[jNewbbie4]

Hi guy,
 
The fiio L9 came in today and I cannot resist testing it out. The distortion is still there, surprise? It's much less authority but it's still there. At first I was like "What's the heck is going on, Am i that bad luck?", so i pull out my old iPod Nano (2nd generation) to test again and you know what? All the distortion is gone, just left this beautiful, clean, punchy, addictive music (yes, it works with both L3 and L9). My guess so far is maybe that's the iPod touch (2nd gen) is not fully compatible with the Zo in some way, not the Lod. I'm curious whether anyone out there with newer iPod model experiences the same problem as I'm planning to upgrade mine? 

 

[MusicHolic]

I think it's also because Zo can't handle too high input power... My Zo also distorts a lot when paired with Dacport LX at full power (but my another amp can handle it just fine)... The distortion is gone when I lowered the the DAC volume...
 
Using a lod means that the DAC goes at full power isn't it? Maybe they should increase input tolerance in the next Zo...
 
When listening music with my Android phone and Zo, it's good since my phone DAC is not great technicality-wise to begin with... 
 
But I don't really like Zo when listening music with Dacport LX... Although Zo cleared some grain / harshness in the music itself, some micro details is missing... It's like a noise reduction in photography (kinda hard to explain)... The top-end treble and lowest bass is also rolled off and the music sounds less transparent... But that's to be expected in this price range... They need to use higher quality audio components (means increased retail price) to solve this problem, so I can't really complain about Zo's technicality ability...
 
On the other hand, it's completely different story when watching a movies and games. Now I can't do it without Zo... My headphones cup was never vibrating and rattling like that... Also more prat, dynamics, smoothness, funnier listening experience, blacker background (although I can hear hiss in high-gain mode (mine is 2.3))...
 
I really likes Sound Vektor... The bass improvement is a lot better than any software bass enhancement (like SRS TruBass, Dolby Natural Bass, THX)

 

[torrez15]

Just ordered. Does this not come with a tracking #

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

I think it's also because Zo can't handle too high input power... My Zo also distorts a lot when paired with Dacport LX at full power (but my another amp can handle it just fine)... The distortion is gone when I lowered the the DAC volume...
 
Using a lod means that the DAC goes at full power isn't it? Maybe they should increase input tolerance in the next Zo...

Yea I think you got an important point there, it seems very much related to input tolerance. If they can make improvements here it would be very beneficial for a lot of users.

 

[Posam]

Quote:

Just ordered. Does this not come with a tracking #

When I ordered mine I did not receive a tracking number until they actually shipped out and since that was during the back order it took a while. If they don't contact you within a day or two you should email them. Also keep your transaction ID (if you used paypal) handy.

 

[Ryzir]

I've been using my ZO2 for about a week now (~15 hours) and I'm really liking it. I'm using ipod classic 6g > Headphone Out > ZO2 High Gain (2-4 contour) > RE0. I've tried low gain mode with a Fiio L1 lod and it seems to bring out the mids too much and the contour steps seem bigger.
 
Today while listening about 30min in the volume suddenly decreased and started getting lots of distortion. I've tried restarting the ZO2, ipod, unplugging all the connectors and plugging them back in. I switch to low gain mode and hooked up my lod and now at full volume (purple) i'm only getting what i use to get at about 50% volume. Distortion is still there but not quite as bad. Plugging the RE0 directly into the ipod and everything sounds fine there. Has anyone else had this happen? I was just sitting down with the ipod and ZO2 in my pocket when this happened. I just re-charged the ZO2 for the first time yesterday via computer usb. Tried plugging in the usb and nothing changed. Anything else I should try? 
 
edit: Switched back to High Gain and mid song the volume suddenly jumped up a bit but everything sounds muffled. Distortion still there but a little less.
edit2: Seems to be slowly returning to normal now. I was outside when this problem started. It's about 37 degrees outside but the ZO2 was in my pocket. This isn't the first time I've had it out in cold weather but I guess this time it got cold enough to have problems drawing enough power from the battery and now that I'm inside it's slowly warming back up again.

 

[MizMoxie]

Quote:

I've been using my ZO2 for about a week now (~15 hours) and I'm really liking it. I'm using ipod classic 6g > Headphone Out > ZO2 High Gain (2-4 contour) > RE0. I've tried low gain mode with a Fiio L1 lod and it seems to bring out the mids too much and the contour steps seem bigger.
 
