Sony TA-ZH1ES: A DAC/Headphone Amp with a Sonic Signature?

[Sp12er]

You can buy a true 3.5mm to XLR cable and use the balanced out of the Sony to power an amp. That’s slightly better measuring than the unbalanced output.

Because the Sony adds a lot of harmonics, it may still sound great with monitors from Genelec/Neumann/Meyer Sound/JBL.

The dual mono 3.5mm?yeah maybe that's for the future. Interesting suggestion.

 

[srrxr71]

What’s the best way to DSP in some harmonics? Any plug ins in mind?

 

[GXAlan]

What’s the best way to DSP in some harmonics? Any plug ins in mind?

@pkane has PKHarmonicVST which is FREE and fully adjustable.

PKHarmonic VST Plugin - Audiophile Harmonics Generator | Distort documentation

PKHarmonic 1.0 is the initial release of this software. Use at your own risk!

distortaudio.org

Sony Music Center for the PC is FREE and uses Sony’s DSEE HX Standard algorithms. Its actually a really nice interface too!

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/MC4PC020001

 

[davidmthekidd]

@pkane has PKHarmonicVST which is FREE and fully adjustable.

PKHarmonic VST Plugin - Audiophile Harmonics Generator | Distort documentation

PKHarmonic 1.0 is the initial release of this software. Use at your own risk!

distortaudio.org

Sony Music Center for the PC is FREE and uses Sony’s DSEE HX Standard algorithms. Its actually a really nice interface too!

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/MC4PC020001

And really unstable and slow.

 

[GXAlan]

And really unstable and slow.

Music Center? Or PKHarmonic?

I have perfect stability with Music Center and it wasn’t slow for me. That said, moving the TA-ZH1ES gives you hardware DSEE which works with Foobar.

 

[chickenchange]

Better with DSD remastering on?

This has been my default headphone setup since its release. The Sabre stuff comes and goes but this stays. The sound is reminiscent of the NAD M51 which uses a similar system.

hi,
have you heard a TDA1541A DAC? if so, would you say M51 and TA-ZH1ES sound similar to it?

 

[Veri]

would you say M51 and TA-ZH1ES sound similar to it?

I'm not sure what "similar" is supposed to be, but if you are looking for Sony TDA " sound " , just try getting a device with these vintage chips.
I have one. It sounds a tad rolled off, but otherwise fine.