[sid311]

I own a Zhaolu 2.0 with the CS4398 chip and was wondering if I could replace it with a PCM1704 chip. I'm looking for a more detailed sound than the 4398. Any suggestions?

-sid

 

[infinitesymphony]

Hmm... I don't think you can directly replace them like that. It's possible in the amp world with some circuits that use op-amps, but I think that most DAC circuits are built around a particular chip's needs. Otherwise, people would probably be putting PCM1704s everywhere, just like they swap op-amps.

 

[sejarzo]

Take a look at the datasheets for DAC chips on various manufacturer's web sites, and you will find that even within a single manufacturer's line, there are very few chips that are pin-compatible.

 

[jholtz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sid311 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I own a Zhaolu 2.0 with the CS4398 chip and was wondering if I could replace it with a PCM1704 chip. I'm looking for a more detailed sound than the 4398. Any suggestions? -sid

Hi Sid,

I have a Zhaolu 2.5C with the CS4398 DAC that I've installed a Zapfilter. Last weekend, I took it and a handful of interconnects to a good friend of mine to do a little back to back comparison with his Cary 303/200 CD player that is based on the BB 1704 DAC and one I've always been envious of. It sounds great.

The good news is, the Zapfilter brought the 2.5 so close in sound quality to the Cary, it was essentially a draw. I don't think either one of us could have told them apart with out knowing which was playing. That was certainly not true before I zapfiltered it. If anything, the 2.5 with the Zapfilter is slightly more detailed and the Cary had a *hint* more body in the low mids. Differences were extremely minor.

Needless to say, I was very pleased that my Zhaolu now is on equal footing with a very highly regarded $3000 CD player. The dicrete analog output stage makes a huge difference in sound quality.

HTH

Jim

 

[sejarzo]

I'd have to agree, given that the CS4398 is at the top of the Cirrus line, it's likely the analog stage is what could benefit from an upgrade.

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jholtz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi Sid, his Cary 300/302 CD player that is based on the BB 1704 DAC and one I've always been envious of. It sounds great. Jim

300/302? Their current line is 303/300 and 306SACD.
Their past line was 303/200 and 306/200.

Were you feeding the Zhaolu with Cary as transport? Often, the transport itself has such a large effect on sound quality that certain transports make it difficult to distinguish between DAC's..

 

[d-cee]

it seems that with Zapfilter the CS4398 is the chip of choice.

the AD1852 on the other hand is chosen by Ori for his OMZ. I have an OMZ based on the Zhaolu D2.0 and can swap in the AD1852 and CS4398 and the AD is by far the nicer sounding chip.

You may be interested to know that when Zhaolu first announced the D2.0 that they were planning on releasing 3 swappable DAC boards:

A, B and C. We have the A (Analog Devices AD1852) and C (Cirrus Logic CS4398) versions, but the B never came out. Guess what the B was? Burr Brown PCM1704. I don't know why they never made it though =(

So it certainly would be compatible in the Zhaolu, but it would take more than just swapping out the current chips because they're not pin compatible.

 

[minivan]

link for the zhaolu d2.0 and the dac chips for it
http://www.zhaolu.com/products/d2/big1.htm

 

[d-cee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by minivan /img/forum/go_quote.gif link for the zhaolu d2.0 and the dac chips for it ³¯Â¶µç×Ó

my bad, it was the PCM1794, not PCM1704.

 

[jholtz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L /img/forum/go_quote.gif 300/302? Their current line is 303/300 and 306SACD. Their past line was 303/200 and 306/200. Were you feeding the Zhaolu with Cary as transport? Often, the transport itself has such a large effect on sound quality that certain transports make it difficult to distinguish between DAC's..

Sorry John, I did get my numbering convention wrong. It's a Cary 303/200 with dual BB PCM1704K DAC's. It is an exceptional CD player, IMHO.

Yes, we used the Cary as a transport for my Zapped Zhaolu. They were both connected to an Adcom 750 preamp using silver I/C's with the Adcom running in passive mode. The amp was a Plinius SA102 (?) and the speakers are the Statements. We also had the Cary connected via balanced cables so we could switch between the balanced and RCA connections to compare to the Zhaolu with RCA connections.

There were volume differences so we had to constantly adjust when switching settings. The comparison was strictly subjective. However, both of us were surprised the Zapped Zhaolu sounded so close to the Cary.

Jim

 

[BobMcN]

There's some very good information on this thread about the 2.5 version of the Zhaolu. I would think the same could be done to the 2.0 power supply and analogue board, but you'll have to trace it out yourself.

diyAudio Forums - Zhaolu DAC - a good value DAC?

Some things that I found, and posted in that thread (so look through it completely), that helped out enormously:

- putting a pulse transformer on the digital input
- fixing the ground plane problems on the power supply board
- rewiring the analogue output section per post #303 on the thread (this was mind opening)

Enjoy,
Bob


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