Sony HAP S1 REVIEW - Using A Hi-Res Audio player to resurrect my ripped CDs (Part 2)

[@Techmoan]

Part 1 Here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKndqqV7gaZpeJY

[@Martipar]

As it's been a few years there must be cheaper options available now, I'd love to see some recommendations, i've just bought a cassette receiver a Pioneer RX-Z71L (with a stuck play button but i'm sure it's a relatively easy fix - fingers crossed) and some Sony SS-H 1500 bookcase speakers. So my budget hi-fi has started to come together, i've got the 1988 Pioneer catloogue and while i might buy the matching turntable and CD player i may end up getting other components in black (my Dad's AKAI hi-fi, like yours, is all brushed aluminium and looks very pretty but black is where it's at for me). I'm also a fan of the modern though and a digital audio player component is definitely something i'm planning on using. With my current hi-fi (a mid 90's Sanyo all-in-one) i use my phone media player and have it in the aux socket but this is not an elegant solution.

[@oqhr]

Can I get all of your music play list? Please

[@heidifordhoops]

Watching you resurrect your CD collection and hearing you say this is one of your favorite things you own, inspired me to buy an open box hap-z1... and I freaking love it!! It’s great having a tactile component on the shelf with buttons that literally holds all my 100s of cds ripped to FLAC/ALAC files. It sounds amazing and looks smart displaying the album art. Thanks Techmoan!!

[@Cyba_IT]

6 years since it came out and still selling new for $1k. Must be a great little machine. Would make an awesome computer room/office amp so you're not using your computers resources to play your music. Very cool

[@gayusschwulius8490]

Honestly, the computing resources required to play audio are so small compared to modern computers nowadays that they hardly matter at all.

[@High.on.Life_DnB]

@@gayusschwulius8490 That's hitting the nail on the head, but you might not want to turn on a PC to play music because of all the processes it runs in the background, it's true playing music files is a breeze for even a potato charger with a chip in it. But if you want to save energy, use a simple MP3 player connected to a receiver/amp instead of a PC :)

[@gayusschwulius8490]

@@High.on.Life_DnB Yep, or that. I'm personally using a Fiio M7 for that exact purpose :D

[@mddawson1]

It is still available in 2022 but I noticed it has a 20,000 title limit which is not enough now days. Even the more recent SMSL DP5 is limited to only 30,000 titles (around 1TB). I ultimately got an Eweat DMP50 that can handle 32TB worth of titles.

[@AsukaLangleyS02]

@@mddawson1 The box only holds 20k songs? That's weak.

[@TechRyze]

I LOVE that format message for their own bundled USB stick. That's just typical SonySoftware!

[@0xbenedikt]

I believe that it wanted to format it to make it part of it's internal storage during the initial setup. The message will not show up during regular operation.

[@stevebennett9750]

Sony has released a firmware update that adds some new features such as: Ripping direct to the HDD using a usb cd drive USB can now be connected to a USB dac Can be used as a network music server.

[@estusflask982]

pretty cool

[@johnwerner4925]

Sounds like you can listen to the files on the Sony using other audio capable devices that are connected to the same home network. I wonder, however, does this unit have the capability to play the files on a connected NAS too?

[@MarkZammitronic]

Love your addendum at the end -- "I bought it with my money and I like it" A+ :)

[@peterkin1010]

Which is the ultimate sanction. If others don't like it they don't gave to buy it.

[@ComputerDude2600]

10:41 It seems like whenever money is involved, whether it's patreon, saying you spent a good amount of money on a hobby you enjoy, or whatever it is, the comment section goes ape shit. I don't understand it. You only have one life, if you want to spend money on stuff you enjoy go ahead.

[@Techmoan]

ComputerDude2600 Yep - I'm in my mid 40s, I've got no kids, my health is failing quickly and I work 7 days a week. I'm going to buy everything I want now... so when I'm unable enjoy things any more I'll have no regrets.

[@briantaylor9266]

Techmoan Go for it, Matt. How you spend your money is not a matter for public comment. I enjoy your reviews, whether it be of a $10 video recorder from China or a $1000 audio component.

[@nikshavonrammstein8265]

Techmoan Really sorry to hear about your health. Hang in there!

[@julesbarry2081]

You absolutely have the right Idea. Go for it!!

[@briangoldberg4439]

Sure, he can buy whatever. That's basically what the channel is; there is no Techmoan outside of this guy buying stuff he likes and showing it off. That's the entire premise of the channel, full stop. It's silly as heck to complain about it. That being said, it's not a huge mystery why people complain. For one, many people don't have much money. We live in a world where wealth is highly polarized, and many people who can never afford a $1k piece of stereo equipment still like stereo equipment and like to watch. There are others who simply like to be thrifty, and they don't see the value in the item that others do because of the disproportionate cost. Being confronted with economic disparity can have the effect of producing negative feelings, leading to "naysayers."

[@gtoger]

I've been watching this channel and sense a trend. +Techmoan really seems to enjoy Sony gear.

[@alansuresh5772]

Everybody loves sony

[@jamiemarchant]

Now that's the type of high quality device you would expect from Sony.

[@djmhyde]

interessting how a 2015 audio player matchs perfectly with a 70's 8Track player in the shelf, and alone the sony don't look old, but with the other vintages looks like it is in home by the way 10:22 GTA SA Radios, nice choice!!!!!!

