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Review: ZERO 24 BIT/192KHz DAC/Headphone Amp/Pre-Amp - Page 437

post #6541 of 9242
9/14/08 at 11:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Currawong View Post
Gav, that doesn't sound like Andrea...but anyway...

At first I thought the Sun sounded better, but after burn-in, I now prefer the more neutral Earth. With my D5000's directly out of the Zero's HP jack, the Sun is a bit too bright and sibilant. The Sun reminds me a bit of the 4562's we tried out a while back - it's like someone hit the loudness button.
Hey Currawong . Yeah I must admit when I first tested out the SUN I was blown away but after a while I found it peaky & fatiguing . Whether as the hours built up ( 100 hours + ) and actually made it sound brighter I don't know . I now have the earth slotted in and loving it amensly , it's amazing how good the zero sounds now for so little money .. I have the LT1364's in the headamp but don't have any decent headphones at the moment . I borrowed a pair of AKG 701 of a friend with about 350 hours on them, has heaps of detail but lacks in the bottom end so I'm looking at picking up a pair of Senns HD650's ...

Gavin ...
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post #6542 of 9242
9/14/08 at 11:54pm
Ditto on the Sun, gavzero and currawong. Until yesterday, my Suns had stayed in their wrapping and since my Earth modules are now well run in, thought I'd give the Sun some .. er .. exposure. Left them running most of the day but on later listening, they are so tipped up at the frequency extremes that I found them fatiguing after a while, as you have. Earth has gone back in already. It might not seem a fair deal to the Sun module, but by most accounts this signature gets worse, not better. Glad they suit some people though, different strokes and all that. They just made my Senn 650s sound cheap, almost. Quite an extraordinary thing to hear really. Don't know what I am going to do with two of them now, though I do want a couple more OPA Earth for other projects.
If it interests you at all, gavzero, I bought my Senns from the States and saved myself $400NZD of the full retail! I can recommend the seller if you like?
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post #6543 of 9242
9/15/08 at 3:03am
If it interests you at all, gavzero, I bought my Senns from the States and saved myself $400NZD of the full retail! I can recommend the seller if you like?[/QUOTE]

Thanks Sennsay , I've been keeping an eye on US eBay for the Senn 650's and definitely much cheaper that way then to buy locally .. Now to just save those pennies ...

Gavin ..
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post #6544 of 9242
9/15/08 at 3:12am
Wow what I just noticed is that my Earth and the LT1364 are tooooo hot! The cover has been off the whole time. Also its been running like this for a few weeks now so I don't know what to think. I only noticed this heat issue because a previous poster had a similar problem.
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post #6545 of 9242
9/15/08 at 3:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LeBuLLeT View Post
Wow what I just noticed is that my Earth and the LT1364 are tooooo hot! The cover has been off the whole time. Also its been running like this for a few weeks now so I don't know what to think. I only noticed this heat issue because a previous poster had a similar problem.
Hot as in how hot ? Are you able to take the temp with the cover on ? I stuck a digital thermometer in mine with the lid on and it got up to 45C internally with external temp been about 22C . That seems to be the temperature , most of the heat I found comes from the 4 regulators on the head board .. Can't touch those as it feels like it's going to burn your finger ...

Gavin ..
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post #6546 of 9242
9/15/08 at 5:26am
Thanks Mods !!!!

Peete.
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post #6547 of 9242
9/15/08 at 6:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gavszero View Post
Hot as in how hot ? Are you able to take the temp with the cover on ? I stuck a digital thermometer in mine with the lid on and it got up to 45C internally with external temp been about 22C . That seems to be the temperature , most of the heat I found comes from the 4 regulators on the head board .. Can't touch those as it feels like it's going to burn your finger ...

Gavin ..
It gets so hot that I can't keep my finger on the LT's and Earth for long. It feels like I will burn my finger and this was with the cover off.
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post #6548 of 9242
9/15/08 at 6:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LeBuLLeT View Post
It gets so hot that I can't keep my finger on the LT's and Earth for long. It feels like I will burn my finger and this was with the cover off.
I haven't actually touch the chips to test , i've only tested the ambient temperature internally.. a lot of chips can run safely too hot for anyones finger .. If your not getting any sound degeneration or the smell of anything burning I wouldn't worry too much .. When I touch my zero on top it is quite hot but I've burned the SUN & Earth running 24/7 for days cooking away without anything burning up .. Touch wood .. I am going to drill some holes in line with each regalator behind the head amp and have a convection flow of air to see how that goes .. If that doesn't work i've got heaps of computer parts including some video card fans which are pretty small and quite .

