Vaio VPC-Z: SSD upgrade and sound quality

Hi everyone,

I have two questions regarding VPC-Z11 so far:

1. I'm going to get 64Gbx2 dual RAID model. Is it possible to order second original Sony 64Gbx2 PCB and all necessary cables and other stuff online and get QUAD SSD setup working? I can't find anything about this mod.

2. Did anyone compare headphone output to previous Z? How good is sound quality?

 

1. no, sony doesn't do such things (as far as i heard)
2. no, dont have previous Z.

 

Why not? Can't we buy second 128gb SSD and necessary cables from sony parts?

 

It might be possible.
You can find the drives on sony parts with this description "NAND BASED SSD INTERNAL"
I assume that the complexity of the drives is proportional to the prices, and that one sided 64GB is $271.54, two sided 128GB (2x64GB) is $583.62. BUT both are not in stock.
One sided 128GB ($626.73) and two sided 256GB ($1,204.09) are referenced as "in stock"...

 

The VPC-Z series uses a custom drive not found in any other series (or manufacturer). It consists of a sandwich of two single- or double-sided special sized drives.

In short, no, you can't add to it, it has to be replaced. The 2 * 64 GB you have are almost certainly two single-sided drives, which fill up the entire bay.

 

Are you sure that Sony uses two single-sided drives instead of one double sided?

I've read somewhere about L-like (not T-like) slim SATA cable used in DUAL raid models (therefore they must use single PCB with one connector)

 

I asked to a sony guy about adding a supplementary SSD to a 128GB Z11 before ordering mine. The guy told me it is possible but it should be done by a sony technician.

I think sony use single sided 64GB for 192GB Z11 and not for 128GB ones...
Zoinks's unboxing photos on a 128GB model don't seems to show two SSD in the SSD bay.

 

After comparing prices of different combinations adding another 128Gb PCB for 256Gb quad raid 0 seems to be best choice. And single-sided modules aren't even available for russian service centers.

What about headphone output quality?

 

I assume to upgrade the speakers you'd need some soldering skills or someone who knows how to, yes?

 

Well, and two higher quality speakers that fit They are sticked to aluminum topcase via tape and there may be no space for larger speakers (like those from SZ). There's thread dedicated to speaker upgrade in new Z as well.

Anyway, I'm more interested in headphone sound.

 

Headphones sound AWESOME

 

That's cool. Yeah!

IIRC you're OP in that thread about speaker replacement.
Here's a photo of Z's speaker originally posted by ZoinksS2k

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/390/zspeaker.jpg

I'm too interested in good replacement (probably from well-known laptop like SZ) though I'm not sure about space limitations.

Is there any space between logic board and speaker?

 

Yeah I'd replace it with Sz's if they fit, i wonder if that guy who took a picture of his SZ's would measure the diameter for us.

 

He said it was 5/8" speaker, not sure whether he meant actual size (diameter) or not.

 

i can check it out tonight if you guys want.....lucky for me, im selling my SZ but i have extra pair of SZ speakers so i can measure those out for you guys,but i think the thickness matters more than anything and how much space we have to work with between the speakers and the logic board.

EDIT: i just realized that the speaker wire might be longer on the Z's speaker and the SZ wire is shorter, but that matters only if its the same connection type at the end still highly unlikely. anyways i wouldnt dare unsolder my orignal Z's speaker cable cuz if i ever need to send in for replair i would have to undo the speaker change
but yeah i will post up the size of the speaker hopefully tonight and if someone could somehow take a picture of the speaker connection cable and the length of the cable that would be awesome.

 

That depends on the impedance of the headphones. The amp in the Z doesn't have enough power to control some of the low impedance heavy cans. If all you want to use it with are in-the-ear plugs or light high-impedance on-the-ear headphones, they're great, but for use with something heavier, I recommend a headphone amp (even a cheap CMoy).

KOSS Porta Pro: Sounds great at any volume with the Z. These cans are my recommendation to anyone who wants something lightweight. Must not be confused with Sporta Pro, which sound just plain awful.

Sennheiser HD-414: Sounds good, except at very low volume, where sound disappears abruptly. And you can't really play high volume with these.

Grado RS-1: Sounds great at low to medium volume. At higher volume, the Z doesn't have enough power to control the sound. Hook it through a headphone amp, and it sounds great all the way.

Sony Studio Headphones: Sounds OK at medium volume only. In this case, it's actually the headphones that can't deal with low and high volume -- they distort just as much when hooked up to an amplifier.

 

I'm not an audiophile like you are obviously but the stock sony headphones sound really good for earbuds. I actually have a walkman too and the headphones with that sound really good also.

 

First things first, the speakers in the Z1/2 are horrible. No excuse for them be as bad as they are.

Second, the included noise-canceling earbuds are great. I use them when traveling. This doesn't make up for the poor quality speakers.

Lastly, I may look into retrofitting some different speakers into the Z1. If my Blackberry/HTC EVO 4G can blast a room full of people, why not try some of their speakers. I don't want high fidelity, although that would be nice. I just want to watch a news story without having to hold the friggin laptop to my head like some massively futuristic boom box.

I'm afraid, however, that sony just didn't give them any power. If anything, they look larger than the ones in the older Z591 model.

 

How is new Z compared to previous Z and SZ? What about portable DAPs?

 

I was worried about this when the thought came to me; sony might have a limited output and it might have to do with the motherboard so if you beet a higher powered speaker it might ruin the motherboard becuz of an overload, but hey im just saying, im in noway that technical or know much about this stuff as others might on this forum.

I was thinking that if somehow we can find the BEST speakers on the smallest devices including phones and laptops we can come up with something, cuz i know the SZ is top of my list as one of the best speakers, then we have Nokia n95 IMO as ONE of the best speakers ever put into a phone but i heard that the HTC Touch HD has the best speakers ever, just im just saying that cuz gsmarena does sound tests on their reviews and they have a pretty decent list going.

is it possible to check the power output on the new Z, old Z and the SZ?
im thinking that the SZ might be 2W + on each speaker....just a wild far out guess

 

So is there ANY way to upgrade these sh*tty speakers? They're horrible.. even my blackberry has better speakers. i'd pretty much do anything to upgrade them

 

Just screw it open and fix some new speakers in there? all you need is some good skills and (very) small new speakers >_<

 

It's not that simple. Sure, you'll get sound, but it might end up sounding far worse than before with better elements, if the new elements require more power from the amp, and it can't deliver.

Unless you have a very powerful amp, you really need to match speakers (and headphones) to the amp that's supposed to drive them. This is especially true when you go into milliwatt territory.

 

so is there a technical reason why Sony couldn't put something better in there? it's nearly a deal breaker for me and i did consider returning the laptop for a moment.

 

A better amp would use more power, but still negligible compared to the CPU and GPU. But getting a more powerful amp that's small enough might cost several times as much, so the real answer is probably bean counting.