[Ryzir]

I ordered mine in December and emailed them yesterday and got this response:
 
 

Thank you for contacting me regarding your ZO2 order. 
 
As mentioned in my email we will start shipping backorders in the second week of January. We have received our new stock and have completed our quality checks on the boards. All has checked out, and we will be shipping your unit no later than Jan. 13th. 
 
Again, you will receive a Paypal notice, with a tracking number, when your unit does ship.

 

I still haven't received a Paypal notice with tracking number

 

[phrosty]

Quote:

I ordered mine in December and emailed them yesterday and got this response:
 
I still haven't received a Paypal notice with tracking number

Same, but I haven't emailed them yet. I'd hoped to see it shipped out before Friday. Oh well.
 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

It's interesting how much "synergy" comes into play when testing ZO1, ZO2.1 and ZO2.3 with my different headphones. For example Sony XB500 works really well with ZO2.3 in low gain and pretty good with ZO1 too especially but is quite poor match with ZO2.1. Panasonic HTF600 just have the best synergy with ZO2.1 for some reason and M-Audio Q40 greatly prefers ZO2.3. There can be quite some differences especially regarding bass response and soundstage especially but also overall forwardness of mids/highs depending on the combo and I can't see any patterns, it just varies for the headphone tested. It's almost as if I want to start using my XB500 with EQ settings applied again with ZO2.3 cuz it works so well with it and I only have to use like 38% volume in low gain with this headphone.

 

[b33r]

Well I've burned mine in for about 10 hours now, and I'm not seeing any improvement. I just cannot understand the tremendous reduction in soundstage. The difference is like night and day. When I'm listening with my DBA-02 only, I can hear everything just fine, sounds coming in from the left and right just like they should, soundstage is nice and airy. Once I plug in the ZO, everything gets compressed into the middle. All the finer details that I used to hear from the left and right get pushed to the back where I can no longer distinguish clearly, and the DBA-02's sparkle disappears. I've tried everything from lowering the setting to the minimum, LOD cable on low-gain setting, headphone out on high-gain, nothing seems to work. I tested it with my brother's UETF10 as well, and got the exact same result. I can't remember whether it was like this before I sent it back to digiZoid for the revision as I had only had it for a week until I learnt about the recall.
 
Is anyone else experiencing this? Or could my unit be a lemon?

 

[dfkt]

Does anyone notice the ZO 2.3's housing being "microphonic"? When I tap it, I hear the sound in my IEMs.

 

[F900EX]

I never tried it until now, but yes. When you tab it you can hear it the tab in the earphone.  It's more noticeable at the top of the ZO than towards the bottom of it.
 
b33r, sadly I think you are right.  Any headphone that is known for excellent sound stage, clarity and "sparkle" that I have, using the ZO2.3 it tends to get muddy damped out sound.  Very hard to explain but, after a few hours of using the ZO2. It seemed to open up, I am hoping the same happens with the 2.3, but after few hours of usage, I cannot tell any difference.

 

[Varley]

@dfkt, ha yea, funny you should say that, I just thought it was my Miracles, but it does it with every IEM, not bothersome though really -
 
Ive been finding myself using the first 3 contour gain settings with my LOD, very petty, but with the LOD and using the Zo's volume, there's a significant increase between the first volume and the second, with either being slightly too quiet or loud - sometimes its track based though, so not a massive annoyance.
 
Overall I'm enjoying the Zo very much

 

[Posam]

Quote:

Does anyone notice the ZO 2.3's housing being "microphonic"? When I tap it, I hear the sound in my IEMs.

I've noticed it with my M-80s as well and it also seems to make a high pitched sound in my pocket or in my hand while touching the back (without the light). Electrical tape could fix that couldn't it?

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Not noticable with my headphones at least. 
 
Hmm, I'm quite torn between ZO2.1 and 2.3 depending on headphone I use etc. I like how 2.3 is completely silent while with 2.1 I get plenty of electrical noise picked up as well with some of the headphones from the onboard source. With Q40 that aren't very sensitive it's silent with 2.1 as well though. If I had 2.1 and hadn't any issues with hiss or needed to use LOD I wouldn't recommend to swap for 2.3 for sure.

 

[treal512]

 
Quote:

Well I've burned mine in for about 10 hours now, and I'm not seeing any improvement. I just cannot understand the tremendous reduction in soundstage. The difference is like night and day. When I'm listening with my DBA-02 only, I can hear everything just fine, sounds coming in from the left and right just like they should, soundstage is nice and airy. Once I plug in the ZO, everything gets compressed into the middle. All the finer details that I used to hear from the left and right get pushed to the back where I can no longer distinguish clearly, and the DBA-02's sparkle disappears. I've tried everything from lowering the setting to the minimum, LOD cable on low-gain setting, headphone out on high-gain, nothing seems to work. I tested it with my brother's UETF10 as well, and got the exact same result. I can't remember whether it was like this before I sent it back to digiZoid for the revision as I had only had it for a week until I learnt about the recall.
 
Is anyone else experiencing this? Or could my unit be a lemon?

This is my initial experience with the unit (v2.3) as well. I have not tried it with different IEMs, but my W4s become muffled (lose attack, clarity, and air) when I hook up the ZO on any setting (H/L gain & H/L boost). With that said, I have a few comments: One, I'm willing to give this device some time to see if the sound gets better. Two, with electronic or bass fun music, the ZO is almost a must. It's like digiZoid's advertising implies: A subwoofer shows up to the party with the ZO. But unless the sound quality improves or the veil lifts, my ZO is going to be used with very few genres.

 

[pasan]

I can't say much for synergy with 'phones, but as far as synergy with sources go, when hooked up to a Zune 120 (and I'm guessing any Zune) it's pretty much akin to what Carroll Shelby did for the AC Ace.

 

[gaspir324]

The same with IE80 (2.2). I won't be using ZO with them, because they are fun to listen anyways. But when I'm home and put them aside and take my 1000s....

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I think I'm starting to prefer the ZO2.1 a bit more sound-wise. It's hard to instantly tell the difference but after having used ZO2.3 and switched back to try use 2.1 for a while I think the soundstage is slightly less crammed in towards center on 2.1.

 

[Jae304]

Got my RMA number but never sent in my ZO2.1 due to all this talk of reduced soundstage on the 2.3.  I use my ZO2 while gaming and have always been impressed at how it didn't ruin the sound stage despite adding so much body and heft to the sound.  I'd hate to sacrifice sound stage for minor hiss removal.  Mine isn't bad at all now so I may just continue to live with it.  
 
RPG, you wouldn't happen to be a gamer as well?? I need some impressions in that area! 

 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

Got my RMA number but never sent in my ZO2.1 due to all this talk of reduced soundstage on the 2.3.  I use my ZO2 while gaming and have always been impressed at how it didn't ruin the sound stage despite adding so much body and heft to the sound.  I'd hate to sacrifice sound stage for minor hiss removal.  Mine isn't bad at all now so I may just continue to live with it.  
 
RPG, you wouldn't happen to be a gamer as well?? I need some impressions in that area! 

 

Well the only game which I've been stuck for years with due to my addiction is UT3 which I'm very good at (90%+ of the time at top spot in all game modes), I don't think the soundstage difference is that drastic between ZO2.1 and 2.3 at all, otherwise I'd had been quick to point that out earlier. However for me 2.3 seems to perform better with low gain as far as soundstage goes, in high gain it does seem like a step back.