Sony Hi-Res Interview – Worship in the Walkman Room

In the small write up linked above, I heaped praises on the TA-ZH1ES. Darth Sidious-like unlimited power, the like of which I’ve not experienced outside Goldmund’s 10.000$ Telos HDA. Unlike the Telos, it’s got no problem with ground loops, and hisses about much as an iPhone SE, AK380, and the like. For a desktop unit the combination is praiseworthy. Its balanced circuit is phenomenal. Its single-ended performance is merely good. This sort of mimics my experience with Sony’s latest Hi-Res DAPs, including the NW-ZX300, which I own. The TA-ZH1ES, however, fairs much better in single ended than do Sony’s recent Hi-Res Walkmans. Single ended or balanced, each and every one delivers a bright, live-sounding, and fun experience, which defies any definition but musical.

The TA-ZH1ES dekes the worst redundancy thanks to proprietary 8x oversampling FGPA architecture, direct wiring, FPGA architecture, and full-digital output circuitry. Mr. Sato explained that – like the Walkman – it was designed around its balanced circuit. Both it and its Walkman siblings derive single-ended outputs from their balanced lines via a coupled transformer. As such it represents itself differently to both balanced and single ended headphones. One of the reasons Sony didn’t go for a dedicated output converter was space. The TA is heavy, solid, and formidably arrayed to work with the widest number of headphones, plugs, and all arranged logically for blind use. I sure wouldn’t be bothered by a few grams extra for discrete single-ended circuitry.

Another interesting thing Mr. Sato explained was that the design department didn’t want the end user to see screws. Naturally, this posed problems for the audio engineers. How do you fasten everything tight without showing a few? Sony have been reducing external screws for a long time. As a long-time Minidisc owner, I’m happy with this, especially for portable audio, where screws are bound to come undone. Whatever the difficulty Sony’s engineer’s faced, the TA-ZH1ES is incredible, a truly ES-worthy machine. Every viewing but the back is as refined as possible. Every crevice, every output array, every typographical label fits the whole and is easy to use. 

Sony’s production, design, and manufacture of the TA-ZH1ES is-house, as is the silicon that goes into their Hi-Res Walkmans. The production its own silicon is unique to Sony. It allowed the audio department to design everything from chassis to circuit for absolute stability and low interference including the elimination of both internal and external vibrations. It is why both the Hi-Res Walkmans and the TA-ZH1ES are milled from single ingots, the ZH1ES from aluminium and the NW-WM1Z from copper. Both are rock-solid. Both are firmly battened down to sound good as possible.

And this mirrored the what I heard from Mr. Tsunoda as regards headphones and Mr. Sato as regards the flagship Walkman. First and foremost Sony are makers. Next, they are pioneers. Both characters leave indelible fingerprints in their flagship products. These products aren’t just figuratively Sony’s babies. 

Mr. Sato explained: despite this design congruence, the two units were separately conceived, each by an independent team. Disparate Sony audio teams came together, comparing notes, only to discover that from circuits to chassis, band to support fulcrums, and most importantly sound, they were on the same page. This resonates all the way up. Sony employ more people across every populated continent than largest nearby cities of my childhood. Sony’s top brass understand and resonate with the desire for its audio engineers to create the best-sounding, best-functioning stuff not they can, but the world has to offer. Talk about musicality, sometimes frustratingly behemoth as can be, where it matters, Sony are in concert. 

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