[rand0mwalk]

PM MizMoxie, who frequents this thread. Sounds related.

Thanks Oregonian!

 

[rand0mwalk]

Sent you a PM.

Thanks MizMoxie. Have PM'd you.

 

[MizMoxie]

  guys i want to ask I have the chord hugo and the audeze lcd2
 
and I was wondering can i benefit from connecting the FS+ to hugo so that it gives more bass to my audeze lcd2 rev2 headphones, the reason is that the hugo does not give enough bass to the audeze and I am in need for more bass
 
I have the fiio e18 which i use with the hugo and audeze, so if i replace the fiio e18 with the FS+ will this be an upgrade or downgrade
 
this is my setup
 
ipod--- hugo---fiio e18--- audeze lcd2
 
I plan on
 
ipod--hugo----ZO FS+---- audeze lcd2

 
 

  You rAudeze as i think needs a lot of power to be driven properly ( the bass will improve when properly driven ) .. take a look to Centrance hifi-8 but it is more than twice of the FS+ price 

 
I personally use the Audeze LCD-X for all my evaluations of ZO FS/FS+, and of all the headphones/IEMs I've tried with the ZO, these are hands down my fave. According to my calculations, the LCD2 only need around 50mW to reach painstakingly loud levels. The ZO FS provides over 130mW @ 70 ohms - therefore, the ZO will give you WAAAYY more than enough power. I'd also like to mention that the ZO FS gives you more than 13.68dB of bass gain. Add on 17.85dB from the volume control, and you have a max of around 30dB total gain!!!! 
 
Plus, I'd like to remind you that we have 30-day, no questions asked return policy. Try it, and if you don't like it, send it back!!

 

[georgelai57]

The 30 days start from the time we receive the product for international customers?

 

[phrosty]

  I find there to be much less difference between 0 and 32 on the Bass settings than there is between the green light and the red light on the previous model. Where's the bass gone?

 
I noticed this too. I will need to record my 2.3 to make sure, but I think the 2.3 is fooling us.
 
The 2.3 had two things going for it: First, contour 1 actually reduced bass below 50Hz. The FS contour 1 does not reduce it as much. The 2.3 also had a lot of change between 1-8 and very little between 8-32, so it was extremely easy to perceive. FS on the other hand is very gradual change throughout the entire range -- you notice it a lot less and have more time to adjust, so it feels like it's giving less of a boost.

 

[Sound Eq]

   
 
 
I personally use the Audeze LCD-X for all my evaluations of ZO FS/FS+, and of all the headphones/IEMs I've tried with the ZO, these are hands down my fave. According to my calculations, the LCD2 only need around 50mW to reach painstakingly loud levels. The ZO FS provides over 130mW @ 70 ohms - therefore, the ZO will give you WAAAYY more than enough power. I'd also like to mention that the ZO FS gives you more than 13.68dB of bass gain. Add on 17.85dB from the volume control, and you have a max of around 30dB total gain!!!! 
 
Plus, I'd like to remind you that we have 30-day, no questions asked return policy. Try it, and if you don't like it, send it back!!

so for my set up should i get the FS or FS+ as you see I will be bi- amping as I want to still use my hugo.
 
When I added the e18 to hugo it gave more bass because of the bass boost in fiio e18, and the sound became more tight I might have lost some sq than using the hugo alone, but for me I liked for some albums to use an extra bass than caring about anything else 
 
so bi-aming with hugo what would you think the outcome would be?

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

So got my ZO FS+ today and right out of box I can say Wow! such a soundstage improvement compared to the ZO2.1 / ZO2.3. Sounds like I've got a headphone upgrade in terms of soundstage, much clearer imaging/less smearing.  

Second big difference is the bass, it sounds much more cleaner/controlled and quite punchy, it never looses control even at max bass level. As a result it sounds like this ZO FS+ gives less of a bass boost than the old ZO2.1 (ZO2.1 is tiny bit stronger in the bass than ZO2.3) especially because there's significantly less of a bass bleed.

From a quick test, Bass: 31 (compared to lvl 32 I get slightly punchier and cleaner bass output, at 32 lvl is the first level I consider there starting to occur a noticeable negative impact on sound quality, "clouding", so that's cool that that happens as late as the max level compared to around lvl 16 or so on the previous ZOs), Treble: 4 seems to give me the best result with my setup (pretty bright/analytical source and I also tend to prefer a bit smoother/warmer timbre). Bass 31 sounds actually more closer to like "yellow" on ZO2.1. So it wouldn't hurt to have a headroom to go even bassier, not that I personally need more as at level 31-32 it's about suitable for me but yea I can still see some users wanting EVEN MORE due to how well the quality of the bass is. When going past the quantities of what ZO FS is capable of on ZO2.1, the result was always a muddy mess though, so in that sense it's not a big deal.

