[Kiats]

TA-ZH1ES have been officially discontinued in Japan. It is now listed under the "Past" products on the Sony Website.

https://www.sony.jp/audio/lineup/past.html

And is no longer sold at no retailer.

Yeah... that sounds about right. I suspect I bought one of the last in the wild in Asia... A good friend of mine ordered his from Sony and then they had to refund cos they just could not find stock.

Excuse me while I go and I show the TAZ some TLC.

 

[Vamp898]

Yeah... that sounds about right. I suspect I bought one of the last in the wild in Asia... A good friend of mine ordered his from Sony and then they had to refund cos they just could not find stock.

Excuse me while I go and I show the TAZ some TLC.

But here is the thing.

It went out of stock very abrupt, like over nigh... that is usually not a good thing with Sony.

Normally they release, announce or at leaste tease an successor.

The experience of the last 10 year has shown that, if Sony discontinues an product, without at least announcing an succesor, means there will be none.

The Japanese Homepage now just shows, that Sony doesn't offer Headhpone Amps. The whole section is gone.

I hope im wrong though, but i am still waiting for an successor to the STR-DN1080 for like 3 years since it has been discontinued, my hopes are slowly going.

Also therei is no successor to the TA-A1ES. So Sony offers neither an Headhpone Amp, nor an Speaker Amp right now.

Maybe Sony considers the new Walkman good enough to replace the TA-ZH1ES and sees no need to prodcuing it any further with the competing offers on the market.

 

[gLer]

TA-ZH1ES have been officially discontinued in Japan. It is now listed under the "Past" products on the Sony Website.

https://www.sony.jp/audio/lineup/past.html

And is no longer sold at no retailer.

But here is the thing.

It went out of stock very abrupt, like over nigh... that is usually not a good thing with Sony.

Normally they release, announce or at leaste tease an successor.

The experience of the last 10 year has shown that, if Sony discontinues an product, without at least announcing an succesor, means there will be none.

The Japanese Homepage now just shows, that Sony doesn't offer Headhpone Amps. The whole section is gone.

I hope im wrong though, but i am still waiting for an successor to the STR-DN1080 for like 3 years since it has been discontinued, my hopes are slowly going.

Also therei is no successor to the TA-A1ES. So Sony offers neither an Headhpone Amp, nor an Speaker Amp right now.

Maybe Sony considers the new Walkman good enough to replace the TA-ZH1ES and sees no need to prodcuing it any further with the competing offers on the market.

Interesting, makes me feel very fortunate to have a Taz. Could also mean the desktop market in Japan is shrinking, or Sony sees no value in desktop products in Japan. They really mainly cater to the Japanese market nowadays, and there's likely too much cheap competition from China for a $2000-level desktop device.

 

[Vamp898]

Interesting, makes me feel very fortunate to have a Taz. Could also mean the desktop market in Japan is shrinking, or Sony sees no value in desktop products in Japan. They really mainly cater to the Japanese market nowadays, and there's likely too much cheap competition from China for a $2000-level desktop device.

Yes, in my experience, the Desktop Market is pretty much not existing in Japan. Everyone is about portable devices because you can carry them with you and listen anywhere.

It is not just Sony, a lot of other big and namefull brands stopped developing their Headphone Amps except for the most expensive/largest version.

LUXMAN also stopped pretty much all of its products and most Japanese don't care about Over Ear Headphones anyway.

The only reason to get an desktop amp, for the most japanese i've met so far, was the higher sound quality. But with the current portable offerings, the only differnce is the power output.

Most Desktop Amp these days are insane. Some of the options on the Market can blow the Hifiman Susvara on Low-Gain. Some people even plug the Susvara into 20W Speaker Amps, one slip on the volume dial and these things just burst into flames... i don't understand people these days. Maybe im getting to old. Some of the Headphone Amps can even drive Bookshelf Speakers.

Anyway^^ i think since the release of the WM1ZM2, the advantage in sound quality (at least what i've read in reviews) of desktop amps is pretty much gone.

So with power beeing the main reason to buy these, and nobody needs their power, they are pretty much doomed to day.

We even have portable players these days with 2.5x the output power of the TA-ZH1ES

 

[Kiats]

Interesting, makes me feel very fortunate to have a Taz. Could also mean the desktop market in Japan is shrinking, or Sony sees no value in desktop products in Japan. They really mainly cater to the Japanese market nowadays, and there's likely too much cheap competition from China for a $2000-level desktop device.

Yeah… have to agree. The myriad of desktop amps from the mainland at low prices are shocking.

 

[kefs]

TA-ZH1ES have been officially discontinued in Japan. It is now listed under the "Past" products on the Sony Website.

https://www.sony.jp/audio/lineup/past.html

And is no longer sold at no retailer.

Lets face it, in this market, how many products sell unchanged for over 6 years, quite a feat really

 

[Vamp898]

Yeah… have to agree. The myriad of desktop amps from the mainland at low prices are shocking.

Most of these are not sold in Japan though. Even though Japan is the biggest Market, for whatever reason, the only one so far that really got into this market was FiiO with their K9 Pro.

 

[mang72]

Yeah… have to agree. The myriad of desktop amps from the mainland at low prices are shocking.

I am pretty late to theTAZ party but also feel very fortunate to have one and enjoy using it. Even tho I have the 1AM2 walkman I still nearly always go to the TAZ for an at home session. I enjoy both products very much.

 

[camera]

I hope that the successor of TAZ will be exhibited in the coming IFA (Sep 2 to Sep 6).

 

[Gamerlingual]

I hope that the successor of TAZ will be exhibited in the coming IFA (Sep 2 to Sep 6).

The DMP could be a considered a current headphone amp. I expect that they’ll have one here in the future. There many kinds of pricey headphones I’ve seen at yodobashi camera and E-Earphone. There’s still a big demand for headphone amps of any size. So never say never with Sony

 

[Kiats]

I am pretty late to theTAZ party but also feel very fortunate to have one and enjoy using it. Even tho I have the 1AM2 walkman I still nearly always go to the TAZ for an at home session. I enjoy both products very much.

As do I. Heck! I even enjoy the TAZ as a DAC for my KGSSHV Carbon amp for my Stax earspeakers, especially the 009/009S. And the TAZ is gorgeous for the HD800S/HD800 and Utopia.

 

[iFi audio]

3. iFi Zen Stream into the USB DAC input

If I may ask, how was our ZEN Stream in your setup? Any good ?

 

[Vamp898]

I still have high hopes for the GaN S-Master HX from the SA-Z1 which no longer needs the analog amp.

So I'm the list person who does not want an successor to the TA-ZH1ES, it's, imho, the best Sound you can get

 

[Vamp898]

I hope that the successor of TAZ will be exhibited in the coming IFA (Sep 2 to Sep 6).

I've read that Sony is not attending the IFA due to COVID19

 

[iFi audio]

GaN S-Master HX

Do you by any chance know what the acronym GaN stands for? No too much info about the device itself from what I can see. Any help is appreciated!