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Will the tubes and their supply or the components around them need additional cooling/ventilation - like drilling holes on the top cover?
And that would be just for starters. Add in your mods, and I am guessing the Sony would be taken to a whole other level! I will be on the edge of my seat!
Vinnie, when are you taking orders? rlabarre, My hesitation with PS Audio is their buggy / in-stable software and firmware. So far only read positive experiences with Sony software and Apps.
Very interesting thread - I've been waiting for this kind of player for a long time.If you don't mind couple questions about your tube output:- Is it doing both I/V conversion and amplification?- What is the output voltage and impedance?- What do you think about using a transformer directly on the 1795 outputs?(There are some reports of good results using 1794 with transformer).Thanks,Vlad
----While the Z1ES does not have all the features of a computer + dac, it does offer some benefits of simplicity (which I like!):- No need for Pure Music, Amarra, Audirvana, etc- No need to have to optimize a computer for dedicated audio use.- No need to have a computer in your system, so you can free it up and use it for other things- No computer's internal switching power supplies in your system.- No need for a USB cable, or for trying to isolate the USB power/gnd from the player.- No cataloging headaches. Just picks the music folders you want to send to the Sony, and it'll play all your formatsand take all your album artwork and it just works.- Just a power cable and interconnects.
- No need for Pure Music, Amarra, Audirvana, etc- No need to have to optimize a computer for dedicated audio use.- No need to have a computer in your system, so you can free it up and use it for other things- No computer's internal switching power supplies in your system.- No need for a USB cable, or for trying to isolate the USB power/gnd from the player.- No cataloging headaches. Just picks the music folders you want to send to the Sony, and it'll play all your formatsand take all your album artwork and it just works.- Just a power cable and interconnects.
Well, you will still need a power cord and pair of interconnects for the Z1ES. But all the other stuff can go and I doubt you are going to miss it.Let us know when you get it and put some hours on it...
Planning to purchase the Z1, and will be interested in the mods, especially the output stage mod.
Quick first impressions, as promised: the Sony HAP Z1ES proved easy to set up. All networking, both wired (CAT6 gigabit) and wireless proved to be simple, and worked the first time on both sides. Its interface is pretty intuitive, and worked very well with the HDD Audio Remote app. I've tried this on both the supplied Sony Xperian pad and my own iPad 3...both IOS 7.1 and the Android system had no problems. Installation of the HAP Transfer app on my Windows 7 64-bit notebook computer upstairs was flawless, and connected with the wired interface immediately, once I shifted to the wired subnet. (For security reasons, I keep wired and wireless networks on two entirely different Network address spaces.) I used the Sony Transfer app to copy about 110 GB of DSD files to the 1 TB internal storage on the Z1ES. Then I shifted it back to the wireless network so that I could connect with the Xperian and iPad remote control apps. No problems at all...a really gratifying result, I must say. My VERY preliminary listening impressions are quite positive. With only a few hours on the review sample, the sonic results have been quite positive. PCM is PCM, but sounds good on the Z1ES. I had the unit set to convert PCM to Double DSD (yes, that's what the Z1ES can do), so that is likely the reason for this result. Most of my listening has been to DSD, naturally; there the sound is natural, detailed, totally balanced, with superior imaging and soundstaging. Frankly, I was hearing a quality of sound on the first day that was better than I expected. Nice!Since the Z1ES converts to Double DSD, I decided to copy a Double DSD sample track to the review unit, to see if it would play it. I wasn't surprised, but I was gratified to see that the Z1ES handled my sample Double DSD track without a hitch. In fact, it sounded great!So far, this has been an exceptional experience. Sony is onto something here...at $1,999, this is a relative steal in audiophile terms. More to come at PFO, when I flesh this all out....
Vinnie,This might be a dumb question but would your mod void Sony's warranty?
I'm not sure if a passive transformer is the best way to do it if you want to preserve the output stage filtering implemented get rid of the ultrasonic noise from the PCM and DSD conversion. But I'll look into it...
Transformer coupled output. The output of the DSD engine is fed directly into the output stage which is based on high speed video amplifiers, passive filtering, including a carefully crafted high bandwidth audio transformer at the output. Unlike conventional DACS that depend on active analog output circuitry and the problems associated with them, DirectStream is purely passive.