Customer reviews from sony.com
Sony - Hi-Res Music Player with 1TB Hard Drive - Silver
Average customer rating
4.2
(71 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 71 reviews
5 Stars
37
4 Stars
19
3 Stars
10
2 Stars
0
1 Star
5
82%of customers recommend this product.
(
50 out of
61)
Customer Reviews for Sony - Hi-Res Music Player with 1TB Hard Drive - Silver
Customer Rating
4
Top tier digital audio - but no Tidal!
on April 30, 2019
Posted by: Freeheelpete
Gender:Male
I have owned this a few years now. Have never been disappointed with the sound. Significantly more detailed and refined than the Naim V-DAC or the Wadia 122 DAC, which I have directly compared over extended periods. I am a big-time vinyl lover and find that no digital that I have owned can match the insight that vinyl provides. But the Sony comes closest out of anything I have heard, and it does not disappoint in comparison.
What is very disappointing is the lack of hi-res music streaming service. Hence the 4-star rating. The compressed Spotify streaming that is available on the device is a joke compared with what this device can deliver. It forces me to own a separate DAC so that I can stream Tidal. I really wish Sony would get their act together on hi-res streaming and get Tidal on-board ASAP.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
4
Wish it had more streaming services
on October 10, 2020
Posted by: Rich305
Gender:Male
I love everything about this unit. It’s fantastic. The only downside is Sony doesn’t seem to be supporting it anymore. It hardly ever gets updates, it can not stream Deezer, or Roon... I wish it had more premium services that have the ability to stream higher quality music.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Response from sony.comBy Sony North America Customer Support, October 11, 2020
Hi we're glad you love our product. The HAP-Z1ES HDD Audio Player is the perfect addition to your Hi-Fi setup, with a Direct Stream Digital (DSD) Re-mastering Engine that elevates all your music. A 1 TB hard disc, has space for all your music, letting you hear it all as it was meant to be heard. We're always looking to make Sony better. We appreciate your time sharing this feedback. Thanks! ~Earl
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
3
Incredible sound, lacking streaming support.
on September 17, 2020
Posted by: Douglas G
Gender:Male
Recently purchased this unit and am blown away by the music it makes. The Spotify support works very well, however the quality from Spotify is lacking compared to Qobuz or Tidal on my BlueSound node. I'd gladly pay for an upgrade to include these services as the Sony is more musical than the node and would really shine with those services.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Response from sony.comBy Sony North America Customer Support, September 18, 2020
Hi Douglas, we're glad you like the sound quality of our product. Sony takes into consideration all feedback to improve the performance and quality of our products and services. We're always looking to make Sony better. We appreciate your time sharing this feedback. Thanks! ~Earl
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
5
Incredible Sound. Frustrating Setup.
on July 8, 2020
Posted by: Karl A
The sound of the Sony HAP-Z1ES is amazing, makes all of the FLAC files I copied from my CDs sound like they were remastered. However, the challenging process to copy all my files to the HAP-Z1ES was frustrating, but worth it.
Why Sony only allows you to transfer files through wireless or a wired Ethernet network connection rather than just being able to connect a hard drive to the USB is beyond me. Since the transfer was the most frustrating part, I thought I’d post what I learned.
1. Use a wired Ethernet connection rather than wireless.
2. With Windows, after you download HAP Music Transfer to your computer, DON’T use it to transfer your files. Instead, use “Explore HAP (Show in Explorer).” This will open the HAP_Internal window and you then can drag and drop the files you want transferred.
3. Be sure that when you open HAP Music Transfer that in “Transfer Settings” you have “Auto Transfer” set to Off. I didn’t realize this at first, and so along with the FLAC files I had selected for my first transfer, HAP Music Transfer found ALL of my mp3s (that I didn’t want transferred) and copied those as well. I realized my mistake when that first transfer took 8 hours!
4. Don’t transfer more than 100 folders at a time. (Sony says this in its online manual.) I transferred about 90 folders each time. It took about 15 minutes to copy from my computer to the HAP_Internal, and then another 30-40 minutes or so for the HAP to finish updating the files.
5. My 400 GBs of FLAC files were done in 19 batches and took a total of about 20 hours (not counting that first transfer). 1,600 folders, 17,000 files.
6. Make sure the files you plan to transfer aren't corrupted in any way, missing metadata, etc. If they are, this will slow down or stop the transfer.
1. Use a wired Ethernet connection rather than wireless.
2. With Windows, after you download HAP Music Transfer to your computer, DON’T use it to transfer your files. Instead, use “Explore HAP (Show in Explorer).” This will open the HAP_Internal window and you then can drag and drop the files you want transferred.
3. Be sure that when you open HAP Music Transfer that in “Transfer Settings” you have “Auto Transfer” set to Off. I didn’t realize this at first, and so along with the FLAC files I had selected for my first transfer, HAP Music Transfer found ALL of my mp3s (that I didn’t want transferred) and copied those as well. I realized my mistake when that first transfer took 8 hours!
4. Don’t transfer more than 100 folders at a time. (Sony says this in its online manual.) I transferred about 90 folders each time. It took about 15 minutes to copy from my computer to the HAP_Internal, and then another 30-40 minutes or so for the HAP to finish updating the files.
5. My 400 GBs of FLAC files were done in 19 batches and took a total of about 20 hours (not counting that first transfer). 1,600 folders, 17,000 files.
6. Make sure the files you plan to transfer aren't corrupted in any way, missing metadata, etc. If they are, this will slow down or stop the transfer.
