Sony HAP-Z1ES has arrived

[digital record]

Thanks everyone for your help.  Worst case Is the music from the external will be back plus the sample music will be restored on the internal drive.  I lose all my music that was on the internal drive without any way to copy it back. I cannot add any more music until I find a fix or wait for the next fw upgrade.  If all else fails, I will need a new player but not another hap.  What a shame, such a nice sounding machine!

[likearollingstone]

41 minutes ago, digital record said:

I added some pics.  All setting are fine and Hap is visible on the pc.  Cannot drag and drop {see pic...only getting a red circle with line thru it) or do transfer to either drives via hap transfer tool either.  I am clueless right now.  I have factory reset and have scanned both drives.  The hap is building the library back up so have to wait a few more days before it is complete.  I am on day 2 since I did the factory reset.

 

 

i have 2 windows 7 boxes that drag and drop work fine..ONE of them however, that HAP transfer util doesn't work...i just drag and drop now

 

do you have another PC not running windows 10 that you can test?

[digital record]

I have a another pc but all on windows 10.  Will try my portable pc with a fresh copy of windows 10

[vrdsp0]

Hi digital record,

 

try in windows explorer to add a mapped drive.

choose an available drive letter (eg. Z:\)

folder to map : \\X.X.X.X\HAP_Internal

keep checked Reconnect at sign-in

you should be able to browse your Z1ES.

 

then try again a drag and drop.

 

As far as I remember, during a scan, you'd better NOT adding files to the Z1ES.

It will either reject incoming files at some point, and eventually screw the scan by rebooting the Z1ES, requiring to restart the scan from the beginning!!

 

If you send your HAP to repair, back up your internal files before.

Your internal files are not lost unless you fully erase the drive. If your HAP is really fried, which I doubt, you always can open the unit, take out the internal drive, plug it on linux, and restore the files.

 

 

[jimdukey]

All files in the Z1 are copies, no  need to backup, you already have them.

[jimdukey]

Does anyone use the Balanced Outs on the Z1?

It's not double the Voltage of the Single Ended, so it's softer and has to be turned up more.

Don't know if that's a problem or not.

Would like to hear what others are using.

 

[tapasr_567783583008b]

I’m using balanced outputs into my classe cp 50, sounds great.  For whatever reason my hap is louder than any of my other inputs, sacd and phono.  Sounds great though.  

[jimdukey]

Thanks!

The Balanced Outs are softer than the RCA's on the Sony, I have both hooked up.

I need to listen for an extended time with the Balanced, to see if I have a preference.

I don't like that it's softer, but I guess the fix in the Volume Control. Just turn it up.

On my Mac Gear, Balanced is double the Voltage to Single Ended, when I compare, there is no difference in Playback volume.

Interesting that the Balanced is louder than your other sources, but I'm guessing it's not as issue sound-wise.

[mindset]

Remember that when you switch between unbalanced and balanced you are changing two things at the same time - HAP's output stage and the receiving amplifier's input stage.

 

With my preamp (which is known to prefer balanced input), it is no brainer that balanced sounds better.

 

Whether volume should change or not depends on the receiving amplifier side.  HAP-Z1ES outputs the same amplitude for balanced and unbalanced.

[jimdukey]

HAP-Z1ES outputs the same amplitude for balanced and unbalanced.

 

Exactly my point!

 

My Mac Dac Doubles the Output, My Mac Tube Pre also Doubles the Voltage for Balanced into the 275 Tube Amp, and again, no Diff in PB Volume.

 

 

I suppose it's non-issue, tho.

 

[les]

I'm just glad Sony is still pushing this product along. For all intents and purposes, with the onslaught of streaming and the failure of mass high-res adoption, this product is pretty much a legacy product - at best a super-niche one. So I applaud them for not giving up.

 

If I were to ask for the impossible, I would ask for another filter option, a tweak of the algorithm, that gives it a bit more "livelier" sound. Pretty much all the reviews, despite the glowing assessments, note the slightly subdued nature of its sound (in comparison to other DACs). And I have to agree as well. (I actually hear a slight emphasis in the few-khz area, lower treble, and not in the typical ~10-khz.) Of course, the crazy thing is, all these devices measure ruler-flat, so I have to assume there is some digital wizardry going on here...

 

Anyway, it would be cool to have another option to make it sound like their classic CD/SACD players of old. (I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this, I'll admit.)

 

Also, I would love it if a "Play just this song" option was implemented in the remote app, too.

[jimdukey]

"sound like their classic CD/SACD players of old"

 

Not me!

The Z1 sounds a lot better than the 5400 SACD, playing the same SACD/Digital File.

Try Precision Upsampling for more bite.

 

My wish would be a Z2, with trickle up/down from their newest portable stuff. 

DSD 256, etc.

 

I always use DSEE Auto, Remastering Engine on, normal upsampling.

Precision was too bright.

 

Seems like they are due for something new, I hope so!

[digital record]

Ok everyone, very excited to advise you all that my situation has been resolved without any thanks from Sony.  I was not able to drag and drop anything to the hap but can pull out files no problem.  Very frustrating!  As you guys read, I re scanned only to have some music files missing as  it has been many many long days since my first post that the hap is trying to sort out the files.  At times I still get a hiccup with some files as music sometimes studder (but happened 2 or 3 times during a listening session).  

