Sony HAP-Z1ES has arrived

[Niko1227]

Yoga,

 

Thank you for your reply,  I get your problem too but it's mostly through soundtracks.... my issue is minor the only thing that bugs me about it when I try to get the z1es to locate the track info it sometimes fails to do so.i basically got about 23 songs that won't update. <80%> aren't worth a listen anyway!

 

Yeah the sound is great and that screen is awesome. thats why I'm ok dealing with these caviats. I'm still very happy with it. The software also runs smooth like butter. The only other wish I had if they were able to add qobuz. But it's all good, Spotify doesn't sound bad at all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yogamarc]

Nico -

Oh the soundtracks. I find all the different artists and composers in the same folder can be tricky. I tried a few different methods to make sure they end up together. The metadata is tricky and uploads crawl. 
And I just bought the Sony dsd turntable to record some of my favorite vinyls. I can’t wait to get on that little project.

[likearollingstone]

10 minutes ago, yogamarc said:

And I just bought the Sony dsd turntable to record some of my favorite vinyls. I can’t wait to get on that little project.

 

 

i have this too...you're gonna dig it...i usually record both .wav and DSD just to be sure..i would change the cart...i ended up with the at440mlb ...direct replacement...much better than the stock one   

 

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-gb/at440mlb

[likearollingstone]

On 10/22/2020 at 2:52 PM, Niko1227 said:

Hi,

 

I picked up the z1es last week and I'm loving it. I only got one caviat, when I transfer files to the HDD allot of the 1st tracks don't transfer through. I gotta go to the hapz1es and manually update the unknown artist albums and update them one by one... what can I do to prevent this from occurring?

 

 

 

that's gotta be HELL..this thing is SLOW AS MOLASSES IN A BLIZZARD...once the files are on there...it's faster to delete them and reup..what i have learned is spend the time to completely tag them before transfer and then use the HAP transfer util...it will still take forever to transfer and even after..the unit still spins and catalogs ...so many folders are empty until it's done spinning...i found a KILLER tagger for the PC called "bliss"...it walks through them according to rules you set...i use it just to make sure all the folder have a cover to display..i then use tag and rename to tweak...just transferred a TB or so (40000) files...took almost a week!

[Niko1227]

23 minutes ago, likearollingstone said:

 

that's gotta be HELL..this thing is SLOW AS MOLASSES IN A BLIZZARD...once the files are on there...it's faster to delete them and reup..what i have learned is spend the time to completely tag them before transfer and then use the HAP transfer util...it will still take forever to transfer and even after..the unit still spins and catalogs ...so many folders are empty until it's done spinning...i found a KILLER tagger for the PC called "bliss"...it walks through them according to rules you set...i use it just to make sure all the folder have a cover to display..i then use tag and rename to tweak...just transferred a TB or so (40000) files...took almost a week!

 

Yeah this thing is soooooo damn slow to get your files uploaded it took about almost 24 hours to transfer 5.5k songs...did you say 40k? That's definitely a week lol. But yeah once your files are in this thing is amazing.

 

I'm definitely going to check out bliss and hope that will fix my problems. THANKS!!

 

 

 

 

[likearollingstone]

3 hours ago, Niko1227 said:

 

But yeah once your files are in this thing is amazing.

 

 

 

 

about 1 TB of files i was tweaking since the new year...it's been a good week straight and now down to 1TB left in a 7TB system..and yes..even mp3s sound good

[yogamarc]

Question for you all! I often encounter the unit shutting down during transfer. It just shuts down. Wtf? Happens often - slow enough without this little issue. Anyone else encounter this?

[likearollingstone]

3 hours ago, yogamarc said:

Question for you all! I often encounter the unit shutting down during transfer. It just shuts down. Wtf? Happens often - slow enough without this little issue. Anyone else encounter this?

there are many weird quirks with this device and it looks like Sony stopped updating it...i used to drag and drop and almost always throws a device not found in the middle of the transfer..now i only use HAP transfer on a PC ...as far as turning off, there's a setting in the HAP transfer to increase the time before it sleeps..it should never turn off while moving files over (at least in my experience using the HAP util, I have transferred over many many days without it turning off)

[Pantslangford]

On 12/14/2018 at 4:06 AM, sjg said:

What is the best way to tag compilation cds so that they don't get listed as a separate album?

 

I make the title of each song contain the artist --

Artist: Various

Title:  John Coltrane, My Favorite Things

Album Artist: Various

 

While this allows for all the songs in a compilation to appear in the same album, you loose the ability to search for the track if the artist tag was filled in correctly.

