Mitch, the front panel remains stock. The top has a standard mod wright plate where the tubes stick out (by no more than 2 or 3 mm). Very little visible change really. |
Knghfi, sorry I missed your questions. I am still using the stock fuse. The vtuner issue has been resolved. I'm using early 60's Telefunkens. They are great tubes. |
Mitch, The ModWright mod requires use of an external PS 9.0 or PS 9.9 power supply. I am using the PS 9.0, which Dan prefers with the HAPZ1. I also have a PS 9.9 here, which I will use with my ModWright 5400. |
Jafant, I also am eager to get this done. I must say, I haven't really heard any significant change in audio quality after the first 10 hours or so, but I would like to get a few more hours on the HAPZ1 before getting serious about an a/b with the 5400. Also, I'm going to need to settle more or less once and for all on a file type for the comparison. |
Lowrider, I am going to call for the ModWright upgrade at the end of april, when the introductory price discount expires. I'm in no hurry. I want to spend some time with this getting it burned in and assessing the pre-mod sound quality.
I was going to go the Mac mini route also, but in my opinion, the learning curve for me would be substantially higher trying to build a system based on a Mac mini. This thing is really very easy to get up and running, all things considered. |
Day 4 No issues. Found I like the DSEE function with internet radio. Really just enjoyed use of and listening to the HAPZ1
I loaded some more music onto the hard drive. I also evaluated the DSEE function with the internet radio. This function is intended to restore a more natural sound to compressed files. I found it added a bit more body to the internet radio.
I don't really like the inflexibility of the file organization system, but I haven't brought a tablet into play yet. I downloaded a free flac file of the adagio from Tacacs Brahms quintet that was recently released. It is a 24 bit 96K file. Had no trouble instructing the HAPZ1 music transfer program to look in my downloads for flac files. Download from Hyperion to my computer and from my computer to the Sony was very easy. I will give this track a listen later, but I don't have the original to compare. Bottom line is that I am really happy with purchase of the HAPZ1. |
Burn in continues. I have about 45 hours in so far. No huge changes since the post at 20 hours. The matched pair of 6CG7 (NOS RCA clear tops) tubes came Friday. I find these tubes to be a bit more to my liking than the new production EH 6922s. Strings are sweetened and brass instruments certainly have improved due to more sophisticated upper harmonics. If there is any decrease in resolution, its not yet apparent to me. I still am not quite getting the to die for upper harmonics on woodwinds I get with my ModWright 5400, but there is still time for some improvement there with more burn in.
I guess I've got the transfers protocol down now. No problems whatsoever with the approach I described previously. |
Day 5 Preliminary, totally non-scientific evaluation of file types and quick
A/B with Sony ModWright 5400.
I began with listening to the free download from Hyperion of the recent
Takacs quartet recording of the adagio from the Brahms G major quintet.
This is a 24 bit 96K flac file. I don’t own the recording (yet) but I was
interested in giving it a listen, thinking it might provide an interesting
comparison to the fairly recent Takacs recordings of Schubert and Haydn
quartets, which I do own in redbook CD. I heard the Takacs perform the
Bartok 2nd, 4th, and 6th quartets last Wednesday night, so there is a recent
live reference of the ensemble in memory. I transferred the Schubert Death
and the Maiden In ALAC and the Haydn Op 74 quartets in wav. I know, I
know, this is a completely bogus comparison, but at least it is the same
ensemble on the same label, so take this for what it is worth, which isn’t
much. In terms of sound quality, I preferred the WAV with the DSEE turned on
to ALAC and flac. Tomorrow, I’m going to see if I can transfer wav and ALAC
files of the same recording and do a more legitimate A/B on those 2 file types.
iTunes doesn’t give me the flac option, so that might end up being another
little project figuring out how to get a flac copy. Also tomorrow, I’m going to
try some A/Bs on file types with some Mahler 3.
What has more value, I think, was the A/B of the Haydn quartets using the
Haydn wav file on the HAPZ1 with the redbook CD played back through the
ModWright Sony 5400. What is immediately obvious is that the output of the
HAPZ1 is lower than the 5400. I had to turn the preamp volume knob down
2-3 steps to approximately match volume from the 2 players. At a high
level, I would say the 5400 had a bit more full bodied sound, and a bit more
oomph on low cello strings. But I thought the HAPZ1 was really more faithful
to Andras Fejer’s cello. There were a few instances where the low strings were
a bit muddled with the 5400, where they were not with the HAPZ1. There was
also maybe just a bit more sweetness in the violins with the HAPZ1. I don’t
think one can make a valid choice between the two based on one recording,
but the fact that the stock HAPZ1 can do this well, with less than 25 hours
burn in, is more than I expected. |
Lowrider, exactly. While I am not done with my comparison yet, I think it is safe to say the stock HAPZ1 is very good. Having detailed notes on particular pieces of music and having the MW Sony to use as the control for a comparison of the MW HAPZ1 should provide a very good measure of the order of magnitude of the improvement provided by the modification.
