Sony HAP-Z1ES or NAD M51?

Gfcf, I have owned the HAPZ1 since april. The DSD remastering engine works very well. I have 900 plus albums transferred to the machine. One can turn on and off the DSD engine, and to my ears, conversion to DSD results in a noticeable improvement over flac, ALAC, AIFF, and wav files played back without conversion pretty much across the board. I can't compare the HAPZ1 to other similar devices.

Bill K is correct. The HAPZ1 was not intended to fulfill the function of a DAC. It is my understanding from Dan Wright and others that the HAPZ1 design precludes digital in, unless one is willing to accept a significant sonic compromise.

However, a digital volume control certainly could have been added. That might have been a nice feature for those who are building single source systems around the HAPZ1.

Davehg, I found that transferring wav files to the HAPZ1 was problematic to say the least. On the other hand, AIFF, flac, ALAC etc. transferred flawlessly. I found in a few cases the wave files sounded best, but this was 2 albums of many. Most of the time, I could hear no difference between wav and AIFF.

The ability to convert redbook on the fly to dsd is huge. In a few cases, especially with older recordings, the HAPZ1 renders music that was unlistenable through my very good ModWright Sony 5400 player as very satisfying recordings.

There are a number of people who rightly have been put off by the Vtuner not working since Sept 6. If that is not an issue for you, this really is an attractive option at the price. If you can borrow one, by all means, that is the way to go.