The Official Sony TA-ZH1ES Hi-Res Headphone Amplifier (Live From IFA 2016)
Mar 21, 2017 at 9:38 PM Post #976 of 5,747
  Interesting, didn't know Sony had a high resolution app for Mac desktop.
 
All players do work on my 2013 Macbook Pro (El Capitan 10.11.16).  I use Spotify, Tidal, iTunes, HQPlayer (trial) but primarily Amarra 4.
 
After all cables and connections are made:
Step 1.  Go to Macbook "sound" setting and click "output" to select DAC 
Step 2.  Go to "Audio Midi Setup" and select your audio device (probably will already be highlight but check anyway).  
Step 3.  When the sound app player is open, I have to make sure the settings are correctly highlighted, pointing the app to the audio device (DAC in this case) and buffer size.  
 
I don't have my Sony with me right now at work, but the above should work.  There should be no problem running the TA-ZH1ES on a Macbook and I assume it is fine for newer Macs.  I don't know if Step 2 is always required but sometimes with my other DACs I wasn't getting the correct output depth and bitrate so I would go into Audio Midi to fix that.  It's a one time fix, you won't have to continually go back.  What I did find is that if I had multiple sound devices installed with their own software, the previous audio device attached could be highlighted and not the current one. 
 
I do like Amarra but open to hearing about other players people use.  

 
 
I did some research and found there are lots of Audio DAC issue related to latest Mac OS Sierra - Apparently one of the core audio library is broken in latest mac.
 
Ref: https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/65232
 
I followed one of the advise from audirvana forum by replacing the IOAudioFamily.kext with the one from El Capitan, now Mac OS and Tidal can output audio to TA-ZH1ES via Core Audio layer using the preset sampling rate (e.g. 44khz/16bits) from MIDI setting.
 
However, when enable "Exclusive Mode" / "Direct Mode" it still freeze and quit. This certainly has an impact to audio quality (e.g. Amp shows 192khz/32bits when playing Tidia with Exclusive mode off, the core audio does the upsampling using midi setting....) .... and without Direct Mode, I will have to switch the sampling rate manually when play different music file, which is a nightware.
 
Still trying to see if there is a way to resolve this.
 
Mar 21, 2017 at 10:09 PM Post #977 of 5,747
I did some research and found there are lots of Audio DAC issue related to latest Mac OS Sierra - Apparently one of the core audio library is broken in latest mac.

Ref: https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/65232

I followed one of the advise from audirvana forum by replacing the IOAudioFamily.kext with the one from El Capitan, now Mac OS and Tidal can output audio to TA-ZH1ES via Core Audio layer using the preset sampling rate (e.g. 44khz/16bits) from MIDI setting.

However, when enable "Exclusive Mode" / "Direct Mode" it still freeze and quit. This certainly has an impact to audio quality (e.g. Amp shows 192khz/32bits when playing Tidia with Exclusive mode off, the core audio does the upsampling using midi setting....) .... and without Direct Mode, I will have to switch the sampling rate manually when play different music file, which is a nightware.

Still trying to see if there is a way to resolve this.

I appreciate this. We have it now that we can use Tidal on the web browser but not the app
 
Mar 21, 2017 at 11:29 PM Post #978 of 5,747
   
 
I did some research and found there are lots of Audio DAC issue related to latest Mac OS Sierra - Apparently one of the core audio library is broken in latest mac.
 
Ref: https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/65232
 
I followed one of the advise from audirvana forum by replacing the IOAudioFamily.kext with the one from El Capitan, now Mac OS and Tidal can output audio to TA-ZH1ES via Core Audio layer using the preset sampling rate (e.g. 44khz/16bits) from MIDI setting.
 
However, when enable "Exclusive Mode" / "Direct Mode" it still freeze and quit. This certainly has an impact to audio quality (e.g. Amp shows 192khz/32bits when playing Tidia with Exclusive mode off, the core audio does the upsampling using midi setting....) .... and without Direct Mode, I will have to switch the sampling rate manually when play different music file, which is a nightware.
 
Still trying to see if there is a way to resolve this.

 
I know this is a problem because Tidal works totally fine on El Capitan machines. I've just given up on Tidal for now and went back to iTunes. Tidal has a lot of missing content anyway. 
 
Mar 22, 2017 at 9:44 AM Post #980 of 5,747
   
Good job. Perhaps people should be returning the mac rather then the TA, since the mac is the component that is working incorrectly.


One of the problems with large thread on head-fi is that nobody reads the entire thread. We talked about this a little 2 weeks ago, but at the time nobody had this insight as to what the issue exactly was (personally, since iTunes still works, this to me is a Tidal problem, not Apple, they need to change what they're doing)
 
Every time we get a set of new users talking about this or just getting their box and then the thread is going basically in isolation since people tend to drop off except when buying new equipment or getting into discussions on it. 
 
I suppose it can't be helped. 
 
In the meantime, although I look favorably on Tidal's SQ, I decided to end my subscription since I can get most of the same exact music and even more on iTunes and don't want the hassle of maintaining 2 connections. I'll just have to give up on lossless for a while.
 
