[WiseRooster]

Hey Guys! question, does the Taz require USB 2.0 or 3.0? I bought a Audioquest Cinamon cable for my taz, USB b - USB C, and its USB 2.0. I would like to know of that would be a problem, speed wise.

You have made the right choice
Enjoy

 

[The1Signature]

Hey Guys! question, does the Taz require USB 2.0 or 3.0? I bought a Audioquest Cinamon cable for my taz, USB b - USB C, and its USB 2.0. I would like to know of that would be a problem, speed wise.

no worries. we all have the same cable. you don't need the ultra fast speed of usb 3.0 for playing music and shifting files via the dap / transporter to the dac / amp.

 

[Vamp898]

Hey Guys! question, does the Taz require USB 2.0 or 3.0? I bought a Audioquest Cinamon cable for my taz, USB b - USB C, and its USB 2.0. I would like to know of that would be a problem, speed wise.

USB2 is totally fine

 

[VancityDreaming]

Hi guys. I think i have already asked this question before but didn't get an asnwer, so here we go again.
I'm thinking about purchasing GS-X Mini to hook it up to TA via RCA. What do you think? Worth it?

I think @Whitigir connects his to a tube amp. Depends on what headphones you have I guess would be the real answer

 

[Nicolas Yance]

I think @Whitigir connects his to a tube amp. Depends on what headphones you have I guess would be the real answer

Me too, I only use my TA as a dac.

 

[davidmthekidd]

Me too, I only use my TA as a dac.

Is the dac in Taz that good? As opposed to other stand alone options.

 

[Nicolas Yance]

Is the dac in Taz that good? As opposed to other stand alone options.

I can't answer that, the only other dac I've listened to is a Magni 2 Uber. I was thinking of getting a Lampizator dac to have a fully tube system.

 

[The1Signature]

Is the dac in Taz that good? As opposed to other stand alone options.

i asked myself the same question. what more experienced people will tell you that sony gives its own signature in the d-a process.

however, technically speaking, having a solo dac like the pontus ii or a burson composer should do a "better / cleaner job" as far as my colleagues who own the pontus / buson as well as the taz.

 

[endless402]

Is the dac in Taz that good? As opposed to other stand alone options.

It’s more about synergy with your headphones. It’s not as detailed and fast as my Hugo 2, but it has a warmer mid and slightly more bass slam.
But when you pair the zh1es with z1r, the musical engagement is off the charts!

 

[Whitigir]

Is the dac in Taz that good? As opposed to other stand alone options.

TA is amazingly engineered, especially for S-Master HX as a DAC. There is no other better S-Master HX at the moments. The TA has a lot of potentials for upgrades and so on . On my upgraded TA, it can easily be on the DAVE level if not better. But that is just my opinions alone

 

[Vamp898]

TA is amazingly engineered, especially for S-Master HX as a DAC. There is no other better S-Master HX at the moments. The TA has a lot of potentials for upgrades and so on . On my upgraded TA, it can easily be on the DAVE level if not better. But that is just my opinions alone

In my experience, the stock TA-ZH1ES is already at that level but I'm not a big fan of the Dave so that's taken with a grain of salt

 

[The1Signature]

This is an extremely complicated topic and most vendors don't tell you much.

The by far biggest influence on the sound is by the capacitors.

But good luck trying to find out what capacitors in what constellation are used by which vendors. Sony for example develops its own capacitors, they are proprietary and they don't provide any information about them.

Panasonic who is selling their capacitors to a lot of customers is luckily providing Information and as far as i know, even though they have been developed by Sony, their FTCAP are manufactured by panasonic. They are based on Panasonics OS-CON.

The main thing is that impedance is not linear. Headphones that say 64Ω @ 1kHz do have exactly that, 64Ω at 1kHz., But they have a completely different impedance at higher and lower frequencies.

Its the same with capacitors. That is what is called ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance). The Resistance is not flat.

And this is key. Because I is U / R.

If you have the same volume, you have the same U, all the time. That means if R changes, I changes.

That is why i say, output power is not from relevance. If you listen at the same volume, you have the same U. The only way to influence the sound is by the capacitors and their ESR

But also the ESR of the capacitor changes depending on how much it is charged, how old it is, its temperature and so on.

So there is no easy/simple answer. Capacitors that run at 14°C do have an different ESR than capacitors than when they have 50°C or 70°C. So if they heat up over time (what big capacitors do) the sound changes. That is why there is a big discussion about "Do you leave your gear on"

The WM1Z for example uses an 500mF capacitor as power source for 250mW. The FiiO M17 uses an 470mF capacitor as power source for 3000mW.

The Capacitors of the WM1Z can output more power than the capacitors inside the M17. The S-Master HX only has 250mW, but has consistent performance in the whole range.

The M17 will sound different when you push it to its limit because the capacitors will run at their limit and so the ESR changes.

And if you chnage R, you change I and so you change the Sound.

But this is just one of many aspects and already heavily simplified.

But it is a fact that if you tell someone an Amp does have 100mW (even though it has 3000mW) they will suddenly start to tell, that their headphones aren't driven good enough.

