The Antelope Zodiac / Zodiac + / Zodiac Gold DAC Thread - Page 16

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You're gonna make this wait even harder... lol.

Anyway, really looking forward to your review!

6 moons should have plenty of burn-in before their review as they say they're in the process of moving. Will be interesting to hear what they say as well.

I'm almost considering the Zodiac+ right now as money really isn't the issue but I don't need all the features...

Can I ask you for a vague qualitative answer to the difference in sound between the headphone out and balanced through the Violectric? 
 

I will give you the Violectric vs. Zodiac+ head outs comparison in my review at 200+ hours.  But I can tell you right now, the head outs are quite nice with my LCD-2s.  I am tempted to try the word clock from Antelope with the Zodiac+ one day as well, to see what all the fuss is about! (since the + model has word clock input)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Permagrin 

Quote:

Originally Posted by TigzStudio 

A little update here, I am at about 120 hours or so....it is by far the best DAC I have heard to date.  I really am trying to find any fault I can to be balanced about my impressions but really there aren't any that I have found yet.  With high quality recordings this thing just astounds me, way to go Antelope!  

 

Hopefully 6moons puts at least 150 hours on it before reviewing, maybe I got used to sound...or maybe it broke in, who knows.  But at 120 hours or so on mine, I am thoroughly loving the music.  

 

You're gonna make this wait even harder... lol.

 

Anyway, really looking forward to your review!

 

6 moons should have plenty of burn-in before their review as they say they're in the process of moving. Will be interesting to hear what they say as well.

 

I'm almost considering the Zodiac+ right now as money really isn't the issue but I don't need all the features...

 

Can I ask you for a vague qualitative answer to the difference in sound between the headphone out and balanced through the Violectric? 
 

The DAC section seems like the strong point for the Zodiac. As a complete product however, I'm a little more curious about the headphone amp section and how beefy that is. The site itself has very little details on the headamp section. I see it as useful for someone looking to buy a DAC, who's also upgrading his amp, like me. If I were to spend 800$~ on a DAC, and another 750~800$ on an amp, I'd rather get something in the range of 1500$ that is a single box sitting on my table. If it gives me 10 per cent less performance, so be it.

Any comments?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vandal 

The DAC section seems like the strong point for the Zodiac. As a complete product however, I'm a little more curious about the headphone amp section and how beefy that is. The site itself has very little details on the headamp section. I see it as useful for someone looking to buy a DAC, who's also upgrading his amp, like me. If I were to spend 800$~ on a DAC, and another 750~800$ on an amp, I'd rather get something in the range of 1500$ that is a single box sitting on my table. If it gives me 10 per cent less performance, so be it.

 

Any comments?

I agree, I'd rather have less boxes on the table as well. I'd be quite surprised if I'll be satisfied with simply going through the RCA headphone out. Then it's either driven through my Bursons or I reterminate to XLR and use the outs on the back of the Zodiac. If only the base model was coming out sooner I could help answer these questions. 

Well, hopefully we won't have to wait much longer for Tigz' review. 
 

Yeah I apologize I should have a review coming this week, I have been extremely busy with my business.  As far as the headouts I honestly feel one could be quite satisfied with them.  

^Exactly. How many good DACs have we seen with mediocre/poor headphone amp sections? 90 per cent of all affordable ones? I have 1500$ to spend, saved up over the past year. And I'm sure many will root for a dedicated DAC and amp - sure, this will sound better, while giving me the ability to tune/customise my sound setup further - I have more components to switch.

But having a all-in-one solution that does 90~95 per cent of what dedicated components do is very appealing. I could actually carry this to office, and use my D7000s or RS1 with my MAC, and not miss my amp on my table. Now that would be something worth losing 5 per cent of performance and 10 per cent more cash over.

@Tigz' exactly what I was afraid of. What is the V181, sorry I didn't get that? Awaiting your review. And please take a week more if needed, but review the headphone amp section as well.

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Permagrin 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vandal 

The DAC section seems like the strong point for the Zodiac. As a complete product however, I'm a little more curious about the headphone amp section and how beefy that is. The site itself has very little details on the headamp section. I see it as useful for someone looking to buy a DAC, who's also upgrading his amp, like me. If I were to spend 800$~ on a DAC, and another 750~800$ on an amp, I'd rather get something in the range of 1500$ that is a single box sitting on my table. If it gives me 10 per cent less performance, so be it.

 

Any comments?

 

I agree, I'd rather have less boxes on the table as well. I'd be quite surprised if I'll be satisfied with simply going through the RCA headphone out. Then it's either driven through my Bursons or I reterminate to XLR and use the outs on the back of the Zodiac. If only the base model was coming out sooner I could help answer these questions. 

 

Well, hopefully we won't have to wait much longer for Tigz' review. 
 

If that va meet ever happens I will probably bring one.  I'll try to burn it in until then.  Sadly I won't be bringing what I am going to be using at home to feed it a digital audio signal so hopefully someone can help me out there.  I'll bring an external hard drive though... also I've got some lcd2 cables you could try out of the back heh I don't know if I really intend to do that myself though.  I'll almost certainly run it through an amp in the long run should I decide to keep it.

I have no comments on the quality of said device as it is in the hands of fedex at the moment.

The V181 is a violectric headphone amp (balanced) I think?

edit: I realize now that I have butchered that particular cable to use the female XLRs elsewhere and do NOT have something for you to try out of the balanced outputs on the back to your headphone.

Yes the v181 is the Violectric balanced.  