[@muh1h1]

The difference between a very cheap and a very expensive piece of kit is oftentimes mostly the software, which was pretty crappy on the pioneer device. alot of thought on the otherhand seams to have gone into the engeneering of the Sony software, which makes the device usable in the first place. Happy to see you found exactly what you where looking for! :)

[@nadeoki]

There's also a difference in quality of the DAC/AMP. Noise floor is a common thing that cheap ones often get wrong.

[@Ashkimbo]

Reminder that Techmoan has the GTA San Andreas Soundtrack

[@TheMacFreack]

It's a great compilation tho...

[@LetsGoBowlingNiko]

And GTA Vice City soundtrack as well.

[@CAESARbonds]

I put them with ads on my radio. Especially having passengers not knowing gta have a lot of fun with them

[@TheCessar5]

Where can you download it? I want Vice City's Fever radio.

[@alienprotein69]

Not only that he also has nwa 2pac and some og stuff

[@michaell1751]

Bought one of these second hand on ebay on the strength of this review and am not disappointed, amazing bit of kit. 3 years on and I am still using it on a daily basis, it has to be my best hifi purchase's ever.

[@andriealinsangao613]

How's the sound quality?

[@leepetty2251]

People seem to be completely missing the boat here with Techmoans personal preferences, it's not about you can do it this way or do it that way or you can save money be buying this then this then this etc, it's as much about aesthetics and practicality as it is sound quality and useability, i too am looking into buying a similiar unit if not the same, because i am fed up of streaming and apps and the loss of the tactile 'feel' of using quality audio equipment plus im sick of using my phone for everything, this unit would suit me absolutely down to the ground as my music chair pretty much hangs over where i would put this unit, and the fact i could stick a pair of headphones in and physically search and skips tracks manually whilst downing a nice bottle of red wine, it would also ruleout any connectivity issues i had with wifi or my router as all my music would be stored directly in the included 500GB hard drive, the other device techmoan used was a media streamer, this is not a media streamer (other than radio), its a hi-res audio player and a dedicated one, you are free to purchase whatever you want, if it was a case in life of saving money at every opportunity we'd all be living off beans and toast everyday, thanks for all the videos techmoan, great viewing

[@Techmoan]

Exactly. 👍

[@RXP91]

I'm a little sick of using my phone to control media - it gets distracting also. But with Google Home/Alexa you don't get any of the distractions and even more convenience. For your own library you can use Plex.

[@brolydictcumberbatchmontou401]

@@RXP91 yep, that tactile control of all them dial and switches and sliders. these kids with there one touchscreen to rule them all mentality don't know what they're missing. It's kinda like comparing Star Trek. the old Enterprise had throttles and dials with feedback probably when you look at the bridge of that ship almost like you could drive the ship one manned if you needed to and really pull off some maneuvers. but touch screen era Star Trek? Doesn't really look like you can do much maneuvering then list lazily to the left or to the right with those pretty touch screens. Where is the Xbox360 controller for Picard's vessel if he has to go it alone, If i was Picard I'd want a controller to materialize into my hand should I need to drive the ship manually with out my crew. lmao. Anyways just an analogy why we love all our dials and switches and sliders and such. Touchscreens are ok but too much is buried behind all kinds of silly layers of convoluted menus for tasks that shouldn't demand that much from the user whether young or old alike. I ❤ Techmoan's style!

[@flyingkillerrobots877]

@@brolydictcumberbatchmontou401 Look up the Enterprise's 'Manual Steering Column" (As seen in 'Insurrection'). ;)

[@mortenstjernholm6404]

I love it. Got myself a hap z1es becurse of your video. Amazing that sony have held them selves back, and created something nice and simple. It just works and sounds amazing. Love to be able to browse all my music and "touch" it again, while still having maximum quality. Thank you for the inspiration!

[@jammerDNA]

Morten Stjernholm I did the same thing. I just wish it came in black to match the rest of my components.

[@pinkcanoe]

I have spent years wondering why some company didn't make exactly this product. It's pricey but when it does exactly what you want it to do, I think, worth it. Really liked this video as well as your other videos where you revive 'old' tech.

[@DFMurray]

Yeah the Sony does look a million times better than the Pioneer...that V-Tech "Surprise the screen is 60% smaller than you thought" really annoys me and instant NOPE. Sony definitely seems worth the price for that clean design alone.

[@greebuh]

The Sony is rated at 10% THD. That's junk.

[@greebuh]

@ doesn't mean the Sony isn't junk....

[@greebuh]

@ 10% THD is garbage, doesn't take a fucking astrophysicist to figure out. But it takes a fanboy to keep on defending some BS that someone said about some junk over a year ago..... Bye now.

[@pikgears]

@@MuhammadKharismawan it plays audio. That is all techmoan (and most of the rest of us) care about

[@LordDrachenblut]

thanks for showing this off. it's well out of my price range but that's what I appreciate about reviews like this.

[@RustyX2010]

+LordDrachenblut yeah like $550-$1200 up

[@loveroflife1438]

this guy is a huge insperation to me love his set ups

[@SuperFredAZ]

thank you for showing this device, I've never seen anything quite like it. I would like this device too.

[@dvamateur]

It's a nice product this, but still quite an anticlimax from what Sony offered in the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s. They had so many high-end offerings in the DAT machine lines (both consumer and professional), ES-series SA-CD players, receivers, amplifiers, etc. I miss those days because the audio equipment was so desirable. Now I don't even go to electronics stores because all they have is phones, tablets, and bluetooth speakers. Yeah, you can see some Yamaha receiver on sale sometimes, but their not spectacular. Sure, you can still order a high end Yamaha SA-CD and amplifier ($6,000 each) at B&H, but not sure how long it's going to last. By the time I am ready to buy such thing, it will be no longer available. Thanks goodness there's eBay for some brand new old stock gems that pop up now and then.

