Review: ZERO 24 BIT/192KHz DAC/Headphone Amp/Pre-Amp

[les_garten]

Originally Posted by sandchak

No maybe I dont, all I know and I have seen is quite a number of folks in the forum and in his Ebay feedback complaining about his service, and I wish he was as good to everyone as he was good to you..

I don't know why he had or has the issues reported on. I will say this, I don't deal with Vendors I don't know off of Ebay. There is no leverage, especially in China. On FleaBay, you can leave FB and put someone out of business if he does it enough. A PayPal payment to Johnny_Come_lately@China.com means you are at their mercy. Other than a Forum, nobody knows about your issues.

Additionally, I have Found that dealing with the East and Middle East means you need to respect their culture. Some of these people are very polite as they cut your head off. Playing a condescending Ugly American gets you TEN steps backward with them.

Don't flame, I am talking perception here. There is a cultural difference between cultures that foster free speech and those that stifle it. What an American might think is reasonable questionsmay be a Beheading offense elsewhere. Americans are known for their Rude behavior the world over. So any forwardness in conversation will be viewed as rude because you are an American, the same question from an Armenian or a Georgian would not be perceived the same.

Now look at Lawrence's Ebay FB, it's good. Everything is a matter of percentages. I must admit, I had already ordered mine when i saw those posts, and got REAL worried. But my experience could not have been better. I opend the box before firing it up, and looked everything over REAL well. It was perfect and delivered early. he communicated to me Saturday and Sunday. Every Email was answered. That was my experience.

I WOULD NOR ORDER OUTSIDE OF EBAY. I am looking at a DV 337SE and the vendors want to sell off Ebay, Forget it, no way I am sending $1000 to someone in China I don't know with Zero recourse. FleaBay ain't perfect, but its all we have.

[Penchum]

Originally Posted by ScottieB

Get better, Pench (assuming it is you you're talking about)! We'll help hold down the fort in the meantime..

Originally Posted by les_garten

Hi,
Thanx for the, Ahhh, clarification! Hope your issues get resolved to your satisfaction. Miss your input to this thread!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the kind words!
Yep, it's about me and my titanium caged lower back. I'm recovering slowly (I hate slow recoveries) from this latest episode, and will be getting things back to some kind of normal very soon (I hope).

[athenaesword]

Originally Posted by seaice

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.

here in singapore a couple of people who sell the dac throw in a usb--> spdif converter so i was asking on the premise that one such would be used.

[les_garten]

Hello,
For those interested, LC's HDAM and someother shots like the Alps pot.




Index of /misc/zero

[x_lk]

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?

athenaesword, Zero is not an upsampling DAC and some may claim feeding 44.1K pulls the best out of it, although the statement is arguable. Also, not all USB/SPDIF converter can do 24/192, as a matter of fact, most of them can't. I think most budget USB/Optical converters are either PCM270x or CM10x based, which can only do 16bit @ 44.1K and 48K. Both chips are cable of bit perfect though. Or you can buy more expensive gear, such as EMU 0404USB, which costs twice of a stock Zero.

[sandchak]

Originally Posted by les_garten

I don't know why he had or has the issues reported on. I will say this, I don't deal with Vendors I don't know off of Ebay. There is no leverage, especially in China. On FleaBay, you can leave FB and put someone out of business if he does it enough. A PayPal payment to Johnny_Come_lately@China.com means you are at their mercy. Other than a Forum, nobody knows about your issues.

Additionally, I have Found that dealing with the East and Middle East means you need to respect their culture. Some of these people are very polite as they cut your head off. Playing a condescending Ugly American gets you TEN steps backward with them.

Don't flame, I am talking perception here. There is a cultural difference between cultures that foster free speech and those that stifle it. What an American might think is reasonable questionsmay be a Beheading offense elsewhere. Americans are known for their Rude behavior the world over. So any forwardness in conversation will be viewed as rude because you are an American, the same question from an Armenian or a Georgian would not be perceived the same.

Now look at Lawrence's Ebay FB, it's good. Everything is a matter of percentages. I must admit, I had already ordered mine when i saw those posts, and got REAL worried. But my experience could not have been better. I opend the box before firing it up, and looked everything over REAL well. It was perfect and delivered early. he communicated to me Saturday and Sunday. Every Email was answered. That was my experience.