I am on the waiting list for the modification. I will ship my HAPZ1 out on May 15th, with the mod scheduled for after the Munich show. By then Dan will have had time to evaluate the Bybee rails. |
ERM, ditto on the downloads. However, have you figured out how to merge albums yet? I would like to have all my Mahler multi disc symphonies show up as one album. I didn't work hard on this, but it was not immediately apparent how to make this work. |
ERM, any differences in sonic quality between the 2 drives? What kind of usb cable are you using? |
Day 6. Limited listening time but settled on wav as the preferred file type.
I had limited time for critical listening. Family stuff, it's Easter, don't you know. I did get an opportunity to do a critical comparison to an ALAC and a wav file of the same music. I chose the Mahler 3rd, 4th movement for this comparison for several reasons. It is a delicate but emotionally powerful piece of music. You have the wonderful Mezzo singing O Mench gibt auch, the violin solo, the horns, it strikes me as the pinnacle of Mahler's work. At any rate, I transferred both wav and ALAC files made from the Zinman/Tonhalle recording. I listened to both file types through twice. They are very similar, but not identical. The wav file was preferred. The violin solo was sweeter, and the horns were totally devoid of a slight bit of roughness and digital sound present in the ALAC file. The wav file triggered that emotional response just a bit better than the ALAC file. I'm thinking this is the way to go. I also transferred a good bit (wav files) of the music of Heinrich Shutz, and got a good listen to both Die Sieben Wort and the Johannes Passions. I was very pleased with what I heard, but sadly, I had no time for any A/Bs with the ModWright sony 5400 today. |
TMSorosk, There is no way to directly connect a CD player to the HAPZ1. However, if you already have all of your CDs on your iMac, and if you have a home network established, it will be very simple to download your music to the HAPZ1 either wirelessly, or wired via a one time ethernet connection. If you don't have a home network, I'm not sure how this would work. You should probably call sony tech support for an answer on exactly how to do that. |
Uomoragno, your concern about difficulties with wav files is well founded. I am having a time with wav files getting them transferred properly, and it isn't just the artwork. Too bad, because they sound beautiful. More detail on that later. The user interface with the Sony per se is not very sophisticated, but it is my understanding that using a smart phone or tablet you can do much more in terms of organization. I bought a tablet this evening, so I will probably spend my spare time over the next few days trying to figure out how to get things organized. You can create playlists, which may be of more use to us classical lovers than it might seem at first. Don't know for sure yet. but I think I could create a playlist containing, for instance, the Beethoven Quartet's Shostakovich cycle, and another playlist containing the Fitzwilliam or Pacifica cycles. For individual recordings not part of a cycle, one could either access them through the albums menu or yet another generic playlists containing, for instance, Bruckner symphonies. I'm not sure, but I think each playlist can hold up to 100 files. If so, this could be extremely useful. |
Mitch, I'm working on something that may be a fix for the track order getting screwed up. There is a way to link "songs" together in iTunes so they always play in the same order even if you do a shuffle play. I also think I may have figured out how to address some of the artwork problems. I'm going to spend some time on this.
Erik, thanks for the suggestion. I'm new to all of this, so I knew nothing about aiff files. I will give that a try and see how it sounds. |
All my ingenious fixes proceeded to screw things up worse than before. It has been a frustrating couple of days, my friends. However, one of my bosses once said, " I give all the hard stuff to Bill." Another one characterized my research style as relentless. Another one characterized me as like a tank. It looks like you are stuck in the trenches, then all of a sudden you take off and raise all kinds of ****. We will see what tomorrow brings. |
I’m about 2 weeks in on the HAPZ1 now. It’s had a decent burn in, so I thought it was time to do some serious A/B with my ModWright Sony 5400, hereafter to be referred to as MW 5400. For this comparison, I pulled everything out of the rack, then turned the backs of the sources forward to facilitate rapidly swithching the ICs. The HAPZ1 was powered through a VooDoo Vector Dragon from my Audio Magic MiniRef, while I used an MAC digital power cord for the MW 5400 per se (my normal Audience e wouldn’t reach with everything pulled out of the rack) and a VH Audio AirSine for the MW PS 9.9 power supply. This had a new production Gold Lion 5AR4 rectifier, which I prefer even to the old mullard GZ34 rectifier. For the first installment of this A/B, my system was configured as follows: Each source fed my Coincident Statement Line Stage preamp via a 2M VH audio spectrum AG IC. VH audio Symmetry (Ag) balanced IC (3M) fed my Cary 500.1 MBs, which drove Coincident Triumph Extreme MK II monitors through Audio Magic Liquid Air speaker cables. I chose the Coincident monitors over my Magnepan 3.7Rs for the first part of this comparison because they are wonderfully (or brutally) revealing of upstream components. They are fast, coherent, articulate and have great timbral accuracy. I chose 3 CDs for tonight’s comparison. All music files were ALAC prepared using iTunes. Everything was powered up and sat idle for about 2 hours, then was used for background music for another 2 hours prior to serious listening.
