[Afghan Vet]

I can certainly echo Bob's and others who have replied 'journey' - fortunately mine was a little shorter The ZD was the first amp I was excited about (thanks Songmic), bought the AURALiC Taurus with the rest of the stack, then finally heard the ZD.....Taurus (though very good) was sold that week. Now I'm a very happy ZDS owner
 
The stock tube didn't last long - had already bought the RCA red base......and that tube was excellent - but after hearing my buddy's Mullard rolled in - became apparent that the Mullard was a better fit with my Fostex TH900's. I would still like to try the Sophia as well. 
 
I love that I can listen to the ZDS + Fostex for 8 hours and not feel fatigued, worn out.....but tracks will still certainly snatch my attention away from work because the amp sounds so incredible. 

 

[AppleheadMay]

I can certainly echo Bob's and others who have replied 'journey' - fortunately mine was a little shorter The ZD was the first amp I was excited about (thanks Songmic), bought the AURALiC Taurus with the rest of the stack, then finally heard the ZD.....Taurus (though very good) was sold that week. Now I'm a very happy ZDS owner

The stock tube didn't last long - had already bought the RCA red base......and that tube was excellent - but after hearing my buddy's Mullard rolled in - became apparent that the Mullard was a better fit with my Fostex TH900's. I would still like to try the Sophia as well. 

I love that I can listen to the ZDS + Fostex for 8 hours and not feel fatigued, worn out.....but tracks will still certainly snatch my attention away from work because the amp sounds so incredible. 

The beauty of the Zana vs the BW is you can play with the driver tube and have a different amp.
The beauty of the BW vs the Zana is you don't need to invest in tubes and it costs half while delivering a comparable sound. Not the same sound but certainly similarities. Not as good but certainly worth twice every penny when compared to evry other amp I had and heard. Same goes for the Zana by the way, double the price and knowing what I know I'd still buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[vc1187]

  Got my ZDS, #89, on Tuesday; bought from a fellow Head-fier.  Well I've owned a few high-end headphone amps, in my estimation anyways e.g. Headlamp GS-X MKII, Auralic Taurus MK2, Headamp GS-1 w/ Dynalo & DACT Stepped attenuator and a few more nice amps.  There always seemed to be something missing though & I could never quite put my finger/ ear on it.  

 
Possibly what was missing from the other high-end headphone amps was the pleasing harmonic distortion that is introduced by tubes.  I know that my ears are seduced by it.
 

I believe that I've finally found what I've been looking for.  Mostly the ZDS complements my favourite HPs which have always been the HD6X0 siblings & the T1 Gen.1.  Maybe in the future I'll try the HD800 again though I never could warm up to their overall sound but again I never did try them w/ the ZDS.   
 
The only two more things I see myself possibly getting is : 1-) A quality Mullard.  2-) A used pair of HD800 & that's a BIG MAYBE (I've owned, briefly the  HD800 S & did not like them one bit)             
                                           

 
The HD800 is one of those headphones that really grows on you (or some people at least) and allows you to appreciate how hyper-detailed a headphone can really be.  With a good tube amp, you can change the analytical palette that is natural to the HD800 to one that has quite a bit of musicality.  I also did not like the HD800S, but out of 3 tube amps (Stratus, Glenn OTL, and ZD original) I did like the HD800S the most on the ZD.  Best of luck in your journey going forth.

 

[siwolfman]

Especially ironic since I have five of those tubes already, three of which are unused and I will probably need to sell to finance other projects, or tubes.

I ordered the Sophia Electric Grade A, finally. Thank you for the "nudge"; yes, the Zana deserves the best grade.

Is the 6SN7 or 6SL7 the right tube? I'm on Sophia Electric's website but not sure which one is the right tube.

 

[vc1187]

 
Is the 6SN7 or 6SL7 the right tube? I'm on Sophia Electric's website but not sure which one is the right tube.

6SL7

 

[siwolfman]

  6SL7

Thank you @vc1187 

 

[siwolfman]

Is anyone using a pre-amp with their Zana Deux? If so, what?

 

[AppleheadMay]

  Is anyone using a pre-amp with their Zana Deux? If so, what?

 
Noty many I think. The Zana is a top class preamp in its own. It can be used to feed power amps.

 

[vc1187]

  Is anyone using a pre-amp with their Zana Deux? If so, what?

Here's a quote from Donald North, the man behind Donald North Audio and products of Riva audio:
 
Bypassing the internal volume control and using an external active preamp is not a good idea, in my opinion and experience. You will be adding more gain to the signal path, when there is already plenty with most sources and reducing the usable range of the volume control before it is too loud with dynamic headphones. You will also be adding noise. Of course you are welcome to try by turning up the Stratus volume control to maximum, thereby effectively taking it out of the signal path, and use the preamp.
 
Bottom line is that it's not suggested to use a preamp to feed your ZD.  

 

[AppleheadMay]

  Here's a quote from Donald North, the man behind Donald North Audio and products of Riva audio:
 
Bypassing the internal volume control and using an external active preamp is not a good idea, in my opinion and experience. You will be adding more gain to the signal path, when there is already plenty with most sources and reducing the usable range of the volume control before it is too loud with dynamic headphones. You will also be adding noise. Of course you are welcome to try by turning up the Stratus volume control to maximum, thereby effectively taking it out of the signal path, and use the preamp.
 
Bottom line is that it's not suggested to use a preamp to feed your ZD.  

 
A bit like using a car to push your car ... can be done.

 

[siwolfman]

Here's a quote from Donald North, the man behind Donald North Audio and products of Riva audio:

Bypassing the internal volume control and using an external active preamp is not a good idea, in my opinion and experience. You will be adding more gain to the signal path, when there is already plenty with most sources and reducing the usable range of the volume control before it is too loud with dynamic headphones. You will also be adding noise. Of course you are welcome to try by turning up the Stratus volume control to maximum, thereby effectively taking it out of the signal path, and use the preamp.

Bottom line is that it's not suggested to use a preamp to feed your ZD.  

Thanks @vc1187 and @appleheadmay! Very informative and I think I've made my decision

 

[AppleheadMay]

I wonder if anyone here ever heard a 6SU7 clear glass instead of black glass.
I have a couple of those lying around here but never actually tried them yet.
Might do so when I have some time I'm not spending on something else.
But if anybody heard them I'd be intersted in your opinion.

 

[2chinzz]

Has anyone listened to the new focal headphones using the ZDS?

 

[AppleheadMay]

Does anyone have any nice Mullard ECC35 tube lying around they want to get rid of or know where to source decent ones?
Any tips on buying ECC35? I'm not very familiar with that tube.

 

[bazelio]

  Has anyone listened to the new focal headphones using the ZDS?

 
I'm on the Elear loaner tour over at Supe-BA.F and will certainly put them through the paces with my ZDS.  Bad news: they won't get to me until mid October.