[bixby]

Really interesting in the sub $500. Anyone can tell me how this DAC perform compare to Arcam rDac ?

only heard the rdac briefly at RMAF, did not care for it.

 

[ToTje]

  Seems relatively consistent with what I heard when I reviewed it. (see link in my signature)  A friend has told me that they he got good results using the ifi iUSB power.  Cleaned up the crunchy highs I was told.  I would look at perhaps trying a better power cord and look at power conditioning as possible source for improvement.
 
Or you might consider saving up for a Concero or similar.

I am using a Wireworld USB cable that separates the power from the signal cable, so that should be sufficient. Still it's worth a try of course.
 
Oh and I just bought a netfilter, but don't have decent cables yet. This monday I'll get a long JIB-Germany Hydrogen cable for connecting it to the outlet, but I still need good cables to connect the DAC and AMP to the filter.
 
And I'll check your sig!
 
 
I also have been thinking about selling my gear and just getting a Burson Conductor SL 1793.
 
Or perhaps keep the Zdac and get a Beta22 amp to get a warmer sound.

 

[bixby]

  I am using a Wireworld USB cable that separates the power from the signal cable, so that should be sufficient. Still it's worth a try of course.  Not even close.  I used to use a Wireworld cable as well and when I went to a power leg less cable that was well designed it was like adding a next step up DAC.
 
Oh and I just bought a netfilter, but don't have decent cables yet. This monday I'll get a long JIB-Germany Hydrogen cable for connecting it to the outlet, but I still need good cables to connect the DAC and AMP to the filter.  Not sure what a net filter is?
 
And I'll check your sig!
 
 
I also have been thinking about selling my gear and just getting a Burson Conductor SL 1793.
 
Or perhaps keep the Zdac and get a Beta22 amp to get a warmer sound.   

Good luck in your search, it is tough to find the right synergy.  I get by with an HRT Microstreamer and a tablet but I only listen to headphones at home occasionally.

 

[ToTje]

  Good luck in your search, it is tough to find the right synergy.  I get by with an HRT Microstreamer and a tablet but I only listen to headphones at home occasionally.

Hmm interesting about the USB cable.
So take away the power in the cable, and add it with an USB powersupply?
 
And a netfilter is a power strip that filters impurities in the power; peaks and other sorts of influences of other equipment that's connected  on outlets in the same area and such.

 

[bixby]

  Hmm interesting about the USB cable.
So take away the power in the cable, and add it with an USB powersupply?
 
And a netfilter is a power strip that filters impurities in the power; peaks and other sorts of influences of other equipment that's connected  on outlets in the same area and such.

I may have been a bit confusing.  No just saying a powerless USB cable can be a really big upgrade from a USB cable that merely moves the power leg a bit away from the other conductors.  You still transmit all the usb power hash to the dac.
 
The ifi device is just a way of cleaning up the USB power when using a conventional cable to the dac as in the case of the Z-dac in my friends experiment.
 
And power conditioners are certainly all over the map as far as effectiveness is concerned.  I have several that I have used over the years and still use a bunch in different applications.  

 

[erdawe]

IMO a well implemented USB DAC input won't suffer any from needing to remove power when decent USB cable such as wireworld is used.

The hundreds spent on fancy usb cable and implementation froo froo would be better spend towards a higher quality DAC.
 
Or just get an affordable but very high quality USB interface like the Gustard, and use SPDIF to the ZDac

 

[erdawe]

Also, I purchased the Zdac and while it sounded nice, I returned it because it had horrendous toroidal 50 hz hum you could hear from across the room that was probably 40-50 decibels. Completely obnoxious at my desk setup a foot or two away with open back headphones.
 
I spend hours isolating grounding and power isolation and things only to find it went away after the lid was removed which was 100% impractical. I returned it without a word and vowed never to buy another ZDAC to futz around with it even further if the company QC is going to be that bad.

