[k6davis]

They lost me with no digital input. That seems like an oversight that just might lose them quite a bit of potential customers.

Me too. It's a curious omission for their top-of-the-line ES unit. It could have worked as a server for some and a DAC for others. That would have made it attractive to lots more people.

Sony does offer a unit that's lower in the product line that has a digital input, but there was something else about it that wasn't to my liking.

[smargo]

The point is your 16 bit, 44.1 kHz ripped CDs have a new lease on life! Sony went "all-in" with this technology and it has paid-off.  I highly recommend you listen to the HAP-Z1ES - I think its a break-through piece of equipment!

i purchased the sony with a little trepidation - although there is def a learning curve here - its very simple once you get the hang of what to do. didnt think i would enjoy listening to files - compared to spinning and listening to my cd's - its very early in my critiquing - but a couple of cd's that i downloaded to the player and a couple of tracks that i have downloaded that are 192kz/24bit and 96kz/24bit - sound really really good

i was so reluctant to take the computer plunge - but this way makes it so easy - and the smartphone app is wonderful - it lets you can control everything from the palm of your hand - without having to use the limited  and funky remote

getting used to - but am happy so far with everything - got a lot of answers from the dedicated faqs that sony has on the internet

ill keep you posted about my progress and sound quality

[wayneoh]

Plus it has a 5 year parts and labor warranty.

Stercom or anyone else ... How do you know warranty is 5 years? Where is this documented? I looked all over Sony website and couldn't find warranty info anywhere.

Thanks, Wayne
PS. Just joined today.

[smargo]

Stercom or anyone else ... How do you know warranty is 5 years? Where is this documented? I looked all over Sony website and couldn't find warranty info anywhere.

Thanks, Wayne
PS. Just joined today.

this is what came with the unit - i swear

[wayneoh]

this is what came with the unit - i swear

Many thanks for the warranty info. Five years is a good warranty length. To me, it's a selling point. Lots of audio gear (even quality stuff) is only one or two years. Particularly for a product that includes a hard drive, warranty length strikes me as a pretty important feature. Hard drives go south all the time. I'm surprised Sony hasn't done more to publicize the fact that they've put a five year warranty on this product.
 
Regards, Wayne

[audio.bill]

All of Sony's ES series products include a 5 year warranty.

[wayneoh]

Just wondering if any of those who've purchased the HAP-Z1ES have used the gapless playback feature and/or the volume normalization feature and, if so, what your impressions are of how effective they are.

Regards, Wayne

[harri009]

I do not have much if any music that requires hapless playback.  As for the volume normalization I would have used it but from the manual it sounds as though it only works if tunred on before you import your music.  It took a full 24 hours to import my iTunes library and another 5 days solid to import my external drive onto its reformatted external, so not redoing it.

[Stercom]

I use gapless playback. There are no annoying extra time intervals or "clicking" noises between tracks that I've heard with other equipment. Its especially important if you listen to a lot of classical or opera that really needs to flow smoothly between tracks as was intended by the composer. Even though I was getting some noticeable changes in volume levels between tracks/albums I kept the volume normalization turned off. I finally tried it on auto mode and there are no adverse side effects as far as I can hear. As to the original import/transfer times, I have just over 1TB of music which is mostly in FLAC and DSD. The total transfer took about 18 hours via LAN cable wired directly to my router, perhaps you have a lot more music than me or you did it wirelessly?

[davek]

Pray tell, how do you get over 1TB of music/data into a 1TB internal hard drive (less with preinstalled DSD files)

If I get the unit I will have an external hard drive connected to the back. 18 hours is a long time.

[Stercom]

You can expand the storage.  I've got a 3TB drive attached via the USB. 

[Steven Stone]

Here is a link to my TAS review, so you don't have to read rough paraphrases of what I actually wrote - http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/sony-hap-z1es-hdd-audio-player/

[davek]

Thanks for the link, Steven. Right now I have music player/DAC separates, now I'm curious if it would sound better to combine the units in my system, maybe get the USB interface out of the way.

Stercom, wouldn't it be faster to transfer the files to the external hard drive using a computer and leave the player out of it?
Are the files organized in a proprietary way for the external drive?

[harri009]

As to the original import/transfer times, I have just over 1TB of music which is mostly in FLAC and DSD. The total transfer took about 18 hours via LAN cable wired directly to my router, perhaps you have a lot more music than me or you did it wirelessly?

The 24 hour time was wired sony, wireless laptop moving 300gb.  The 5 day was everything wired via Ethernet moving 3.8tb from one USB 4tb drive to the  sony attached 4tb drive. 

[harri009]

Pray tell, how do you get over 1TB of music/data into a 1TB internal hard drive (less with preinstalled DSD files)

If I get the unit I will have an external hard drive connected to the back. 18 hours is a long time.

FYI you will need a second harddrive as you cannot just plug your drive with the music on it into the Sony.  The sony must reformat the drive making it the type it needs.  Then you will have to transfer the music through the Sony into the external.  It's really not a big deal though.  I have my laptop plugged in sitting on the rack, you can play music via the internal drive while the transfer is taking place.

[smargo]

The 24 hour time was wired sony, wireless laptop moving 300gb.   

so far i have done all of my transferring wirelessly with absolutely no glitches and everything sounds wonderful!

[martinr]

I'm surprised Steve from TAS was not able to hear a difference between DSD, enhanced and original audio format if I read this review correctly    ...it will be interesting to hear what other new owners experiences are.

[jriggy]

I'm thinking this unit would be perfect for a hi end headphone rig. HAPZies, SET headphone amp, and phones sitting next to me from the couch.

[gregfisk]

 Steven,

That was a fantastic review, for me because you took us with you setting the HAP up and your detailed explanation or its feature set.

One question I have, realising of course you are using different dacs is whether you could hear a difference between the mac mini and the HAP?

While you didn't state your opinion about this, I for one wish Sony would have incorporated a digital input and if possible a digital out so that one could utilize the DSD in the HAP with other digital sources and could add ones own preference for a dac.

Thank You for the review and the link.

Greg

[wayneoh]

Steven,

I also found your review informative and appreciate your work in putting it together. Thank you.

One question I have has to do with the comparisons you did with the Mytek. In the paragraph where you write about doing "a number of A/B comparisons between the HAP-Z1ES and two streaming audio/computer based sources" (as well as in the two paragraphs that follow), you didn't specify what kinds of files you were listening to. Where you comparing playback of a hi-res PCM file (e.g. FLAC) on the Mytek versus the same file on the Sony with the DSD remastering turned off on the Sony or where you comparing playback of a native DSD file through the Mytek versus the Sony or do your review comments apply to both of these situations?

Regards, Wayne