[KerrangZ]

Has anyone compared the DAC section of the TA to an R2R DAC?

 

[Imusicman]

Has anyone compared the DAC section of the TA to an R2R DAC?

I have the TAS and the Cayin N6ii R01.

For me with my gear they are more similar than different in timbre. I’m not sure if it’s the extra power out of the TAS balanced but all my gear, which is all easy to drive btw sounds just that little bit fuller and slightly more open sounding than with the R01. Tbf both sound great though. I know it’s not quite a fair comparison but it’s the only R2R I have.

 

[Redcarmoose]

What is your TA firmware?

 

[Imusicman]

What is your TA firmware?

It’s quite old tbh because I use a iMac via USB and the fact that SONY stopped supporting later versions of IMac with updates several years ago. Quite annoying having to run old version of OS so my TAS still works

 

[Redcarmoose]

Yes, sorry.......I have heard that. You are maybe on 1.0.1 or something? 1.0.3 is the latest and it maybe offers a slight midrange/treble increase? I use it with a MacBook Air.

I know they have many of the firmwares available, but sadly not every past one so you could roll-back if needed.

 

[Tsiklon]

It’s quite old tbh because I use a iMac via USB and the fact that SONY stopped supporting later versions of IMac with updates several years ago. Quite annoying having to run old version of OS so my TAS still works

The TA-ZH1ES appears as a USB sound device, it works on pretty much any OS (I’m using it on Mac OS 11, Windows 11 and Ubuntu without any issue), there should be nothing related to it keeping you on an old version of your OS.

There hasn’t been a firmware update released for the TA-ZH1ES since 2017

 

[Imusicman]

The TA-ZH1ES appears as a USB sound device, it works on pretty much any OS (I’m using it on Mac OS 11, Windows 11 and Ubuntu without any issue), there should be nothing related to it keeping you on an old version of your OS.

There hasn’t been a firmware update released for the TA-ZH1ES since 2017

It’s great that it’s working for you. My iMac auto updated to Catalina probably a couple of years or so ago and my TAS stopped working immediately basically leaving me with a black brick. It took me two days to completely resolve the issue including rebuilding all my playlists on iTunes etc and reversing my IMac OS to the previous operating system with the help of Apple. That’s an experience I never want to have go through ever again just for the sake of an update. This was a common issue discussed at length many pages back in the forum. I had lots of PM’s offering support at the time to help me resolve my issue.

 

[Redcarmoose]

There is 1.00, 1.01,1.02 and 1.03. I’ve heard of some people having issues with 1.03 with a Mac? I’m not sure when 1.03 came out. But difference is super small if any. It may even be suggestive, but I think it’s there. Sony has never said any firmware changed tone even on the Walkmans.

 

[Redcarmoose]

This is 1.03.
https://www.sony-asia.com/electroni...dphone-amplifiers/ta-zh1es/downloads/Y0015295

 

[KerrangZ]

I have the TAS and the Cayin N6ii R01.

For me with my gear they are more similar than different in timbre. I’m not sure if it’s the extra power out of the TAS balanced but all my gear, which is all easy to drive btw sounds just that little bit fuller and slightly more open sounding than with the R01. Tbf both sound great though. I know it’s not quite a fair comparison but it’s the only R2R I have.

Thanks. Will be interesting to compare warmer sounding R2R DACs like the Ares ii or Bifrost 2 against the TA.

 

[Lookout57]

It’s great that it’s working for you. My iMac auto updated to Catalina probably a couple of years or so ago and my TAS stopped working immediately basically leaving me with a black brick. It took me two days to completely resolve the issue including rebuilding all my playlists on iTunes etc and reversing my IMac OS to the previous operating system with the help of Apple. That’s an experience I never want to have go through ever again just for the sake of an update. This was a common issue discussed at length many pages back in the forum. I had lots of PM’s offering support at the time to help me resolve my issue.

I just dowloaded and ran the updater from https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/headphones-headphone-amplifiers/ta-zh1es/downloads/W0011088 on my MBP running Catalina. The updater recognized my TA showing I had 1.03 installed and offered me to update it.

 

[KerrangZ]

Hi guys,

I recently bought a micro USB to usb-c cable for my ZX507b to plug into my TA-ZH1ES and on screen it will prompt "Allow TIDAL to access TA-ZH1ES?", I select OK and nothing happens. I do the same with the music player and when I play a song, it says "Cannot play". Any idea what's going on?

 

[MrWalkman]

Hi guys,

I recently bought a micro USB to usb-c cable for my ZX507b to plug into my TA-ZH1ES and on screen it will prompt "Allow TIDAL to access TA-ZH1ES?", I select OK and nothing happens. I do the same with the music player and when I play a song, it says "Cannot play". Any idea what's going on?

I suggest giving a try to USB Audio Player Pro as well - you can connect to Tidal in this app too.

You can get a trial version here: https://www.extreamsd.com/index.php/uapp-trial

 

[WiseRooster]

Hi guys,

I recently bought a micro USB to usb-c cable for my ZX507b to plug into my TA-ZH1ES and on screen it will prompt "Allow TIDAL to access TA-ZH1ES?", I select OK and nothing happens. I do the same with the music player and when I play a song, it says "Cannot play". Any idea what's going on?

I suggest giving a try to USB Audio Player Pro as well - you can connect to Tidal in this app too.

You can get a trial version here: https://www.extreamsd.com/index.php/uapp-tria

Had the same problema with another player, it seems weird and not really logical but try to select no when Tidal asks for access
It worked for me...

 

[MrWalkman]

Had the same problema with another player, it seems weird and not really logical but try to select no when Tidal asks for access
It worked for me...

Ah, doing that would let Android handle the sound output instead of Tidal doing that directly. It's at least something different and it might work.