Review: ZERO 24 BIT/192KHz DAC/Headphone Amp/Pre-Amp - Page 532

Well I don't have Denons, but with my closed phones (the Beyer DT-250 80ohm version) I really liked what the Moon did for them. Opened up soundstage a lot and seemed to give more bass punch than the Earth. But honestly you can't really go wrong with any of the HDAMs (including the Sun, IMO).

Here's what I'm listening to presently.

Vista 64 >> HT Omega Stryker 7.1 SC SPDIF >> Zero DAC >> LD MK V >> Senn HD650

I'm burning in everything at present at various stages of maturity, all new though.

Zero Has HDAM and LT1364. It is very easy to move the Senns from the LD MKV to the Zero. The Zero ain't Bad! Going to add a DV 337SE to the mix in the Next month with a separate Identical Zero. If you are looking for a DAC and a Head amp that's Pretty good and don't want to hobby it up, you can stop at the Zero. But that ain't what this forum is about is it??

If the 770's are new, you might wanna try burning them in for a few days before deciding on the bass
I felt the same way as you did when i got mine, but after 3 days of burning in the bass was a lot stronger and had more impact

I had the same phones, you are right, it gets better, but not better enough.

I got it used (about 4 months old) and it was recabled with the D5000 cables. How would the earth compare to moon?

Whats the best volume knob mod? I am quite sick of the cheapo stock knob.

have a look at this :

http://www.partsconnexion.com/catalo...sandknobs.html

KNOBS-64392Solid Brass - matte silver, 6mm - shaft diameter with Allen/socket screw mount26$22.95

It may not be the cheapest option, but I know some folks in the forum using these for their Zero and they are very happy..

do you guys mainly use the spdif to the zero or use a usb -> spdif converter? which one would entail better results?

Which one would entail better results?

Out of the choices presented - SPDIF and SPDIF - I'm going to take a stab in the dark that SPDIF will win hands-down...

It only matters if you are going to do something like kernel streaming or ASIO. USB might not have enough bandwidth for ASIO so if you are going to go that route you should go with spdif without the usb conversion.

I just bought this one. It may be too large when I get it though.

36x27mm Aluminum Knob with Sand Blasted for Alps Volume - eBay (item 360092018398 end time Nov-23-08 09:26:21 PST)

Hello all!

Some weeks passed after receiving Zero, but it is still some bad things with it.
First of all I resoldered Elna cap in the right position. Then downloaded RMAA and did some tests. My setup was AC'97 optical out connected to Zero, HDAM in the DAC and 2*NE5532(because one of the LT1364 is dead) in the HeadAmp.
THD+noise:

Intermodulation distortion:

As you can see results are very bad.
After that I inserted LT1364 in the DAC position instead of HDAM.
THD+noise:

Intermodulation distortion:

This is much better.
After more tests I understood that problem is HDAM. Then I inspected it with multimeter and I have a feeling that some transistors are inverted:

And maybe one of these (I'm not sure):

Please, someone, help me understand what's wrong with my HDAM. I think I'd beter fix it myself than ship it to Lawrence.

My first gen HDAM has copper shielding covers on it so I can't confirm or deny the orientation of the transistors you have pointed out Baltozar.

Send these pics with your questions to Kingwa at audio-gd. It's likely he'll be the one person that could answer your inquiries (most likely his schematic these were assembled with ).

I don't see a ground wire on your module ...where is it ? DaMnEd found the module measured rather badly with the ground wire unconnected and cleared up considerably with it grounded. The odd thing though is the differences between grounded and ungrounded is inaudible in listening tests. I leave mine alone and have at times had them grounded and ungrounded...haven't really heard a difference.

IMHO at least. Since I swap modules on a regular basis it's easier for me to leave these wires loose for convenience sake. Once I settle on a permanent installation I will solder in the ground wires for good because it looks better

Peete.

Far be it for me to comment on another man's knob () but that is one sweet piece of aluminum Les !!!

Post a pic or two when you have it installed....I'm curious to see if this style works with the Zero....I bet it will look really cool.

Peete.

Just got the Zero, and I'm finally looking at HDAMs now.

Does anyone use HDAMs in the Zero HeadAmp? Does it make any difference over LT1364s?

I've read a few difference forums/websites, and some people suggest going with HDAMs in the HeadAmp, while others say that's a bad idea. Could someone shed some more light on this, please? DaMnEd in the Zero Mod thread said it was a gamble going with 3x HDAMs in the Zero, and I was looking for more opinions on this.