[Dark Helmet]

So my Z1 is doing something strange. I drained the battery and put it on charge, it was charging for many hours and the blue led on the on switch was still lit and I thought it had to be charged by now,so I disconnected it. Now when I turn it on the led on the switch does not light up and when I plug it in and the power is off the charge led is lit ,but I'm sure it has a full charge.

 

[Ver JJ]

So my Z1 is doing something strange. I drained the battery and put it on charge, it was charging for many hours and the blue led on the on switch was still lit and I thought it had to be charged by now,so I disconnected it. Now when I turn it on the led on the switch does not light up and when I plug it in and the power is off the charge led is lit ,but I'm sure it has a full charge.

Did you use the USB port from your laptop or a power supply to charge it? If those information are not provided, I can only assume that yours unit is faulty because this happened to my Cayin N3 too..... mine is the worst case where the DAC or OP-AMP stop functioning completely..........

 

[Dark Helmet]

I can assure that, but there is a high chance that your unit is faulty because this happened to my Cayin N3 too..... mine is the worst case where the DAC or OP-AMP stop functioning completely..........

I'm going to play it overnight and drain the battery and see what happens. As of now I have no way of telling if the unit is fully charged. Been working fine for a couple of months.

 

[james-O-hifi]

Hmm, I have an interesting finding too. Maybe someone can explain this to me.

I just tried my Z1 on my home setup:

1. Speakers: Reference 3A L'integrale made by Innovac, Switzerland, these are fantastic speaks
2. NAD C300 Integrated Amplifier, this is a decent amp
3. Zishan Z1, as we all know this is a great player

And together it sounds like crap. Seriously, that was impressive how bad it sounded. Then I tried the headphone out into my NAD C300 and it still sounds like crap. Highs are blurred, lows are muddy, mids recessed. When I use headphones, it's perfectly fine... When I use my Oppo HA-2 as a headphone amp between the Z1 and my headphones it's even better, just on my speakers its terrible...

Just to make sure my home setup is still alright I'm listening to the same record (Bruckner Symphony 9 by LSO) now via Chromecast and my Pro-Ject DAC Box USB and it sounds perfect.

I just don't get it.

How can the same player sound like crap on my home setup and sound great on my headphones? And even more so: How can the linout sound like crap on my home setup while it sounds fine when amplified through my Oppo HA-2?


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Btw, thank you for pointing this out, I'll give it a try

[...]
1) SD card with folders embedded in folders with tags and album art
2) SD card with no embedded folders and no art
3) SD card with no embedded folders, no album art and no tagging (removed via Foobar).

And the conclusion.......to me option 3) was significantly nicer sounding (clearer and less grainy/fuzzy, slightly more detailed and spacious).
[...]

 

[noknok23]

Maybe maybe the high impedance output messed it up? I hear very good sound with my low entry stereo system. I mean, much better than phone or laptop as source.
Folder change quality omg I think it's a bit weird but let's see.... Will give it a go

 

[nesty]

Hmm, I have an interesting finding too. Maybe someone can explain this to me.

I just tried my Z1 on my home setup:

1. Speakers: Reference 3A L'integrale made by Innovac, Switzerland, these are fantastic speaks
2. NAD C300 Integrated Amplifier, this is a decent amp
3. Zishan Z1, as we all know this is a great player

And together it sounds like ****. Seriously, that was impressive how bad it sounded. Then I tried the headphone out into my NAD C300 and it still sounds like ****. Highs are blurred, lows are muddy, mids recessed. When I use headphones, it's perfectly fine... When I use my Oppo HA-2 as a headphone amp between the Z1 and my headphones it's even better, just on my speakers its terrible...

Just to make sure my home setup is still alright I'm listening to the same record (Bruckner Symphony 9 by LSO) now via Chromecast and my Pro-Ject DAC Box USB and it sounds perfect.

I just don't get it.