 

[bixby]

  IMO a well implemented USB DAC input won't suffer any from needing to remove power when decent USB cable such as wireworld is used.

The hundreds spent on fancy usb cable and implementation froo froo would be better spend towards a higher quality DAC.
 
Or just get an affordable but very high quality USB interface like the Gustard, and use SPDIF to the ZDac

You are certainly entitled to your opinion.   I and several of my friends who have dacs that do not rely on a powered USB leg for operation also have moved to powerless USB cables.  Let's just say a $5 cable with the power leg cut is all the experimenting you might need to hear a "not so subtle" difference.  That's what led me to throw the Wireworld to the DVD burner and replace it with a properly designed USB cable without power leg.  
 
Oh, and before you start to quibble about a "well designed"  USB input, the dacs of users that have switched have been Rowland, Matrix, Wyred for Sound and Ayre.
 
And yes I have had a very well designed USB interface, the Audiophileo and it did very well but still not in same league as the powerless implementation.
 
cheers
 
EDIT:  Rowland dac above is using ifi USB power and Bryston Spdif bridge; no powerless usb cable and the other dac was Auralic not Wyred 4 Sound.

 

[ToTje]

But isn't the USB chip in the Zdac powered by USB? 

 

[bixby]

  But isn't the USB chip in the Zdac powered by USB? 

not sure, the guy who had the ifi usb power took it over to the zdac owner to give it a listen. 

 

[bixby]

just pinged my friend who lent the ifi unit to the zdac owner and he said yes you can use a powerless usb cable with the zdac.  And he said "what sounds really good is when you insert the ifi unit in front of it"

 

[ToTje]

  just pinged my friend who lent the ifi unit to the zdac owner and he said yes you can use a powerless usb cable with the zdac.  And he said "what sounds really good is when you insert the ifi unit in front of it"

Good to know, thanks! 

 Well in the mean time I connected my gear to the power filter, and that with the JIB-Germany Hydrogen cable to the wall socket, and I really, really must say that it makes an INCREDIBLE difference!
Absolutely no harsh highs at all anymore! Completely gone! The sound is now very nice and warm.
 
I am utterly shocked; first I noticed the headphone cable makes a BIG difference, and now even a POWER cable also makes a big difference?
 
Today I ordered power cables for the dac and amp; same brand and type, of course.
 
Still, I'll keep your advices in mind! 

 

[bixby]

  Good to know, thanks! 

 Well in the mean time I connected my gear to the power filter, and that with the JIB-Germany Hydrogen cable to the wall socket, and I really, really must say that it makes an INCREDIBLE difference!
Absolutely no harsh highs at all anymore! Completely gone! The sound is now very nice and warm.
 
I am utterly shocked; first I noticed the headphone cable makes a BIG difference, and now even a POWER cable also makes a big difference?
 
Today I ordered power cables for the dac and amp; same brand and type, of course.
 
Still, I'll keep your advices in mind! 

great to hear the new power cord is doing so well.  Everything matters.
 
I have been building power cords for years and find a good diy cable to be quite an extraordinary value compared to some of the higher priced cables out there.

 

[cyberridz]

Has anyone tried pairing the Z-dac with the Z-amp? I emailed Parasound and they said that the Z-amp's headphone output is taken straight off from the main speaker amplifier output via a "dropping" resistor. Has anyone tried the Z-amp with the Z-dac?
 
I used to be a fan of the Schiit Audio gear, but it seems that their quality control standards has dropped lately. Been looking at other alternatives and I think I would give the Z-amp or one of their Z-pre's a try one day.

 

[pdferguson]

I'm not sure if you're asking about the headphone output of the Zamp. I would think the Zdac's headphone section will be better than the Zamp's, but I don't speak from any direct experience.
 
I have a Zamp, but don't use its headphone plug (I use a Nuforce HDP as a DAC/headphone amp, but I am considering replacing it with a Zdac v.2). The Zamp is a great amp for a desktop 2.1 computer sound system, BTW.