Shostakovich string quartet #7, Pacifica Quartet. This is a 24 bit PCM recording on Cedile Records. I listened to the entire quartet twice using the HAPZ1 and once using the MW 5400. The HAPZ1 exhibited better spacial localization and separation of the 4 instruments. There was more air and hall ambience, and the cello was reproduced with more bite and faster attacks. Pizzicato was sharper and faster. The MW 5400 presented with a somewhat darker, richer tonality, and rendered the cello a bit more “wooley” sounding. I much preferred the HAPZ1 with this music.
Brahms, Cello sonatas Op 36 and Op 120 #1. Wispelwey (1760 Guad) and Lazic, Steinway D. (Channel Classics SACD). The MW 5400 was a runaway winner with this music. A bit of grain present in the HAPZ1 was gone, and the 5400 had a wonderful, warm, analog sound that was just gorgeous. The 5400 had less air, and attacks were not as fast, but this was not missed at all. The 5400 was just more musical. Both sources were on a par, with the piano centered and the cello just to the left of center. This is a very good recording without excessive hall ambience.
Strauss, Vier Letzte Lieder, Luisi/Harteros/Dresden State Orchestra, Sony SACD. I chose this work because I also have a redbook copy of this recording. In the event that I preferred the MW 5400, I wanted to be able to compare the redbook CD on the MW 5400 to the HAPZ1 Alac file. Again, the MW 5400 gave a smooth, warm, analog sounding account. I noticed that the German was a little tough to pick out. I noted the brief horn solo in “September” as being particularly pretty, as was the violin solo in “Beim Schlaffengehen.” The HAPZ1 did something right here that I could not quite put my finger on. The German was marginally easier to pick out. Neither the horn nor the violin solo were as pretty through the HAPZ1, yet it all came together better somehow through the HAPZ1.
Tomorrow night I’m going to run through the same drill with another 3-4 CDs. I also want to run a similar evaluation using the Magnepan 3.7R’s. I’d like to defer drawing any firm conclusions until I’m done with that comparison also, just to see if any of tonight’s observations would go differently with a change of speakers. |
Uomoragno, It would take a bit of doing to figure out how to run flac with my iMac/ITunes set up. Once I get through this initial tsunami of new technology, I will give that a try and see what it sounds like.
Smargo, I've followed the modwright threads, but not the red wine audio threads. I will take a look and see what else might be there.
Today I'm going to try to load a Beethoven cycle, one at a time, using Alac, and see how the files transfer and what gives with the metadata. If I have issues with this , I will give Sony a call. If I don't I may give them a cll anyway just to see if they have any tips on wav files.
If it has to be Alac, so be it. It does sound really good, |
DAY 9 All the wav corruption has been purged, ALAC flawless today.
Al, thanks much for your kind words. I will take a look at the discussion you linked shortly. I had a couple frustrating days trying to do just exactly what you indicated should be done. I got a bit of a tease with a relatively subtle, but important, difference in a couple of tracks recorded in wav. It was never my intention to make too much of that limited sample, but with respect to the HAPZ1, the enormous frustration associated with about a 50% failure rate on wav transfers made any comparison of wav and ALAC moot. Today I uploaded a bunch of Beethoven and Schubert using ALAC. The transfers went flawlessly, and they sound wonderful, although in one case I thought the sound was a bit rougher than the typical ultra smooth sound from the HAPZ1. I'm going to give the suggestion from Lowrider and Uomoragno a try, and see what an uncompressed flac sounds like on that particular recording. It is, as you said, it is up to the ears to be the only arbiter.
Despite 2 rather frustrating days, I think the HAPZ1 is a fine piece. The frustration was after all, primarily self imposed. I am virtually certain the HAPZ1 is going to be my primary source, especially if the level of improvement after the ModWright treatment is anywhere close to what I expect. While comparisons with my beloved Modwright Sony 5400 have not yet been extensive, I think the only clear advantage of the 5400 is with respect to dynamics.
I've got the HDD control software up and running on my tablet. I haven't tried creating any play lists yet. Now that the track sequence and album art issues are for the most part straightened out, I can continue to use the album field to select music for a while. I've got some ideas about using playlists to sort out the Bach cantatas by liturgical Sunday. |
Guys, I am pretty sure the HAPZ1 imports cover art directly from Gracenotes, so that what the computer software (iTunes etc) does on cover art is irrelevant. However, the album title and track information does import from the computer program, so you can edit this information to your hearts content. However, this may interfere with the ability of the HAPZ1 to assign the proper cover art.
Those computer programs that use Gracenote as the source of cover art should correlate better with the HAPZ1 than does iTunes, which I think utilizes Gracenote indirectly through the iTunes store. This means that if a work is not available in the iTunes store, it won't show up in your iTunes software, but it may very well show up in the HAPZ1 file imported from iTunes. No doubt, this is all clear as mud. |
Agear, thanks.
The HAPZ1 is not the perfect machine in term s of functionality. It is what it is, and if that works for you, it is a great piece. I would have loved to have been able to use it with a transport, but having made the decision to go with the HAPZ1, I really think this will be a minor issue for me, especially now that I have about 500 of my most frequently listened to CDs uploaded. |
Richard, It appears that iTunes has it in for Mahler 3. I can't get iTunes to find any of my Mahler 3 recordings! One of them wouldn't even transfer into iTunes properly. I completely agree with respect to iTunes. I am still in the exploratory phase on all of this, so iTunes is OK for now, but I am certainly going to be looking for something else as soon as I have a little time.