[@purpleghost4083]

Andrew Piatek Unfortunately, there are many manufacturers that don't have quite the same reputation for such good quality products, and a wider variety of, anymore. Some have been bought and sold a few times over the years, some merge with others, etc. I know that most (?) products (generally speaking) are not made in Japan anymore like a lot of them were in the '80s-'90s and I miss that. Not that everything that came from Japan was better, just that compared to the way things are made now, they often seem to not have the same quality that they were once known for. I'm not singling out Sony here but I'm not excluding them either. It's just a general impression that I've formed over the last 30 years or so. As much as high fidelity has come back in recent years, I have to partly blame MP3 for it's part in this whole mess. When that came along, at the beginning of it at least, that was a big step backwards. It later got it's act together (or more accurately the people did) by not settling as much for the crappy low bit rates but by that time the damage had been done. There's a lot more complaining that I could do but I'll stop now.

[@amartinez97]

Ifi and their umbrella company AMR make great quality products.

[@jennoscura2381]

Don't forget thrift shops. I have a Sony CDP-C205 5 disk CD changer I got at the Goodwill for $9.00. It works great. Right now I have it connected to my mixer that goes to a rack mount amp. I am going to hit up the thrift shops again to look at stereo receivers. I want TV and hifi on it's own thing. The mixer and rack mount stuff will be for computer and ham radio.

[@Victor-wn8hf]

TeleTrans 1 second, I got an es CD player for a similar price because goodwill priced it like a VCR, which is fairly common.

[@leleedler]

I helped my dad recently by getting him some equipment to do the same thing you are. He has about 20,000 songs that were on CD and I ended up getting him this player (I think it may be a newer version). Thanks so much for informing me of this player, I will be getting one for my own place soon here as it is really fantastic.

[@Donthaveatv]

Thanks for posting this. After 4 years, the price is still the same -- I didn't think there were that many people who wanted a setup like this. Anyway, I ordered one last night thanks in part to your video. Steeply discounted from a no-name seller -- we'll see what I get!

[@kierandunlop8660]

I'm hearing impaired. Could u tell me when u adjust the volume does the volume level appear on the screen?

[@michaelweems679]

Well, what did you get?

[@travishein]

Hi Techmoan! I know this post was more than a year ago. But I am only getting around to discovering your channel now. All I have to say from watching this video, is thank you!!. I did not know I needed this Sony HAPS1/S until you evaluated and demonstrated it. I have also taken the approach of ripping all of my CDs into MP3s and storing them on my computer Since back in the early 2000's when the LAME encoder was still experimental and didn't work on windows even. . Then I change computers and they move to a NAS device. Then I change operating systems and the usual player I had been using stops working. Then I try a bunch of different players or apps. I even tried a few of these all in one media appliance softwares. And virtual appliances. And they all never work for me. There is always something. A lag. The screen not being very useful or some generally not a good experience about it. I believe the only way to actually describe it is as you would say "Rubbish!" (I am from Canada, so for some reason we don't use that word in our dialog). But yea, dammit, they are all Rubbish. I don't have an awesome collection of equipment like you, but dammit, yea, I do want a nice little box. With actual buttons. and the local storage. copy my stuff into it. over the LAN. And then I am done with the computer / NAS / player app / virtual machine / phone app rubbish. I can come home. push a BUTTON. and have my sound come out my speakers by wiggling one actual button knob!!.. So really, I do greatly appreciate your work, your time, and your consideration to review these products (e.g how you did the Pioneer device in part 1 of the video). I actually watched your video yesterday. I just came home again and found the tab open still and thought. Dammit, I had a shitty day at work (being Monday and all), and coming home to remind myself of this device. Why yes, I do believe this is now something I need to figure out how I can get me one of these :)

[@DanRC69]

That's a nice piece of kit. The UI reminds me of my old Creative Zen mp3 player, which i loved personally, as it was intuitive and simple to use. This is one of the nicest pieces of equipment I've seen from Sony in quite a long time. Hope it gives you many years of pleasure, as I'm sure it will.

[@patlooson4644]

Dear friend, This is the best old tech channel I have seen. I am going all out watching this channel. Thanks for bringing in pure overflowing passion!

[@Techmoan]

+Patloo Son Thanks, I'm glad the fun I'm having making these videos is coming though.

[@Tiger24kicks]

My father had a nice system growing up, and I would love this system you have

[@bullet-catcherhohoho250]

Just got one from a friend who has passed away with all their music on it. Did not realise how much they still cost, one just sold Feb 2024 for £575 pounds, so are holding their money quite well. Thanks for the vid 8 years later, had no idea how you set it up or add more music since i also got all his CD collection 1000 plus.

[@DJGodaryD86]

And once again Sony wins. Love their products.

[@A7exandersca7es]

I saw those beardyman tracks, techmoan!! Can't hide anything from me haha. Also in another note, after seeing your audio library so many times, it makes me happy to realize how much of a true music fan you are, everything from a beatbox-looper to old-school hip-hop, not something an American like myself expected from an enlightened English gentleman

[@franbel010]

love your videos binged out on the classic or old school stereo videos. thanks for the content.

[@brainanator]

Glad you like it Techmoan! Looks like a slick system. Thanks for sharing with us.

[@beesbees2423]

you'd think they'd throw in at least a 2TB or 4TB drive for a £700 device

[@God-yb2cg]

ikr

[@0xbenedikt]

It's a mechanical hard drive in there. Also that's absolute BS. There won't be interference, really.

