[tradyblix]

I am sure the Hugo 2 is also awesome, although I have not heard it. It's also using an FPGA approach, and Chord is highly regarded, so it's totally worth looking at if you're in the market.
 
For me personally, I just think the Chord stuff is a little bizarre in terms of it's industrial design. I'm not a fan. And not labelling your outputs is criminal (Dave..looking at you) 

 
 
I got some real sparkle out of the Grado RS1i's last night with this thing. I hadn't used those in forever but they're fantastic for older rock / jazz / vocal tracks. Forgot how good their mid/treble can get. 

 

[tradyblix]

As far as DSD - I am by no means an expert. It was originally developed for use with Super Audio CD. That format is definitely dead. I think it was used in DVD Audio as well... Also dead. 
 
Sony has a long history of hanging on to their proprietary formats for a long time. anyone remember ATRAC, developed for the minidisc? And there were 3 versions of it. That predated MP3s. Also, Betamax comes to mind. 
 
Like others have expressed at the end of the day, all I really care about is sound quality. I don't care how I achieve it.
 
I bought this amp mainly because I have headphones I enjoy that use and need a balanced connection in the dual 3.5 format. This amp is compatible with that. It's also compatible with 4 pin XLR and a new 4.4mm TRRS standard for balanced, which is pretty neat. 
 
I had a good experience with the PHA-3 and sound quality and I loved the industrial design of this thing. I've wanted it ever since it was announced and I decided I owed it to myself to get a high quality desktop amp that was solid state, to replace the PHA-3 which, let's face it, won't last forever since it has a battery and is pretty small. I wanted some insurance for home listening and wanted to treat myself. I could have gotten a Chord Hugo - the Hugo 2 is too new to consider. But I liked this and the output options better. 
 
So as far as whether you need to do this kind of up sampling, well that is up for debate. if you have a great amp and it produces great sound quality, you don't need to. This just goes about it a different way. I just trust my ears. I noticed that up sampling makes a difference on the PHA-3 as well... 192khz sounded better than the identical rate.
 
I know you cannot create new data. But it makes a difference... it sounds better. At least if you have a clean signal path like the one Core Audio on the Mac provides. Dunno about direct/integer/ASIO modes on Windows, that's a different story and the results might not be the same.
 
At the end of the day - find a place that will let you demo and demo it yourself, only way to be sure you want something IMO. 

 

[Daroid]

  U could always look into other dac-amp combos such as: RME-Adi2 pro, Grace designs m920, COS Engineering H2, Benchmark Media DAC3 HGC, Antelope Audio Zodiac, Lynx Studio Hilo, Audio-GD master 11/NOS11, Ifi audio PRO IDSD, Goldmund HDA, Questyle CMA800i/600i etc...  Just to provide a few alternatives u might or might not yet know.

That's a nice list, and might come in handy if I don't like the ZH1ES and want to return it.
For me, a remote is crucial along with compactness (no 19" for me), and prior to the ZH1ES, I was considering the Violectric V281, Audio-GD NFB28 and Oppo HA-1.
 
Some of the suggestions like the Zodiac and HDA are definitely out of the price bracket of the TA-ZH1ES by far. Interestingly, the German AUDIO magazine rated the Questyle CMA800i one point less than the ZH1ES, so according to them, it should be in the same family, sound wise.

 

[fa02]

   
It sounded better with upsampling indeed.
Also a bit underpowered if you ask me.

 
Can you please explain what do you mean with underpowered ?

 

[balleklorin]

  As far as DSD - I am by no means an expert. It was originally developed for use with Super Audio CD. That format is definitely dead. I think it was used in DVD Audio as well... Also dead. 
 

 
SACD and DSD isn't dead. Comes out quite a lot of SACDs on labels like MFSL and Audio Fidelity plus a lot of classical music. It wasn't used on DVD-Audio, that file format is MPL. HDtracks have released many albums on DSD lately.

 

[Bren Arden]

I read a great review of the COS engineering H1 at sixmoons, he compares it to a Goldmund HDA signature and qualitywise iirc. Just because of the 1sec buffer i think it wont work out for films/gaming.

 

[tradyblix]

  I read a great review of the COS engineering H1 at sixmoons, he compares it to a Goldmund HDA signature and qualitywise iirc. Just because of the 1sec buffer i think it wont work out for films/gaming.

