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

[sandchak]

Thats also true, what you say makes a lot of sense..

[les_garten]

Originally Posted by sandchak

Thats also true, what you say makes a lot of sense..

I was asking, what made you say this?

Well, the good thing is that even though he reads mails pretty late, he does read this forum !!

[Pricklely Peete]

I don't think LC has time to read this forum at all....seriously.

Peete.

[sandchak]

Well, a couple of days back, the forum was talking about him after one of the members, didn't receive the HDAM and pot.. and maybe he read that and responded to the buyer.. because there has been cases he didn't reply for more than a month..

[Pricklely Peete]

I'm pretty sure that person would have emailed about the missing parts rather than hoping LC read it here first. That doesn't make any sense IMO. I told the OP to email him right away so it can be looked after...I'm willing to bet that is what happened.

Not saying he couldn't have read it here......just that it's not very likely he did (IMO of course).

Peete.

[djchaz]

If I decided to do the whole upgrade path with buying an Earth HDAM, LT1364, and Alps pot, how much do you think this would cost compared to what Lawrence is selling?

[sandchak]

Dont know about LC, but if it was me, I would surely keep an eye on this forum ( as he does get clients from here), if especially my goodwill and business depended to even a little extent to what was spoken about me in this forum..
But then, there has been times when a lot was said about him out here about the case with burnt senns and still he took months to respond the buyer, so maybe you are right..

[les_garten]

Originally Posted by djchaz

If I decided to do the whole upgrade path with buying an Earth HDAM, LT1364, and Alps pot, how much do you think this would cost compared to what Lawrence is selling?

I did this math recently. It is close either way. Here's what you need to ask yourself.

1) Can you desolder and resolder in a new Volume Pot?
2)Can you put in the HDAM and Opamp? it is easy, but you should understand how to do it.
3) Do you want all the drama that has come about from LC recently?

I was going to buy another Zero for a project I am working on and thought I would buy it from LC, since I had no issues from him and felt maybe he had a bad run. Then some more stuff came out about him. It is not the fact that he might have issues that require repair or replacement that bothers me. It's how he "writes you off" if there is a problem that bothers me.

[Pricklely Peete]

Originally Posted by sandchak

Dont know about LC, but if it was me, I would surely keep an eye on this forum ( as he does get clients from here), if especially my goodwill and business depended to even a little extent to what was spoken about me in this forum..
But then, there has been times when a lot was said about him out here about the case with burnt senns and still he took months to respond the buyer, so maybe you are right..

98% of all Zero sales are domestic. Just an FYI. It puts into perspective where priorities may lie, harsh as that may seem. It's still unacceptable to be making these types of errors for any customer regardless of where the order comes from. I think some credit should be handed out to LC for trying and succeeding for the most part, to give us what other vendors refuse to offer. The Head Fi deal, the HDAM and Alps pot......if the track record of late was only an honest mistake or two every once in a blue moon we wouldn't be having this debate and all would be well.

I actually think he's so busy that these kind of mistakes are frequent and inevitable. It's too bad the best deal for a tweaked Zero turns out be a gamble when the order is placed....that is a loss to the forum that can only be redeemed with proper and prompt action from LC to make things right......I'm still a little shocked that AudioPhewl was never properly taken care of when his Zero arrived DOA. I simply cannot understand why LC hasn't put this right. It's way way too late now as AP has said. In any event that is an overall loss for the Head Fi membership IMO. As always others may fill in the gap but not offer the same deals.....

Peete.

[Ben Diss]

Originally Posted by x_lk

I think the one LC offers is Xitel DG2, or some other name but the same thing. Sony even used this little device as their official offering for transferring digital sound into their MD units. It's based on the ancient Philips UDA1321 chip, which, as I said in a previous post, has serious jitter problem. Do a search on ebay, you can find several different USB/SPDIF implementation. I would rank them(roughly, actual implementation and assembling quality do matter) in this order: cm10x optical < pcm270x optical < pcm290x optical < cm10x coaxial < pcm270x coaxial < pcm290x coaxial. This is only meant for cheap converters <$50, like this one currently on sale on ebay Mini USB to SPDIF (coaxial) (Use PCM2906) Converters - eBay (item 300276601659 end time Dec-03-08 16:22:54 PST). It's PCM2906 based and only $40 shipped. I'd say it's a good deal. If you can stop LC from shipping the converter, I suggest you do.

Edit: sorry, I did not pay attention on the fact that you've already received the converter. My bad.

Yes, the Xitel is a complete piece of crap. For the cost of postage, I'd give mine away ... on second thought, no I won't. I need to end this things little life right here.

BTW, I replaced mine with a $30 sound card and $25 Blue Jeans cable. It's pure sonic bliss. The difference is night and day.

[oofie810]

I just got my hdam (earth) today in the mail that I bought from ebay and after listening to a few tracks, I noticed that the vocals were more balanced (?) with the overall music. I think with my opa627, the vocals was taking over and too in your face, but with the hdam, it seems to me that it somehow stepped back and joined the rest of the music. It's a bit weird because I was used to the vocals taking front and center. Soundstage is better also.

Will this change after 100 hours?

[sandchak]

Originally Posted by Pricklely Peete

98% of all Zero sales are domestic. Just an FYI. It puts into perspective where priorities may lie, harsh as that may seem. It's still unacceptable to be making these types of errors for any customer regardless of where the order comes from. I think some credit should be handed out to LC for trying and succeeding for the most part, to give us what other vendors refuse to offer. The Head Fi deal, the HDAM and Alps pot......if the track record of late was only an honest mistake or two every once in a blue moon we wouldn't be having this debate and all would be well.

I actually think he's so busy that these kind of mistakes are frequent and inevitable. It's too bad the best deal for a tweaked Zero turns out be a gamble when the order is placed....that is a loss to the forum that can only be redeemed with proper and prompt action from LC to make things right......I'm still a little shocked that AudioPhewl was never properly taken care of when his Zero arrived DOA. I simply cannot understand why LC hasn't put this right. It's way way too late now as AP has said. In any event that is an overall loss for the Head Fi membership IMO. As always others may fill in the gap but not offer the same deals.....

Peete.

I do not know LC personally, but if lately what I read of him on the forum represents 2% of his business, I can well imagine how his other 98% business must be handled.
It is true that it might be a loss for the forum, but then we are dealing with a Chinese product, and I am sure someone will fill that gap, as currywong was saying that Wsz, may as well sell the same moded ZERO at the price LC was offering or maybe a little more, and if he is able to keep up the same level of service like his other products, I feel it would be worth the little hike in price..
Just my honest opinion..

[nauxolo]

Just want to say that my LT1364/alps pot/HDAM from lawrence on e-bay had no problems at all. Both optical/spdif ports work. Sound is great, etc. No problem, and all the parts look right too.

I purchased this recently, too... so there can be some good things. Although, considering the negative things happening, it WOULD be a risk I suppose.

[Currawong]

Two bits of news: I can now officially say that the Zero is not just "flavour of the month" but is now "Flavour of the year" on Head-fi, this thread now being a year old!

The second is, in response to the various issues and imperfections in the Zero, Audio-gd is going to design reasonably priced DAC/amp with better quality components and a better sound, for around US$200 or so. The thread for discussing this is here.

[sandchak]

That is good news !
Apologies, I quoted you wrong in my previous post regarding the moded zeros..