[@dumdum7786]

you can swap it out with your own if you want

[@thomas4315]

Might be formatted as fat 32 same as my portable picture hdd you can get a 1 t. Hdd formatted to fat 32 only on window do but it’s about 600 gb or less forgot

[@thomas4315]

Window xp

[@ashtoncarlson4631]

the reason i like this channel so much is that you explain things in ways that i can understand and you only spend the extra money when you need to, you dont buy a 60 dollar cable to see if it sounds good and then throw it in the trash

[@CaptainDangeax]

I choose a maybe overkill solution : a Linux box with the optical output plugged to the amplifier input and HDMI output to the TV set. Keyboard, mouse, and a 50" screen is pretty fast to choose whatver music or movie.

[@Victor-wn8hf]

CaptainDangeax Overkill? Your just plugging your computer into the TV do that if you want but it's not going to sound as good as something that has better insulated electronics.

[@gerryforrester2211]

At the time this was released I’d already been eyeing this up and your review sealed the deal. So nearly seven years on and I still love it. Decided to have a peak at the Sony UK website to see what they updated this with and was shocked to see a threadbare hi-fi range. I thought this would have been an ongoing model type for them given how well received this was but apparently not. Sony seem to have waived the white flag on hi-fi….

[@mikehydropneumatic2583]

Nice gear this is, use it as DAC, radio, amp, HDD. This will make some money for Sony.

[@konzetsu6068]

I've had Two different Sony Ericsson walkman phones back in the day and I remember when the "sense me" was introduced, you could just set what BPM or sound profile/frequencies (it gave you a radar chart for each song/album) you wanted and off it went, Made sense on a mobile player and was quite nice in the way that you could set a high bpm bass heavy filter for training etc.

[@connorm430]

Hey another awesome video Techmoan! That Sony unit is so much nicer than the Poineer, I don't think I could have tolerated the Pioneer either, too much messing around just to do 1 thing. The Sony unit looks much sleeker too, a very nice, simple and easy solution to getting your CD's available on you HiFi setup. Awesome stuff!

[@Techmoan]

+Connor M it's still my favourite thing I've bought in the last five years.

[@kristiansvalland4595]

+Connor M I'd have to say, of the two devices, I agree, the Sony is the better, by far, of the two. Watching part 1 i was amazed he kept it for as long as he did... lol. The setup seemed very off key, too many long restarts and a horrid interface. the sony was clean, simple, and straight forward. even the sony app (which i know he won't use) has a nice clean interface that is intuitive. Well worth the money IMO.

[@kristiansvalland4595]

+DieExtravaganz I noticed that too, that was a bit disappointing to me that it had no digital outs, but then maybe it has a really good DAC chip built into it and it would then be kind of unnecessary for one.

[@fcannici]

Bought one of these because of this video and been loving it. Best piece of gear investment I've made. This thing is built like a tank and well worth the money. It's so nice to be able to play album or song with out having to swap out a disk or sacrifice sound quality using mp3 or apple crap. It does take a bit of time to rip a cd to it. I ripped about 300 and still have plenty of space. The phone app is fantastic and a must as the remote is useless. Love the display screen on the unit and how it mimics it on your phone.

[@paulypisspants7340]

@7:07 pictures cardigan wearing british hifi enthusiast going off on easy-e's dope rhymes...

[@TheOmnipresent12]

Great videos, I find myself leaving your videos on auto-play. Not only are they really helpful and informative, but it's like having Ringo chatting with me in the house!!! What more could one want!!! But seriously, thanks for the uploads mate.

[@Techmoan]

TheOmnipresent12 No problem - I'll probably have to take a week off, I have a video I'd really like to get out this week but I'm just not feeling up to it.

[@Tomanista]

Quick warning about buying digital Hi-Res albums. You can't be sure it's actually Hi-Res, sometimes it's just lossy audio that's been re-encoded.

[@Techmoan]

Tomanista HDtracks.com seem to be a very genuine organisation and there's a lot of publicity about the Physical Graffiti remaster in hifi magazines. I'm unlikely to buy too many more HiRes albums though, I was just experimenting to see what they sounded like.

[@tabtab8741]

Techmoan, just to let you know that your video on the S1 is still inspiring purchases, based on your experience and some long internet research I have imported one of these from Japan and it is exactly what I have searched for and wanted to store and listen to all my CD's and music from iTunes. What a beautiful bit of kit that serves it's exact purpose. Thanks.

[@jpgpearson]

Loving the guys who can't understand why I bought this even though it's been explained in explicit detail................we love your Techmoan...!

[@LAREXJR]

I purchased one last year. i have it hooked up to all tube components preamp and tube amp. Love it !!!!!

[@alexmurphy5645]

500gb hard drive for $999...hell nah, that should be more like 2tb

[@BobEmrich]

Would love a decade later follow up on this! Such a great looking device, have always dreamed of owning one!

[@turokforever007]

Im looking at getting one but £750 seems a lot for an older used product. So a follow-up video would be good.

[@mandolinic]

I just stick a wax cylinder into my Edison phonograph, then sit back and listen for 3 whole minutes. Perfection.

[@koolbeens3180]

I am jealous. not joking. lol

[@TomCat05t]

But it just doesn't give you the warm sound of a player piano. ;)

[@CockatooDude]

And a player piano is just so dull when compared to a private professional pianist.

[@ChatGPT1111]

Mandolinic and a professional pianist almost sounds mechanical when compared to a freshman year amateur pianist. No annoying musical theory to get in the way.

