I had recently considered purchasing a Sony HAP-1ZES music server, but, depending on the dealer, they are either indefinitely out of stock or in short supply. My first question: has the model been discontinued and if so, is a more modern Sony music server in develpoment? The HAP-1ZES is a 6 year old model.
Also, one customer who reviewed the unit on Amazon indicated that the unit couldn't be used with recent PC's because the HAP-1ZES "Protocols" are no longer supported by recent PC's. The customer then GUESSED that there might also be problems using the HAP-Z1ES with recent MAC's. It is important to know if that is true before purchasing a HAP-Z1ES. My two computers are MAC's. I have a "Late 2013" iMAC which runs OS-X Catalina (the newest operating system that it can accept), and a recent "Mid-2020" iMAC, which arrived with OS-X Catalina already installed, and the option to upgrade to OS-X Big Sur (and probably a half dozen future operating systems).
There's still a few dealers that have the HAP-1ZES in stock, but, if I buy it, will it be a useless paperweight, if I try to load in high resolution music files that I have stored on my MAC.
Until now, I have converted high resolution FLAC music files to WAV , then burned them to DVD-R or DVD+R as "DVD-Audio". I also saved the original FLAC files to Data DVD-R or DVD+R, so that I someday buy a music server, I can easily load the original FLAC files back into my computer, then import them into a music server.
If any of you know of other, similarly priced music servers, and their system of loading files is MAC-compatable, let me know. Again, is the purchase of a Sony-HAP-1ZES too risky?