Today while listening about 30min in the volume suddenly decreased and started getting lots of distortion. I've tried restarting the ZO2, ipod, unplugging all the connectors and plugging them back in. I switch to low gain mode and hooked up my lod and now at full volume (purple) i'm only getting what i use to get at about 50% volume. Distortion is still there but not quite as bad. Plugging the RE0 directly into the ipod and everything sounds fine there. Has anyone else had this happen? I was just sitting down with the ipod and ZO2 in my pocket when this happened. I just re-charged the ZO2 for the first time yesterday via computer usb. Tried plugging in the usb and nothing changed. Anything else I should try? 
 
edit: Switched back to High Gain and mid song the volume suddenly jumped up a bit but everything sounds muffled. Distortion still there but a little less.
edit2: Seems to be slowly returning to normal now. I was outside when this problem started. It's about 37 degrees outside but the ZO2 was in my pocket. This isn't the first time I've had it out in cold weather but I guess this time it got cold enough to have problems drawing enough power from the battery and now that I'm inside it's slowly warming back up again.

You need to charge the battery. You should see a red LED in the LightBar blinking. That's the only reason the volume would suddenly decrease. Make sure you keep it on the charger for at least an hour.  
 

 

[Ryzir]

The battery was fully charged the day before with maybe 1 hour usage after. It was the cold. Everything is working fine now and I didn't have to charge it after I had the problem. Next time I'll put the ZO2 inside my down jacket rather than my jeans pocket 

 
One other thing to note is that the Red LED in the light bar was not blinking when I had this problem.

 

[jNewbbie4]

Seem like Zo just suddenly hate iPod sometimes ) Oddly enough that I'm now really enjoy my Nano + Zo setup.
 
Btw, a little off topic, what do you guys use to protect the Zo? Some kind of pouch or just an old sock like mine ) 

 

[Posam]

I've had mine run down out (or almost) three times now and the second time scarred me because the light wasn't coming on but the volume dropped. Worked this time though and yes the volume does not come back until leaving it plugged in for a few minutes.

 

[MrNurse]

Oh...I forgot to subscribe to this thread- no wonder.
 
I'm new with amps since I've been only researching the E11 and ZO2 for about a month.
 
I had a few questions if anyone has had both the E11 and ZO2:
 
 
Now I'm wondering about the E11 vs. ZO2. My ZO2 takes a while to ship.

The reason is that I have lots of bass; and even EQ'd it to more than I was happy with. Even crazier, I can even EQ my Clip+ to have even more. The only thing is that I think I'm pushing it over the limit, which is another thing I'm concerned with. See: http://www.head-fi.org/t/592742/did-i-destroy-the-right-side-driver-on-my-hfi-580-because-of-massive-bass
 
My main questions were:
1. Since I can get to the point of distortion bass-wise, do I even need the ZO2?
 
2. Would the ZO2 it somehow make that distortion point even higher meaning I can squeeze out even more bass with the ZO2 w/o distortion? Or is the max bass limited on the driver/headphones?
 
3. Would I blow my driver with that much bass?
 
4. Is the sound quality noticeably better with the ZO2 over the E5 amp?
 
5. Is the sound quality noticeably better with the E11 over the ZO2? Because if bass is limited to what the headphone driver can handle, then I should be going for sound quality over bass quantity.
 
6. The E11 has 3 levels of bass boost. What setting on the E11 would the E5 with bass boost on be equal to?
 
7. How is the battery life on the ZO2 vs. the E11?

 

[MizMoxie]

Quote:

The battery was fully charged the day before with maybe 1 hour usage after. It was the cold. Everything is working fine now and I didn't have to charge it after I had the problem. Next time I'll put the ZO2 inside my down jacket rather than my jeans pocket 

 
One other thing to note is that the Red LED in the light bar was not blinking when I had this problem.

So we were curious last night, and decided to put some ZOs into the freezer to make some ZOcicles. =) The temp was way below 37 deg, and when we pulled them out, they worked beautifully! So I wonder what the difference is...??

 

[Ryzir]

Hmm, that is interesting. It has been working perfectly since the issue and still doesn't need to be recharged. I suppose it could have been a combination with the ipod also being cold. When I tested my RE0 directly into the ipod it had been inside for awhile. I'll see if I can replicate the problem within the next few days. I was outside today for about an hour using it (36 degrees) but I had it in my down coat this time.

 

[RayleighSilvers]

Would you guys recommend this paired with a sansa clip compared to a Cowon J3 on it's own with it's Jetaudio effects? I listen to j-pop/rock and K-pop (I.e a lot of synthesised sounds) and I'm contemplating between the 2. 

 

[dfkt]

Clip + ZO sure is a very nice alternative to J3 + BBE Mach3Bass.