[@jerrybandy3827]

I just noticed the Pioneer receiver at the end of the video. That brought back some memories. I had the SX 3900 and loved it. But the mechanical switches would get 'scratchy' after a while. Loved that blue glow at night.

[@MinhPhamGators]

Love the transfer speed. Reminds me of NASA's baud rate for communicating with the Apollo spacecrafts. I think it was 110baud. :)

[@danandkiko]

Just found one used at a thrift store here. It's a lovely machine. Thanks to this video, I'm setting it up now.

[@pablovi77]

I know this old, but I’m looking for something to replace my Olive 03HD, and this seems to fit what I’m looking for, only without a Cd drive. But it seems to be discontinued.

[@coolcat6303]

Pablo Villegas You can still buy them on ebay & at Crutchfield.com

[@parttroll1]

Nice bit of kit. There was something special when you bought a high end separate system to play music on. I hardly have my stereo on now and when I do I usually just plug my mobile in to play music over the speakers.

[@FilthPiston]

The early bird gets the moan.

[@svenschwingel8632]

I chose the Pioneer N-50 back in the day and replaced it with an N-50A. Couldn't be happier. Sound quality is great and it works as a DAC, too - for either extrenal HiFi devices or computers via USB. It can easily access my NAS drive and play back FLAC or ALAC lossless files. It also supports AirPlay. The Control App, however, sucks. Which is where the good remote control unit comes in.

[@bertramlefarge69]

Ditto, as a N-50A owner myself i agree. Excellent sound and build quality, great remote, crap app.

[@JessicaFEREM]

I love how this is essentially a very expensive ipod that you can put into a HiFi system

[@chriskoffend5253]

Thanks for your review and video. Having owned various streaming devices - mostly for playing my full resolution audio files from my main computer, I have grown incredibly tired and frustrated with the seemingly frequent issues they have ALL elicited over the many years (whether it's wifi cutting out, freezing up, software updates that only seem to make them unusable, Windows updates that make them unusable, etc. . . [unusable = countless hours fixing the updates]). So I've been searching for a hard drive based system (easy enough to use so that others in the household can also use it). Tried one of the Cambridge Audio units, but it was a huge disappointment and to add to it, it simply stopped working after a few years of virtually zero usage.

[@terrencecoccoli524]

damn....Pete Rock & Cl Smooth...and from last vid..Cameo !!! My favorite gr are group of all time ! yOu are one cool dude.

[@Techmoan]

+Terrence Coccoli You sound like the kind of chap who will appreciate some of the names on the tapes in this video too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZnKiYOiZciXgLs

[@batman.darthmaul]

I couldn't help but notice your other audio equipment. Love the vintage gear!! My system is pretty heavily dedicated to the digital realm; my only piece of analog gear is a nice turntable. I love my system to death, but seeing your vintage cassette deck, receiver, etc. sure does bring back the memories...

[@jannujokunen2701]

Hah, this dude is a gangster. Willie D on the playlist, and always playing rap on tests.

[@50_Pence]

i saw xzibit at the speed to life on there too. Gangster

[@JamesAlexanderFoxhal]

And Pete Rock and CL Smooth! This guy has taste!

[@clumps]

His collection of old shool hip hop cassettes is something to behold.

[@sickly_b]

your videos are A1 superb my friend - we're from the same era and share an enthusiasm for physical button pressing

[@DFX2KX]

now, if they ever patched it to plug in to Spotify in addition to it's own internal hard drive... Then that'd be awesome.

[@Techmoan]

Spotify was added in the last update.

[@DFX2KX]

That makes this a LOT more tempting, I must admit!

[@etmccaus]

Same here...might look at one of these to replace my now quite-outdated Grace Receiva...

[@stevejensen6210]

I've been eyeing this piece for a while. Thanks for the great review. It helped clear up a lot of questions I had about it.

[@XtrAMassivE]

It's a great piece of tech and great video you did there, it makes a nice sunday night.

[@DISCODAN1]

I used to be quite the audiophile, but boy have I lagged behind the past decade or so! This player is REALLY cool, but I have gone back to my roots and mainly enjoy listening directly from the source these days, ...the way God intended, vinyl records! That Sony Hi-Res player is absolutely cool though! One day when I grow up, I might buy one! Thanks for this, and all of your videos from across the pond. I really enjoy them!

[@lancechinnian4043]

Would LOVE to get my mits on one of these. I think it's been discontinued though? 😣

[@badgastein2]

Lance Chinnian It is still being supplied to the USA market by Sony, but not shipped to the UK even though this model is shown as a background illustration on the UK site (November 2019)

[@HARDC8RE_MAMMOTH]

I bought this nice piece of tech last night, got a good offer 599€. My unit didint come with a thumb drive, the music came installed in the hdd. It took around 7 hours to copy 2000 songs. So far,im really enjoying the system, thanks for the review, it helped a lot making up my mind!

[@919colorado23]

Shame they don't have a version without the built in amplifier.

[@giannisg9380]

919colorado23 they do!

[@djkarliscious8793]

...but just use it for some outdoor or workshop tunes!

[@ImpiantoFacile]

@@giannisg9380 Do you have a link? I'd be interested but didn't find it.

