Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaco 
*Gasping for air*
I can't believe I actually just took FIVE HOURS to read through all 127 pages! I can't recommend this to anyone on the noob level like me as 80% of it was chit-chatting on technical yadayada which I didn't understand much of anyway 
I'm looking for my first headphone amplifier to my all new Senn HD600. As far as I can understand the default build-in opamps are not so great compared to the rest of the package huh? I can't imagine myself ever trying to mod my headphone amplifer so can you get this Lawrence dude to use some other parts? All your talk about various opamp parts in this thread just went straight over the head, it doesn't make any sense to me 
The Zero really seems like a solid choice for someone first headamp and I especially appreciate all the input/output functions. I will primarily be using it like X-Fi coax -> Zero DAC/Amp -> Senn HD650 headphones - given that the Zero can function as a DAC and amplifier at once? I really hope you can answer my questions 
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Hi Gaco!
Lets see, well, the Zero does have a nice built-in headphone amp. With stock Opamps in the Zero and after break-in, the sound is pretty ok coming out to the headphones. But, it is easy to upgrade the Opamps to something better, and that is what you have been trying to read. No problem. It won't take long to "understand" what is going on.

The Zero can function as a DAC, and at the press of a button, switch to headphones. It can't do both at the same time, which, when you think about it, is ok. You can't really listen to both at the same time anyway.

Your X-Fi will work great as a source, and we generally recommend lossless files, or MP3's at 320kbps.
I'm pretty sure Lawrence will (for a price) upgrade the DAC Opamp at your request. I don't know if he offers any upgrade Opamps for the headphone board or not, but you should ask him via email.
Using the Zero as a first amp does have it's advantages. Later on, you could buy a tube headphone amp and feed it with the Zero's DAC! If it was a tube amp, then you could listen to "tube" sound or solid state sound directly from the Zero's headphone amp. This gives you options, which is always nice!

Let us know how things are going!!