In an earlier post, I asked a question about some of the programs that are not free, e.g., audirvana, with respect to use with the HAPZ1. I didn't get any responses. However, it seems to me that the cost is fairly insignificant if the organization and functionality is good. There is a 15 day free trial, so once my unit comes back from ModWright, I may give this a try. |
Uomoragno, Couple things. First of all, my problems with Mahler were in iTunes, not in the Sony. If iTunes doesn't get it right, the sony will import it as it exists in iTunes. I have had no instances of tracks getting screwed up in the sony as long as I stay away from wav files, provided that I have a good copy in iTunes. The sony can't reliably get wav right even if it is right in iTunes.
I think your take on why Mahler seems to be a challenge for iTunes has some merit. ITunes is totally screwed up witb how they list album titles and artists. They don't even have a single convention with respect to syntax.
That aside, the playlist function in the sony can be a way to straighten out a botched transfer, where tracks are screwed up or placed in different albums. You can create a playlist that contains all of the tracks in their correct order, even if in the album view they are all screwed up. Long term, I expect the playlist function to be my primary organizer. What I think I will do is make a playlist of my favorite versions of the Mahler symphonies, and bypass the album menu altogether.
With respect to other works, I will create separate playlists for the Belcea Quartets LvB cycle, and another playlist for the Tokyo Quartets LvB cycle.
I fear I may not live long enough to see one of these digitizing efforts work perfectly with classical. Sad, because I think about a half a dozen of us working together for 8 hours could figure it out.
I think most of use will put up with a little frustration, provided the net benefit is there. For me, it certainly is. I am recently retired, so my tolerance for things that chew up my time has increased substantially over the last month. As I have played with the sony for the last month, I find myself becoming less of an evaluator and more of an advocate. This piece sounds too good to ignore, imho. However, let me be clear. This is never going to be as easy and foolproof as slapping a cd in a player. Had I bought this prior to my retirement, I may have been one po'ed dude the first week. It is reasonably user friendly, but there is going to be a time investment. As the product continues to sell, I expect to see a robust users group develop that shares best practices. That will most certainly be a valuable resource for new buyers to leverage. |
Erm, Thanks, very useful information. I certainly intend to run the experiment you suggest with respect to a DSD download, but I'm not sure I will get this done before the Sony ships out next week.
There is a method to my madness. While DSD was one of the primary hooks for me, since I am a firm believer in DSD (though PCM done right is pretty good), I bought the HAPZ1 as an experiment. IF it had not passed muster on user friendliness, I would not have put the additional money into the ModWright upgrade. It HAD to convince me that I could get my existing library on the hard drive in reasonable fashion, or anything further was going to be a non-starter and it would have gone up for sale. While transfer of my existing library has not been flawless, it has gone acceptably, and I am sure as I learn more it will become much smoother.
I needed to make this determination rapidly so as not to loose the intro price on the ModWright upgrade.
The bulk of my classical library is built. Additional purchases, whether hard copy or downloads, will be a minor fraction of the total library. $26 x 1600 to replace what I already own ain't gonna happen post retirement! |
Richard, the Oppo is another machine, that in my opinion, like the HAPZ1, represents an insane value proposition. Until the HAPZ1 came along it was my intention to go the Oppo/ModWright route. I have no doubt you will not regret your decision. I would love to be able to do a serious A/B of the Modwright Oppo and the modwright HAPZ1 in my system, but that is not likely to happen. If this thread in any way helped you make your decision, then it served its purpose. The HAPZ1 is not going to be the right machine for everyone.
As for the Sony being a loss leader, I was not stating my own opinion there, just capturing comments from others. I suspect other manufacturers will emulate and improve on the HAPZ1 as time goes on.
Retirement--- it has been great. I have been extremely busy working on the house in preparation for the move. I've lost 9 lbs in the last 6 weeks and I feel terrific mentally and physically. As expected, the constant handyman drill is getting a little old, but it is associated with what is for me the ultimate prize. I'm not a flatlander. I need mountains nearly as much as I need Bach. |
A short follow up on last nights listening session. Tonight I gave a quick 2nd listen to the Shostakovich 10 with both the HAPZ1 and the MW 5400. The fairly consistent preference I have had for reproduction of strings via the MW 5400 is primarily due to the presence of a very small amount of grain in the HAPZ1 compared to the MW 5400. I first noted that in my first comparison session above, where I much preferred the MW 5400 on the Brahms cello sonatas. I also heard fairly consistently better depth in the image tonight through the HAPZ1. I had had some clues on this earlier, but I've now been through the Shostakovich 10 enough times it was pretty easy to pick out tonight.
After another listen to the Shostakovich 10 with both sources, I rotated in the Magnapan 3.7Rs. This did not fundamentally change my take on the two sources, but this was already hard to call with the more revealing Coincident Triumph Extremes. I'm done listening for tonight, since I must shortly again suffer through another Browns draft.
