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.

 

[Vamp898]

I owned this device and noticed, that the frequency response varies greatly with the set volume.

Especially at lower volumes (-99db to -70db) it had audible and strongly rolled off bass.

Sadly i never measured it as i did not own anything which i could have used for measuring, but it was very audible completely sucking away all bass which ruined it for using with my IEM while work.

As i never experienced this with any other device, i thought it must be unique to the S-Master HX, but the Walkman also didn't had this issue either and also uses the S-Master HX...

Do you still happen to own it and are you able to verify it? If not, i can measure the effect in August when i have access to my TA-ZH1ES

 

[AnalogSteph]

Especially at lower volumes (-99db to -70db) it had audible and strongly rolled off bass.

Analog electronic (PGA) volume controls can have their quirks on the extreme low end of their range. Back in the day I noticed that an AOR AR7030+ sounded much better with an attenuator on the headphone output, too. I suspect that input impedance of these may actually be variable (at least for the second stage), which can cause issues if coupling capacitors are undersized. Treble response can also be an issue presumably due to parasitic capacitive coupling, as shown for a BD3491FS (e.g. Yamaha R-S202, though originally marketed more towards micro stereos and the like) here:

This part requires external coupling capacitors between two stages, so this is how a bass response issue at low volume may come about. If treble is elevated on top of that, it's pretty much a perfect storm.

 

[Vamp898]

Analog electronic (PGA) volume controls can have their quirks on the extreme low end of their range. Back in the day I noticed that an AOR AR7030+ sounded much better with an attenuator on the headphone output, too. I suspect that input impedance of these may actually be variable (at least for the second stage), which can cause issues if coupling capacitors are undersized. Treble response can also be an issue presumably due to parasitic capacitive coupling, as shown for a BD3491FS (e.g. Yamaha R-S202, though originally marketed more towards micro stereos and the like) here:
View attachment 375905
This part requires external coupling capacitors between two stages, so this is how a bass response issue at low volume may come about. If treble is elevated on top of that, it's pretty much a perfect storm.

Thank you very much for your explanation. This fits perfectly what i experienced with the TA-ZH1ES (but never with any other device), so it must be related to that.

As i am, while doing work, especially with my IEM, listening at very low volumes, the TA-ZH1ES was not usable for me in that case

 

[Fladuken]

The output power difference of the amp between balanced and unbalanced is quite different.

(From the Sony specs page)

• Balanced: 1200mW + 1200mW (32ohms 1kHz 1%)　Unbalanced: 300mW + 300mW (32ohms 1kHz 1%)

I have no issues powering my HD800s connected via balanced 4.4mm.

 

[Vamp898]

The output power difference of the amp between balanced and unbalanced is quite different.

(From the Sony specs page)

• Balanced: 1200mW + 1200mW (32ohms 1kHz 1%)　Unbalanced: 300mW + 300mW (32ohms 1kHz 1%)

I have no issues powering my HD800s connected via balanced 4.4mm.

To be fair, i have no issues powering the HD800S from my smartphone