[rock&rollfrenchfries]

I'm interested but not for much more than $150. I'm certainly not going to come on here and root and cheer and giggle about how I hope it's going to be double the price of the last edition.

 

[xskugga]

So apparently this thing is going to cost $249 initially...a major disappointment, looks like the E12 is for me.
 

 

[zaim]

Wow, that's me out then Going to be nearly £200 for me including customs fee's/import tax.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I find it interesting to see how it will adapt to the market at $249. At that priceclass things start to get pretty serious for portable amps. It could be quite tough to convince the market it's not just a "gimmick" bass boosting amp. Obviously it sounds like they have picked more audiophile grade components this time around but the product is so out of the norm and often products that have these kinds of special features tend to be taken "less seriously" so when you step up in the price the harder it will be to convince the customers as at $249 for a portable amp the purchasers are more of the serious headphone enthusiast kind and it will have to battle the "Arrow" amp among others too.

To me it seems like digiZoid should opt to release a cheaper ZO in the future, they need to have something around the $100 or so pricerange too it feels like. Like a ZO2+

 

[Makiah S]

  I find it interesting to see how it will adapt to the market at $249. At that priceclass things start to get pretty serious for portable amps. It could be quite tough to convince the market it's not just a "gimmick" bass boosting amp. Obviously it sounds like they have picked more audiophile grade components this time around but the product is so out of the norm and often products that have these kinds of special features tend to be taken "less seriously" so when you step up in the price the harder it will be to convince the customers as at $249 for a portable amp the purchasers are more of the serious headphone enthusiast kind and it will have to battle the "Arrow" amp among others too.

To me it seems like digiZoid should opt to release a cheaper ZO3 in the future, they need to have something around the $100 or so pricerange too it feels like.

agree'd
 
$250 is almost the price of an iBasso pb2, it's also the price of a JDS labs C5D ect... ect... I also hope they reduce the price a little 

 

[Oregonian]

Where did you guys hear the$250 price? If that is true, they are nuts.

 

[Oregonian]

So apparently this thing is going to cost $249 initially...a major disappointment, looks like the E12 is for me.

What is that conversation from?

 

[xskugga]

What is that conversation from?

Their official Facebook page, they had a chat today.

 

[Oregonian]

Their official Facebook page, they had a chat today.

Did anyone comment on the pricing to them?

 

[xskugga]

Did anyone comment on the pricing to them?

Yes, no responses to them though.

 

[Lohb]

Yes, I'm off the Zoid train.
Plenty more in the market at that price. Also someone said you can get PB2 used around that price and some people view it as an amp add-on for portable use.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Karen told me there also very likely will be a ZO2+ of some kind, ie. ZO2 with maybe a slight improvement. I have no idea about when but yea they also need a cheaper product. I for one am curious how good ZO3 sounds like though with the upgraded components and better amping capabilities.

 

[ClieOS]

Where did you guys hear the$250 price? If that is true, they are nuts.

 
Why must they be nuts? People are buying $500+ amps and $1000+ DAP these days. If digiZoid actually makes a good enough amp for $250, I'll say more power to them for taking the game to the next level. That however doesn't mean that they shouldn't make a cheaper model to cover the different price bucket.
 
 

  Karen told me there also very likely will be a ZO2+ of some kind, ie. ZO2 with maybe a slight improvement. I have no idea about when but yea they also need a cheaper product. I for one am curious how good ZO3 sounds like though with the upgraded components and better amping capabilities.

 
I only wish the ZO2.3 has a lower noise floor. Otherwise it would be pretty prefect for what it is.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

 
 
I only wish the ZO2.3 has a lower noise floor. Otherwise it would be pretty prefect for what it is.

I think the best of both worlds of ZO2.1 & ZO2.3 would be cool. The ZO2.1 has some advantages and is to date my favorite version;

- It has "bypass" feature, when you turn the amp off, signal still passes through it unaltered. This could also be done when the amp is on which is perhaps even better option as then you'd get a comparison of SmartVektor on/off. 
- It has only one gain setting (lack of a low gain which makes it unable to use as a LOD) BUT at least you're able to adjust the volume in this "high" gain mode unlike ZO2.3.
- It has better amping capabilities. I don't know if this is the reason I like the sound of ZO2.1 more than v2.3 but the v2.1 to me has a much more high quality midrange performance. In comparison the ZO2.3 feels a bit "unegaging" / unenvolving in the mids. They are just "there" but the lack the organic fullbodiness than ZO2.1 provide. The ZO2.3 sounds like a gentle V-shape sound (more like the mids missing than highs being sparkly) while ZO2.1 is pretty balanced, I'd say even tiny tiny bit more forward in the mids than highs possibly, I just love how thick BUT clear vocals and acoustic instruments sound like on it, it has slight bit "tube" sound to it but less exaggerated. I'm certain among enthusiasts or audiophiles this would be welcome. Mids takes the longest time to appriciate and then you want them to be reasonably thick while staying clear, it's not enough to have clear sounding, that's what V-shape sound gets you but you want a reasonable thickness/lushness that has a "involving"/soulful inducing capabilities that is highly engaging. It's difficult to put into words but shortly said the ZO2.1 makes me more engaged into the music.

