Review: ZERO 24 BIT/192KHz DAC/Headphone Amp/Pre-Amp - Page 529

are you intending to mod this yourself? or are there people who sell modded versions?

again i need to ask if this improvement is on the amp side of things or the dac? because i'm going to use active monitors and those already have their own amps so the zero's amp will probably be bypassed.

Anyone else can chime in on this?

Because I'm seriously considering selling the DV332, but if the problem lies with the Zero, then I'll send it back to get fixed.

Well, I'll be doing it myself, like many in the forum, I do not think there are any sources where you can aquire a ready made Franken Zero, and infact, this mod covers all sections of the Zero, and if you wish, you could skip the HP board, but thats the smallest mod in the entire process.

Take a look at this page, its all there..

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/fra...5/#post4843415

okay i'll take a look at that. btw could you comment on the 24bit/192khz from the USB? is the dac upsampling the 24bit/192khz from the 16bit out of the USB, or is the USB feeding 24bit out to the dac?

There is no USB input on the DAC. The DAC has only two digital inputs - optical and coaxial - so you need a soundcard with optical or coaxial digital output to feed the DAC.

Hi,
Lawrence has had some issues. However, I just bought one from him. I ordered it on Saturday, and it was in my hands the following Thurs. One thing he has the others don't have on theirs is the Alps Volume pot. High quality and clean sounding. He also installs and sells the HDAM, that the others don't have, that you will want if you read the thread. I would definitely order it from him on Ebay, so you can bang him with some Bad feedback if anything goes wrong. I understand the concern here though.

With all due respect though, if you have a problem with an asian, you should be polite about it. Just watch Shogun if you don't know what I mean. They can be easily offended by our western barbarian ways. I'm just being a realist here. I would order from him again with my experience.

You need to isolate the two components to see which is causing the trouble. If you can reproduce the issue, take the DV 332 off the dac, send it the same music and see if the problem goes away whe listening to the dac alone or the DV alone. Listen to the Zero/Dac with the zero's Head amp, see if the problem is there without the DV. Basic troubleshooting here.

I am glad you have had a good transaction with Lawrence, generally speaking, he had an extremely good reputation out here in the forum when things started to go bad.
Since you have bought the moded Zero from Lawrence, I have a question:
What is the HDAM he uses on his moded Zeros? Burnson??..

Here is my corrospondence with lawrence on this issue:


Dear biglawhk,

Hi, Your listing says free shipping, what mode of
shipping would you use to ship to Georgia (NOT
USA) ? and what HDAM module are you using Earth
or SUN?
Let me know
Thanks

and his answer:

Dear sir ,

It is by air mail. Burson HDAM which is the most serious built HDAM and the number of FETs and transistors is more than the other HDAM.

Thank you very much !

Best regards,
Lawrence


Its not about Asian, European or American, its about truth and lie - I decided not to buy from him..

Hello,
This is the only Zero I have had. According to the thread, his HDAM is the "original" Earth, or the Burson if you will. It does not have the Cap mods like the new ones.

Over reacting

Yea, I too was chastised about my “jumping the gun” and not waiting for him to “make things right.” Well, I am still waiting. After having read the writing on the wall of how others had been treated by Lawrence I immediately knew what I was going to get, or more explicitly, where I was going to get it.

I am glad you had good luck with Lawrence, noone is saying that Lawrence can't ship a good product, the problem is that he sometimes doesn't. The even bigger problem is that when he does ship a bad problem, he makes you pay to make it right (ship it back at your own cost) before he sends you a new one. I don't know, maybe he would be better behaved if the purchase was through ebay and he feared his feedback rating decline. Yes, it is true that you can only get the volume pot through Lawrence, but I think the risks aren't worth it. At least wsz0304 will ship you a new unit free of charge if something goes wrong. Lawrence will not.

I also feel that he lied to me. He told me he burned in my Zero for an hour before shipping and verified that it was functioning. He claimed that my malfunction was due to shipping damage even though there was no indication of any external or internal physical damage. I don't believe that at all.

Naa, its not the same, I think Burson HDAMs costs twice if not more than the Earth HDAM it uses, it might sound the same, but its not the same.. and then if you see the courteous mail I had written to him, I had asked him if it was Earth or Sun.. Anyway, I just found his reply not truthful and I pulled back from dealing with him..

You're right about the cost, but I think he's right about it being the Earth. The way I understand it is Audio-GD makes them, but didn't always sell them. They were sold by 3rd parties (like Burson). Then Audio-GD improved the HDAMs and started selling them directly - effectively cutting out the middleman and lowering the cost. It has been stated here several times that the Burson HDAM IS, in fact, the 1st-gen Earth module.

Cost doesn't mean anything. You could take a lot of things out of China and depending on who you buy it from, the cost is radically different. I've seen the same Porsche headers with different names on them go from $1200 to $600 to $350 depending on who you buy them from. Same headers made in the same factory in China. If you have some proof he is not using Burson, please present it. The thread here from the guys who have handles a lot of these units suggest it is Burson, if that really makes a difference in the scheme of things. If the Audio-gd ones are about the same and cheaper, just seems like one Chinese company ripping off another one to me!! What goes around comes around!

I agree everything what ScottieB has said, and since I havent brought from Lawrence, I cannot prove its specifically Burson HDAM or not, maybe you can do that, keeping in mind that Burson HDAM is registered product and it costs twice as much as AudioGD Earth HDAM.
And in any case, I had very courteously asked him if it was Earth or Sun Module, he could have just said Earth, because No matter what anyone says, I do not think he uses Burson HDAM perse, it just would not make business sence..

This is a strange conversation, because you have NO idea what he pays for anything!