A question : Do you guys think it's better with the ZH1 to allow it to do all the up sampling in it's hardware ? so keep a 16/48khz or 16/44.1 stream out and then let the up sampling occur only on the dac side in hardware ? or use the midi settings to change that in core audio to the highest (i.e., one of the 7xx kHz PCM rates) and then upsample to DSD ? 
 
Mar 22, 2017 at 9:51 AM Post #981 of 5,747
If anyone in the Us want to buy. A used TA ? I have mine up, I want to get a dedicated stand alone DAC since my Stax sound quality is so addictive......time to stack more and more ! Excellent condition with the socket mod and solid silver wires behind it :) easily reversed to stock socket if you desire.

TA is an excellent piece of integrated headphones+amp, but not as a good DAC (never designed in mind). I need something that is more dedicated for my Stax.
 
Mar 22, 2017 at 10:06 AM Post #982 of 5,747
 
One of the problems with large thread on head-fi is that nobody reads the entire thread. We talked about this a little 2 weeks ago, but at the time nobody had this insight as to what the issue exactly was (personally, since iTunes still works, this to me is a Tidal problem, not Apple, they need to change what they're doing)
 
Every time we get a set of new users talking about this or just getting their box and then the thread is going basically in isolation since people tend to drop off except when buying new equipment or getting into discussions on it. 
 
I suppose it can't be helped.

 
Actually it can be helped very easily.
There's a somewhat discrete link at the top of the page: "SEARCH THIS THREAD".
 
Adding a few keywords there will get you the posts that mention that. People are either unaware or just want quick answers, ending up not only seeing less information but also adding more noise/repetition in some cases.
 
That doesn't mean one can't ask. I often ask something that was already discussed, but first I hunt down the info and if it's not enough (or I want something slightly different), then I post.
 
Mar 23, 2017 at 1:20 AM Post #984 of 5,747
  Damn, this box is good. There may be better equipment out there, but for me this is my first foray into truly *expensive* (for me) audio gear. Now I'm convinced. 
 
 
A question : Do you guys think it's better with the ZH1 to allow it to do all the up sampling in it's hardware ? so keep a 16/48khz or 16/44.1 stream out and then let the up sampling occur only on the dac side in hardware ? or use the midi settings to change that in core audio to the highest (i.e., one of the 7xx kHz PCM rates) and then upsample to DSD ?

 
 
Somewhat Sadly I had to answer this question myself. Regardless of whether it's software upsampling or not, 32/768 khz out of the box and upsampled to DSD is obviously best from a SQ perspective. I really don't know why people are afraid of upsampling. I guess it's relatively modern idea. At least at these rates. 
 
Mar 28, 2017 at 4:30 PM Post #985 of 5,747
Hi guys,
 
Could anyone, please, tell me if the 'TA-ZH1ES' has the feature that 'NW-WM1A' dap has - the 'Direct source', which disables all the sound enhancements. I've got the 'NW-WM1A' and I like to listen to it with all the sound features off - just straight with 'Direct Sound' turned on. Now I'm planning to buy this desktop dac/amp and wondering if it has same (very useful) feature 'Direct Source' option to turn off all the sound enhancements.
 
Thank you.
 
Mar 28, 2017 at 4:40 PM Post #986 of 5,747
Hi guys,

Could anyone, please, tell me if the 'TA-ZH1ES' has the feature that 'NW-WM1A' dap has - the 'Direct source', which disables all the sound enhancements. I've got the 'NW-WM1A' and I like to listen to it with all the sound features off - just straight with 'Direct Sound' turned on. Now I'm planning to buy this desktop dac/amp and wondering if it has same (very useful) feature 'Direct Source' option to turn off all the sound enhancements.

Thank you.


Unfortunately, it does not
 
Mar 28, 2017 at 4:46 PM Post #987 of 5,747
Oh, that is a real shame ((, because it sounds best when all the sound "features" are off. For the that price tag Sony could add "Direct Source" feature to the unit.
 
Mar 28, 2017 at 5:48 PM Post #989 of 5,747
@Whitigir is a genius but I believe he already knows that
biggrin.gif

Got my dock today, immediately hooked it up with the TA using AQ Cinnamon. Source was ZX100 (Still waiting on WM1A), and, was in for total bliss. Sounds much much better than the USB input for which I've been using Alienware with AQ Carbon. Looking forward to the 1A pairing. Thanks a lot friend ...
 
Mar 28, 2017 at 5:51 PM Post #990 of 5,747
@Whitigir
 is a genius but I believe he already knows that :D
Got my dock today, immediately hooked it up with the TA using AQ Cinnamon. Source was ZX100 (Still waiting on WM1A), and, was in for total bliss. Sounds much much better than the USB input for which I've been using Alienware with AQ Carbon. Looking forward to the 1A pairing. Thanks a lot friend ...


Well, thank you ! :D I am glad you are enjoying your new found system
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top