 
This is not a gaming device. I mean what gamer needs a 2,000 dollar audiophile quality device ? Footsteps in DSD12 Mhz ? LOL 

 
For movies, better players usually allow sync offsets. 
 
Since we're on the topic I noticed: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/goldmund2/1.html talks about upsampling. Pretty common ! 
 

   
SACD and DSD isn't dead. Comes out quite a lot of SACDs on labels like MFSL and Audio Fidelity plus a lot of classical music. It was't used on DVD-Audio, that file format is MPL. HDtracks have released many albums on DSD lately.
 

 
I stand corrected. Physical media to me, is dead. I realize some may still use CDs, and for those SACD is a good option I guess. I certainly cant' get any of the music I listen to in that format. So it's cool that I can upscale PCM using this amp to it. I do have a couple of classical albums I like as DSD / DXD files, that's as close as I come. Well... not anymore I guess

 It's all DSD from now on 

 

 

[AppleheadMay]

   
Can you please explain what do you mean with underpowered ?

 
Being able to go easily between -10 and -20 on a scale of -100 to 0 with easy to drive phones. I read some other users reporting that in this thread too.
 
Connection was straight via USB to a Mac with different software players all with volume control disabled. The same setup connected to other dac/amps I own and owned usually is really loud when nearing 50% of the volume control.

 

[tradyblix]

   
Being able to go easily between -10 and -20 on a scale of -100 to 0 with easy to drive phones. I read some other users reporting that in this thread too.
 
Connection was straight via USB to a Mac with different software players all with volume control disabled. The same setup connected to other dac/amps I own and owned usually is really loud when nearing 50% of the volume control.

 
 
Most of my headphones I can sit between -15.0db and -1 db and it is plenty loud for me on high gain. Especially on balanced where you are getting 1.2 w to each channel. But there's not a ton of additional headroom like say you might find on a tube amp. I could see how some might want it louder. 

 

[fa02]

   
Being able to go easily between -10 and -20 on a scale of -100 to 0 with easy to drive phones. I read some other users reporting that in this thread too.
 
Connection was straight via USB to a Mac with different software players all with volume control disabled. The same setup connected to other dac/amps I own and owned usually is really loud when nearing 50% of the volume control.

Thank you for your answer. I ask this, while it seems that the Audeze LCD2 pre fazor match very well with the amp and the LCD2 is notoriously difficult to drive,

 

[Daroid]

   
 
Most of my headphones I can sit between -15.0db and -1 db and it is plenty loud for me on high gain. Especially on balanced where you are getting 1.2 w to each channel. But there's not a ton of additional headroom like say you might find on a tube amp. I could see how some might want it louder. 

 
What is you normal listening level with HD800 and would the ZH1ES still have headroom to allow it to get uncomfortably loud you think?

 

[TSAVJason]

What is you normal listening level with HD800 and would the ZH1ES still have headroom to allow it to get uncomfortably loud you think?

Absolutely without a doubt

 

[WNBC]

Going to try my HD800S with the TA-Z tonight.  I've been hearing a lot of praise for the combo. 
 
Out of curiosity, do people hear big changes with any of the settings?  Granted I only got to hear several tracks last night, but quick toggling didn't yield anything I could easily pick up.  Mostly 16/44 and 24/96 FLAC, jazz trios.  Maybe the settings are more apparent with some tracks and genres over others.
 
Amarra > iFi iUSB3.0 > TA-Z > Z1R

 

[TSAVJason]

Going to try my HD800S with the TA-Z tonight.  I've been hearing a lot of praise for the combo. 

Out of curiosity, do people hear big changes with any of the settings?  Granted I only got to hear several tracks last night, but quick toggling didn't yield anything I could easily pick up.  Mostly 16/44 and 24/96 FLAC, jazz trios.  Maybe the settings are more apparent with some tracks and genres over others.

Amarra > iFi iUSB3.0 > TA-Z > Z1R

I think you'll like the support the ES amplifier gives the 800. Of course the source is important.

 

[purk]

What is you normal listening level with HD800 and would the ZH1ES still have headroom to allow it to get uncomfortably loud you think?

Plenty loud and plenty of sound. You will have to use a high gain setting however.