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khollister

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  1. +1 Ivan and the BFO are a very accomplished ensemble, both technically and musically. While Pentatone also has some heavy hitters in their roster, I find their sound rather hit or miss - it is often somewhat congested/grainy sounding compared to the normal Channel Classics fare IMHO. The Marco Boni Serenade for Strings/Serenade de Florence is a good example. I fond the sound rather coarse in texture and the lower strings bit congested. In contrast, the Steinbacher Mozart violin concertos on the same label sound very nice. Both are native DSD recordings. All of the Fischer/BFO stuff on CC sounds great.
  2. 1) Remove the top cover - 3 screws on the back, 2 on top at the front 2) Unplug the SATA cables (2 - power and data, both molded red ribbon cables) 3) Unplug the power connector for the fan cable - note orientation of the connector. I don't believe it is keyed 4) Remove 4 screws to free the HDD/fan carrier bracket. Two of the screws are on the top accessible though oles in the flange of the front panel. The other two are on the bottom. You will need a small phillips screwdriver with a reasonable long shaft for the bottom ones. 5) Remove the 4 screws to release the HDD. reverse everything for assembly with the SSD. You will want a magnetic screwdriver to work with the screws for the HDD bracket so you don't loose them in the bowels of the unit. Once the SSD is installed, turn the HAP on and you will get a error message about not being able to read the drive. Do a factory reset via the System Settings menu and after a few minutes, you will be ready to go with the demo tracks copied over to the SSD.
  3. Have about 50 hrs on the HAP so far and it is starting to get it's groove on. Changed out the HDD for a 1TB Crucial BX100 SSD - difficult to say for certain due to the changeover time, but I think there is a slight improvement in the blackness and harmonic purity. It could be my imagination, too. This thing really does kick ass considering the price (yeah, it's $2K, but it certainly seems to punch out of its class as far as sound quality). Listening to Fantasia On a Theme By Thomas Tallis as I type this (the Boult version with LPO on EMI) and it has never sounded this good. Got goosebumps on the final string chord. Did get a few DSD albums after some research: Shelby Lynne - Just a Little Lovin' - never had this in any form, so I figured I should get with the program David Elias - Acoustic Trio - DSD Sessions Piltch & Davis - Take One The Carpenters - Singles - what can I say, I'm that age. These songs were everywhere in high school and college and this album sounds fantastic
  4. Oooh - I'm so getting a few of those when they are shipping !
  5. Fedex finally got here and everything is humming nicely. Needs to break in, of course, but it already kills my previous headphone front end. No operational glitches with the transfer software either. Some of the sample DSD tracks are amazing (DSD virgin since I had no DSD capability other than SACD via HDMI on the HT system). After a few days burn in, I plan to get a 1TB SSD to replace the HDD and do some before and after comparisons with a few reference tracks. I would love to try some Stillpoints, but I can't get over the cost of those yet. My Woo WA-2 headphone amp has preamp outs too, so I'm also considering making some Mogami Neglex IC's to connect the AirMotiv 4s near field monitors I have on my music workstation desk in the same room :-) It's a several foot run over there, so I'm not springing for more Cardas cables for that (ouch). So far, I'm very impressed. Color me happy (if somewhat poorer).
  6. I'm sitting here waiting on Fedex to deliver mine today. Cleared out all the old stuff on the stand to make room (Rega DAC, HiFace EVO, LPS, Mac Mini). It will be nice to be down to the HAP-Z1ES, Woo WA-2 headphone amp and Power Plant Premier. Come on Fedex !
  7. This is a difficult question since everyone seems to have a favorite. I have an Auralic Aries that I am very pleased with both in SQ and usability. I was using a Mac Mini with Amarra. There was a rather significant difference, but my Mini was unmodified except for SSD. My observation is most of the people that will claim the PC/Mac provides better sound quality than a high end streaming appliance like the Aries or Sonore Signature Rendu are using highly modified Mini's or specially built PC's with relatively complex software configurations. My top 2 choices for a DLNA renderer (as opposed to a server with local storage) are the Aries and SSR. I think both have exceptional SQ and the Aries LightningDS iOS app is great. My experience with a computer source is that there is always something that needs attention - it isn't quite set and forget. Since you say you want reliability, elegance & simplicity (with no mention of liking to tweak/tune/build), I would go with a renderer like the Aries. I bought one because I thought it offered the best combination of features/usability/SQ at a reasonable (for this hobby) cost. YMMV The DIY Mac, Linux or Windows box can be very good, but it is a lot more of a project than a dedicated renderer.
