[ppxnouse]

Hi,

I recently bought an old Zhaolu 1.3 DAC. Since it will become my office DAC soon, I wonder if there are still any headphone amp upgrades available somewhere. I contacted diykits already - no luck.
Is any company selling these still ? Any DYI Kits available ?

Thank you for your help.

 

[soloz2]

nope, I emailed Eddie to ask and he said no

 

[d-cee]

afaik upgraded headphone amps were available starting from the D2.0 and above, and were not offered on the D1.3

 

[Xeno7651]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d-cee /img/forum/go_quote.gif afaik upgraded headphone amps were available starting from the D2.0 and above, and were not offered on the D1.3

I have a 1.3 and have the upgraded discrete amp.

Regarding the OP's question. If you're planning to drive higher ohm headphones (ie. 120 ohm and over), the upgraded amp won't be able to drive them well. So if you're planning to use high ohm cans, don't bother getting the upgraded amp, get an external amp instead.

 

[cotdt]

you can get the E100-A discrete amp which can tap into the power supply from the DAC. it's about equivalent to a Gilmore Lite.

 

[ppxnouse]

Since I just wanted to use the DAC at work to drive some E4Cs, the E-100A is a bit more expensive and there is more work involved (more then simply swapping the AMP board ) then I initially planned on. Anyway. This seems to be the only option left to upgrade the internal AMP, I think I will just give it a try .
Thank you for the help.

 

[cotdt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ppxnouse /img/forum/go_quote.gif Since I just wanted to use the DAC at work to drive some E4Cs, the E-100A is a bit more expensive and there is more work involved (more then simply swapping the AMP board ) then I initially planned on. Anyway. This seems to be the only option left to upgrade the internal AMP, I think I will just give it a try . Thank you for the help.

So have you worked with a solder before? If so, all you have to do is tap the toroid on the Zhaolu and you're done. The E100-A already has its own power supply. It's strong and can drive almost anything, and sound quality is very good.

 

[ppxnouse]

I can solder a bit. Not very good, but it should do. I am more concerned about the mechanical parts like attaching a new headphone jack and a new volume potentiometer to the frontplate. Did you do that mod already to a Zhaolu ?

 

[cotdt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ppxnouse /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can solder a bit. Not very good, but it should do. I am more concerned about the mechanical parts like attaching a new headphone jack and a new volume potentiometer to the frontplate. Did you do that mod already to a Zhaolu ?

Yes I used the volume pot and the headphone jack from the stock headphone amp, which I removed in order to fit the E100-A. The E100-A has much more powerful bass slam, a clearer midrange and treble, and of course more output potential. The stock amp sounded harsh and I couldn't stand it, that's why I had to change it. But later I decided to Zapfilter my Zhaolu, which required a lot of space so I had to remove the E100-A and used it as an external amp instead. Mine is a Zhaolu 2.5A.

 

[ppxnouse]

I just got excited about the idea, but unfortunately the E100-A does not seem to fit into the 1.3 Zjaolu .
I measured (with a CD case ) that there is about 120mm X 150mm room between DAC board , toroid , side and front plate. The diyclub.biz homepage states 185mm X 150mm for the E100-A board.

. So if I do not want the amp board to stick out on one side of the case :-D, this is a no go.
It seems like I have to look for another solution (maybe one day I have the luck to find an amp upgrade board for the 1.3 in the FS section )
Thank your ideas and help so far.