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| Headphone Amps (full-size) Discussion of desktop headphone amps. |
11-20-2008, 01:20 AM
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500+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: United State of Britainland
Posts: 639
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottieB
man that sucks - sorry to hear it! As someone who just a few weeks ago had to deal with chargebacks - I know how much it sucks. Why is it that we have to wait months for the bank to fix something someone else screwed up? Oh well. Hope it works out.
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It's just a PITA, to be honest. Still, it's not been a wasted effort. I've got all my cash back now, and the transformer has been mailed out to a fellow chap in the UK who received a Zero with a buzzing transformer. Figured the least I could do was make good where possible on Lawrence's failed customer service  .
Thought I'd do alright out of the deal. Told him to bung me £5 to cover the cost of post and packing, and leave me with enough for a beer. Bought a new reel of packing tape for a pound, spent 30 minutes stripping the Zero down to get the transformer out without snipping any of the wires(have to remove both front and rear plates to get at the sockets and power switches). Went to the Post Office today to mail it to him... £4.30! After buying the tape, I'm currently running at a loss! 
Still, I get to sleep easier at night, knowing I've done something good today .
~Phewl
__________________
Senn 480II-13R cans, overshadowed by...
Black Stax SRS-4040II rig - awesome! Loving it! Certainly worth most of the extortionate amount of pennies it cost. ;-)
Compass DAC by Audio-GD - very, very nicely made with a lovely sound. First UK owner?
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11-20-2008, 01:22 AM
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500+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: United State of Britainland
Posts: 639
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Quote:
Originally Posted by djchaz
Sorry, man. When I tried to post my question it sent me to some advertisement page so I went back and posted it again. My bad.
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No problem mate. Just thought I'd say something rather than have a new member wonder why nobody was talking to him .
~Phewl.
__________________
Senn 480II-13R cans, overshadowed by...
Black Stax SRS-4040II rig - awesome! Loving it! Certainly worth most of the extortionate amount of pennies it cost. ;-)
Compass DAC by Audio-GD - very, very nicely made with a lovely sound. First UK owner?
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11-20-2008, 02:32 AM
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Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 85
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I was enjoying my FrankenZero as usual with my new HA-RX900 cans until suddenly it just sort of, died. There were no snap crackle pops in the case or the cans. Just suddenly went silent. The lights inside the case and the front (with buttons and all) still works but no sound comes out. Definitely not my headphones; there's several other sources such as my soundcard for that. Also for additional note, the FrankenZero mod was done about 2-3 weeks ago.
This happened during when I was listening. The first thing I did was just give it some small whacks and apparently when that didn't fix it, I went on to do some surgery on my Zero for any bad joints (I'll admit I used a terrible 25W soldering iron. It literally had no tip, just a 1cm diameter cylinder thing.). I've also checked to see if any there were any possible wirings that could touch other wires. Finding none, I just closed it up and ran Zero.
I still got the same outcome, no sound. At this stage, I have no idea what can be wrong with my Zero. I'll be posting pics later when I can find the time.
Also is it normal if the power supply (huge circle thing I believe) feels about the same as room temperature? All my other components seems to run hotter then the power supply. I can hear some hum coming from the FrankenZero when volume is way up with headphones but when music is played, none of that instruments I long for comes out.
Edit: Don't know how to do those little thumbnail picture things and since there's quite a lot of pictures taken, I've decided to take the liberty of uploading them through Mediafire. 16 total.
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?oj1mwqmn4jn
Last edited by Doorknob; 11-20-2008 at 05:03 AM.
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11-20-2008, 04:39 AM
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1000+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posts: 1,035
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Im thinking of buying a Zero, I noticed there's a pre-moded one on ebay with HDAM, LT1364 and Upgraded volume pot, is this the best Zero combination? and this one is sold by Lawrence which i've heard has been dropping the ball lately, there's also another version sold, it looks like a stock Zero with OPA627's installed in the headphone amp, sold by wcz guy.. which one of these would be best.
__________________
Computer: Intel i7 920, 6 GB Ram, Radeon 4830, X-Fi Extreme Music, Dell 2005FPW.
Audio Rig:Belkin USB 2.0 Gold Series >> Valab NOS >> Blue Jeans LC-1 >> Head Direct EF1/w AD 743JN >> Denon D2000
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11-20-2008, 05:12 AM
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500+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Tbilisi - Georgia
Posts: 937
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeW
Im thinking of buying a Zero, I noticed there's a pre-moded one on ebay with HDAM, LT1364 and Upgraded volume pot, is this the best Zero combination? and this one is sold by Lawrence which i've heard has been dropping the ball lately, there's also another version sold, it looks like a stock Zero with OPA627's installed in the headphone amp, sold by wcz guy.. which one of these would be best.
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Zero wise, offcourse the one that lawrence sells, seller wise wsz0304 is a far better seller as far as service goes, and may would agree in this forum.
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11-20-2008, 08:31 AM
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100+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Singapore
Posts: 498
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with the UBS--> optical converter will it still be able to put out 24bit/192? the zero doesn't have a usb connection on its own right?
lastly, is there any way to bypass the preamp?
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11-20-2008, 08:57 AM
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100+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Currently in Gisborne NZ
Posts: 259
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Quote:
Originally Posted by athenaesword
with the UBS--> optical converter will it still be able to put out 24bit/192? the zero doesn't have a usb connection on its own right?
lastly, is there any way to bypass the preamp?
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Hello there, athenasword, as far as I know the USB/optical converter - which I also have - works just fine with 24/192 and actually gives quite brilliant results even with high modded gear like the FrankenZero, that a few of us have.