[@hitechburg]

919colorado23 SONY HAP-Z1ES no built in amplifier and it sounds fantastic, I bought one last month. It weighs a TON literally. MSRP $1,999.99

[@berretje71]

Finally brought my HAP-S1 today to the 'doctor' to get the line-thing fixed. It started with one, and now it had 4 lines. It'l cost me about 150 Euro to get it fixed, but it's more that worth it. The HAP-S1 is a great peace of hardware and quite unique: A high-res player and amplifier in one. Bought the unit in 2016 (2nd hand) and a year later I found a great deal on the speakers (SS-HA3) and that is a golden combination. The sound coming from this system is fantastic. I placed the two speakers at equal distance in opposite direction (total 2 meters). If I sit between them it's like a third speaker is playing in the middle, very cool. Last week I changed the 500GB harddrive into a 1TB SSD, that's done within 20 minutes. Copying the files over using a Linux driver for Windows it took about 10 minutes extra (and a few hours reindexing all files by the HAP-S1). This thing came out in 2014 and will still go strong for the coming years.

[@you5711]

My ratings: Techmoan: thumbs up! He's an awesome reviewer! Techmoan's review of the Sony: thumbs up! Fantastic review! Sony HAPS1 500GB Hi-Res Music Player: thumbs up! Great product! Sony HAPS1 500GB Hi-Res Music Player price: HUGE thumbs down!!! $1000??? Are you kidding? Let's see what we could get for $1000: ASUS Z170-A Motherboard: $135 Intel Core i5 6600K: $240 Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 DRAM 2400MHz C16: $100 Samsung 850 EVO 250GB: $95 Seagate SATA 6Gb/s 3.5-Inch 4TB HDD: $120 NZXT S340: $75 Corsair CS650M 650 Watt Semi Modular Power Supply 80+ Gold: $90 Dell SE2717HX RVJXC 27" Full HD 1920 X 1080 Monitor: $150 Grand total: $1005 There's no way in hell I'd spend a grand on the Sony. It's WAAAAY overpriced. It shouldn't be a penny more than $300 (€285, £243).

[@iluvcarz1]

you5711 Well, the Sennheiser Orpheus is $50,000, so... Yeah. It's an audiophile gear, not an ordinary MP3 player that gets the job done.

[@KillerBill1953]

Your money, your life, go for it, and thanks for the excellent videos you keep putting out.

[@CoTeCiOtm]

Although I wouldn't buy such a piece of equipment myself, if I'd get the chance to own one, it would be nice. My ears are so blown up (I play in a metal band, so...) that most of the time I can't tell the difference between a 320 kbps MP3, a CD and a SACD, so you can guess that I can't really tell the difference between different DACs, except for a Phillips portable CD player that sounded terrible. I'm a lot into analog and specially cassettes, so I would rather spend my money on getting a very high quality cassette deck (it's interesting how much you can push the cassette to make it sound better) than getting an audio streamer. I just end up plugging my cellphone if I want to listen to MP3s, anyway...

[@howardjonesjr7388]

CoTeCiOtm Check out your local Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. I got a JVC TD-W209 for $10, from 1994 has Dolby B/C, HX Pro, dual deck dubbing. Recordings sound lossless to me

[@koolstup]

Props for playing "In Full Gear"... My favourite Hip Hop album

[@Skillet98]

Man, the cost of these things is just... absurd...

[@ciphermatrix]

With a built in amplifier and DAC? Not really.

[@raydm4015]

Cheap f...

[@programablenuance]

You should've seen my face when I saw that this dude listens to N.W.A. Nice choices man.

[@Everything2985]

Physical graffiti... If I loved your videos now I do more

[@RobCantave]

Thanks for this Techmoan! I have 26k plus tracks on my HD that are similarly being underutilized, so I really love this solution. Great videos, and props on your excellent taste in music. NWA! Stetsasonic!? You might be the most improbable hip hop head on youtube!

[@JoeGP]

so are you gonna re-rip all of those CD's to get loss-less audio ? although that 500GB HDD probably won't be enough for that

[@Techmoan]

Joe G.P. No - the Sony magic makes them sound as good as I need. In the last couple of weeks I've gone deaf in one ear which has means I haven't been able to enjoy this recently.

[@Skracken]

Techmoan Aw man that's terrible! What happened?

[@Techmoan]

Niklas Bergsten Visiting the doctors again in the morning to try and find out. Hearing in mono is no fun.

[@Skracken]

Techmoan I don't know much about the ears, but I hope it's fixable. From having had a couple of wax plugs I kinda know what it's like to temporarily hear in mono. Let's hope for the best!

[@rich1051414]

Techmoan Lets hope its just an inner ear infection, and something tubes can fix.

[@custortroy]

1. 'Bad records are for the missus, & cool ones are for you. 2. People moaning about you spending your own money.' Absolutely delightful review mate! Love from London Town.

[@H4NDCRAFTED]

I also understand your reasons for wanting this, there is a lot to be said for dedicated devices, if you have the money and don't want the fuss. However this quality can be achieved at half the price without having to transfer audio,for those that can be bothered with not much more effort. All you need is a DAC and decent speakers and a smart phone, the apple remote app I have found very reliable. I have an iMac and just plug in my DAC , if you have a smart device, you probably have, just use the plex server and plex app for android, on apple it is even less work as the remote app is native and if you have an iPad makes a fantastic remote, plex app is also intuative. If you already have an integrated separate system , then this route is good, but I got my TC Electronis DAC and Dynaudios studio speakers on sale for £400, sure the smart devices are extra, but you may already have those. I could also just route the audio from my DAC into my separates as well, but I keep that analogue.

[@frankieboyo1969]

+H4NDCRAFTED "there is a lot to be said for dedicated devices," You mean separates? Not really. I listen almost exclusively using my naim streamer these days. My Krell gear hasn't been switched on in a couple of years. Far less fuss for me, it's just so convenient having my music on HDD, accessible over the network on devices around the house. It's the norm to stream over the home network rather than have music files resident on individual devices, though reading you post again, I think that was what you were getting at.