Some people say the DMP-Z1 drives Headphones better because it has 1500mW

But the DMP-Z1 1500mW are @ 16Ω while the TA-ZH1ES 1300mW are at 32Ω

So the DMP-Z1 does have roughly the half of the power of the TA-ZH1ES. But because the number on the paper is bigger, people will start to hear how it drives their headphones better.

That is why an blind A/B is the only thing that matters.

Sony is putting gigantic and totally oversized capacitors into their deivces. So the only thing you have to worry about is the volume.

Most Chinese companies only use the capacitors that are needed for the power output without headroom.

That is why a lot of people think you need headroom. With Chifi, you actually do. With the TA-ZH1ES, you dont. If you have to go to -3db until its load enough, why not? Just do it. The capacitors have more than enough power to back that.

Capacitors have the biggest influence to the sound in an amp and are the key aspect if it can drive your headphones well.

More Informations here: https://eu.industrial.panasonic.com/sites/default/pidseu/files/downloads/files/id_oscon1309_e.pdf

On Page 27 you can see the characteristcs depending on the frequency, temperature and so on

thank you so much. i saved this post in my evernote.

but i have to admit: although i love music, i do lack the technical knowledge you have. i would like to go deeper into this topic to understand each component and its interlinkages. but i do not know where to start to get structured knowledge about it.

 

[Vamp898]

thank you so much. i saved this post in my evernote.

but i have to admit: although i love music, i do lack the technical knowledge you have. i would like to go deeper into this topic to understand each component and its interlinkages. but i do not know where to start to get structured knowledge about it.

My knowledge is only scratching the surface.

My recommendation: you have the best already. Enjoy it and invest your time into finding new music you'll love. Maybe get an BluRay Player, some nice live BluRay and/or DVD and enjoy them with the MDR-Z1R

It's not going to get any better anytime soon. So it's not worth caring that much. That is the boring answer most people don't like, but it's an honest one. Never forget to enjoy and appreciate what you already have.

Most people would die for your setup, it's something they can only dream off.

 

[tradyblix]

Is the dac in Taz that good? As opposed to other stand alone options.

Yeah, I think that it is. If you have heard a lot of high end Sony audio devices, like the DAPs they have, it's a bit better than most of those that I've heard but similar. People have said it's a Sony house sound, but I think it's a bit more refined than usual.

It is a little bit for me on the laid back and warm side tho, compared to something colder like Chord. I think the Chord Hugo 2 is the best dac I've ever heard, so I'm pretty much a fan of theirs and prefer to use the Hugo 2 as my dac and pipe the analog out of it into the Tazzy and then use the Tazzy's superior amp circuitry to amplify it.

I resisted doing it for a long time because I didn't like the idea of re-digitizing an analog input since it doesn't seem like a good idea and or the cleanest way, but my ears don't lie. It definitely sounds the best compared to using the Tazzy's dac or the Hugo2's amp. So I trust my ears. It warms up the Hugo2 a lot and sometimes I like the Hugo2 alone, but it's amp circuitry, while quite powerful for a portable, isn't like how the Tazzy makes things sound. It's a good combo.

Also it's pretty weird in that most amps don't do what this amp does, in fact maybe no other amp does it, not sure. It's a cool feature of the TA, although the display of DSD 11.2 Mhz -> DSD 11.2Mhz is kind of puzzling when I do this, since the input is analog, but I guess when they engineered it they didn't have a way to say the input is analog so they just repeated the DSD ? I'm not sure on that, but it's not the question you asked. Also technically the max input is 2vrms and the Hugo2 outputs 3vrms in line out mode but it doesn't seem to be a problem.

I feel like the Hugo2's dac in comparison has better pace rhythm and timing and has something special going on. Anyone that has used Chord knows what's up there.
But the Tazzy's DAC is no slouch and some might even prefer it as it's a lot more chill and relaxed vs analytical. There's no edgy pain points like with some delta-sigma dacs. It's good with headphones that skew bright, like the Focal Utopia and the HD800, and to a lesser extent the Arya Stealth Magnets version. So yeah. that's my 2 cents based on my experiences.

As far as other recent dacs I use, It's better than the Dac in the A105, it's better than the DAC in the PHA3, it's better than the apple dongle, and it's better than everything else I've heard thats portable and wireless like the Sony WF-1000XM4. And it's better than other cheap dacs like the ifi stuff I've heard, sabre based dacs like the dragonflies, etc. But there are lot of expensive and boutique Dacs on the market and I haven't heard most of them, things like Holo Audio May and Spring 3 and Burson Conductor and all kinds of other stuff in the 1 to 2000 price range+, so those might be better, not sure.

 

[The1Signature]

My knowledge is only scratching the surface.

My recommendation: you have the best already. Enjoy it and invest your time into finding new music you'll love. Maybe get an BluRay Player, some nice live BluRay and/or DVD and enjoy them with the MDR-Z1R

It's not going to get any better anytime soon. So it's not worth caring that much. That is the boring answer most people don't like, but it's an honest one. Never forget to enjoy and appreciate what you already have.

Most people would die for your setup, it's something they can only dream off.

i absolutely agree with your points.

however, it is just out of curiosity that i would like to understand the function and interrelation of the parts of a dap in a more structured way.