Replace HDD in Sony HAP Z1ES with an SSD

ott, I am intrigued by your mention of having had the Modwright upgrades done on you HAP Z1. Have you done a write up on your experience anywhere? If not, do you have time to reflect on what you think of the affect of the upgrade on the audio quality?

I'm self employed, so my boss is a jerk. He sends me to places like Crudistan on short notice for weeks at a time. Never anywhere like the South of France or Ibiza.

I can tell you that my tastes in music are rather narrow, so my experience is to be taken with a grain of salt.

I think the Modwright upgrade greatly improved the dynamic contrast of music and enhances my experience of large ensemble music; inner detail seems to have exactly the right heft and music like the Poulenc Harpsichord Concerto have astonishing depth. Roxana Panufnik's "A Violin For All Seasons" is breathtaking. I play violin (badly). The timbre and pitch are  very close to the real thing. Subtle arpeggios are clear and distinct. If you listen to complex music, the HAP mod will be a revelation.
If you have specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them. 

I, too, play violin (badly) and am wondering about the BIG expense of modding the HAP Z1 (just purchasing one now). I want to expand internal storage to 2TB with an SSD, but am wondering if it really sounds $3000 better when getting the 'serious guts' modded?  I listen to classical and orchestral and some jazz.  With eyes closed/blind test, is the difference really 'night and day' between the unmodded and the modded player?

I've been able to do A/B comparisons with an Aurender N100h (similar in price to the HAPZ1 + mod) and a Melco. The Melco came close, but lacked the last measure of bass articulation and heft. The Aurender has superb timbral accuracy, but blurs a bit in complex passages or highly arpeggiated music, such as Wuorinen Bearbreiten.

You're probably aware of Presto Music, but they have an excellent selection of Hi-def flac downloads at reasonable prices.

Get the Mod and be as happy as you deserve! 

I bought a 2.5" Samsung EVO 960 SATA hard drive (the size of the hard drive in the machine) and am flummoxed how to even REMOVE the old drive and replace it with the new.  So many screws, difficult to figure out how to physically get the old drive out.  ANY HELP SO MUCH APPRECIATED--especially if it has PICTURES showing which screws to remove, etc.