Why you need an $8,000 HP amp with a Gold Volume Knob from Sony

[TitaniumTroy]

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/sony-dmp-z1-8000-usd-digital-music-player-unveiled

First off you don't but, I thought it made for a nice thread title. It does have a lot hi-tech going on underneath the hood.

The Z1 is kitted-out with 256 GB of internal hard drive storage and two micro-SD slots for expansion, USB-C connectivity and Bluetooth and something Sony is calling “DSEE HX” – Digital Sound Enhancement Engine.

A top glass-fronted LCD panel displays a multitude of functions and Kimber Kable supplies internal wiring for both the 4.4mm balanced connection and the 3.5 mm unbalanced circuit paths, a gold-plated, oxygen-free copper circuit board is internally isolated, and five battery cells independently drive all digital and analog amplification circuits to free that delicate signal path of AC interference (up to nine-hours of high-res playback between charges).





Read more at https://www.innerfidelity.com/conte...tal-music-player-unveiled#yGCutYouTS4gPQdY.99

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

to free that delicate signal path of AC interference.....

I might take exception to the manufacturer claiming that, but what do I know.

 

[Flint]

I've heard some of their earlier portable headphone amps and players at CES in recent years, and they perform admirably. For my ears, most notable is their dead silence, after setting levels and enjoying a tune or two, if you turn off the amp and turn it back on again (with no content playing), I couldn't make out any change in the sound no matter how hard I tried. I can't think of any other headphone amp product I've encountered which was a dead silent while turned on as those Sony amps. Usually there is some very soft change in presence, space, or clearly audible hiss when the electronics are active, especially with my sensitive and noise blocking IEMs. Not so with the high end Sony amps. If I were to go higher end for a headphone amp/player, something from Sony would be high on my list.

However, I don't find I enjoy music to any greater extent with uber-high-end headphone amps than I do with the stock internal amp in my tablet, notebook PC or phone. Maybe if I sat in a darkened room doing critical listening on headphones I would have a different attitude, but my critical listening is done on speakers, as I prefer that sound.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

The thing is, dead silence isn't that hard to do from a design standpoint. It requires somewhat low impedances in-circuit and reasonable gain structure: engineering 101 stuff. Not that hard, and certainly not worth paying a huge premium for.