[@SPAZZOID100]

+Frank E Davidson the norm?? I play vinyl a lot. That is MY norm.

[@H4NDCRAFTED]

Frank E Davidson I'm not really , I stream my music using Plex,. I use high quality dedicated soundcards attached to computers and studio monitors. Use my ios devices as remotes. You can get decent soundcard and consumer grade studio monitors for under £400 , not as sexy looking though.

[@MarkKidd1992]

Been meaning to compliment you on this perfectly detailed video! I have finally got round to purchasing one! YOU sold it for me! 😃 Mine is coming from Japan 🇯🇵 super excited also to get all my CD albums on this!

[@photomitch]

Is this device compatible with tracks loaded from iTunes?

[@Techmoan]

Yes, that's where my library was when I uploaded a copy to the HAP-S1.

[@photomitch]

That's great, I wish they could come up with a similar device for Videos. But I think the film Studios would be strongly more resistance against this than the VCR back in the late 70's..

[@thetechconspiracy2]

Mitch Walker If you rip your DVDs, you can store the files on a file server using Plex, and get a Roku or other similar box to connect to your TV, and access the files that way. Some also have a USB port to connect a hard drive directly to the box.

[@lizzmariexOo]

I've got 3 iPods (128GB each) which I hook up to my amp and it does the same thing. The iPod touch is extremely easy and quick to use. I love knowing about other options though. Love your reviews.

[@IamWhoIam2023]

Sony is the best when it comes to electronics

[@v6nce]

Adil Rocker sorry dude you have no idea Sony are mediocre at best

[@IamWhoIam2023]

Vince Walker you don't know that much about Sony. I bet

[@v6nce]

Adil Rocker firstly I apologise for my confrontational reply I worded that badly. I don't know much about Sony, but how much do I need to know to have an opinion on their products?I do know that they are a massive corporate that are all about profit and mass production, they are good at what they do and have invested a lot into r&d to give us, the consumers, the products we want. I also know their crap audio products used to be marketed under the brand name Aiwa and that Sony also make thousands if not more components for other manufacturers. The Walkman and the playstation were great products but the Walkman is dead and gamers are divided on Xbox Playstation or PC so no longer "great" imo. A product needs to be best in class to be great and as a company Sony are good but a long way off best in class on their HiFi. I own and love some Sony products but I could get much better at a premium price.

[@Supersweetguy]

I agree, but not fully. Onkyo is one of the best when it comes to electronics. Bose, is also one of the best when it come to electronics as well.

[@Frietpan]

Yeah ok onkyo and bose..... in what dimension?

[@biggles1024]

Congratulations on your purchase Mat. Having all my music on a hard drive is a long term goal of mine. I've made some headway with my CD's but my records are proving to be problematic. I hope this device brings you many, many hours of enjoyable listening. Cheers, b.

[@Techmoan]

biggles1024 Keep the records separate - vinyl has it's own charms. However with CDs, you might as well rip them.

[@nickiebanchou]

wow, that's a neat device indeed, but the price of it is quite overwhelming , sure, there's some software and hardware engineering in there, but that kind of money could also get you a whole good PC (think HTPC) and a great amplifier to go with ... that thing is a great example of my love-hate relationship with Sony: they make some great hardware, but a bit too often to me, keep it in some niche because of some pushed proprietary formats or connectors, or pricing ...

[@Bernievids]

And it will fail after a few years when one has grown to love it...my sony purchases have always eventually ended in tears and the notion I will never buy it again. I have since, kept to that adage. I have it our of my 'system' now and although tempting, I know better

[@Victor-wn8hf]

And now 2 years later your PC is worth %30 less than when you bought it.

[@Morganstein-Railroad]

Very Good machine. A Brennan by another manufacturer. Only one problem I can see with this - I have 4000 CDs and that would take up more than the space available. So do they do an upgrade that allows you to have a bigger sized hard disk?

[@TomasWille]

"Here is the ethernet port, let's wire that" "Here you can setup your wifi, so let's do that" Eh?

[@TomasWille]

Tomas Wille Nevertheless, good video !

[@Techmoan]

+Panta Gorian I don't know why this should be confusing. In this video I demonstrate as many features of the Sony HAP-S1 as possible. I show how to setup the wifi and I show where the Ethernet connection is. I transfered my music files across over the course of a weekend. One day I did this using WiFi, the other day I did it over Ethernet, in order to compare the speeds. In the video I state that there is very little difference in the speed of the transfers between the two connection options due to limitations of the device. The only way I could know this was to try both Ethernet and wifi, hence the need to connect the Ethernet cable.

[@TomasWille]

+Techmoan Confused / Amused. Both different things. I do understand your reason, really. But somehow i got the feeling you explained us how to connect it, without properly telling the difference between wifi and cable. You summarized it correctly afterwards. Yet i found humor in the sequence of the video. Innocent amusement here. Nothing to bother. What counts is my compliment i gave after it.

[@AudioFileZ]

I may be wrong but I've not found another audio streamer reviewed after this Sony. I'm amazed at the price range of available streamers. For me it's the more reasonable priced ones that interest me. As expected streamers have kept up with, well, streaming. Today instead of being a front-end controller for, say, one's iTunes collection most potential buyers will be using it to input their subscribed streaming high-resolution music services. This alone is one reason to re-visit streamers I'd venture to guess. Personally I'm interested in the Bluesound Node 2i and the new Cocktail Audio N25. While neither have internal hard drives they can control music on a NAS I understand. Both take full advantage of the current high-resolution subscription music services . I should note that the Cocktail Audio N25 is more than twice the price of the Bluesound Node 2i but it is a much newer product presumably with more capabilities not the least of which is completely unfolding MQA Master Files from Tidal. So, might you be interested in re-visiting streamers and these in particular?