 

I am about to re-do my friends music library for his Sony HAP Z1-ES - and I wanted to know if anyone has found a solution to this since I it was last discussed a few years ago.    

 

Thank you!

 

Stephanie Gaynor                                                       

 

If the Z1 is like the S1, instead of using the Albums menu or Artists menu scroll further down the list and select Folders, You will have to label the folder containing your music yourself before transferring the files and it that way you will have them them labelled just to your liking and can access them anyway you like. In this way you do not have to spend any time retagging. Hope that helps it works this way for me.

[davehg]

So did anyone else see the article where Spotify will offer at least CD quality streaming, as early as end of year? Does this mean that the Sony HAPZ1ES might actually support at least a CD quality streaming service? That might prevent me from listing my Sony for sale, as my son likes Spotify.

[wimderonne]

This is the information on the Spotify website:

 

Five Things to Know About Spotify HiFi — Spotify

 

Based on this I think the answer on your question is Yes - maybe after an upgrade of the supported codecs of Spotiy Connect on the HAP-Z1ES.

[boomklever]

Disabling the SensMe Channels scanning.

 

I am very satisfied with my HAP-Z1ES player. The only thing that's really annoying is the speed. Transferring new music takes looooong. But when finally the music is transferred my player will start analyzing the new files for the SensMe channels. When I then turn off the player it will continue scanning files for the SensMe channels, which takes ages (Sony claims 12 minutes for a 5 minute file).

You can manually force the player to really shut down, but I often forget doing that and the player stays on for several days.

 

Now I finally found a way to stop this scanning! When you disable the GraceNote Server (in the System Settings menu) the player will no longer scan new files. So when new files are added, the player will shut down immediately and not continue in scanning mode.

[davehg]

I’m suddenly finding myself listening to the Sony tonight. I gifted my headphone system to my son, and it works best with a balanced source, so I kept the Sony for him. Importing music into this thing is so 90s, but it does sound good....a week later when the files are finally transferred.

 

I traded my Lumin D2 in for a T2. It sounds spectacular- bests the Sony handily as it should for 2x the cost. But every once in a great while I’ll visit him in his room and listen to the Sony and remind myself why I bought it. And dream about what could’ve been.

 

I really hope Sony supports Spotify hi Rez.

[One and a half]

2 hours ago, davehg said:

And dream about what could’ve been.

 

The HAP-Z1HES is now over 5 years old, technology has moved on to the point of very large databases can be managed, but Sony haven't moved, wish they would, or change to a renderer endpoint application. Yet they can make $10,000 DAPs, beats me that direction.

[yogamarc]

I spoke to someone at Sony and they actually told me the device shouldn’t have more than 20000 files on it or it will get buggy and crash. Explains why mine kept crashing during uploads. 
still, it’s so slow. If only it were plug and play. Had I known what I know now - I wouldn’t buy it.

[jimdukey]

Rotate your files from time to time.

It's a great unit.

[DCHammer]

Sony HAP-ZIES on sale everywhere at $500 off. It may have been on sale before, but this is the first I've seen it. Maybe they are going to retire, or refresh, this unit? Have had mine for years now. Buggy interface, delightful sound. 

[One and a half]

6 hours ago, DCHammer said:

Sony HAP-ZIES on sale everywhere at $500 off. It may have been on sale before, but this is the first I've seen it. Maybe they are going to retire, or refresh, this unit? Have had mine for years now. Buggy interface, delightful sound. 

That's a substantial reduction to clear the shelves out. It's been a long time in production,  yes maybe a newer model. Could also mean with chip shortages, the end is in sight, a great pity .

[jimdukey]

I'd LOVE a Z2, with tech from their Top Portable player.

But they are on to a Nearffield system that costs thousands.

I doubt they will follow with a more advanced File Player.

Seems most people Stream anyway.

I haven't bought a new download in well over a year.

But I don't want to pay for Tidal or Qobuz.

I already have more music, Discs, Files and LPs, than I could ever listen to!

There are lots of expensive 2 box solutions for streaming Files, and playing Local Files.

Only the Sony Z1 is a One-box solution, at a fair price for what you get.

 

BTW, there are settings in the Menu to prevent the Sony from going to sleep while uploading.

[boomtheroom]

i just upgraded the internal drive to a 2 tb ssd before i did i transfered the music i had on it  to  my pc 400gb or so took 5-6 hours 

at 25-40mbs give or take now transferring them back speed is only 1-4Mbps ...wish there was something i could do as this looks like

its gonna take a week!