Gavin ...
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post #6549 of 9242
9/15/08 at 6:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LeBuLLeT View Post
It gets so hot that I can't keep my finger on the LT's and Earth for long. It feels like I will burn my finger and this was with the cover off.
Hmm, that's absolutely crazy! I wonder if there has been a resistor or two of the wrong value put in the circuit. They really should only get warm, never hot. Certainly a circuit diagram would be handy. Have you tried other op-amps in the same position to see what happens with them? If the HDAM isn't getting the right current then it would make sense that the op-amps down stream will be affected. If I remember correctly, when Penchum was swapping op-amps a ways back, when the op-amp in the DAC was hot, so were the op-amps in the head amp. Maybe Pench could confirm that, if it's worth looking at.
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post #6550 of 9242
9/15/08 at 7:06am
Ok i am kind of lost but the Lt1463 are WAAAAAAAAAY hot to touch. Also another thing that I have noticed is that when I turn off my Zero with the headphones connected it makes a loud popping noise.
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post #6551 of 9242
9/15/08 at 7:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LeBuLLeT View Post
Ok i am kind of lost but the Lt1463 are WAAAAAAAAAY hot to touch. Also another thing that I have noticed is that when I turn off my Zero with the headphones connected it makes a loud popping noise.
Hey LeBuLLeT

Don't listen to Charad , IT's a nusence that you'll learn will pop up on a daily bases with rubbish and information not relevent . You can normally tell by the number of messages writen today , IT keeps getting deleted so this is another day ..
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post #6552 of 9242
9/15/08 at 7:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LeBuLLeT View Post
Ok i am kind of lost but the Lt1463 are WAAAAAAAAAY hot to touch. Also another thing that I have noticed is that when I turn off my Zero with the headphones connected it makes a loud popping noise.
I just popped off the cover on mine and my LT1364's are pretty hot too to touch .. The OPA-Earth Hdam in the DAC is only warm ...
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post #6553 of 9242
9/15/08 at 7:53am
Hey charad is that one person that keeps getting banned correct? Yea the lt1364 are BLAZING! I doubt they are made to run that hot.
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post #6554 of 9242
9/15/08 at 8:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LeBuLLeT View Post
Hey charad is that one person that keeps getting banned correct? Yea the lt1364 are BLAZING! I doubt they are made to run that hot.
Yep thats the person , he'll be back tomorrow with a different name ..

I just looked up the data sheet and for the LT1364's the temp range is 40C to 85C .. Just Google lt1364 temperature ...
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post #6555 of 9242
9/15/08 at 10:47am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gavszero View Post
Yep thats the person , he'll be back tomorrow with a different name ..

I just looked up the data sheet and for the LT1364's the temp range is 40C to 85C .. Just Google lt1364 temperature ...
Has someone already called the EU's computer fraud/harassment 800 hotline number?

A little LT1364 history:

Back when the LT1364 was being looked at for DAC section use, it was getting way too hot for everyone to feel safe about it, but, when measured with my laser temp gun, it was around 80C after 24/7 use. A couple of guys liked it so much in the DAC position, they put aluminum stick-on coolers on them, to keep them cooler during long listening sessions. That Opamp really is tops for SQ in the DAC section! It just seemed too risky, so the majority kindly stopped recommending it for the DAC section.

Then it was discovered that the LT1364's strongest trait, was it's ability to "not" colorize a neutral DAC signal, like many other Opamps do by default. It's not entirely "flat", but adds just a tiny little bit in the right places, making it a perfect companion for the headphone amp section, and the majority of headphones that are being used.

The LT1364's get far less hot in the headphone amp section. Enough so that I haven't felt the need to measured it, but I will before too long, so we have a true picture of the heat issue. I've been running them in my headphone section for a good long time now, and the heat generated hasn't caused any side effects, so I think we are still ok for this usage. There are hundreds of Zero's out there now, using the LT1364's in the headphone amps, and everything is fine.

On a side note: The Zero's case isn't totally setup to cool properly after mods have been done. There are NO air "intakes" for the case. For proper convection currents to form, you would need a few air intake holes in the bottom of the case, toward the front edge. As the air inside of the case rises in temperature, the hottest air flows out the vents on the top rear of the unit, while room temperature air is "pulled" in from the front bottom. This establishes an air flow current that helps keep everything cooler. This is another small project I've had on the "to do" list for a while.
If someone has already checked this and done it, please post away!!
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