And I am actually going to take back what I said about the v181 being superior for time being as I have been listening the entire day today in my home studio to purely the headphone outs of the Zodiac+.....and I may have jumped the gun in that statement.  These headouts on the Zodiac+ really have surprised me with the LCD-2's (in a good way).  I am making sure I really have a true grasp of the Antelopes capabilities before I post a full review as well, so that means a lot of hours spent listening to lots of different music high quality and otherwise.  
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by BebopMcJiggy 

 

The V181 is a violectric headphone amp (balanced) I think?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by BebopMcJiggy 

If that va meet ever happens I will probably bring one.  I'll try to burn it in until then.  Sadly I won't be bringing what I am going to be using at home to feed it a digital audio signal so hopefully someone can help me out there.  I'll bring an external hard drive though... also I've got some lcd2 cables you could try out of the back heh I don't know if I really intend to do that myself though.  I'll almost certainly run it through an amp in the long run should I decide to keep it.

 

I have no comments on the quality of said device as it is in the hands of fedex at the moment.

 

 

The V181 is a violectric headphone amp (balanced) I think?

 

edit: I realize now that I have butchered that particular cable to use the female XLRs elsewhere and do NOT have something for you to try out of the balanced outputs on the back to your headphone.

Awesome! Even more excited about the meet now.

Hopefully I can bring my SACD player without dragging along too much gear. Perhaps we could AB the HA-160 and Zodiac + through the AB-160 (has multiple ins and switch), would be interesting.

 

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So, I've had a little time with it now.  Arrived on Saturday and has been burning in since then.  At first I found it a little strident, but all traces of that seemed to have disappeared for me by Sunday.  Not sure if I just got used to it or what, my friend had no such complaints though.  At -0db the signal from the balanced analog outputs was so ungodly loud through my amp... apparently there are also trim pots on the back to raise said outputs from +4dBu to +22dBu.  Madness.  Anyhow, so I was unable to get my computer to play 24/192 over spdif with wasapi, however I had no problem with usb (also wasapi).  No drivers or anything were necessary so that is kind of cool.  Was somewhat busy this weekend but when I did get to listen more on Sunday it sounded quite nice.  Also had a friend over who is also into such things and he had nothing but good things to say about it so far.  (Relatively short listening session though.)  I wish I had more dacs to compare it to.  Best dac I have heard so far, but sadly that is not saying too much... hopefully this meet in VA happens and I can compare it to some other items in its own price range, albeit briefly.  My friend will be coming back over tonight with some of his other headphones to give it a longer listen with me.  Last night he was stuck with his pair of SA5ks that happened to be at my place, but he did say he had never heard so much bass from them in his life.  I'll just have to take his word for it, as while he has left them at my house recently they never get any play time over the LCD2s for me.

Is there any difference between the 2 headphone jacks on the front?  I suppose I can test when I get off work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BebopMcJiggy 

So, I've had a little time with it now.  Arrived on Saturday and has been burning in since then.  At first I found it a little strident, but all traces of that seemed to have disappeared for me by Sunday.  Not sure if I just got used to it or what, my friend had no such complaints though.  At -0db the signal from the balanced analog outputs was so ungodly loud through my amp... apparently there are also trim pots on the back to raise said outputs from +4dBu to +22dBu.  Madness.  Anyhow, so I was unable to get my computer to play 24/192 over spdif with wasapi, however I had no problem with usb (also wasapi).  No drivers or anything were necessary so that is kind of cool.  Was somewhat busy this weekend but when I did get to listen more on Sunday it sounded quite nice.  Also had a friend over who is also into such things and he had nothing but good things to say about it so far.  (Relatively short listening session though.)  I wish I had more dacs to compare it to.  Best dac I have heard so far, but sadly that is not saying too much... hopefully this meet in VA happens and I can compare it to some other items in its own price range, albeit briefly.  My friend will be coming back over tonight with some of his other headphones to give it a longer listen with me.  Last night he was stuck with his pair of SA5ks that happened to be at my place, but he did say he had never heard so much bass from them in his life.  I'll just have to take his word for it, as while he has left them at my house recently they never get any play time over the LCD2s for me.

 

Is there any difference between the 2 headphone jacks on the front?  I suppose I can test when I get off work.

Thanks Bebop! Sounds like you're enjoying it. 
 

Yeah, I like it so far... I don't want to be too enthusiastic though, as I really haven't listened to too many dacs that should really be considered direct competitors to it, nor have I even really listened to it for that long yet.  Certainly appears to be nicer than what I have been working with so far though.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by BebopMcJiggy 

Yeah, I like it so far... I don't want to be too enthusiastic though, as I really haven't listened to too many dacs that should really be considered direct competitors to it, nor have I even really listened to it for that long yet.  Certainly appears to be nicer than what I have been working with so far though.  

Awesome! Glad someone else here will have the pleasure of listening to this DAC.  Trust me once you hit 200+ hours on the Antelope....you will be very happy.  That is when you should truly gauge its performance to be honest.  

I actually havent compared the two headouts, I would imagine there shouldn't be a difference....I will test it out.

I recently sent an email to Welborne Labs with a question about them being able to create a nicer power supply for the Antelope Zodiac+, as the supplied unit is a bit chincy.  I sent them detailed information about the current power supply with pictures/ratings.  Here is the reply I received.  

"Yes, the Antelope DACs look very nice.  We can provide a high quality 18V power supply to replace the wallwart.  

The locking connector is no problem.  It appears to be a standard 5.5mm connector but if you could measure the center pin diameter for us that would help as there are two common sizes, 2.1mm and 2.5mm.

Our power supplies are on sale at 20% discount and we accept credit cards and PayPal.

Let us know the connector dimensions and we can proceed from there."

I will find out more info.