Tomorrow I hope to visit music from the 1st and 2nd listening sessions through the Maggies. |
First of all, I liked the trade down with Buffalo to pick up the CB. This guy paired with Joe Hayden (keep wanting to type Haydn) is going to look pretty good. On Manziel, it is pretty tough for a 5'11" QB to see the field. I am dubious about this pick. There is a reason he slid to 22. What I'm hearing is that the Browns wanted the WR the Saints got.
Hoyer looked pretty good for 3 games last year until he tore his ACL. I might have preferred the Browns pass on QB until next year. |
Richard, normally, I am not an early adapter to new stuff like the HAPZ1. Your plan to wait is a reasonable one. For me, this was a bit of a retirement present to myself. There were some hooks that got me. The DSD engine was huge. The value proposition, what you get for 2K, is just insane. Some have said the HAPZ1 is a loss leader for Sony. Dan Wright's endorsement of the sound quality of the stock unit, and his enthusiasm for developing a mod, was the final straw. As good as the stock unit is, for him to say that his mod takes the HAPZ1 to reference quality, was something I just could not say no to. For me, the sound quality itself is sufficient to warrant this purchase.
As for retirement, I recommend it highly. I loved my job, loved the people I worked with, and the money was great. I expected to work another 2-3 years, but I got an offer for a voluntary exit plan that was too good to ignore. That extra time is worth a lot. My wife and I will relocate to eastern TN so that I can hike in the smokies on a daily basis. My passion for hiking is on a par with my passion for music, so this move is a dream of long standing about to come to fruition. This is a happy time for me. |
Tomorrow the HAPZ1 ships out to ModWright. These will be my last comments on the sonic attributes of the stock unit. As promised, I relistened to some recordings previously used in an A/B with my ModWright Sony 5400. Specifically, I again A/B'ed the two sources playing Shostakovich Babi Yar and Brahms Cello sonatas, this time reproduced through my Magnepan 3.7Rs rather than through the Coincident triumph Extreme MK IIs. The purpose was to see if my previously expressed preferences, i.e., the HAPZ1 for the Shostakovich and the MW 5400 for the Brahms, was system dependent. The bottom line is that flipping the speakers did not change my preference. The HAPZ1's superior articulation, especially bass articulation, came through with the Maggies just as it had through the Coincidents. Similarly, the MW 5400s superior handling of upper harmonics made both the cello and piano sing on the Brahms.
If I had to choose between the two sources based on sonic attributes alone, I would probably choose the HAPZ1. I think it would be the better of the two with most recordings. An easier distinction could be made based on function. If a CD player suits one's needs better, the MW 5400, at typical used prices, is an outstanding unit. For a person not locked into needing a CD player, the stock HAPZ1 could be a better choice.
Look for more once the modified HAPZ1 returns. |
I have always been partial to the eastern mountains, although my sampling of ranges in the western US is rather meager. I have seen the Adirondacks, but never hiked there. I bonded with the Smokies at the tender young age of 4, in August 1957. The firs were still in all their glory. We have settled on eastern Tennessee (Maryville area) as our target location. 15- 20 mile drive to the park.
In all the hiking I have done in the park, I have yet to encounter the first tick. Many bear and timber rattlers, but no ticks. Hope that continues, but once I'm hiking 1500-2000 miles a year instead of 200, no doubt I will have more unwelcome encounters. |
Thanks Pokey! There were a number of elements that came together nicely to make my transition to retirement utterly seamless. They most important things i think are to be financially prepared and to have a plan for productive use of time and creative energies. My wife and I lived well below our means for a long time, so that we were in a good position to take advantage of the voluntary exit package i was offered.
I loved my job and the people I worked with. I thought I would miss it, but I haven't. I was so well prepared mentally, that on April 1 my brain shut down that program and opened a new one.
Everything (so far) has come together nicely for the move to Tennessee. We have had plenty of time to do the research, and have picked out not only the area, but we are actually focused primarily on 3 neighborhoods. We still have kids in school, but they are totally on board with the move. It just seems like it is meant to be. There is absolutely nothing keeping us in Indiana. It has been a nice place to work and raise a family, but--- there is a reason why this town was referred to as Indianoplace for years. |
Schubert, Our thinking is not so different as it might seem. This is a case of us being at differing points on a sine wave. We are about 10 years out of phase. If I were older, and my knees couldn't take the hiking, living within walking distance of the Jacobs School of Music might be to my liking. The music available in central Indiana is the one thing I will really miss.
By the way, the first thing I look for in a great mind is a high level of comfort with diversity of thought. It is frightening the extent to which both the right and the left have instituted and enforced mandatory thought conformity. |
Musicpod, Mitch provided the correct answer. That is a little dated. Indianapolis has made great strides forward for the last 3 decades. The downtown area is very nice. The orchestra is very good. There is a wonderful chamber music series. NBA, NFL, triple A baseball, cost of housing is cheap, there is a lot to like. It compares well with many midwestern cities, but it does not offer the one thing I really want now--Mountains. |
Mitch, That is still up in the air. We haven't picked out a place yet. We are looking at houses with roughly the same sq ft as our present place. An appropriate room for listening, isolatable from the dogs, will certainly be a high priority, along with proximity to the park, mountain view, and whatever else may be necessary to entice my beloved wife to say yes.