I WOULD NOR ORDER OUTSIDE OF EBAY. I am looking at a DV 337SE and the vendors want to sell off Ebay, Forget it, no way I am sending $1000 to someone in China I don't know with Zero recourse. FleaBay ain't perfect, but its all we have.

I agree with you, but I also see it this way:

A guy orders a zero dac from Lawrence; let’s forget about the guys culture, his background, his hard earned money, his enthusiasm and his expectations. He gets the DAC, and when he hooks it up, his new headphones are fried, Man, he could have been electrocuted !!

Forget about business, to me this is a bloody crime – do you really expect that guy to sit and think how he has to deal with this issue, I mean hasn’t he dealt with it enough? Isn’t it the time for the other guy to be dealt with, and in a manner he should be.

I think it’s really about personalities and not culture, if something like this happened with me, I would never lick his butts just to secure my money, I would surely give him the words and treatment he deserves.

And honestly, I don’t agree when you say, Americans are known for their rude behavior, it’s true that they are mostly straight talker, and I truly believe it helps more than just sweet talking, especially when it comes to business. I mean when someone orders a dac from Lawrence, it’s purely business and nothing do with cultural exchanges..

I don’t know, I might be pulled up for this post, but to me I see how the person must have felt when got that DAC, to me, I would consider his feeling more than I would consider a billion people culture..

[ScottieB]

Originally Posted by sandchak

SNIP
I don’t know, I might be pulled up for this post, but to me I see how the person must have felt when got that DAC, to me, I would consider his feeling more than I would consider a billion people culture..

I hear what you're saying, and in a way you're right, but the point is that it is a fact that we all have differing cultures, and these differences will influence how we interact - whether we make a conscious decision to or not. You have to be aware of it and realize how it may affect the transaction and interaction. Add to the cultural barrier a very significant language barrier (man I'm glad Lawrence knows some english - because we'd be lost if I had to learn Chinese!) and you can see how issues could pop up. Regardless of culture I'd say business is business and customer service is customer service, but people are people too and we need to be aware of differing cultures during our interpersonal interactions. That doesn't excuse the handful of times that Lawrence has seemingly ignored emails and problems, but it does provide a cautionary tale for anyone who runs in to problems -- be aware of the cultural barriers when you contact him, and remember that what may seem "normal" or expected to you may just rub him the wrong way.

[sandchak]

Originally Posted by ScottieB

I hear what you're saying, and in a way you're right, but the point is that it is a fact that we all have differing cultures, and these differences will influence how we interact - whether we make a conscious decision to or not. You have to be aware of it and realize how it may affect the transaction and interaction. Add to the cultural barrier a very significant language barrier (man I'm glad Lawrence knows some english - because we'd be lost if I had to learn Chinese!) and you can see how issues could pop up. Regardless of culture I'd say business is business and customer service is customer service, but people are people too and we need to be aware of differing cultures during our interpersonal interactions. That doesn't excuse the handful of times that Lawrence has seemingly ignored emails and problems, but it does provide a cautionary tale for anyone who runs in to problems -- be aware of the cultural barriers when you contact him, and remember that what may seem "normal" or expected to you may just rub him the wrong way.

I again agree, but I feel it has to work both ways.
After all everyone has a personality and a culture, its not just the Chinese or the Americans, you respect and you will be respected, you don't and I wouldn't care which way it rubs..

[les_garten]

Originally Posted by sandchak

I again agree, but I feel it has to work both ways.
After all everyone has a personality and a culture, its not just the Chinese or the Americans, you respect and you will be respected, you don't and I wouldn't care which way it rubs..

Don't get me wrong, there's certainly some bad deals have happened here, and i agree about the customer service issue. Service is service. About "Frying Headphones", well there ain't no UL stamp on the back of this stuff, and there is no Consumer protection. Your house burns down because you are buying Chinese Electronics, you're kinda on your own there, unfortunately!

