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Review: ZERO 24 BIT/192KHz DAC/Headphone Amp/Pre-Amp - Page 79

post #1171 of 9226
1/29/08 at 7:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Penchum View Post
Do you mean using the built-in headphone amp, or from the DAC to your MK?
I'm only using Zero right now. Pretty nice sound from Zero's headamp, but I still prefer the less sharp highs from tubes.
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post #1172 of 9226
1/29/08 at 7:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Seba View Post
I'm only using Zero right now. Pretty nice sound from Zero's headamp, but I still prefer the less sharp highs from tubes.
Ow, ok! Ya, no doubt! Hows the burn-in coming along?
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post #1173 of 9226
1/29/08 at 8:27pm
Mines getting better now, about 30 hours, but my power LED has gone, I've emailed Lawrence.

My SB card has 3 output options for the digital, 44.1, 48 & 96.

Reading up a bit on Benchmarks site, they suggest setting the output to the same as the encoded material, in this case 44.1, anyone here got any advice?

Thanks

The LittleDot MKV is opening up too
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post #1174 of 9226
1/29/08 at 9:08pm
its gone bright again now, oh well see what lawrence says.
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post #1175 of 9226
1/29/08 at 9:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mp101 View Post
Reading up a bit on Benchmarks site, they suggest setting the output to the same as the encoded material, in this case 44.1, anyone here got any advice?
Benchmarks DAC1 has an ASRC which re-samples all incoming signal to 110kHz, because in their eyes the DAC (AD1853) loves this frequency and produces the best possible analogue signal. Even if the source is 192k, it's down-sampled to 110kHz.

If Zeros receiver CS8416 doesn't do an up-sampling, I would produce a 96kHz signal for the DAC (AD1852).
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post #1176 of 9226
1/30/08 at 12:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kmel View Post
Benchmarks DAC1 has an ASRC which re-samples all incoming signal to 110kHz, because in their eyes the DAC (AD1853) loves this frequency and produces the best possible analogue signal. Even if the source is 192k, it's down-sampled to 110kHz.

If Zeros receiver CS8416 doesn't do an up-sampling, I would produce a 96kHz signal for the DAC (AD1852).
This is what my X-Fi ExtremeMusic is doing. Sounds excellent!
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post #1177 of 9226
1/30/08 at 1:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Penchum View Post
This is what my X-Fi ExtremeMusic is doing. Sounds excellent!
Hope you don't use CMSS3D or the 24-bit crystallizer: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/ga...ml#post2024391
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post #1178 of 9226
1/30/08 at 5:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Penchum View Post
Ow, ok! Ya, no doubt! Hows the burn-in coming along?
I have feeded pink noise from my PC to it all night and I have hooked up my Sennheiser PX200's to the headamp because I don't want to risk my RS-2's if anything bad happens.
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post #1179 of 9226
1/30/08 at 6:10am
Thanks guys, all EAX & CMSS options are disabled.

I did notice a very small change between 44.1 48 & 96, so left it at 96.
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post #1180 of 9226
1/30/08 at 1:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kmel View Post
Hope you don't use CMSS3D or the 24-bit crystallizer: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/ga...ml#post2024391
Hi, sorry I took so long. No, I have all the "bells & whistles" turned off. It's the only way to have a "clean" signal.
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post #1181 of 9226
1/30/08 at 2:16pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mp101 View Post
Mines getting better now, about 30 hours, but my power LED has gone, I've emailed Lawrence.

My SB card has 3 output options for the digital, 44.1, 48 & 96.

Reading up a bit on Benchmarks site, they suggest setting the output to the same as the encoded material, in this case 44.1, anyone here got any advice?

Thanks

The LittleDot MKV is opening up too
Quote:
Originally Posted by mp101 View Post
its gone bright again now, oh well see what lawrence says.
If the brightness dims, or goes out, try cycling the power. I discovered that static electricity to the headphone cable was causing my Zero's protection circuits to kick in. Darn dry weather!!!
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post #1182 of 9226
1/30/08 at 3:27pm
I picked up mine after work today!








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post #1183 of 9226
1/31/08 at 1:01am
Thread Starter 
[QUOTE=davve;3732483]I picked up mine after work today!

Great. How does it sound initially to you?

Nice pics by the way!!
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post #1184 of 9226
1/31/08 at 10:25am
Is this what I want?
My rig would be then,
PC soundcard (Audigy 2 ZS atm) - Zero - AKG K271 STUDIO
Do I need buy any cables to get all work out?
Just dont wanna spend too much money for 1st setup.
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post #1185 of 9226
1/31/08 at 10:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clok View Post
Is this what I want?
My rig would be then,
PC soundcard (Audigy 2 ZS atm) - Zero - AKG K271 STUDIO
Do I need buy any cables to get all work out?
Just dont wanna spend too much money for 1st setup.
Your Audigy 2 ZS has coaxial out from the flexi-jack (top one) on the back, correct? Then all you need is a coaxial cable and the coaxial to mini jack adapter, so you can plug-in to the Audigy's flexi-jack. The other end of the coaxial cable plugs into the Zero. In the software, you'd tell it to use digital out and turn off stuff like the 3D and EAX. Ta-Da! On the Zero, you would select coaxial as the source and select phones to activate the headphone amp. The volume knob on the Zero is for the headphone amp, so you would control the volume there, not in the software of our computer.

I do this exact same thing with my X-fi and it is great! This is the perfect upgrade path with a budget in mind. The Zero will mature nicely in about 100hrs of use, and later if you want to, you can change Opamps in it to change the sound to your tastes. If you decide to pickup a tube amp later, you can use the Zero's DAC output on the back to drive the new tube amp.
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