[boomtheroom]

On 1/3/2017 at 6:26 AM, berklon said:

I agree about avoiding using the Sony software - but not really due to speed, just ease of use and reliability reasons.

 

Accessing via a regular share in File explorer is best... ie. \\hap-z1es\HAP_Internal.

 

I also find that assigning the HAP a static IP in my router instead of giving it a dynamic IP makes the HDD Audio Remote android app more reliable in finding the device. When it was assigned an IP instead, it wouldn't always find the HAP - it was very annoying.

Also, for some reason wireless speeds are absolutely brutal with this device. I can copy to/from other devices wirelessly at much faster speeds than what I get with the HAP. It copies at speeds between 1MB and 2MB per second - which is absurd. I get around 25MB per second when using a wired connection - not great, but so much better and more reliable than wireless.

For the first initial large batch of copying, I used wired and it took me about 8 hours to copy. I now just use wireless to add any albums as I get them - which is between 1-3 albums at a time. Still takes longer than it should, but I'm usually watching TV or something when I'm copying anyway.

Sony should've allowed the internal HDD to be access via USB so you can just hook a computer directly to the HAP and access it like it were an external USB HDD.

i get 25 mbs only when copying FROM the music server when copying TO the server i get 1-2 mbps were u getting 25MBs copying it to the Hapz1es?

[tapasr_567783583008b]

Any word if Sony will continue to support this device with updates or if they will replace it with a new model?

[botrytis]

Hopefully, they will support it, rather than just tossing it aside, like other manufacturers do.

[Richard Zane]

12 hours ago, botrytis said:

Hopefully, they will support it, rather than just tossing it aside, like other manufacturers do.

I'd like to think you are just making a joke, but I worry that you are serious.  No support has been the rule for this product, and after nine years, I think fair to say no support is coming.  Speculation as to whether SONY was going to support HAPZIES came and went years ago.  In fact,  SONY barely supported it when during the first two years, when it was, even then, nearly impossible to get any kind information let alone support.  Almost all the information we had on the storage and upload times came from end users, as well as most of the work around suggestions. Now that it's nine years since the product was introduced, I think speculation regarding support is just so much pie in the sky. 

  The Sony product was introduced for people who wanted a plug and play non-computer playback device, and no doubt Sony figured that it was not for audiophiles looking for upgrades and or people with huge music libraries.   I'd suspect most power users and people looking to house larger music libraries abandoned ship on the HAPZIES years ago.  It was a great product for its intended audience. Many people who purchased it didn't imagine the limitations that came along with it. During our ownership of the product, many of us reached out to Sony, only to be frustrated at the lack of support as well as the lack of interest SONY had in customer satisfaction.  

 

It's a nice package for the right type of user, who wants an all in one player with modest needs.  That's all it is and that's all it will ever be.  If you want more, you should move on to something else. But do yourself a favor, don't wait for SONY to introduce an update or furnish an upgrade to your HAPZIES.  That's not going to happen. 

 

[botrytis]

3 minutes ago, Richard Zane said:

I'd like to think you are just making a joke, but I worry that you are serious.  No support has been the rule for this product, and after nine years, I think fair to say no support is coming.  Speculation as to whether SONY was going to support HAPZIES came and went years ago.  In fact,  SONY barely supported it when during the first two years, when it was, even then, nearly impossible to get any kind information let alone support.  Almost all the information we had on the storage and upload times came from end users, as well as most of the work around suggestions. Now that it's nine years since the product was introduced, I think speculation regarding support is just so much pie in the sky. 

  The Sony product was introduced for people who wanted a plug and play non-computer playback device, and no doubt Sony figured that it was not for audiophiles looking for upgrades and or people with huge music libraries.   I'd suspect most power users and people looking to house larger music libraries abandoned ship on the HAPZIES years ago.  It was a great product for its intended audience. Many people who purchased it didn't imagine the limitations that came along with it. During our ownership of the product, many of us reached out to Sony, only to be frustrated at the lack of support as well as the lack of interest SONY had in customer satisfaction.  

 

It's a nice package for the right type of user, who wants an all in one player with modest needs.  That's all it is and that's all it will ever be.  If you want more, you should move on to something else. But do yourself a favor, don't wait for SONY to introduce an update or furnish an upgrade to your HAPZIES.  That's not going to happen. 

 

 

It really depends on the manufacturer. Some, when they go to a new product, the others are tossed aside. Some support - it just depends.