I have hedged my bets just a bit by picking up a pair of really wonderful monitors (Coincident Triumph Extreme Mk II) in case I need to move the rig to a smaller room. I've been a Maggie guy since 92. These Coincidents are the first box speaker I have heard under 16 K that I thought I could live with. |
ERM, Thanks for the info. I tried twice to transfer AIFF files and neither of them went. When the HAPZ1 gets back, I will give it a try again, and if I still can't get it to work, I may send you a pm to dig deeper. I was generally happy with ALAC files, and the transfer on all of them was 100% flawless. ALAC was essentially identical to wav in most cases, but there were a few where the wav file was perceptibly superior. I would certainly like to try the AIFF files on those particular Cds.
The HAPZ1 mod is complete (with Bybee rail) and was burning in over the weekend. It will ship today or tomorrow. Dan reminded me that a full 400 hours is required (post shipping) to get the caps and transformers burned in, which was my experience with the MW 5400. So serious comparison of the MW HAPZ1 is weeks away. The comparative notes I took on the stock HAPZ1/MW5400 will be my guide on commenting on the before and after mod HAPZ1. I will be particularly looking for the tube magic in the upper harmonics on strings and woodwinds.
That DSD ripping service is intriguing. I have a huge number of SACDs so that is of considerable interest to me. I'd be interested in your A/B on the DSD files vs Redbook transferred and up sampled via the Sony engine. |
Mitch4t, I haven't figured this out yet. I have my iMac automatically backed up by my apple time machine. The time machine sees the HAPZ1 on the network, but I haven't figured out how to get it to back up the HAPZ1 yet.
Once I get all this work done on the house, I will have more time to figure out the nuances like back up. As I said earlier, computers are a tool for me. I learn exactly as much as I need to learn to do what I want to do, and no more. |
It's baaaaack!
Week 1 of ModWright HAPZ1 burn in. ~ 20 hours burn in.
Summary:
Reduction of grain and improved depth of sound stage over stock unit perceived. Improvement in dynamics and resolution to be monitored.
Developed an album transfer strategy and supporting protocol enabling use of aiff and wav where advantageous.
Details:
I am going to be paying particular attention to grain and depth of soundstage. I've already gotten an indication that I can expect an improvement over the stock unit in these areas with only 20 hrs burn in. Dynamics also may be improved, but this may be tough to accurately discern. I bought a cryoed new production Gold Lion GZ34 rectifier for the power supply. The 6922s are the stock Sovtech tubes, which I will continue to use for a while. Dan indicated that 6GC7s can also be used, and probably fall somewhere between the 6922s and 6SN7s in character. This could be just what I'm looking for. Recall that the stock HAPZ1 suffered by comparison with my ModWright sony 5400 with respect to upper harmonics. I have a matched pair of NOS RCA clear top 6GC7s on the way from Brent Jesse. I'm hoping these tubes will give me a bit of that tube sweetness and body laking in the stock unit.
During the 3 week absence of the HAPZ1 I had some time to reflect on all of the file transfer woes I had initially. (Nice having time to think while engaged in mindless wall paper stripping) I think I have developed a protocol that will permit me to do what I want to do with respect to use of aiff files and possibly wav files.
As a reminder, I had substantial problems with wav transfers being corrupted and aiff files not transferring. Specifically, failure to keep tracks together as a single album, poor artwork recognition, etc was a common occurrence. Further, I found the even those files that were successfully transferred were subject to subsequent corruption as new albums were imported.
I think I have developed a protocol that will, with a little effort, permit me to export whichever file type I prefer to use and maintain the integrity of those transfers once successfully completed. Keep in mind that the sonic advantage of wav over alac was subtle and sporadic. I am happy to transfer the bulk of my library in ALAC (which is flawless in terms of album integrity), reserving wav (or aiff) only for special favorites where the difference is perceptible. This is not some huge concession. The ALAC files in most cases, played back using the DSD conversion engine with the stock unit were arguably superior to my ModWright Sony 5400. One would certainly expect that performance gap to increase as the modded HAPZ1 breaks in.
With respect to AIFF, I found that one must select both AIFF and AIF file types in the HAPZ1 transfer software in order to reliably transfer albums as AIFF files to the HAPZ1. The HAPZ1 transfer software allows one to exclude transferring certain file types, eg,, MP3s, movies, etc to the HAPZ1. I had deselected all file types other than ALAC, wav, flac, and AIFF in order to avoid importation of this unwanted stuff. After restoring AIF as a type to be transferred, AIFF transfer has been pretty good, if not perfect.
My current protocol is as follows. After transferring a batch of files, regardless of file type, I ensure the transfer has been properly made. For those albums transferred successfully, I purge the album from iTunes by deletion or by moving to a folder outside iTunes. This prevents any after the fact corruption of the album by an attempted reimportation. Note that this should not happen, as the HAPZ1 transfer program keeps a list of files transferred, so that once a file is transferred, it is not transferred again. The fact that reimportation (and corruption) does occur suggests something is not quite right in the HAPZ1 music transfer program. However, purging transferred albums from iTunes and clearing the transferred files list in the HAPZ1 music transfer program, obviates any opportunity for after the fact album corruption. For those files (Aiff and wav) that do not transfer properly, I simply delete the corrupted transfers from the HAPZ1, clear the transferred files list, and repeat the transfer. So far, I have not had to transfer an album more than twice to get a good copy.
