Official A/V Thread

[terry.330]

Gaiz, I'm not going to buy this (or something like it) until I move later in the year, but does anyone know of something "better" than this deck, as it's pretty old. The only comparable stuff I see are "streamers" that have an external drive port.

Home review

Sony’s ventured into high-definition audio territory with impressive results - the HAP-Z1ES is a smartly designed, superb sounding piece of kit

www.whathifi.com

I had the HAP-S1 and absolutely hated it. It was one of the most un intuitive pieces of equipment I've ever owned. Ended returning it after about a week. It put me off on Sony for any type of cutting edge hifi.

The Z1ES looks like it's actually what the S1 was trying to be. It's probably much more user friendly considering the advances in technology since the S1 was introduced back in 2016.

Cambridge makes a couple of comparable products I believe.

 

[max 330 megafartz]

Gaiz, I'm not going to buy this (or something like it) until I move later in the year, but does anyone know of something "better" than this deck, as it's pretty old. The only comparable stuff I see are "streamers" that have an external drive port.

Home review

Sony’s ventured into high-definition audio territory with impressive results - the HAP-Z1ES is a smartly designed, superb sounding piece of kit

www.whathifi.com

Im super confused about why this is necessary when you can just bluetooth to a set of powered speakers, but i read the whole review and at least now know that something like this exists. I might even have a friend who would really want this thing. It sure does cost a lot for being a giant ipod though.

 

[fake]

Im super confused about why this is necessary when you can just bluetooth to a set of powered speakers, but i read the whole review and at least now know that something like this exists. I might even have a friend who would really want this thing. It sure does cost a lot for being a giant ipod though.

I’m not too interested in the streaming capabilities. What I want is a high res audio deck with internal storage.

 

[terry.330]

I’m not too interested in the streaming capabilities. What I want is a high res audio deck with internal storage.

That's what I bought the S1 for but Sony's proprietary software to transfer the lossless files and their remote app were a total ball ache.

It seemed like once you had all of your music in the proper format and transferred it would've been nice but even then organizing it all so that it was manageable to easily find what you wanted and using the remote app wasn't worth the hassle. I ended up just getting an amp with USB in and using my iMac.

I will say it was a neat piece of gear and it looked great aesthetically but didn't have all the bugs worked out yet as far as user friendliness goes.

 

[fake]

That's what I bought the S1 for but Sony's proprietary software to transfer the lossless files and their remote app were a total ball ache.

It seemed like once you had all of your music in the proper format and transferred it would've been nice but even then organizing it all so that it was manageable to easily find what you wanted and using the remote app wasn't worth the hassle. I ended up just getting an amp with USB in and using my iMac.

I will say it was a neat piece of gear and it looked great aesthetically but didn't have all the bugs worked out yet as far as user friendliness goes.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, the Teachmoan video review of the S1 says it's super easy to use, so that's surprising. IIRC he said the only downside is that ingesting files from a drive is slow, but it does a great job organizing everything. My main concern would be the hard drive. I was hoping that something similar but with an SSD would be available, but it doesn't look like it.

What would the downsides be of just buying a hi-res DAP and using that within my hifi setup? After all, these things are basically just hi-res DAPs in deck form, no?

 

[kernow]

Melco

 

[terry.330]

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, the Teachmoan video review of the S1 says it's super easy to use, so that's surprising. IIRC he said the only downside is that ingesting files from a drive is slow, but it does a great job organizing everything.

Like in the video when I initially went to DL the software for my Mac I had trouble even finding it, then once I did and ran into issues the unit was so new that there wasn't really any community support just Sony's bare minimum guide which made it clear that Mac was not their priority.

It took just over 2 days to transfer all of my music to the HD using wifi. Then the remote app wouldn't function properly on my iPhone and constantly having to get up and use the jog wheel on the unit to search through hundreds of artists and thousands of albums was annoying to say the least. The remote that the unit came with was beyond horrible with very limited functionality, so you need to use the remote app. Also it is completely dependent on having your music library meticulously organized before you import it, doing that on the unit itself (since the remote app barely worked) was maddening and slow. The whole experience was just frustrating. It felt more like programming a drum machine than a spiffy new piece of hifi that was supposed to simplify things.

Keep in mind that was just my experience and it was a long time ago.

Like I said I ended up returning the unit. Decided on skipping a dedicated DAP altogether and buying a new amp with USB in and just hooking it directly up to my iMac, it's not as slick but it does exactly what it's supposed to do with zero fuss and has a lot of benefits.

 

[ggallegos1]

Question: what headphones do you use for listening to your analog audio?

I am planning on redoing my audio layout to where the turntable and receiver are located separate from where the vinyl and speakers are. there will be a chair next to this setup for dedicated listening with headphones that plug into the receiver (1/4" jack) for listening. Which ones do you use that don't lose a ton of sound quality?