THE ANSWER WAS TO USE WINDOWS 7 in my case (I think anything except windows 10 will work).  I made sure the windows features smb 1.0 thingy were checked off in windows 10  but nothing I did worked.  I changed out routers etc with no success.   Finally I did a fresh windows 7 and installed the HAP Transfer tool clicked on the Explore HAP and the internal external drives showed up.  I tested a mp3 file by dropping it into each drive and it works! 

I almost bought a Cambridge Azur 851N  today.  Thank god I was persistent and tried window 7.   SO THANKS TO EVERYONE HERE as you guys as the best.  So  much support for a great product!   Don't believe SONY as they wanted me to send in my unit.  I knew the latest firmware update messed my unit up.  I will call them tomorrow to let them know.  Thanks all and I hope this helps others with drag and drop issues on windows 10

[sfseay]

Windows 10 works fine with the latest update.  You had a setting or settings wrong in Windows 10.  Don’t blame Sony or Windows 10.

[Berk]

Hello,

 

Today I tried to upgrade my original internal HD-drive. I bought a Seagate 2 TB Barracuda ST2000LM015 - 2,5"- sate 6GB/s - 5400 tpm.

After installing the new disk I turned the Hap on. I got the following messages

 

 

 

So the instalation failed. Did I do something wrong? I am on the latest firmware. 

I need some help please.

 

greetings Berkhout

 

 

[vrdsp0]

hello,

reset to factory setting before rescanning.

This will format and make available your drive.

[boomklever]

You did not prepare the harddisc? Look at Settings -> System Settings -> Factory Reset -> Yes. That should prepare your disc such that it can be used.

[Berk]

58 minutes ago, vrdsp0 said:

hello,

reset to factory setting before rescanning.

This will format and make available your drive.

Thanks for your quick reply

That did the trick for me! Thank you very much!!!

[Berk]

58 minutes ago, boomklever said:

You did not prepare the harddisc? Look at Settings -> System Settings -> Factory Reset -> Yes. That should prepare your disc such that it can be used.

 

Thanks for your quick reply

That did the trick for me! Thank you very much!!!

[acrata]

Hi friends, the limitation to 20.000 songs is real???

Thanks

[vrdsp0]

You can put more than 20 000 songs, there is no software limitation, but be patient while scanning, that can last two or three days.

 

But that 20 000 songs corresponds to an average 13 songs per album, with 1500 albums being CD 44.1khz 16bits, each 650Mo, that would fill the 1To HDD.

 

With a lossless compression ratio of let’s say 60% in FLAC, you can put 2500 albums, that’s to say 33 000 songs.

 

With lossy formats, you can have lot more songs.

 

With DSD64, I read they weigh 3Go, you can store 300 albums, that’s to say 4000 songs.

 

all figures are proxies. The only limit is the size of the HDD.

By replacing the internal HDD, you can get 2To max. (Double the OEM HDD).

 

I don’t rememberexactly, but I have about 30 000 - 35 000 on mine filling 1.1To (lot of old lossy albums)

 

 

 

[sfseay]

It is very easy to upgrade the internal HD to 2TB.  A 2TB SSD is less than $300.00 on Amazon

[acrata]

9 hours ago, vrdsp0 said:

You can put more than 20 000 songs, there is no software limitation, but be patient while scanning, that can last two or three days.

 

But that 20 000 songs corresponds to an average 13 songs per album, with 1500 albums being CD 44.1khz 16bits, each 650Mo, that would fill the 1To HDD.

 

With a lossless compression ratio of let’s say 60% in FLAC, you can put 2500 albums, that’s to say 33 000 songs.

 

With lossy formats, you can have lot more songs.

 

With DSD64, I read they weigh 3Go, you can store 300 albums, that’s to say 4000 songs.

 

all figures are proxies. The only limit is the size of the HDD.

By replacing the internal HDD, you can get 2To max. (Double the OEM HDD).

 

I don’t rememberexactly, but I have about 30 000 - 35 000 on mine filling 1.1To (lot of old lossy albums)

 

 

 

I have about 35,000 ... I am disturbed by an interrogation on the Sony's screen and I thought it was because of that.
Best regards
 

[vrdsp0]

A question mark icon means you have some Tags the Z1 does not like.

It does not prevent from working.

if you want to get rid of this question mark icon, you’ve to find which files or albums cause trouble and retag it with appropriate software before rescanning.

Easy to spot if you have just added one album.

If you have mass loaded with all your music collection, I have not found a smarter solution than reloading with a step by step approach with full partial rescan in between, until the question mark icon appears. 

You can check the number of music files discovered by the Z1ES against an expectation, it will help a lot to find what folder cause issues.

 

If it is a question mark in track, artist, album name display, not an icon, then it is a charset related issue, you would have to retag your files with UTF-8 encoding.

[acrata]

And finally ... I do not know if it will be casual but it was updated to the new version and the week broke the HD ... Thank you very much!