 

[georgelai57]

So got my ZO FS+ today and right out of box I can say Wow! such a soundstage improvement compared to the ZO2.1 / ZO2.3. Sounds like I've got a headphone upgrade in terms of soundstage, much clearer imaging/less smearing.  

As one of the foremost authorities on the Zo, what do you think of the bass though. I prefer the oomph of the 2.3


Second big difference is the bass, it sounds much more cleaner/controlled and quite punchy, it never looses control even at max bass level.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Well compared to ZO2.3 I definitely prefer ZO FS+ anyday anytime but compared to ZO2.1 which is my previous favorite I'm not sure. The ZO FS+ sounds clearer with a less smeared and slightly bigger soundstage but it doesn't have quite that intimate full-bodied lower-midrange of ZO2.1 (the curve was slightly different). Despite the less clear sound I might still get more enjoyment out of ZO2.1 but it's too early to tell yet. ZO2.1 way of handling vocals and instruments give them a lot of thickness/boldness and sound very up-front which I personally enjoy but I also like the clearer soundstaging/imaging of ZO FS+ so yea it's difficult to say. I guess I'd personally prefer the ZO2.1 bass curve in ZO FS+ especially since the addition of treble boost which would be very very handy with the ZO2.1 settings to make it clearer but need more listening time and need to try all sources still.

EDIT: playing currently with source volume vs ZO FS+ volume setting like I said I would now with such a high quality volume control and I think SmartVektor curve gets a more "noticeable" effect the lower the source volume is set and the higher the ZO volume is set. On ZO2.1 I had the source volume set pretty high and the ZO volume very low (in fact 3rd lowest vol setting but the volume had big steps at the lower settings unlike ZO FS+) so with ZO2.1 I prefered using Windows volume 31% and ZO2.1 the 3rd lowest vol setting since I felt it was clearer this way. But with ZO FS+ I seem to enjoy it more if lowering the windows volume from 31% to like 24~25% and increasing ZO FS+ vol setting to like 160 or so for similar volume levels. It's as if the SmartVektor effect gets more exaggerated the higher the ZO volume setting vs the lower source volume used (since I have the FS+ model I can easily compare how it sounds with SVT disabled). How does SVT sound like you might wonder? It's difficult to put it in words but in simple terms it becomes more speaker-like, bigger, fatter, bolder (not losing clarity in the process) and the percieved difference is bigger the higher the ZO FS+ volume is set and the lower source volume used it seems. This is obviously from headphone out jack since you don't have that possibility with line-out. I guess you could say the "SmartVektor buffer" gets larger if the ZO vol is higher or something and I fell in low with the SVT effect already since ZO1.

 

[Sound Eq]

i just need to ask is the difference between the FS and FS+ just the extra amp? or is there something else 

 

[MizMoxie]

  i just need to ask is the difference between the FS and FS+ just the extra amp? or is there something else 

 
 
Yes - the FS+ has the transparent amp whereas the FS doesn't. The other benefit to the FS+ is the ability to turn SmartVektor on/off so you can get that direct A/B comparison. I personally love that aspect of the FS+, as it truly gives you that WOW factor.

 

[btinc]

 
 Where's the bass gone?

Let me know when you find it, I lost mine also.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I've been trying it out with Xonar STX II today but yea the soundstaging/imaging is better with Realtek with the "golden" config I've found but with STX II I preferred Bass: 32 and Treble: 5. With onboard I'm prefering right now B: 31 and T: 3 since it appears to be ever so slightly bassier and a bit more analytical/bright sounding (as I've already discovered from before too). I expect soundstaging to be a problem with the SoundBlaster ZxR soundcard like it has been so far (too much "in-your-head" sounding why it has been sitting on the shelf) but that has nothing to do with ZO FS+.