My point is, that if you send some money to someone with ZERO leverage and you have a dispute, "Butter shouldn't melt in your mouth" if you know what I mean. It's just plain common sense. If that person is of a culture that highly values etiquette, and politeness, it makes no sense to be forward and aggressive. Languages other than English have formal and informal speech just for this reason. For instance, I speak German, if I used formal tone to my dog, it would offend everyone within earshot, as well as if I used informal tone to someone I had just met. he would be insulted because I used the same tone as I use for my dog. You will notice in all Chinese correspondence how polite they are. When you become aggressive to them, they WILL be insulted. In the old days,they used to carry swords to handle etiquette issues.

Ohhh, and I'm an American and we are very Rude, condescending and arrogant. travel outside the US more.

[ScottieB]

Right - what I was saying was that if you want a certain result, you've got to "play the game" so to speak. For instance, I can't stand corporate america, the culture, the clothing, the politics - I HATE it. But I work for a fairly large corporation and as such, if I want to thrive, I need to play the game. I go home and tell my wife how stupid and phony it is, and at times it really messes with my integrity to be so fake and anti-everything I believe, but I gotta work, and I may as well be as successful as possible doing it (so I can pour more money into the Chinese electronics economy - ha!).

I think the point of all this from the beginning was to say just be aware, and use the knowledge you have to your advantage.

[sandchak]

Originally Posted by ScottieB

Right - what I was saying was that if you want a certain result, you've got to "play the game" so to speak. For instance, I can't stand corporate america, the culture, the clothing, the politics - I HATE it. But I work for a fairly large corporation and as such, if I want to thrive, I need to play the game. I go home and tell my wife how stupid and phony it is, and at times it really messes with my integrity to be so fake and anti-everything I believe, but I gotta work, and I may as well be as successful as possible doing it (so I can pour more money into the Chinese electronics economy - ha!).

I think the point of all this from the beginning was to say just be aware, and use the knowledge you have to your advantage.

Righto ! play the game - cheers scottie and Les !

[solessthanthree]

I feel bad for posting this in here, but I've spent the last two weeks reading three hundred of the pages in this thread as well as some others. From what I've read the Zero should be able to drive the 80ohm DT770s but I purchased the 250ohm 05 consumer edition and the bass is far weaker than I had imagined. Can anyone with experience with the 05 DT770s connected to the Zero without a dedicated amp comment on this?

I heard some people had good experiences with this setup but it's not happening for me. I've gotten the suggestion to pick up a dedicated amp but I'm skeptical at the moment but I'm willing to try it out.

I'm seriously considering selling these, but as my first real set of cans, I'd feel terrible for ending my hifi experience this early but I think I'd be happier finding something more fitting.

Anyways, any suggestions or comments would be very much appreciated. I'd really like to find that 'thundering' bass everyone's talking about

[les_garten]

Originally Posted by solessthanthree

I feel bad for posting this in here, but I've spent the last two weeks reading three hundred of the pages in this thread as well as some others. From what I've read the Zero should be able to drive the 80ohm DT770s but I purchased the 250ohm 05 consumer edition and the bass is far weaker than I had imagined. Can anyone with experience with the 05 DT770s connected to the Zero without a dedicated amp comment on this?

I heard some people had good experiences with this setup but it's not happening for me. I've gotten the suggestion to pick up a dedicated amp but I'm skeptical at the moment but I'm willing to try it out.

I'm seriously considering selling these, but as my first real set of cans, I'd feel terrible for ending my hifi experience this early but I think I'd be happier finding something more fitting.

Anyways, any suggestions or comments would be very much appreciated. I'd really like to find that 'thundering' bass everyone's talking about

Hello,
I just sold a one week old set of those today. It is not the Zero's fault. Those phones are limited in the Base dept. Has nothing to do with the amp or dac. If you bought them in the amazon deal, you can get your money back easily. I sold mine for what I paid for them $114.

[shampoosuicide]

A few quick questions:

Is this the earth leg of the RCA jack that I am supposed to solder the ground wire of the HDAM to?



I have my HDAM positioned here. Is this a good spot? As you can see, I have a 200mm extension lead, so I can really move it around.

[cuoreboy]

my zero last stage of mod .... :P