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Resonessence Mirrus vs Sony HAPZ-1ES

Both of these units would allow me to eliminate a computer in my living room. I just heard both at The Show 2014 in Newport.

The Sony was played in many rooms with top notch gear and speakers. So that was a good endorsement for the Sony. I think the convenience factor of the Sony also played a role in why it was used in many rooms. All the systems sounded very good. I spent close to an hour in the Sony room listening to their top of the line speakers with he HAPZ. I could not get the demo person to turn off the DSD up-sampling. So the up-sampling must have been considered the way to go.

The Resonessence Mirrus DAC was played directly to a new 108 watt class A Resonessence stereo amp that has not been released yet. The DAC has a digital volume control that is supposed to be very good. The speakers that were used were 15 year old B&W, purchased by Resonessence from eBay for $400. I was quite blown away by how good the sound was and the fact that they did not purposely use top notch speakers. I was thinking wow what would this system sound like with some top notch speakers. The SD-Card feature of the Mirrus is maybe a better solution than the fan based eSata hard drive of the Sony. The theoretical limit of the cards the Mirrus supports is 2 tera-bytes. I think today you can buy 256 giga-byte cards.

I cannot directly compare the Sony and Mirrus since I have not heard them in the same system, but if I had to bet money, I would place it on the Mirrus based on my cursor listen. Has anybody compared the 2 DAC's in their systems? If so, I would appreciate any feedback.

If I go with something like the Mirrus I can eliminate by very good pre-amp and go directly to my amps. Has anybody with a Mirrus done this? Did you prefer it direct vs a analog pre-amp?

The Sony is very good sounding unit, 50%+ cheaper, extremely convenient, and I would keep my pre-amp. Which I am happy with (BAT VK-42SE).
yyzsantabarbara

Showing 4 responses by brownsfan

brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
No experience with the Resonessence. I bought the HAPZ1 in early April, burned it in for 3 weeks and it is now undergoing the ModWright upgrade. In my opinion, the stock HAPZ1 was very good, and yes, the DSD up-sampling stayed on all the time.
Dan Wright says the ModWright package takes the HAPZ1 to a reference level piece. He also mentioned that it would be technically feasible to add a volume control, if you really wanted to go direct to your amps.
I haven't seen any reviews on the Modwright HAPZ1 yet. I'm guessing that may be a ways off, since the caps and transformers take 400 hours to really burn in.
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
calvinj, Sorry for the slow response, I didn't see this post.

My ModWright HAPZ1 is doing fine. Over the last couple months, I have added an Audio Magic Illusion umbilical, which in my opinion is a must have for the ModWright Sony. Going from the ModWright truth umbilical to the AM Illusion umbilical was a very substantial improvement. As substantial as the ModWright modification over the stock Sony (and for a lot less money). Also, I picked up a pair of NOS Telefunken 6922 output tubes from Upscale audio. They are as good as Upscale claims.

I have about 1000 albums loaded to the hard drive now. One of the things I find surprising is how good some music sounds that was ripped from awful sounding CDs. Almost everything sounds really good through the HAPZ1, and there is a lot that is just ravishingly beautiful.

I love the convenience. While my CD collection is well organized, you just can't beat the convenience of having it all right there on my tablet.

No regrets. This has been a great way to go for me.
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
KNGhifi, I haven't tried playing the internet radio while downloading, but it should be no problem. I frequently playback from the hard drive while downloading.
I also want to pick up a pair of the Siemens. I have heard great things about them. I do not find the Telefunkens dry at all. I have found them to be very sweet.
Are you using a PS 9.0 or a 9.9? I wasn't aware that 5u4s could be used in the 9.0. I have settled on new production cryo'ed Gold Lion 5AR4s in the PS 9.0. I like it better than JJs (which weren't bad), Create Synergy, and NOS Mullards. If it is OK to use the 5U4Gs in the 9.0, I have some NOS GEs I would like to try.
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
Knghifi, I have not tried any aftermarket fuses with the HAPZ1 yet. I did put an Audio Magic Liquid Air in the PS 9.0 power supply. By the way, I have found the power supply to be very sensitive to power cord selection. I use a VH Audio AirSine with mine.
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