 

[White Lotus]

Here is the full Facebook Q&A done by Paul Berg, the founder and engineer of Digizoid. 
 

 
 

 Question: Any chance that the "bypass" feature comes back in the future? For me it's been a major convenience to have it since I'm a hobbyist mastering engineer that keeps mastering tracks for newcomer producers on a daily basis and I often keep checking how it sounds both with ZO on and off.
 
Answer: the ZO3+ may be perfect for your need. When switching SmartVektor off (a.k.a, bypass), the flat amp of the ZO3+ smoothly transitions on at the same volume and gain level as with SmartVektor. Therefore, no need to adjust mixer levels for equal loudness.

 
Quote:

 Question: Is the flat amp on the ZO3+ separate and could potentially be added onto a vanilla ZO3 or is it built in? Also what kind of power output are we looking at with and without the extra amp?
 
Answer: the flat amp of the ZO3+ will be separate from the basic ZO3 circuit. However when included, it will smoothly switch between the SmartVektor and flat amp just by toggling the switch. Both the ZO3's amp and the flat amp will have the same gain and power output, so that you can hear the difference with and without SmartVektor without any cable swapping or volume adjustment. Our preliminary estimates using the engineering sample are in the 500mW range (at 16 ohms).

 

 Question: When do you expect to begin shipping the ZO3? Will you ship internationally or only within the US?
 
Answer: we anticipate the ZO3 to begin shipping both in the US and internationally by early July as manufacturing is going along well so far.

 
Quote:

 Question: So now that SmartVektor is patented I seem to remember it being mentioned that you may start licencing it out to other manufacturers for implementation into their own products. Is that accurate and can you talk about anything that might be in the pipes?
 
Answer: we prefer at this time to leverage the technology for digiZoid branded products. However, we have been contacted by a mfg of high end audiophile headphones ($1000+ variety) regarding a potential partnering relationship. Nothing solidified yet, just in the discussion phase.

 

 Question: How much will this cost upon release?
 
Answer: we are anticipating an initial price of ZO3 at $249.

 

 Question: My number one concern about ZO3 is the sound signature, I'm the person that actually prefers the sound of the first iteration of ZO2 (v2.1) compared to ZO2.3 (I have both). The ZO2.1 has a more lush and "full-bodied" / thick midrange section which I like. I find the ZO2.3 slightly bit V-shape sounding. This is also why I've sometimes suggested that the treble adjustment would be cool to be able to actually lower too and not only increase. I mean if I already think the treble is too much at the lowest setting the treble adjustment won't personally do me any good.  I hope the midrange will be slightly more forward in the ZO3 compared to ZO2.3, especially because it has the treble adjustment.
 
Answer: the extensive adjustability of the ZO3 combined with ~10x greater power should allow you to dial in a sound to your liking.

 

 Question: Where did you come up with the idea for the Smartvector tech and how did you set about seeing if it could be done?
 
Answer: Its a long long story. Like many inventions, it was partially accidental. While designing and selling an early headphone amp, customers were asking for more bass response. I set out to find a way to do this but not by following the industry norms. Rather I ignored the rules and experimented with my own thing. One day, I added some new circuitry to the existing headphone amp and the bass magically blew me away. That was the beginning (long story short).

 

 Question: Major differences between my beloved ZO2 and the 3?
 
Answer: the ZO3 is quite an advancement over the ZO2 model. ZO3 has a full color OLED screen where each bass, treble, and volume setting is set by number (precise adjustment).The audio components were all specially selected and tested to be the best available audiophile grade (ultra low noise suppression etc.). Plus the ZO3 has (now patented) Full Spectrum SmartVektor technology. 32 settings for both the bass and treble providing 1024 different sound profiles. Theres a lot more. As you know, over a years worth of development.

 

 Question: Isn't it a lot of work to develop the product all by yourself? How do you manage that and in such a short time? I'm very impressed by your work!
 
Answer: Its not easy. I put in a lot of early to late hours, sometimes I don't even know what day it is. But I enjoy what I do and even more when there are people like yourself that enjoy the stuff I develop

 
And also this very interesting snippet:
 

 The ZO3 will be around $249, and a ZO3+ version (with secondary flat amplifier) will be following shortly thereafter.