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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
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
@Calvinj, Once all music are downloaded to the Sony, you only need a computer if you have new music. It's basically a cd player with all your music on internal HDD/external USB drive.

Sony has built-in wireless but I have Ethernet drop for connection to the network. I use the free Sony HDD app on my iPhone 6Plus for remote.

I have it configured so all new music, DSD downloads or ripped music is automatically downloaded to the Sony when computer sits idle for 5 minutes.

It's feature rich plus with MW mod, it's a NO brainer for ME.
calvinj
2,479 posts
 
How much is the modwright mod?
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
How much is the modwright mod?
$2495 + $275 for ByBee option.

Again, once music is on internal HDD, you don't need a computer. It's a modern day juke box with internet radio. Just plug Sony to Pre and use smartphone app for remote. (There's a remote so don't need smartphone but is much easier) No USB cable, digital cable, LPS for Mac, drivers, off ramp, on ramp, JRiver ...

I suggest hard wired Sony to router for initial download. I think my initial download took 4 to 5 days.
calvinj
2,479 posts
 
I have a high fidelity ultimate helix power cord on the resonessence mirus dac and it is amazing. The sound is sublime.   
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