Yes, the pre-amp is easily bypassed by pushing the button labeled "Preamp" until the green light goes off, then the signal is routed straight out of the DAC, bypassing both the amp and the volume control.
Cheers, S-Man
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11-20-2008, 09:14 AM
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100+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 141
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Lawrence's ebay account is biglawhk. IMHO do not buy from him.
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11-20-2008, 09:44 AM
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100+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Singapore
Posts: 498
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sennsay
Hello there, athenasword, as far as I know the USB/optical converter - which I also have - works just fine with 24/192 and actually gives quite brilliant results even with high modded gear like the FrankenZero, that a few of us have.
Yes, the pre-amp is easily bypassed by pushing the button labeled "Preamp" until the green light goes off, then the signal is routed straight out of the DAC, bypassing both the amp and the volume control.
Cheers, S-Man |
that's exactly what i need man, thanks!! I was under the impression that USB is limited to 16bit/48kHz
i've seen a couple of these frankenzeroes online, how much more do they cost compared to the standard zeroes? and do they make any improvements to the DAC or issit in the amp section? i'm planning on purchasing a DAC for a set of active monitors
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11-20-2008, 11:23 AM
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500+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Tbilisi - Georgia
Posts: 937
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Quote:
Originally Posted by athenaesword
that's exactly what i need man, thanks!! I was under the impression that USB is limited to 16bit/48kHz
i've seen a couple of these frankenzeroes online, how much more do they cost compared to the standard zeroes? and do they make any improvements to the DAC or issit in the amp section? i'm planning on purchasing a DAC for a set of active monitors
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Actually little over 50 bucks and you can have your Zero Frankenstined, I heard it makes hell of a difference, so much that some folks after mods have given up the idea of getting a dedicated headphone amp. You can PM - Pricklely Peete (Guru on Zeros), I believe he still has a few sets of caps etc, you will need for the mod.. I am trying to get one set down for myself too..
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11-20-2008, 12:32 PM
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100+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Singapore
Posts: 498
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sandchak
Actually little over 50 bucks and you can have your Zero Frankenstined, I heard it makes hell of a difference, so much that some folks after mods have given up the idea of getting a dedicated headphone amp. You can PM - Pricklely Peete (Guru on Zeros), I believe he still has a few sets of caps etc, you will need for the mod.. I am trying to get one set down for myself too..
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are you intending to mod this yourself? or are there people who sell modded versions?
again i need to ask if this improvement is on the amp side of things or the dac? because i'm going to use active monitors and those already have their own amps so the zero's amp will probably be bypassed.
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11-20-2008, 01:32 PM
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100+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Singapore
Posts: 224
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shampoosuicide
I just acquired a used DV332 with Ulyanovsk 6S19P-V and Mullard M8110 tubes to pair with my HD595. The bass seems to be (unusually) too pronounced and overpowering, and sounds very muddy, as if the higher frequencies have been lost. It sounds a lot like the Zero before I snipped off the caps at the headamp section and RCA jacks. Malos, who had the 332+595 combo said he did not have the impression, and I haven't heard complaints like this from 650 owners.
Could this be due to the iffy RCA jack on my Zero? The RCA cables fit very loosely (as in the holes of the RCA jack seem a little too large), and I had to use a lot of blutack and do a lot of adjustment before I could get a signal.
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Anyone else can chime in on this?
Because I'm seriously considering selling the DV332, but if the problem lies with the Zero, then I'll send it back to get fixed.
__________________
Headphones: Audio-Technica AD2000 Sold: Sennheiser HD650 (Newer version) / Sennheiser HD595 50 Ohm / Alessandro MS1
Amplifiers: Audio-gd C-2C Upgraded version Sold: Darkvoice 332i w/ Svetlana 6S19P/LM Ericsson 403B Goldpin
Sources: Zero DAC/Amp (OPA-Moon/LT1364)
Cables: Mogami Neglex 2549 w/ Rebel RCA interconnect
last.fm
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11-20-2008, 01:38 PM
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500+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Tbilisi - Georgia
Posts: 937
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Quote:
Originally Posted by athenaesword
are you intending to mod this yourself? or are there people who sell modded versions?
again i need to ask if this improvement is on the amp side of things or the dac? because i'm going to use active monitors and those already have their own amps so the zero's amp will probably be bypassed.
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Well, I'll be doing it myself, like many in the forum, I do not think there are any sources where you can aquire a ready made Franken Zero, and infact, this mod covers all sections of the Zero, and if you wish, you could skip the HP board, but thats the smallest mod in the entire process.
Take a look at this page, its all there..
FrankenZERO - A bang for buck exploration with a DIY Heart !
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11-20-2008, 02:05 PM
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100+ Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Singapore
Posts: 498
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sandchak
Well, I'll be doing it myself, like many in the forum, I do not think there are any sources where you can aquire a ready made Franken Zero, and infact, this mod covers all sections of the Zero, and if you wish, you could skip the HP board, but thats the smallest mod in the entire process.
Take a look at this page, its all there..
FrankenZERO - A bang for buck exploration with a DIY Heart ! |
okay i'll take a look at that. btw could you comment on the 24bit/192khz from the USB? is the dac upsampling the 24bit/192khz from the 16bit out of the USB, or is the USB feeding 24bit out to the dac?
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11-20-2008, 02:14 PM
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Head-Fi'er
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Prague, Czech Rep.
Posts: 35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by athenaesword
okay i'll take a look at that. btw could you comment on the 24bit/192khz from the USB? is the dac upsampling the 24bit/192khz from the 16bit out of the USB, or is the USB feeding 24bit out to the dac?
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There is no USB input on the DAC. The DAC has only two digital inputs - optical and coaxial - so you need a soundcard with optical or coaxial digital output to feed the DAC.
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