FYI ... Since Sony presumably began shipping the HAP-Z1ES yesterday, I just checked their site to see if they've posted any support documentation. Much to my surprise, they have. Here's a link for anyone interested: HAP-Z1ES Support Page |
Mitch, My thoughts exactly, except that Dan doesn't just start slapping parts in and hope it comes out ok. I looked recently and didn't see anything on his website. Its my hope he will take on the task of evaluating the Hap-z1es, and offer an upgrade package. I would expect that is going to take several months. Such an offering might have a very large market. I'm going to continue to sit on my ModWright Sony 5400 ES until it is clear if he is going to offer something on the HAP-Z1ES. |
After a quick look at the documentation on the HAP-Z1ES support page, the key takeaway for me (and it's not a positive!) is the realization of the extent to which Sony's implementation of an everything-in-one-box solution severely limits the software capabilities that are available to organize and manage one's music collection. As a Windows PC user, I currently use the JRiver software for managing my digital music collection. JRiver is a very robust software application. Were I to move to an HAP-Z1ES, software like JRiver appears to be totally out the window in favor of Sony's much more clunky Music Transfer and HDD Audio Remote software apps. Or am I missing something here? |
I have seen pics of the inside of the Sony and it is going to be easy to do some serious mods on the player. Most importantly, I can remove all the output stages (op amp based) and replace them with my discrete fet I-V stages. Other mods can be done to the power supplies and clocking. The output stages are ready to install now. I would say around $500 for balanced output stages and a few other simple mods. Cannot wait to mod one. Should be killer modded. |