I think this protocol has gotten me past some of the frustrating quirks with respect to use of the HAPZ1 for importation of a large classical music library. By the time I have 400 hours of burn in on the mod, I should have a substantial portion of my favorite music transferred. Importation of album artwork remains an area where one would like to see substantial improvement, but I think this is an issue with gracenotes, not the Sony per se. One can edit the composition, composer, artist, and specific track information easily in iTunes, and these edits are preserved in the transfer (usually!).
Stay tuned. I will try to post some thoughts on a weekly basis as the modded unit breaks in. |
Nsirkin, I'm interested in your thoughts on the noise level using the external HD. I have an unused 1.5 TB drive sitting around, which I thought I would utilize once the internal drive is full. That may be awhile, since it is now my intention to transfer the bulk of my library as ALAC files, but eventually I will get there. If noise is a problem, I will plan on using a solid state drive.
Your approach to file transfer may be a good one. I'm finding that there appear to be some flaws with the sony transfer program (at least that has been my experience), which your approach would completely obviate. This is exactly the kind of shared learning I hoped we would see in this thread. Thanks for the idea. |
Mitch, no problem. As all of you who have followed this thread from the beginning are aware, I have been favorably impressed with the sonic attributes of the stock HAPZ1. I tend to fall pretty quickly into a super type A north coast laser focused impatience machine, so my perseverance through some issues with this piece is a testament to my perception of its potential. The stock unit is a gem in the rough. It will be very interesting to see what a little burn in and savvy tube selection will afford. |
I've been importing music like crazy for the last couple of days (without issue), and have had the ModWright HAPZ1 playing for another 15 -20 hours. I have had some pleasant surprises on a few transfers that sound far superior to the CD. The wonderful Argerich/Kremer LvB violin sonatas, which always sounded like, well, like Deutche Grammophone always sounds, sounded very nice through the HAPZ1.
Also, I figured out how to edit album, track, and artist info, and even reassign the correct album art to the transferred album where the wrong artwork was assigned! This has been a constant nightmare for us classical guys. Basically, in the HAPZ1 remote program, you go to the album field, tap and hold the album you want to edit, and an edit menu comes up. You select edit music info, and you can type whatever you want into the title and artist fields. To change the artwork, tap and hold the artwork picture, and a google search of artwork for say, Ein Deutches Requium comes up. Just tap and hold the correct picture and it transfers to the HAPZ1.
I'm not nearly as stupid as I look. Cool! |
Mitch, Right now I am importing my favorite recordings, so I am using AIFF. I do intend to use ALAC for the more infrequently played music in order to conserve HD space. I think I will try a few wavs tomorrow, since I seem to be on a roll. I'd like to do an A/B with wav and AIFF on a piece of music, now that I have figured out how to get AIFFs to transfer. The AIFFs are sounding pretty good, but there is nothing like a good A/B just to see if there is a preference. It would seem I have hit the sweet part of the learning curve. Can't wait until the tubes get here. |
I have about 85 hours of music play time in so far. Last night I noticed a very nice ripening of the upper harmonics has occurred. Cellos and brass were especially lovely last night. Also, I was really struck by the depth of image last night. I had noted that as something to monitor as burn in continued, and last night while listening to Hillary Hahn's Beethoven concerto, I was again impressed by just how good the ModWright HAPZ1 is in this regard. I did notice just a bit of grain intermittently last night.
AIFF transfers continue. Occasionally, there is a minor issue, but this is something I know longer fret over. I have better luck if I do rather small transfers, say 5-6 CDs at a time. |
Joecasey, I am waiting for the modded HAPZ1to fully burn in before doing a serious A/B with the MW5400. As it stands now, with probably 150 hours on it, the modded HAPZ1 is clearly superior in most respects to the modded 5400. I will do a very serious A/B in about 3-4 weeks, since there doesn't seem to be much point in doing this when the HAPZ1 is still changing due to burn in. |
Billstevenson, Thanks for letting me know that you have found some of my experiences and tips helpful. This is exactly what I hoped to accomplish with this thread. |
Bmoura, thanks. I will take a look at those websites. |
ERM, Thanks for the info. I've planned to get all my favorites on the internal hard drive, reserving an external drive for infrequents. Some say usb transfers are generally inferior to other approaches, but it may be that is not relevant to the HAPZ1.