I had also read that it might be possible to transfer files through the USB if you were using a Linux-based system rather than a PC or Mac. I can confirm that this IS NOT possible. If you plug a blank hard drive into the USP the Sony HAP asks to format it. If you say yes, it is formatted in ExtFS and your computer will not be able to read it. You can download the Paragon ExtFS program to your computer (which is what I did) and that will allow your computer to read this HAP formatted hard drive. Excellent! So I copied a few folders onto this drive and plugged it back into the HAP. It was recognized right away and the HAP asked if I would like to include these files in my library. Yes, please! And there they were, the new folders I had put on this hard drive were now in the player’s library. Success! However, the folders were NOT copied to the Hap_Internal drive, and as soon as I removed the hard drive those files were no longer included in the library. C'mon Sony!
So, the only way to get your files onto the hard drive is through a network connection between your computer and the HAP-Z1ES. While this is ridiculously time consuming if you have a lot of files, it’s worth it in the end.
So, the only way to get your files onto the hard drive is through a network connection between your computer and the HAP-Z1ES. While this is ridiculously time consuming if you have a lot of files, it’s worth it in the end.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Response from sony.comBy Sony North America Customer Support, July 17, 2020
Hi Karl A, we appreciate your time in sharing this honest review. This will surely help us in improving products. The HAP-Z1ES HDD Audio Player is the perfect addition to your Hi-Fi setup, with a Direct Stream Digital (DSD) Re-mastering Engine that elevates all your music. A 1 TB hard disc, has space for all your music, letting you hear it all as it was meant to be heard. Imagine hearing your favorite tracks in unmatched clarity and richness. Thanks for your feedback and for choosing Sony. ~Ralph
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
4
Need to add more streaming services like Tidal
on January 14, 2021
Posted by: Joelsingapore
I have had the Sony HAP-Z1ES for a couple of years now. The unit is beautifully built and generally excellent BUT Sony needs to add more streaming services. I’ve been a Sony fan for decades and don’t understand how it can build such a great product and then handicap it by these simple omissions.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Response from sony.comBy Sony North America Customer Support, January 14, 2021
Hi Joelsingapore,
Thank you for reaching out. On this site, we can assist customers in the US and Canada. For further assistance regarding your product, we highly recommend visiting our Sony Global Web site for information on contacting the Sony Support Center in your region at http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/Support/.
Sincerely,
Romeo
Thank you for reaching out. On this site, we can assist customers in the US and Canada. For further assistance regarding your product, we highly recommend visiting our Sony Global Web site for information on contacting the Sony Support Center in your region at http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/Support/.
Sincerely,
Romeo
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Posted by: MrScience2008
Gender:Male
Verified Purchase:Yes
This is a good product but could be a great product with a few updates by Sony. The device can only stream TuneIn and Spotify. Where are Qobuz and Tidal? Future units should have more digital outputs than just usb.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Response from sony.comBy Sony North America Customer Support, April 9, 2020
Hi MrScience2008, Thank you for choosing Sony. We appreciate your high review and feedback. We at Sony are always striving to improve our products and we consider your feedback in those improvements. I hope you are enjoying the HAP1Z’s 1 TB of storage and its ability to play Hi-Res files or restore the quality of your compressed files by using DSEE(Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) and DSD( Direct Stream Digital) engines. You can always check this link to get the latest firmware updates: https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/audio-components-hdd-audio-network-audio-players/hap-z1es/downloads/00016041
~Earl
~Earl
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
4
Software? What software?
on June 19, 2019
Posted by: glupson
I am not sure where to give feedback for someone from SONY to read it so am trying it this way.
Ihave had one of these players for a couple of years and have recently bought another one. They are fantastic. Almost.
As other reviewers mentioned, the sound is great and it can be even better if you connect it to an outside DAC. Your choice. The unit has all I want although I can see why streaming services are mentioned by many. For me, Internet radio is the best feature. Even that sounds good.
The weak part has always been, and recently has been laughably so, software. It has never been non-buggy, but most recent iteration (1226R, or something like that) has one bizzare feature and a few small quirks.
Once you transfer music onto the HAP-Z1ES, it starts scanning it to place it into Sense-Me folders. There is no way to cancel that operation and you get a small icon (music note) to inform you it is working. Well, it is working only if you are not playing music and it takes more than 10 minutes to analyze 5 minutes of music. If you fill 1TB of hard drive, you may end up with 20 000 songs (many DSD so, if you do FLAC only it may be even more). Roughly, 118 days to process all of that, provided you do not play music during any of those days. What is the point of insisting on populating Sense-Me channels when, in real life and assuming you actually bought this machine to listen to it, you may not be able to populate them in a couple of years? I read about abandoning Gracenote (thank you for that, by the way, it made previous software even clunkier), and understand the general idea, but can we have the option of disabling Sense-Me channel analysis? Not album by album, but complete on/off.
New software also has strange moments, album art shows on album list but is blank when song is selected (it is not the problem with files, they are just fine on other players with previous generation software). Some album art gets mixed and pictures from one album show up on some other album. The list goes on and on.
Previous software (1877R, I think) was the best so far. Without arm-twisting to use Gracenote or Sense-Me channels analysis over months, it would make nice comeback.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
4
Sony
on January 31, 2021
Posted by: Brad88
Gender:Male
Fantastic sounding digital source but Sony needs to update player to stream tidal or quboz or I’ll be selling and moving on.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Response from sony.comBy Sony North America Customer Support , February 1, 2021
Hi Brad88,
Thank you for choosing Sony and enjoy your unit!
Regards,
David
Thank you for choosing Sony and enjoy your unit!
Regards,
David
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com