Sony HAPS1/B 500GB Hi-Res Music Player System, Black

While it can be a bit shocking to discover just how jumbled, messed up or broken the existing metadata may be in your music files, once you get that straightened out, the HAP is great. The bottom line for the HAP is this: having a thousand CDs worth of music at your fingertips is a beautiful thing. I know there are a dozen other audio file players that do essentially the same thing, but I like the way the HAP does those things, so to me it was worth the slightly higher cost. The app to control the HAP from a tablet (or phone) works perfectly, so I don't really use the dial and buttons on the unit itself. File transfer has worked well via wifi, though for the initial setup I wired the HAP into the network for a quicker transfer. It seems like some people don't like the way files are transferred, but it's really been a non-issue for me. Updates and new additions upload automatically from a folder on your computer, so you don't even have to think about it (you can also manually start the transfer if you prefer). At first I thought the 500GB storage drive was going to be kind of small, but I have about a thousand albums worth of lossless FLAC files on the HAP, and I think it will hold about 500 more. If you've got more than 1,500 albums, you can add an external hard drive to expand the storage (and if you use a smaller file format, like MP3, you can fit many times more albums, but I don't know why anyone would buy this and not use lossless files - if you only use MP3s there are cheaper network devices you can buy that don't have or require the same quality D/A conversion as the HAP). Speaking of D/A conversion, the sound quality of the HAP is excellent. Indistinguishable from my TEAC PD-H600 Reference Series CD player, and that uses Burr-Brown 24-bit/192kHz Delta-Sigma DACs. I couldn't hear any difference at all between the units when I compared them. I run the HAP direct (no EQ) through an 80w Marantz amp into ELAC Debut F6 speakers (great speakers - buy them for yourself for Christmas or your birthday or President's Day, or just because you like loud things!) and a Polk Audio sub. About that broken metadata - the HAP organizes your music based on the metadata in the files, so at first, things weren't exactly falling into the artist groups or categories I wanted. But that's not a problem inherent to the HAP, any file player would have the same issue (if you've ever uploaded files to Google music you've probably seen what a mess bad metadata can result in). If you need a program to sort out your metadata in bulk, Google "TagScanner." It's a free download, and it made the metadata organization job infinitely easier than it might have been. I don't use the built-in amplifier so I can't comment on that. I like having the amp there though, since theoretically you could unplug the HAP and take it anywhere. Just plug it into a pair of speakers and be good to go. I also never tried the basic remote that is included, so I can't say anything about that either.

The Sony HAPS1 Hi-Res Music System is fantastic. The unit itself is incredibly heavy for its size and speaks well of the build quality. Sony loaded this system with just about every hi-res audio codec available. I loaded the unit with FLAC and DSD audio files that I had on my MAC desktop wirelessly; copy times were very acceptable. The Sony decoded the files perfectly. Playback was outstanding. The unit puts out about 40w per channel into 4 Ohm speakers. I used it to drive 4 Ohm PSB bookshelf speakers. Initially, I was concerned that the amplifier may be a bit under-powered (being use to home theater systems that pump out 150w per channel). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the unit easily handles complex audio passages with ease. Setup is very simple. It offers both wired and wireless Ethernet -- so you can place the Sony just about any where you want without having to maintain close proximity to a router. The display on the front of the unit is very nice but it is not touch screen. The controls for the screen are a bit dated, but they get the job done without too much trouble. The built-in link to Gracenote is very handy; it does a nice job of automatically loading cover art for your audio files which the Sony displays on the screen for each song. I loaded about twenty hi-res albums on the Sony and barely put a dent in its 500GB storage capacity. The disk should take quite a while for me to fill up, and when I do, I can extend storage by adding external USB drives as needed. Fantastic. Overall, it is finally a pleasure to separate my hi-res music from my computer. Sony has a winner with this system. If hi-res audio is your forte, give this Sony player a listen -- you won't be disappointed. Highly recommended!

I chose this product because I needed a music streamer that had a built in headphone amp. I also wanted the unit to have built in storage and storage expandability. As a bonus, it also has a built in amplifier of modest power that will suffice for efficient speakers but not for power hungry speakers. The first thing you will notice about the Sony HAP S1 is its size and weight. Its size is smaller than expected and it is quite heavy for its size. The build quality is extremely good. My HAP is black in color. Beware, the black surface smudges easily. The silver might be better in this regard. There is no functional difference in the two colors. Un-boxing is simple as the units are packaged very well and unlikely to experience shipping damage. Included in the package are the HAP unit, the remote (batteries included), power cord, USB and ethernet cables. The HAPs used to ship with a USB drive containing sample music files. The files on my unit were pre-loaded on the unit’s hard disk drive. Included in the samples are a variety of music types in DSD, WAV, and FLAC formats. They all sound great on headphones. Preparing the unit to use is really easy. It you like immediate gratification, just plug it in to power, switch it on, and insert a set of headphones into the headphone jack. The controls are about as intuitive as they can be. They are clearly marked as to their use. After an initial listen, it was time to load some music onto the hard drive. In order to put music on the HAP, you install the ‘HAP Transfer Software’ onto your computer. There is software available for both the Mac and PC. There are two transfer options: WiFi or Ethernet. I plugged the unit into a spare ethernet port on my router. I was also able to access the unit using WiFi on the computer, it took a few tries to get the WiFi network recognized. The HAP will be recognized as another device in your list of devices. Once connected, you can browse your computer and tell the Transfer Software where to find the files to send to the HAP. You can also let the software search for music files on its own. Be warned, the transfer can take a very long time, esp. if you have a lot of music. Transfer can be broken up into several sessions if you wish. You can also import music from a powered CD drive. You can expand the storage by attaching an external drive into the USB port. Beware, the external drive will be re-formatted and you will lose anything on the drive before the unit will start using the drive. I don’t know how big of a drive you can use. I’ve already ordered a drive to attach for more storage. There is a limit of how many titles the unit will handle, but it’s a lot of music. The iOS app is phenomenal. It does everything from the convenience of wherever you are with your phone. It works without any hiccups. Likely, the Android app is well done too. How does it sound? It sounds very, very good to me on headphones. I never realized what I was missing in my music until I listened with this product. I have not evaluated the power amplifier, therefore, can’t comment on it. I’ll leave others to comment on this. I suspect it will sound great - with the proper speakers and at reasonable volumes. There is a big brother to this unit that has more storage, but it lacks the headphone port and the power amplifier. It’s twice the price, however. Would I buy this again, absolutely. It’s a lot of bang for the buck and ,hopefully, it will last a long time and continue to provide great sound.

After reading many professional and user reviews, I knew all about the painful process of transferring files to the internal hard drive and the defective display (white horizontal line across the LCD display.) but decided to take a leap of faith and buy it because of the sound quality reported by reviewers The second day of owning the product, (while still transferring files to the unit), the LCD display started to fade to white, at first, I could see the info but it progressively became white (whitin 5 minutes) to a point where I couldn’t see anything but a white screen (see picture). I though maybe the unit was working too hard because of the files transfers and needed a break. After my files were transferred, I had about a week of pure enjoyment, then, the issue resurfaces and was happening almost at every listening session, under normal usage. The product being out for what…5, 6 years? One could assume that they had fixed all the issues…right? WRONG! I returned the product for a full refund. And the most frustrating part of all this is, compared to my Audiolab M-DAC, the HAP-S1 had perfect bass, mid and highs, the most balanced sound I've ever heard…and that is with EQ and DSEE disabled. Pure awesomeness… my unmodified HD800 never sounded so big, full and rich. Still looking for that perfect unit for my HD800 but it won’t be a SONY.