 

[terry.330]

How much money are you looking to spend?

 

[ggallegos1]

Not looking to break $500 if that's possible

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

Would buy a Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro for 500 bucks

DT 1990 PRO

Tesla studio reference headphones for mixing and mastering (open)

north-america.beyerdynamic.com

It's actually a better DT 990 Pro, with Tesla driver. Sennheiser just released the HD 660S2 and is also pretty interesting. It's more than 500 but you can get it's predecessor the HD 660 S for under $400.

 

[prof]

@ggallegos1

You may want to look into a headphone amplifier. Even if you have a nice integrated amp or receiver, separates almost always outperform them. Granted, most of the sub-500 stuff is in the Chi-fi realm, but Schiit makes some well-regarded amps in that price range.

And as far as headphones, I dont think you can go wrong with most of Sennheiser's offerings. I rarely use headphones myself anymore, but years ago when I was in the market, I got a lot of use out of head-fi.org. They have tons of reviews and a forum. Definitely worth digging into.

 

[Teddy KGB]

@ggallegos1

You may want to look into a headphone amplifier. Even if you have a nice integrated amp or receiver, separates almost always outperform them. Granted, most of the sub-500 stuff is in the Chi-fi realm, but Schiit makes some well-regarded amps in that price range.

And as far as headphones, I dont think you can go wrong with most of Sennheiser's offerings. I rarely use headphones myself anymore, but years ago when I was in the market, I got a lot of use out of head-fi.org. They have tons of reviews and a forum. Definitely worth digging into.

+1 this, and to Schiit... depending on the amp, they tend to be some of the best "bang for buck" comparatively speaking. Magni+ and Magnius for example are sub $200 which is nuts, especially for what you get with the latter. Your mileage may vary depending the model, but their modular upgradability almost makes them future proof in some regard. That said, I bought a Jotunheim with a balanced Amp/DAC in late 2016 (I think I posted about it in this thread back in the day) and the present-day equivalent hasn't budged on price much, if at all since then which is pretty remarkable.

 

[max 330 megafartz]

+1 this, and to Schiit... depending on the amp, they tend to be some of the best "bang for buck" comparatively speaking. Magni+ and Magnius for example are sub $200 which is nuts, especially for what you get with the latter. Your mileage may vary depending the model, but their modular upgradability almost makes them future proof in some regard. That said, I bought a Jotunheim with a balanced Amp/DAC in late 2016 (I think I posted about it in this thread back in the day) and the present-day equivalent hasn't budged on price much, if at all since then which is pretty remarkable.

My local hifi dealer is anti Schiit, which i find a bit perplexing considering the reviews i read that say they’re awesome. I plan to get the schiit preamp when ive got some dollars to blow. Really wish i could hear it in person at the local dealer first but like i said…

 

[Teddy KGB]

My local hifi dealer is anti Schiit...

Strange. Listening can be subjective but their ground-up design and playability is pretty world renowned, and generally reviewed positively to your point. They only sell direct to consumers from their site (I think they may sell some things on Amazon now), so maybe your local HiFi joint is bent out of shape with the equal treatment there. That, and I believe most if not all of their amps/dacs are made in the US for the most part if you care about that sort of thing.

Regardless, unless Schiit changed their policy, they used to have a 15 day no questions asked return policy if you didn't like what you ordered.

 

[max 330 megafartz]

Strange. Listening can be subjective but their ground-up design and playability is pretty world renowned, and generally reviewed positively to your point. They only sell direct to consumers from their site (I think they may sell some things on Amazon now), so maybe your local HiFi joint is bent out of shape with the equal treatment there. That, and I believe most if not all of their amps/dacs are made in the US for the most part if you care about that sort of thing.

Regardless, unless Schiit changed their policy, they used to have a 15 day no questions asked return policy if you didn't like what you ordered.

Fuck yes dude good info. Thanks!

 

[terry.330]

Yeah I've owned 2 Schiit headphone amps and have been satisfied with them, they're definitely a good value for the quality.

 

[kernow]

It's probably because the dealer can't make jack off it. So fuck that "dealer"

Schitt makes superb stuff for the money

 

[wikipejoe]

Schitt Audio is a silly name for an audio company. It sounds like "shit audio".

 

[kernow]

Schitt Audio is a silly name for an audio company. It sounds like "shit audio".

That's the point Joe

 

[kernow]

Holy fuck ...
Master troll without even realising

 

[prof]

I never know if Joe is sincerely ignorant or if he's just goofing. But either way, he always brings a smile to my face. Don't ever change, Joe.

 

[kernow]

 

[fake]

What's the black thing with blue lights?

 

[kernow]

The power supply for the turntable