug it into the Sony's USB port and play music, the lengthy transfer process is no longer required for outboard hard drives!"

Obviously, this is great news!!

[bwillcox]

My HAP-Z1ES updated its firmware this morning. I haven't noticed anything different, but then I haven't had much time to really check it out. The app on my Nexus 7 updated first and then refused to work with the previous firmware on the HAP-Z1ES, forcing me to do the update on it as well.

[gbeard]

Updating now...

This is what the Sony website says are improved:

Name: Firmware update v13741R for HAP-S1 / HAP-Z1ES
Date released: 16-10-2014
Benefits and improvements:
Support FAT External HDD
Support Jacket picture display on track list for Playlists and Favorites
Support 32bit WAV playback
Support DSD gapless playback
Support manual edit for SensMe channels
Add Oversampling setting to select Normal/Precision mode (only for HAP-Z1ES)
Caution: If you use HDD Audio Remote, you need to update HDD Audio Remote too
Note: The Android app of new HDD Audio remote supports “Music Transfer” feature, while due OS limition the iOS app does not

[OzarkTom]

lol....I know I am probably imagining this, but it seems my system is a tad bit more liquid and emotional sounding after this latest update.

[DaveC113]

Hmm, been working all day so I haven't listened but what you're describing is all the HAP needs to be pretty much perfect.

It's pretty cool to get automatic updates, although now that it can read any HDD a front USB port would be nice... 

[gbeard]

lol....I know I am probably imagining this, but it seems my system is a tad bit more liquid and emotional sounding after this latest update.

I gotta say, I thought/still think something has changed too. My first thought was slightly more resolution, it also seems a little more dynamic. Like you, it could be strictly my audiophile psychosis at work.     I set the new oversampling setting to "Precision"...I can't say that made any difference.

A significant update and Vtuner works...Like I wrote a few days ago, nice box... I like.   

[Scott_W]

Quick question on editing. My import went fine, but about 10% of the albums broke in two, meaning half the songs listed in one version, half in the other. Still recognizes the album, but it's like it made a double album. Ergo, I can't play the complete album.

Question for you owners (mine is a week old): is there an easy way to do batch editing? Currently I'm doing it album by album via the app, via 'edit music info', typing needed changes, then 'apply to all tracks.' Note in order to edit I have to start playing a track from the affected album. It's tedious. One at a time.

Is there an easier way? Thanks for any tips.

[Scott_W]

May have a solution: MusicBrainz Picard. Retagging everything, going to reload it all again. Amazing program that one is.

[Stercom]

Did a few hours listening with the updated firmware and I agree it refines the sound even more. I must say the HAP-Z1ES has turned out to be an excellent sounding digital source.

[Rob50]

Has anyone experienced any problems with the display screen ? My HAP-S1 now has a white vertical thin horizontal line exactly half way down, that goes right across the screen. Really annoying !!

[Stercom]

Has anyone experienced any problems with the display screen ?

Nope.

[Merko]

I had the horizontal white line issue crop up several months ago.  At the Sony ES Support tech's request, I sent my unit in to the Laredo service center. I waited over a month for their investigation into the issue.  I never received an explanation as to the actual fault involved, but they decided to ship me a brand-new unit - which (thankfully) has operated perfectly since early August.

The funny thing is, that aside from this horizontal line appearing, my original unit never malfunctioned in any other way.  At the time I contacted Sony support, they had not heard of any other cases of this anomaly.  The issue mentioned in this thread is now the 2nd other Z1 unit I have read of with the "white line" -  another was from a UK-based owner.  I have to assume it is a fairly rare hardware problem.

Merko