[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan wow. it's jahn 2.0 i wonder if you'll also upgrade to zhaolu....

Oh, noooooooo! Is anyone bringing a Zhaolu to the NYC meet this Saturday?

 

[RogerWilco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan Nice. I havn't gotten my unit to work yet. This reminds me, I have to email Lawrence again.

Hello lan

Have you figured out what the probem is yet with the modded board?I have been Thoroughly enjoying the tunes of mine.

 

[boodi]

so ..
at this point .. which is the winning dac / modded dac ?

 

[yo2tup2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TigzStudio my friend and I will be ordering the fully upgraded/modded DAC 1.3 from Lawrence today! We will post our impressions when we get it. Im going to have it setup with A,B,C blind test between emu 0404, and Dac-ah, using headphile silvers, and audioquest diamondbacks. I cant wait !

Order has been placed...should ship out to us in a couple days

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boodi so .. at this point .. which is the winning dac / modded dac ?

the jury's still out - the DAC-Ah isn't finished its mods yet, and the Zhao is on the fritz, and the other Zhao owners don't have a modded DAC-AH to compare, so we'll have to wait and see! Even the DAC-AH coming to the NYC meet won't be the completed modded version, and there may be a stock zhao there, but maybe not!

 

[lan]

They are different flavors. It depends on your preferences.

 

[Jimmysilvers]

I contacted Lawrence about the heaphone stage and he said there is an headphone section upgrade for $75, I am wondering if it's worth it.

He says that this upgraded PCB uses 2SK214 , 2SJ77 MOS FET for output.

 

[TigzStudio]

kool a headphone upgrade in zhalou! wish i knew about that before, but im not sure it will be worth an extra 75....but still would be fun to have a listen.

If im still not satisfied with the synergy of the modded zhalou (when i get it). I will most likey do the DAC-ah mod soon after! heh. and post my impressions. Hopefully I'll have the akg k701s/PPx3 SLaM by then too!

 

[Jimmysilvers]

I have ordered the headphone upgrade from Lawerence

Once installed I will post my findings here.

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmysilvers I have ordered the headphone upgrade from Lawerence Once installed I will post my findings here.

not to be mean, but maybe a $75 Go-Vibe would serve better than trying to make the headphone out of the Zhao servicable? I mean, it's a DAC - you can thread it to an amp!

 

[Jimmysilvers]

Quote:

not to be mean, but maybe a $75 Go-Vibe would serve better than trying to make the headphone out of the Zhao servicable? I mean, it's a DAC - you can thread it to an amp!

You could well be correct, but I will give the upgrade a go.

I maybe was mistaking under the impression that for home listening an headphone amp is going to be a lot more than $70, so I thought the Zhao upgrade was worth the risk.

 

[Jahn]

Some DACs have very good headphone outs integrated - like the Benchmark DAC and the Apogee DAC. But then again, those are $1K DACs hehe. I admit to not grooving on the Grace m902 sound, but its headphone out gave a faithful rep of its output. At a pricey cost too hehe. Otherwise I'd say instead of trying to make an integrated headphone amp work, you should get a dedicated external amp to go with your DAC. Even $150 will get you a nifty DIY home amp like a Pimeta that will sound better than the Zhao imho. That Zhao headphone out just wasn't cutting it for me, and honestly I liked the Go-Vibe better - and instead of spending another 75 on an upgrade, well, now you know my opinion! (just imho of course!)

 

[K2Grey]

You need to factor in the cost of the interconnect too though

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K2Grey You need to factor in the cost of the interconnect too though

Haha true! But I've found that my magwires RCA-to-mini cable was a worthwhile investment at $25, and has been going strong for over a year- best cash spent that i can point to and say "there it is!"

 

[RogerWilco]

For the ones that purchased this dac and did not know--installing an iec or using an ice adapter is a must! I have seen the ice adapter on audiogon new for $25.Being able to use different powercords makes a Dramatic difference.