[purk]

I thought this is a hybrid digital/analog amp.

 

[thatonenoob]

  I thought this is a hybrid digital/analog amp.

It is.   D w/ error correction from an analog A amp.

 

[XERO1]

  It is.  D w/ error correction from an analog A amp.

 
I assume you mean Class-D and Class-A.
 
If so, this sounds similar to how the Divialet amplifies work, except in reverse.
 
Very interesting....

 

[thatonenoob]

   
I assume you mean Class-D and Class-A.
 
If so, this sounds similar to how the Divialet amplifies work, except in reverse.
 
Very interesting....

EDIT 2: Yea digital Class-D, w/ analog element correction in the form of the Class-A.  Geez it's getting late.

 

[XERO1]

  Correction I'm getting mixed up lemme see.  It's getting really late now lol/

 
Get some sleep, bro. 

 
Great job so far.  Thanks again.

 

[thatonenoob]

 
okay S-Master is for DAP, the dac chip inside TA-ZH1ES is not known yet

DSD --> DSD remastering engine --> S-Master HX --> Amp section
 
We're trying to figure out what the S-Master does exactly.

 

[XERO1]

Quote:

  DSD --> DSD remastering engine --> S-Master HX --> Amp section
 
We're trying to figure out what the S-Master does exactly.

 
The world may never know....
 

 

[deafdoorknob]

S-Master HX

"Sony's digital amplifier technology, uniquely developed for Hi-Resolution Audio to reduce distortion and noise at wider frequency ranges. Because S-Master amplifies digital signals directly – rather than converting them to analogue signals first – it maintains the purity of the original signal for more faithful reproduction." - Sony FAQ

technical deets on the tech pages 4-15
https://docs.sony.com/release/ES_STR_05_Final.pdf

seems to be a digital "gain" stage (or more likely attenuation stage) driving an analogue output stage (mosfet?)

 

[Deftone]

Its the secret sauce indeed

 

[fb24601]

They used burr brown 1795 in their uda-1 before 

 

[purk]

  It is.   D w/ error correction from an analog A amp.

I don't really understand why you need an analog A amp correction unless you feeding an analog signal.  I have the Audio-Technica DHA-3000.  That amp, released in 2002, is a pure digital headphone amplifier.  It is a great look unit too.
 

 

[thatonenoob]

  I don't really understand why you need an analog A amp correction unless you feeding an analog signal.  I have the Audio-Technica DHA-3000.  That amp, released in 2002, is a pure digital headphone amplifier.  It is a great look unit too.
 
 

Let me try and pull up the diagram later...
 
On a related note, here's our technical interview.
 

 

[Whitigir]

Look like there is some AKM inside

http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/audio-components/ta-zh1es

 

[musicdragoon]

From sony china the close up images show an Altera cyclone IV FPGA, and two analog device ADSP 21488, seems the S master HX and DSD remaster engine are implemented in the FPGA that also handle the decode of source audio format, and the DSP handle further audio processing. Chord also used FPGA to implement their own decoder in mojo, which also have no on the shelf DAC chips on board.

 

[musicdragoon]

http://www.phileweb.com/interview/article/201609/03/398.html
Japan phile web had published a more detailed report