I start to adapt to the ZO FS+ quite well now after having played around trying to find that perfect volume listening level for my tastes (I always use a fixed volume listening level for various reasons so if that's not same as before the impression might slightly vary). ZO2.1 certainly has more capability in the bass quantity department but the ZO FS+ at lvl 31 on onboard gives very similar impact as I'm used to with ZO2.1 at "yellow" led (lvl ~16) range that was my preferred setting with that one with the M-Audio Q40 headphones that sports roughly 8dB (peak) bass boost on their own but the difference is that the ZO FS+ is even more controlled/tight for sure (at times I feel it's possibly TOO controlled and well behaved, there's always a point where "too much of the good" can become too good, not perfect control can add some excitement simulating room reverberation with speaker setups ), hardstyle genre is a good genre to confirm this since the kicks always include a lot of mids/low-highs so it becomes a good thing to check out whether how much the bass itself "clouds" the rest of the frequencies and in this case I can definitely pull out midfrequencies while the kick is playing a bit easier while still feeling the same kind of impact when the kick lands so that's quite impressive how great "control" the bass response in ZO FS+ has. Do I get more enjoyment out of ZO FS+ compared to ZO2.1, I don't know really, it feels quite on the same level atm but when putting sonics aside then the ZO FS+ has such nice case / display and the ability on ZO FS+ to switch between SVT on/off is very useful to me that tends to master hardstyle tracks on a daily basis.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Really starting to like the more refinements compared the previous installments. Especially the added detail percieved while the bass is kicking. It is definitely more higher quality sounding but higher quality sound doesn't always translate to more enjoyable sound depending on your personal tastes. Good example is Sennheiser HD800, one person's holy grail but could also be another person's "What?" Technically beautifully sounding but not maybe the most "musical" if that made any sense. Anyway I'm just trying in a polite way of saying I definitely hear this new ZO as a clear upgrade sound quality wise but that necessarily won't necessarily directly translate to getting more excitement/enjoyment feeling while listening. Having said that though, the more I listen to it the more I start enjoying it, it needs a bit settle-in time for your brain. And I might go as far as saying I like it better overall than the ZO2.1 which was my personal fav before now. (I'd say it's a greater boost in SQ than the amount "fun-factor" the ZO2.1 competes with leading to the sound quality boost win a bit over the "fun-factor" in ZO2.1)

Unfortunately I had hoped for a lower noise floor compared to the previous ZO but it doesn't seem that much different in that aspect. Listening out of noisy sources like onboard sound sorce that is very noise environment, the point where the electrical noise is percieved in the chain starts at roughly equal levels as before. So I'm not THAT surprised if some people may pick up additional noises from the chain especially with smartphones and what not out of the headphone jack with less than ideal noise level issues due to bad engineering choices. With good sources ZO will go to dangerously high volume levels and insane (I'm talking STX II here) before noise floor is getting an issue but I had hoped it was sliiiiightly bit better with noisy sources too.

The SVT-less config in the ZO FS+ is also brilliant on its own, unfortunately I personally have become spoilt with the coloration SVT brings to the table that personally captures me since it gets me engaging with the music a lot better. In comparison turning of SVT the music becomes so "sterile" and polite somewhat like it suddenly lacks a bit meat (this also include at settings 0-0 so it's not just the bass) but I admire how it sounds in comparison to other portable amps I've tried, really good detail and very neutral "flat". Not warm, not bright, flat. They didn't kid when they said that the secondary amp config would bring a "flat" sound. Some audiophiles I may expect they'd prefer SVT-less config because they are more acoustomed to such sound and possibly it could be ever so tiny bit easier to make out microdetails with that. I'd put it like SVT is meant to enjoy music while the SVT-off config is meant for analyzing the sound so there the preferences will play a strong role in how you want to enjoy your music. Since FS+ packs both, I'm glad I can take advantage of both aspects depending on my needs (for mastering music I like to check with both configs to get a better idea)

My preferred setting as of right now is B: 32 - T: 3. I'm surprised by the guys who turn treble up to max, you guys don't seem to enjoy a more neutral timbre do you? Don't take that offensively though as it's just a matter of tastes but the ZO will definitely exaggerate the "sparkly stuff" at such setting more than another amp without the treble adjustment. Possibly it's a case of volume-mismatching, as I turn up the treble, I also have to start adjusting the volume a bit or vice versa. What I'm trying to say here, if I don't then turn up the volume a bit when lowering the treble a bit (I don't know exactly how it goes but say 1 vol step per 3-5 treble steps or whatever), of course you will be "tricked" to think the higher treble setting sounds better because we interpret louder as better.

 

[StartRockToday]

I know ZO2 and I know how SmartVector works. But I want to ask, How FS sound in general? What is SQ?
 
I have FiiO X5 i wonder if ZO3 can improve something and what is an effects with K612 pro and Fidelio L2? Someone check this?