Stereophile – August 2019

http://www.lehmannaudio.com/black-cube

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stereophile.com n August2019 111

SONY DMP-Z1

plated volume control.

An unbalanced comparison

Until I began working exclusively

from home, my constant compan-

ion on my daily commute was the

PonoPlayer I’d bought after reviewing

it in April 2015.^5 It may seem absurd

to compare the $8500 Sony with the

Pono, which cost $399 when last

available, but I’ve racked up more

hours listening through headphones

with the Pono than with any other

product. With the Audeze LCD-Xes,

which are more revealing than the

AudioQuest NightHawks, the high

frequencies in “The Mooche” had

more top-octave air with the DMP-

Z1, letting me better hear the subtle

acoustic of Blue Heaven Studios, in

Salina, Kansas. At the other end of the

spectrum, the double bass in James

Brown’s “Please, Please, Please” had a

weightier body tone through the Sony,

though this recording’s rather rough

mid-treble sounded a touch smoother

through the Pono. A case of Authority

(Sony) vs Acceptable (Pono).

Conclusion

Two high-end products with digital

inputs and headphone outputs that

I enjoyed for a while in my system

were Ayre Acoustics’ Codex^6 ($1795)

and QX-5 Twenty^7 ($8950), both

AC-powered. Other than lacking

internal storage and an integral play-

back app, both are broadly equivalent

to Sony’s DMP-Z1. Both review sam-

ples were long ago returned to Ayre,

but I have fond memories of using

them with my Audeze LCD-X head-

phones, especially the QX-5 Twenty.

When it comes to headphone sound

quality, the Sony DMP-Z1 joins that

distinguished company—and it’s a

Walkman! Kind of. n

our Editor’s Choice (CD, STPH016-2).
Baron’s plunger-muted soloing in “The
Mooche” was optimally reproduced by
the Sony-Audeze-Nordost combina-
tion, with all its wah-wah rasp intact.
When I’d mixed this track, I wanted
to preserve the original sound’s wide
dynamic range, which meant that
Harris’s Taylor acoustic bass guitar is
relatively low in level. Its subtle sound
was clearly delineated, however, with
excellent low-frequency weight.
But what about a track in which
the low frequencies are big, bold, and
magnificent? I cued up “#thatPower,”
by will.i.am and Justin Bieber, from
will.i.am’s #willpower(16/44.1 FLAC,
Interscope). The Sony managed to
hold on to this song’s subterranean
excesses without making the sound
bloated or boomy.

Listening to MQA
It was time to try some MQA-encoded
music. My current favorite perfor-
mance of Benjamin Britten’s Variations
on a Theme of Frank Bridge is by the
Trondheim Soloists, on their Reflections
(24/44.1 MQA FLAC unfolded by
the DMP-Z1 to 24/352.8, 2L 2L-125).
This work for string orchestra sounded
simply glorious through the Sony with
all three pairs of headphones: The
Audezes presented a wealth of detail in
the midrange and treble; despite their
lift in the lows, the AudioQuests didn’t
sound overrich; and the Sennheisers
sounded neutral, if a little bass-shy,
compared with the other two pairs of
cans. The Sony simply stepped out of
the way of the music.
As I write these words, I’m listening
through the Sony-Sennheiser system
to Radka Toneff’s hauntingly beautiful
performance of “Nature Boy,” from
the 2018 Original Master Edition reis-
sue of her Fairytales (24/48 MQA file
unfolded to 24/192, Odin CD9561),
our Recording of the Month for April

2018. I have to keep lifting my fingers
      from the keyboard to revel in the glory
      of the sound and the song: musical
      gold to match the DMP-Z1’s gold-

5 See stereophile.com/content/pono-ponoplayer-

portable-music-player.

6 See stereophile.com/content/ayre-acoustics-codex-

da-headphone-amplifier.

7 See stereophile.com/content/ayre-acoustics-qx-

5-twenty-da-processor.

Sources Roon Nucleus+ server;

Astell&Kern AK-100, iPad mini, Pono-

Player portable players.

Headphones Audeze LCD-X, Audio-

Quest NightHawk, Sennheiser HD

650.

Cables Headphones: Nordost Heim-

dall, manufacturers’ own. USB, AC:

manufacturers’ own.

Accessories AudioQuest Niagara

1000 Low-Z Power/Noise-Dissipation

System.—John Atkinson

ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT