[Muvieguy]

Mind already made up 80%, but wanted to take a quick, light-hearted poll. Settling on TA for my office rig. Z1R vs. Utopias, and why?

Agree the Utopia's to me are superior as I own both headsets but Jason is correct go for the Z1R if you need a can that will not have sound leakage.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

Did someone say Utopia? 

 
 
Not my system. It's Jack Wu's pic. Wish it was my system though. I'm jelly for sure.
 
 

 

[Leviticus]

  Did someone say Utopia? 

 
 
Not my system. It's Jack Wu's pic. Wish it was my system though. I'm jelly for sure.
 
 

 
 
Colour-wise, that is a perfect match.

 

[onlychild]

Did someone say Utopia?   

Not my system. It's Jack Wu's pic. Wish it was my system though. I'm jelly for sure.

Which cable is that, DHC ME22 or ME19?

 

[LaCuffia]

Having the Z1R it makes sense for me to jump on this thread.  I am very intrigued by this amp given all the rave reviews by Z1R owners.  The only amps I have now are the Feliks Elise and O2.  The Elise is a tube amp and sounds quite nice with the Z1R but the TA seems to be the amp that would drive the Z1R to maximum potential.   My only concern is pricing and whether folks here believe $2,199 is a competitive price relative to the amps available on the market.  It seems though that the TA has additional features that justify the price tag.
 
Also, this might be impossible to answer at this point but do you think the TA would be powerful enough to drive, for example, an AKG K1000?   The reason I ask is that I might have the opportunity to get a K1000 but am hesitant because of its reputation for being ridiculously hard to drive.  Keep in mind I am a novice when it comes to amps and don't know anything about specs. 

 

[Whitigir]

Having the Z1R it makes sense for me to jump on this thread.  I am very intrigued by this amp given all the rave reviews by Z1R owners.  The only amps I have now are the Feliks Elise and O2.  The Elise is a tube amp and sounds quite nice with the Z1R but the TA seems to be the amp that would drive the Z1R to maximum potential.   My only concern is pricing and whether folks here believe $2,199 is a competitive price relative to the amps available on the market.  It seems though that the TA has additional features that justify the price tag.

Also, this might be impossible to answer at this point but do you think the TA would be powerful enough to drive, for example, an AKG K1000?   The reason I ask is that I might have the opportunity to get a K1000 but am hesitant because of its reputation for being ridiculously hard to drive.  Keep in mind I am a novice when it comes to amps and don't know anything about specs. 

The TA pricing is lower than it price/performances Ratio when compare to other setup

 

[LaCuffia]

I am seriously considering pulling the trigger on this amp next week...I have a feeling it will further unleash the sound beast that is the Z1R.    It also seems to be very versatile and may pair well with many headphones. 

 

[TSAVJason]

I am seriously considering pulling the trigger on this amp next week...I have a feeling it will further unleash the sound beast that is the Z1R.    It also seems to be very versatile and may pair well with many headphones. 

In fact your supposition is totally correct. We've tested the amp on pretty much every major headphone and in all cases the amp was definitely a significant performer

 

[Daroid]

Considering the purchase of an amp/DAC combination for my HD800s, and the ZH1ES just caught my eye. I'm quite impressed with what they have managed to achieve, but as I would want to connect the output of my phono pre-amp to the unbalanced line-in it is kind of counter-intuitive that it needs to be transferred to the digital domain and back to analogue. I suppose this is completely unavoidable, right?
Has anyone had the chance to compare it to the Violectric V281 and could shed some light on how they differ in sound signature?

 

[phonomat]

Considering the purchase of an amp/DAC combination for my HD800s, and the ZH1ES just caught my eye. I'm quite impressed with what they have managed to achieve, but as I would want to connect the output of my phono pre-amp to the unbalanced line-in it is kind of counter-intuitive that it needs to be transferred to the digital domain and back to analogue. I suppose this is completely unavoidable, right?
Has anyone had the chance to compare it to the Violectric V281 and could shed some light on how they differ in sound signature?

That is exactly what I would like to know as well.

 

[purk]

In fact your supposition is totally correct. We've tested the amp on pretty much every major headphone and in all cases the amp was definitely a significant performer

 
 

  Considering the purchase of an amp/DAC combination for my HD800s, and the ZH1ES just caught my eye. I'm quite impressed with what they have managed to achieve, but as I would want to connect the output of my phono pre-amp to the unbalanced line-in it is kind of counter-intuitive that it needs to be transferred to the digital domain and back to analogue. I suppose this is completely unavoidable, right?
Has anyone had the chance to compare it to the Violectric V281 and could shed some light on how they differ in sound signature?
 

Like Jason had stated above, the ZH1ES is quite an excellent performer.  Personally speaking, I think the ZH1ES can drive the HD800 better than Sennheiser' s very own HDVD-800.  The Violectric V281 is a great sounding amp but, IMO, is a little more colored with smaller sound field than the ZH1ES,  Al though, I didn't get to hear the two amps side by side but I believe that I'm more impressed by the ZH1ES sound so far.  It's sound signature really work well on wide range of different headphones including the HD800.  The build quality on the ZH1ES is also second to none.  I highly recommended it.  I bought mine from @TSAVJason about three weeks ago and I still can't get enough of it.

 

[Bikr]

How does the DAC of the ZH1ES stack up to an Yggy?

 

[MisterMoJo]

I am seriously considering pulling the trigger on this amp next week...I have a feeling it will further unleash the sound beast that is the Z1R.    It also seems to be very versatile and may pair well with many headphones. 

I would like to know if this amp is worth the price as well.

 

[TSAVJason]

I would like to know if this amp is worth the price as well.

That might depend on how you make use of the ES amp/DAC. If you own a 1Z or 1A DAP (not to push any buttons here) but ....some might say it's worth more when comparing to other other options. The DAC on its own is pretty sweet. The amp is so smooth and musical .......no doubt it's a great value. It is the darling of the Signarure Series Group no doubt! Really all of the series is great but the amp/DAC is a diamond at the price. I say these things not because I'm a dealer but as an enthusiast that is ecstatic about Sony's new Grand Slam! 4 threat pieces that excel in the relative ranges from moderate to TOTL. It's cool to see the company that really made personal/Portable audio happen come back again with great products.

Sorry, I digress a bit. It's a great amp/DAC it's worth the money and if you're really in the market let me know where you are and ill give you the name of your closest dealer so you can go check it out. If you want to pull the trigger on one PM me and I'll give you a list of stores that have stock for immediate shipping. You can decide which to purchase from,

 

[E3E]

Do you feel like owning one of the new ES series DAPs from Sony is necessary to get the most out of the TA-ZH1ES? I just imagined that they were great for the sake of high quality audio in a portable package, but I'm curious of opinions here. A good source should do just fine, right?