Resonessence Mirrus vs Sony HAPZ-1ES


Both of these units would allow me to eliminate a computer in my living room. I just heard both at The Show 2014 in Newport.

The Sony was played in many rooms with top notch gear and speakers. So that was a good endorsement for the Sony. I think the convenience factor of the Sony also played a role in why it was used in many rooms. All the systems sounded very good. I spent close to an hour in the Sony room listening to their top of the line speakers with he HAPZ. I could not get the demo person to turn off the DSD up-sampling. So the up-sampling must have been considered the way to go.

The Resonessence Mirrus DAC was played directly to a new 108 watt class A Resonessence stereo amp that has not been released yet. The DAC has a digital volume control that is supposed to be very good. The speakers that were used were 15 year old B&W, purchased by Resonessence from eBay for $400. I was quite blown away by how good the sound was and the fact that they did not purposely use top notch speakers. I was thinking wow what would this system sound like with some top notch speakers. The SD-Card feature of the Mirrus is maybe a better solution than the fan based eSata hard drive of the Sony. The theoretical limit of the cards the Mirrus supports is 2 tera-bytes. I think today you can buy 256 giga-byte cards.

I cannot directly compare the Sony and Mirrus since I have not heard them in the same system, but if I had to bet money, I would place it on the Mirrus based on my cursor listen. Has anybody compared the 2 DAC's in their systems? If so, I would appreciate any feedback.

If I go with something like the Mirrus I can eliminate by very good pre-amp and go directly to my amps. Has anybody with a Mirrus done this? Did you prefer it direct vs a analog pre-amp?

The Sony is very good sounding unit, 50%+ cheaper, extremely convenient, and I would keep my pre-amp. Which I am happy with (BAT VK-42SE).
yyzsantabarbara
@serge_s it has a remote. You can control from the front screen. The screen is kind of small but it does have an hdmi out that I will be using to see it bigger. My dealer uses korg audio gate in his conversion process. Sounds excellent. Big 128 gb sd card 30 albums in dsd no computer hookup needed.
My MW Sony HAPZ1-ES arrived Thurs. After 48 hours of break-in, I'm at the point where I can enjoy it. Sound stage is expanding in all directions, images are well defined with solid density, dynamics improving with excellent Bass and High extensions. Still hearing POSITIVE changes so can't wait until it's fully broken in.

Setting up the Sony was SIMPLE. It took me longer to replace the fuse than launch the program and download music to the unit.

The stock fuse was replaced with SR Red immediately. Replaced stock tubes after 24 hours with NOS TS 5U4GB and 60's Siemens e88cc.

Comparing to MW 6SN7, one is not superior but just different. HAP-Z1ES has superior detail, resolution, more neutral and less warm but definitely not bright or SS sounding. Personally I prefer the sound of the HAP-Z1ES. For reference, Shuguang BT cv181-z was my favorite 6SN7 in MW.

FYI, I was also considering Bryston BDP-2 or Antipode with Allnic D5000 ... Dac. Ultimately chose Sony due to simplicity with available reference mods and definitely not disappointed in my decision.

So far the only suggestion I have is it was difficult removing the driver tubes from the unit. I couldn't get a good grip so either increase tube exposure or expand the hole diameter.

Dan clearly hit a HOME RUN with this new transformer coupling design. I look forward to new MW models with this design.

Thanks Dan for the excellent work and service.
@knghifi Sounds exciting. I haven't even used my usb on the resonessence yet. I'm going to probably try pretty soon. What usb cable you suggest?
11-25-14: Calvinj
@knghifi Sounds exciting. I haven't even used my usb on the resonessence yet. I'm going to probably try pretty soon. What usb cable you suggest?
Calvinj, I'm probably the last person to give advice on USB cables.

My HAP-Z1ES preloads all music to internal HDD or external USB drive so don't need USB cables, computer ... love the simplicity and SOTA SQ.

I started a new thread "MW Sony HAP-Z1ES" to share my experience. It has 130+ hours now and will update the thread when time permits.
@kinghifi. I understand. That's why I got the Resonessence I hate being hooked up to a computer period to be honest with you. I use the sd cards to listen most of the time.