DAC comparison: Storm D02 vs Zhaolu vs Harmon Kardon HD970 - Page 3

Can we pls talk more about the DACs

In order of who said what:

alex_cs: No. the DAC was not modded at all. I would have said if it was, because I realise that is a very important part of the comparo of any products. It is borrowed from a friend so I can't go futzing with it.

"av710+optical, and i think this is a funciton of the amount of buffer in ASIO4ALL"

I don't use ASIO4ALL, I (and my friend) both use "foo_asio_out.dll" My friend did not get the crackles, like I do between every song. So that makes me conclude the Zhaolu is more senstive to source than the HK or D02 (all were tested using my PC as source and my iRiver as source, and the Zhaolu and D02 were also tested using the HK's CDP as source. The Zhaolu + 0404 is the only combination which crackled.

Jon L:
1. Comparison for headphones was done using the configuration for a period but because of all the plugging and unplugging they all ended up on the floor or stacked. Not sure if you noticed, but that "shelf" the D02 sits on is sitting on top of a padded footstool! Hardly solid. Regardless, if any of these products are susceptible to differences in performance because of what the owner stacks with them, they are junk in my opinion. During the comparison at my friends place, the amps and DACs were all on the floor - a common material for all, regardless how good it is.

2. Why can't we expect anything but average results without good power on a "normal" DAC like Zhaolu? You are correct, the D02 would theoretically perform better in a situation where power is not the cleanest. We must have clean power here because I cannot not tell any difference between AC and DC D02 operation thus far.

3. "midbass-lean headphones like K701" I owned the HD650 for more than a year and was constantly underwhelmed by it's (IMO!) overpowering warmth/midbass. When I changed to the K701 (even unamped) I liked it much more. I've owned them now for about 6 months or so and 400 hours, and adding the D02 to the mix didn't change the overall sound signature. The atmosphere and separation were common to both the K701 in my listening, and also on the speaker setup.

4. I also listened to the following soundtracks, but the post was already very long so I omitted them: Soundtrack - Ghost in the Shell, Soundtrack - Lord of the Rings - The Fellow Ship of the Ring, Soundtrack - Batman Begins, Soundtrack - A Beautiful Mind, Soundtrack - The Brothers Grimm, Soundtrack - The Sixth Sense, Soundtrack - Immortal Beloved. My classical just happens to be in soundtracks, as I'm still trying to figure out what are the best proper standalone performances of classical pieces to get hold of. Immortal Beloved is full of Beethoven music. What is "acoustic" with "s ?? My CD of 11 string classical guitar sounds very good through the D02. Same benefits as previously stated.

The speakers linked to do indeed appear to be the speakers used. All the DACs passed through those same speakers.

alex_cs: WRT DAC functionality, and with it's stock sound signature clear to me, unless the mods you're talking about change the signature drastically, I can't see myself being very impressed by it.

Sean H: of course anything will sound better with good power conditioning. But then EVERYTHING will sound better. IMO, because I cannot tell the difference with the D02 in battery/AC mode, I think I'm possibly hearing it at it's best already WRT power. I would prefer a unit which is independent of power cleanliness (and source component while we're talking about external factors).

Jon L: thanks for moving the vibration talk.