Sony - What were you thinking?

Hirai-san, you are a very, very bad man!

To me it seems like a functionally improved Bryston BDP-2 and a step in the right direction. I am with Onhwy61. I would be far more apt to purchase it if I had some assurance I could audiophile it. May not be a great way to think about it, though.

"Why would anyone who doesn’t want to use the HAP-Z1’s built-in DAC buy this product? It makes no sense to me to spend $2000 if all you are looking to get out of it is a single terabyte of storage in a well-built chassis along with some player software."

What is the alternative outside of becoming a "computer audiophile"? I really do not know.

I assume that sony figures that the small number of people who want to use the product with vinyl aren't the core demographic. I also think they should be lauded for trying to make a simpler product that won't intimidate the buying product. The key goal should be making it easier to use quality downloads to bolster that market. Just think how awesome it would be were apple to sell 24 bit 96khz downloads through iTunes!

Simpler is better if the goal is to kill of lousy lossy mp3s.

Well it sure isn't a "game changer" like one of the prominent audio mags said on it's cover.