[_Spanky_]

I'm thinking more and more of getting one of these from eBay to add to my setup but I'd like to educate myself a bit so I don't needlessly blow money (to the sane person, I'm already past that

, ty Head-Fi).

Questions:
Is it worth it to buy the one with the upgraded one or just go with the standard? ($65 Difference)
Who is the most trusted seller on eBay for these?

I plan to roll the opamps and find which one suits me the best. I'm still in the process of gathering a couple opamps, I hear the LT1364 and LM4562 go good with this. I also plan to sell my Penguin off and use the Digital Out of my X-Fi to run the DAC. I will be taking my IC and re-terminating it with a RCA plug, is it ok to test which wires are used for Digital or will I screw something up by doing that?

Thanks.

 

[Currawong]

I wrote up a big Zero FAQ, linked in my sig, which might help. I'm not sure what you mean by rewiring your IC. What kind of IC is it?

 

[_Spanky_]

I'm currently using a Mini-Mini IC to go from my X-Fi to my Penguin. To connect the X-Fi to the Zero I'll need Mini-RCA for the digital. It's already long enough and won't take much to re-terminate. I just need to figure out which of the 3 wires from the Mini go to the RCA for the Digital.

*EDIT*
So, if I buy the one with the HDAM in it, it wouldn't be worth it to try rolling the opamps for the Headphone Pre-Amp right? But is it worth the $65?

*EDIT*
If I'm gonna drop $220 on the upgraded Zero, why not save up a pinch more and go for the Compass? Would the Compass be a good choice to drive Beyerdynamic DT770's? Does the Compass work great out of the box? I don't need to screw anything in or solder anything?

Zero or Compass, either way they will be fed audio out of my X-Fi Digital Out for gaming purposes.

 

[Currawong]

I think you might be confused. There are no "wires for digital" in a regular analogue RCA or mini interconnect. Digital is carried over a separate cable, plugged into a separate socket. I see though you have a rather complex sound card. There should be some kind of dedicated output socket for digital, usually a single RCA with black or orange centre, used for digital output. Sometimes it's a dual-function socket that has optical digital built in. This can either be an RCA socket or headphone socket that is multi-function.

 

[_Spanky_]

Yea, it's called dualflex or some crap, I forget. It's basically a mono 3.5mm connection from what I understand. You can either set it to be Digital In or Mic In. So I could use my current mini-mini, cut off one of the mini's and put a RCA on but since I have a stereo mini plug, I'll have to figure out which ones connect to the RCA and I was wondering if doing that hot would cause any problems.

I think it might be just better if I got the stock Zero because that should be quite a bit better than my current setup, I can always mod it or have it modded later on.

*EDIT*
Yea, the Zero is definitely more practical. I thought it said $258 for the Compass INCLUDING shipping, closer look shows excluding and it's $54 to ship to the US =\

 

[Lunchbox2]

my old soundblaster had one of those dual use ports too, but it required a mini toslink cable for the digital out. Not sure if yours is the same but it might be worth a look.

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Spanky- /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yea, the Zero is definitely more practical. I thought it said $258 for the Compass INCLUDING shipping, closer look shows excluding and it's $54 to ship to the US =\

Save the extra $54. Seriously. It'll be worth your while.

 

[_Spanky_]

Lunchbox, that's what mine is. But to my knowledge it's basically a mono mini jack.

Currawong are you saying save the $54 and buy the low end Zero or are you saying save up the money and buy the Compass.

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Spanky- /img/forum/go_quote.gif Lunchbox, that's what mine is. But to my knowledge it's basically a mono mini jack. Currawong are you saying save the $54 and buy the low end Zero or are you saying save up the money and buy the Compass.

Wait until you can afford that $54 more and get the Compass.

 

[Haoting]

The Compass is twice the price (and three times in my case) compared to the Zero Dac, so unless the sound quality of the Compass is twice/thrice as good as the Zero, I would go with the base model Zero Dac and mod it later.


Has anyone tried the Lampizator mod on the Zero Dac yet?

 

[Currawong]

I'd say the Compass is easily 2x the SQ of a stock Zero, both in the DAC and amp. It's also far more than 2x the quality, as unlike the Zero, has a high quality aluminium case, high quality components and wont die randomly as seems to have happened with a number of people.