[@Jerbod2]

I'm sad to see you're getting disappointing news about your health... to me you you seem like a really nice guy who I'd like to hang around with, yet you seem to fall victim to all these disappointments when it comes to your health especially. You don't deserve this, but that's what happens, often times the good people get the worst luck. Hope it's only temporary, although things like your diabetes will stay I hope your deafness will subside. I've never heard you talk again about your loss of taste when you did that review about the Rollie© how's that worked out? Anyway, without getting too depressed I wish you'll get picked up by the BBC o and get your own format, you seem to have all the qualities for it. Best of wishes.

[@Techmoan]

Manny Calavera I've still no sense of taste or smell, it is the kind of thing can get one down a bit. Will keep trying my best to get some of these issues resolved.

[@colinjohnston8519]

We don't want him to go to tv. If I wanted to watch tv I wouldn't be on KZbin..

[@VidweII]

Techmoan Cheers from across the pond. Love your stuff - just found your channel. It's great!

[@richardleeuk]

Good work and nice to see someone who also enjoys a proper HiFi (and with a cassette deck) I also love choosing music with physical buttons but living with iTunes and the iPad as a remote is sufficing! Still, enjoying the detail as to wether something is worth buying or not, we are going through an interesting transition in music creation and distribution!

[@edwardlorenz3437]

its big ipod classic version

[@AntCooke]

Really enjoyed this review. That's a heck of a music collection, small wonder it took the weekend to transfer! Keep them coming.

[@etmax1]

Why can't it simply play the music off my server?

[@etmax1]

I have a small NAS server that is permanently powered by a UPS (20W). I put all of my musiv and shared files there and I can listen to music independent to other family members as well as with different devices in different parts of the house and don't have an issue with synchronising content across multiple devices that have their own storage. But then again each to his own.

[@Victor-wn8hf]

Sony has many other options that stream in the form of TVs, receivers, bluetooth speakers, what else hould the Sony be able to do? Make toast?

[@chukzombi]

i dont think i could ever rationalize such an indulgence, but it is a beautiful piece of tech

[@Mickice]

Curious as to why you went 320mp3 instead of Flac 16/44 1412kbs? With a system like this I'd redo the entire lot in Flac.

[@Techmoan]

Mickice I don't want to spend time re-encoding anything - I've got videos to make.

[@Mickice]

lol, while I and many others enjoy those videos, we have all had to re-encode our entire collection at times. I just clenched my butt-cheeks together and did it, lol. Luckily I only have 200~ CDs. Try DBPowerAmp for ripping direct to FLAC in the future, its the best. ^_^

[@jtr159]

Mickice What I'd really like to see is a blind test with you distinguishing between 320 kbps MP3 and FLAC.

[@Mickice]

If you have a device that supports the full CD sound why not use it? Stop being a compressed peasant.

[@jtr159]

Mickice If you have a 500 gb hard drive, why the hell would you waste 10x the space for a negligible difference in sound? I understand the difference between 128kbps and 320kbps MP3 is significant, but being a FLACphile is just a waste of money and hard drive space.

[@stanlee5465]

I love my Marantz receiver/network payer. It can stream FLAC wireless from my PC to my hi fi audio setup! I've compared 'needle drop 24hz vinyl recordings to the same thing playing over my Rega Planar 1 and they sounds just as good!

[@tomb8156]

I bet the wireless password is'Joshua'

[@ciphermatrix]

Would you like to play a nice game of chess?

[@cazars]

Hi Technomoan! Thanks for giving me back the analogue and accommodating tactile presentation of the devices and the history behind the technology and specifically industry overviews. IT FEELS SO GOOD to: Put a needle on the record, Press play on tape, remove the cellophane from virgin recording tape, adjust and finetune the EQ Not to mention analog needle VU meters, and your "holy grail" the scope & nix tubes station tuning! That is pure audio video PxRN. Seriously. Thanks for putting so much effort, research, micro details and also you have the skill to "pass" your excitement and audiophile user experience through perfectly edited videos. Thank you for widening my horizons that stopped there somewhere few decades ago, forgotten and understood partially. As tech savvy person born in 1971 in ex eastern block country, i learned to appreciate every single bit of Western/Japanese technology that somehow reached us there... as a smuggled items or overpaid with import taxes up to 50% and rare retailers margins 50-150% ! The universe you are presenting is golden era that is so rich, full of life and tactile interacting experience we perform like rituals. I categorically refuse to TAP on it. Period. The Smartphone native generation is deprived of this feelings and UX. It is so sad. Social ? Do they gather on weekends exchanging LPs, copying tapes .. TALKING about it, comenting album art IN HAND, planing that next DIY project, saving for parts or scraping the other devices for that... even forming garage bands, then again DIY for amps etc etc.. Tap and tap World could be turning digital but life is still ANALOGUE. And sound as well from creation to consumption is ANALOGUE. Digital is great help and amazing catalysator of the process, not against it by all means, but personally i think every music appreciating young person should watch all your videos to educate themselves first, then to rethink and hopefully after technological epiphany treat themselves with decent Turntable, preamp and amp + 3 way spk. (at least!). Thanks again and keep the videos coming!!! Regards, Sasha