How can the same player sound like **** on my home setup and sound great on my headphones? And even more so: How can the linout sound like **** on my home setup while it sounds fine when amplified through my Oppo HA-2?


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Btw, thank you for pointing this out, I'll give it a try

If you are using the LO as the source signal feeding the NAD, maybe the signal from the LO is clipped. Try getting signal from the PO then lessen the volume, let your NAD to the amplification.

 

[MLTKSHHBT]

Ha ha, I see where you were going there, I am still waiting for my Z1 and also Z2 to arrive if my agent managed to order it before it ran out of stock, hopefully my ears will be fully functional and sensitive to give a right impression for Z2 when it arrive soon.

Why do you need to engage an agent, isn't taobao direct would do the job?
Quite curious about zishan's sound. Is it fun enough that you prefer it over your fiio x5? Or just another different sound signature which you feel worthwhile compared with other more costly daps?

 

[Ver JJ]

Why do you need to engage an agent, isn't taobao direct would do the job?
Quite curious about zishan's sound. Is it fun enough that you prefer it over your fiio x5? Or just another different sound signature which you feel worthwhile compared with other more costly daps?

Well the only reason I "engage" an agent is because I don't have to worry about shipping delay and stuff....... as for DAP, I only own a Aune m1s....... so yeah I cannot tell you about the sound of Fiio X5, sorry.

 

[Merlin-PT]

Thanks to everyone posting info and thoughts on the Z1 - its really helpful.

I've been enjoying my Z1 for a couple of weeks but I wondered whether folder structures, tagging, art (and other "clutter") of WAV files impacted the sound (since it definitely does with the Walnut).

So I did a little experiment with 3 identical 16GB SD cards - loaded them up with the same albums (WAV files) with 3 options:
1) SD card with folders embedded in folders with tags and album art
2) SD card with no embedded folders and no art
3) SD card with no embedded folders, no album art and no tagging (removed via Foobar).

And the conclusion.......to me option 3) was significantly nicer sounding (clearer and less grainy/fuzzy, slightly more detailed and spacious).
Also - previously tried mp3 (320kbps) these sounded pretty bad to me on Z1 even compared to option1 (and option 1) was the poorest of the 3 options tried in "expt.").

Z1(like Walnut) sound quality does seem very sensitive to tagging and maybe even folder structure (embedded folders).
I really, really, really like being able to skip folders!!!!

Thanks! You saved my Z1!
I got the Z1 last week and put some FLACs, very high quality recordings, but it sounded so bad, bass out of control, voices sound bad, it sounded even worst when I turned the volume higher.
I had 3 folders, all with the album art and some other files.
I deleted all the extra files and now it plays well, no more distortion!!!!
Finally I'm listening to music.

 

[james-O-hifi]

If you are using the LO as the source signal feeding the NAD, maybe the signal from the LO is clipped. Try getting signal from the PO then lessen the volume, let your NAD to the amplification.

Thought so too, tried both, PO is better but still not there. What do you mean by "clipped" though?

 

[DBaldock9]

Thought so too, tried both, PO is better but still not there. What do you mean by "clipped" though?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipping_(audio)

 

[james-O-hifi]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipping_(audio)

So this basically means: If my NAD's input impedance is too high the line-out and even the power-out of the Zishan might not be able to drive it. Correct?

 

[DBaldock9]

So this basically means: If my NAD's input impedance is too high the line-out and even the power-out of the Zishan might not be able to drive it. Correct?

I'm more familiar with clipping that's due to driving too low of an impedance, where the amp doesn't have enough current output to generate the required voltage across the load.

 

[Dark Helmet]

Is the opamp being used in LO mode? I'm thinking yes, but I'm not sure.

 

[james-O-hifi]

My NAD has an input impedance of 210kOhms! I don't think the Zishan alone will do it haha. I think this explains the problem.

Is the opamp being used in LO mode? I'm thinking yes, but I'm not sure.

I'm not sure either, I think it probably is, just at a fixed level. Otherwise the signal would be really really week.