I hear you on the domestic chores. I've spent the last 2 days cleaning carpets, including the listening room. I should start getting the rig back together tomorrow afternoon. I will be very glad when I get all the work done on the house and it goes on the market. I hardly feel retired. Putting in way too many 14 hour days painting, cleaning, landscaping, boxing stuff up, hauling boxes to storage, it just seems like it never will end. But, I have to say, the house is starting to look pretty good. |
140 hours of burn in. Last night, I listened to Das Reingold and the new Venzago Bruckner 8. French horns were particularly lovely in both of these recordings, and I would say this is the first time I began to hear horns as I would like them to be with the HAPZ1. Also, this week I listened to the early 60's Herbert von Karajan/Berlin recordings of LvB symphonies 3, 4, 5, and 7. Surprisingly, the recording quality of 5 and 7 was on a par with 3 and 4. I know these performances and recordings well. I cut my teeth on the vinyl versions back in the early 70's, and snatched up a set of the remastered SACDs earlier this year. Through the Modwright 5400, all but the 3rd and 4th are pretty rough and grainy. Through the HAPZ1, all those I have heard so far are, with the exception of dynamic range, almost on a par with recent recordings in my library.
I have about 620 albums loaded so far. I stay busy with this, dedicating about 30 minutes twice a day to the process. I have almost no Haydn or Mozart loaded yet. I am guessing another month and I will be in pretty good shape with having my library on the hard drive. Still no dsd downloads. Might be time to dip my toe into those waters soon. |
Another week, I'm now up to about 750 albums on the hard drive. There have been a couple more very pleasant surprises this week. As I indicated in the last update, time to begin to work through Haydn and Mozart. Working through the Haydn string quartets, I was pretty much amazed by the transfers of the old Op. 76, 77, and 103 Takacs Quartet recordings on Decca. In particular, the improvement of the Op. 76 playback vs CD player was stunning. These are old recordings that I have had for a long time. Through my ModWright Sony 5400, the stock 5400, the Cambridge 840, and my old Denon 1640, these quartets were just about unlistenable. They sounded as if they had been recorded in an enormous cave, using a single microphone set back 100 meters from the players. Simply awful. Through the Modwright HAPZ1, these wonderful performances sounded lovely. Perhaps just a wee bit more hall ambience than I might like, but for the first time, these wonderful performances will get some serious playing time in my house. I can't explain what sounds like a complete change in venue and microphone set up. But the difference is profound.
The Op 64 quartets, this time by Quartor Mosaiques, in like fashion I found to be problematic in sound quality with cd playback. This time, there was something in the playback inducing listener fatigue, so that I just didn't enjoy these recordings. Much better through the HAPZ1. Not sure the performances are my cup of tea, but at least now I will give them enough time to draw a yea or nay conclusion.
Since I am spending so much time trying to get ready to move, I'm not getting the burn in hours or serious listening time I'd like to get. It is a slow process under these conditions. Can't be helped. |
Knghifi, good to hear you find my ramblings useful. I don't know enough about ee to second guess Dan's designs. I only know what my ears tell me. The MW HAPZ1 is a very good digital source. Sure wish we had more to choose from on DSD downloads.
I see that the MW DAC has been released. I have no doubt that it is everything Dan says it is. The price, plus the price of a transport or computer system, would put that approach at a substantial premium to the HAPZ1. |
Mitch, Macs using iTunes don't rip to flac, although they can if one uses other software. Downloads in flac are no problem. I have a few albums transferred in wav, but the vast majority are in aiff, which is similar to wav in that it is not compressed. If you go back and look at the earlier posts, you will be reminded that I found with a sampling of albums, wav sounded subtly better than ALAC. Based on this finding, coupled with a few trials in which I could not distinguish between aiff and wav, I decided to commit to aiff, which usually transfers without corruption as opposed to wav, which was a nightmare of corruption. I did work out a laborious protocol for using wav and maintaining it in uncorrupted form once it is transferred, but since I can't discern between wav and aiff, I'm not motivated to use it at this point.
With almost 800 albums transferred, I still have slightly more than one half of the internal hard drive space free. Clearly, I could transfer the remainder of my library without using an external drive. An additional comment that I would make is that with most albums, I could not discern a difference between wav, ALAC, and aiff. However, since HD space is not limiting, I just went with transferring uncompressed files rather than sorting out which ones would benefit.
Once the bulk of the library is transferred, I want to identify my first and second choices for classical works, then either transfer the 3rd, 4th, and sometimes 5th choices of a particular work to an external drive as well as some works that very rarely get a listen (Sorry Elliot Carter, but you have had your chance-time to show you the way to the external drive.) That way, I should always have room for additional acquisitions to the library on the internal drive.
Another thing I am noticing is that using the album view for selecting music is becoming somewhat cumbersome. Between, Bach, Bartok, Barber, Beethoven, Bernstein, Brahms, and Britten, it takes a while just to swipe through the B's, and I have nowhere near all of my Bach and Beethoven loaded yet. However, this is nowhere near the problem of trying to find or even remember that I have certain albums in hard media (still can't find that Abaddo Mahler 1). I am going to go through the titles and be more specific on genre, which will help me get to a given work more quickly. For instance, there is no reason why I can't define genre more narrowly, for instance, using Lieder, rather than classical, as the genre for my beloved Schubert Lieder, which will allow me to quickly access the music without swiping all the way to the S's in the album view. I am avoiding use of the favorites flag. Too tempting to have my library effectively reduced to 100 titles! Also, I am finding that some recordings I avoided because of bad sound demand a reassessment. But these are subtleties that can wait for an opportune time. |