  8. I already have my library ripped and tagged, so I have no intention of relying on the Sony to fill in metadata or art. All my cover art is embedded in the files and everything has the basic tags fully populated. My concern was how the metadata interacted with the remote app, but I think I have a plan there. I use a Mac app called Metadatics to edit tags and artworkI, so I have no suggestion for Windows. I strongly suggest using dbPoweramp to rip and initially tag your CD's. It queries a number of databases for tag info and does a comprehensive search on the internet for cover art. Highly recommended. While I am primarily a Mac guy, I have a large 6 core Windows box I use specifically for music production/composition (cheap horsepower for sampled instruments) and I have a copy of dbPoweramp on there I use for all my ripping. IMHO, the key to successful tagging is not to get too sophisticated. If you stick to Album, Track, Artist, Date, Genre & Track no., you will have the most consistent and trouble free experience as you use your library in different players & software. In particular, trying to get fancy with Album Artist & the Compliation flag will yield unpredictable results with some software. If you have further questions about metadata in general, feel free to start a new thread over in the software section so we don't get this thread too far off track.
  9. So I gather you do not organize albums via folders, then (at least for classical) ? And then you use the folder view as your primary UI (again, for classical) ? This is the approach I was thinking of. It has the advantage of not requiring me to completely redo my filesystem structure from my iTunes default (artist folder/album folder). I also probably need to get a little more sophisticated with genres - I currently have "classical", "rock", "jazz", "country", "soundtrack" and not much else. I currently have about 600 classical albums as well, and fixing up the album title tags using Metadatics is not out of the question (especially since I have already started). The only issue is albums with a number of smaller works by varied composers. For albums with one or two composers, I am currently using something like: "Bartok: Piano Concerto No. 3, Prokovief: Piano Concerto No. 3" For compliation albums, I could go with something like: "English Music for Strings (Holst, Warlock, Ireland, Elgar) I can't see running into issues with the 20k track limit since a lot of classical stuff I have is rarely listened to (recordings that have been superseded by performance and/or recording quality), and a lot of my pop/rock/country library is not in active use. I get most of my fill of classic rock & country from Sirius in the vehicles or via the HT rig in the living room (Aries thru pre\pro), so most of my headphone listening at home is classical. Even with a fairly high acquisition rate of new classical or jazz music, I'm not likely to exceed the database limit for several years. Realistically, I may well be using a different solution by then. I have thought about waiting to see if an updated model arrives later this year, but I'm a bit concerned that Sony may either abandon the high-end model altogether or not maintain the attention to detail and build quality. Part of the attraction with the HAP-Z1ES is that is a Luxman/Accuphase level of construction and sound quality without the Luxman/Accuphase price tag. I considered the Marantz NA-11S1 or NA-8500, but the former is somewhat handicapped for DSD (only via USB from a computer or bridge like the Aries) and the 8500 is likely handicapped in SQ compared to the Sony. And Linn is anti-DSD, so one of the DS players is out (price aside). In case you can't tell, I'm trying to talk myself into this :-) Keith
  10. Yeah, it looks pretty basic. I installed the app and I'm playing with the demo database included. It seems you can only search by artist, track name, album name or folder name. I'm in the process of re tagging my stuff in general to have the major composer name in the album title, and I suppose I could use folders to somewhat organize by composer, but this is really sub-optimal unless I'm missing something. A shame since this seems to be an otherwise great fit at a reasonable price for my use. I need to think this through more before pulling the trigger.
  11. I'm considering one of these as an upgrade to my current Mini/HiFace/Rega DAC headphone rig. I am trying to understand the capabilities of the HDD Audio Remote iOS app, specifically does it index by the Composer tag field? The screenshots on the App Store seem to indicate there is no Composer index (just genre, artist & album) but it is not at all obvious how the search feature works. Can someone who uses the HAP-Z1ES primarily for classical music jump in and describe what the iOS app does and doesn't do? For instance, if you search on a composer name, does it display albums or tracks? Does it actually search the composer tag, or does the composer have to be included in the album or track tag?
  12. Various sonatas from the 70's Decca/Philips Brendel Beethoven Piano Sonata & Concerto set. It is a great value in the current Decca reissue box.
  13. Geez, another few bucks to eClassical I'm a sucker for a deal it seems
  14. Ooh - nice find! I just grabbed it from Presto Classics (I'm in the US) and I'm listening to it now. Very seductive playing and I have not run across the Capriccio before, so that's a nice surprise too. Thanks
  15. And i hate to admit I'm old enough to A) remember the ad and B) know who Keith Moon was
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