Zhaolu 2.0 ARRIVED!!! IMPRESSION INSIDE!

[Herandu]

Originally Posted by unbiased

What's the consensus on the latest Zhaolu D2.5c ? Why'd this thread just end and die? It was all about the D2 and D2C but now there is D2.5C and I am new to discovering these Zhaolu DAC/amps. Have any of your Zhaolu owners kept up and can tell me what the differences are? There is a D3 also but I bought the D2.5C with discrete amp module because I wanted a headphone amp built in to my DAC. Dunno if I made the wise choice or not... I also found and bought a Zhaolu look-alike called Zero 24/192 DAC/amp which uses the AD1872 DAC and OPA2604 op amp (headphone amp uses JRC5532 op amps). I swapped the opa2604 op amp with opa627's and it sounds better to me. pretty good! Is anyone up-to-date enough to tell me what are the differences I am asking about (above)?

I guess many people have bought the Beresford TC-7510 instead. The mods are simpler and the MK6/2 modded (some people call it the MK6/3) the D3 is left standing. That includes the headphone amp as well. The Zhaolu uses opamps that were not designed for driving headphones, whilst the TC-7510 uses proper headphone ICs and therefore produces a better headphone sound as well. I won't even mention price.

[ast]

Haven't tried Bresford 7510. But I owned Lavry DA10, a stock Zhaolu 2.5c, a OMZ 2.5a at the same time and I did quite extensive comparison. The OMZ wins in overall clarity, soundstage, and "liveliness" for lack of words to describe.

I just got another OMZ 2.5a with new black faceplate (to match my other gears) and two RCA outputs. So I have three Zhaolu's now It is REALLY good. Some time in the future I may get a Mark Levinson 360s DAC or 390s CD player and see how it compares with Zhaolu



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[unbiased]

Originally Posted by ast

Haven't tried Bresford 7510. But I owned Lavry DA10, a stock Zhaolu 2.5c, a OMZ 2.5a at the same time and I did quite extensive comparison. The OMZ wins in overall clarity, soundstage, and "liveliness" for lack of words to describe.

I just got another OMZ 2.5a with new black faceplate (to match my other gears) and two RCA outputs. So I have three Zhaolu's now It is REALLY good. Some time in the future I may get a Mark Levinson 360s DAC or 390s CD player and see how it compares with Zhaolu
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Hmmm, that's interesting. What exactly are the mods that ori has done to the older D2.5a to make it better and can they be done to the D2.5c ?
I did start searching rescently for info on these Zhaolu DAC/amps and so far have read that the mods consist of removing the output capacitors from the signal path, removing the LED's and input selector circuitry, removing just about everything execept the DAC ! and adding his own discrete headphone amp section. Is that it? The Zhaolu D2.5C that I just ordered says it comes with the optional discrete headphone amplifier module (I ordered it with it for extra cost). Is this the same Ori mod that has been popularize here on these forums or is it someone else's amp mod? I am getting the CS4398 DAC version which I was thought was supposed to be better. But after reading some postings, it seems that the older AD1852 DAC is preferred as the better modded sounding version. I am hoping that I like the CS4398 DAC better. My new Zero 24/192 DAC/amp that I just got today (won off of ebay) looks to be similar to early Zhaolu circuit using AD1852 DAC and opa2604 I/V op amp stage. Letting that burn in for now... it sounded harsh out of the box but has mellowed quite a bit in the past 8 hours it has been playing. It sounds pretty good now and hoping it gets better with more burn-in time.

I don't have my Zhaolu D2.5C yet as I only placed my order yesterday for it from a place called Audiomagus. Took a chance as I have never heard of them before. For $276 total shipped, I was thinking I can't go wrong with it.