[Shlonglor]

How do you guys measure how long your gear's been burned for? Rough estimate or some sort of super scientific method?

 

[tinseljim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shlonglor /img/forum/go_quote.gif How do you guys measure how long your gear's been burned for? Rough estimate or some sort of super scientific method?

I made my own pinknoise track in audacity (left out of phase with right so that it cancels itself out mostly (actually with earbuds it was silent in the right position.). Anyway the track is 30min. long and has 30sec of silence built in to it. So when I get new gear I reset my play count to zero on that track and then burn away.

Look at the play count and divide that number by 2 for burn-in hours. Works like a charm.

Of course you could do this with any length track but the division gets more complicated! (unless your piece is an hour long ----> burn-in hours=play count)

James

 

[Nedman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinseljim /img/forum/go_quote.gif I made my own pinknoise track in audacity (left out of phase with right so that it cancels itself out mostly (actually with earbuds it was silent in the right position.). Anyway the track is 30min. long and has 30sec of silence built in to it. So when I get new gear I reset my play count to zero on that track and then burn away. Look at the play count and divide that number by 2 for burn-in hours. Works like a charm. Of course you could do this with any length track but the division gets more complicated! (unless your piece is an hour long ----> burn-in hours=play count) James

There's also the Bink Audio Test CD, which you can download 20 min of pink noise and 2min of silence [track 58 & 59]. Which might help people who don't have audacity.

Michael Knowles: Extras < Test CD here.

 

[StratCat]

Re: Burn-in -

You know, after discussion here of possible HP damage while burning in our Zero's, I was thinking it might be a good thing to use a dummy load. All that's needed would be an old phone jack, a resistor, some solder and an iron, and 5 mins of time. It wouldn't present a true RLC load, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work just fine.

And w/o the limits of our phones, we could really crank it up, too, and stress this little baby. I know with my AT and Denon cans (32 and 25 Ohms impedance, respectively), I'm only using, oh, maybe 25%, tops, of the max pwr output, as reflected by the position of the volume pot when burning in. If even that.

There'd be no audible noise, nor wear and tear on our phones, nor chance of damaging them inadvertently, either. Wonder if anyone tried this before?

Edit: Sry, *two* resistors NOT *a* resistor!

 

[StratCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinseljim /img/forum/go_quote.gif I made my own pinknoise track in audacity (left out of phase with right so that it cancels itself out mostly (actually with earbuds it was silent in the right position.).

Heh, out-of-phase?, Very slick. Really.

 

[ciphercomplete]

OK I just got my HDAM about an hour ago. Its never coming out of the Zero. I will do a more extensive write up later but I wanted to share my initial reaction.

The first thing I heard was soundstage! Not just width but on my superior recordings, HEIGHT! The HDAM does this with incredible ease. If you listen to alot of live music or music recorded in one take with live instruments you have got to get the HDAM.

I am going to get to work on soldering a wire adapter together so I can put the Zero's top back on. As it is now the HDAM is about 3/4 of an inch to tall to allow the top back on the unit.

 

[Citizen86]

Quote:

Originally Posted by suneohair /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey I am new here, and very new to the high-end audio stuff I am really interested in the Zero and am looking to buy one. Is this ebay seller ok: wsz0304 They have an "upgrade" version which has the OPA627. One thing I am not clear on is whether or not the OPA627 drives the headphones or just the line out. The price for this one is $166. They have the older version with the OPA2604 for $151, so this upgrade one seems to be a good deal.

I'm also wondering about this ebay seller, he's selling the Zero for $150 US shipped! That's a ridiculous price for such a nice desktop dac/amp. Even if it has the older opamp, it's easy enough to get free samples of some better ones

Anyone bought from wsz0304?

 

[4EvrChaser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinseljim /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm interested in the fact that you think the Zero competes well with the other DACs you own. How would you rate them in preference? BTW what mods did you have done on your Zero to get it up to $230?

Howdy tinseljim,

Thank you for the welcome.
Yes, with about an hour of listening to the ZERO, since it is burning in, I was impressed. I try to listen about an hour every day while I have something burning in to see if and how the sound is changing.

Let me clarify my statement, this was my “first impression” of the ZERO with regards/compared to my other DACs and Amps from memory of how they first sound with a few hours of burn in. I am a firm believer in putting in at least one hundred hours or more

on all of my audio equipment. After, they have stabilized and there are no more changes that I can detect, then I listen and make a decision of what I think about the gear

. So, in a couple days I will be able to tell you how I would rate them in my order of preference. I think it was StratCat that wanted to A/B the ZERO and Total Bithead (Have to remember to bring the Bithead home from work).

The mods that I had done to the ZERO was to add the OPA627AU in the DAC section but asked to keep the stock to compare later and I also had the default volume pot changed out for the ALPS volume pot.

 

[4EvrChaser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shlonglor /img/forum/go_quote.gif How do you guys measure how long your gear's been burned for? Rough estimate or some sort of super scientific method?

Howdy,

This is how I burn in my equipment.
I pick some of my favorite tracks (APE format) from different genre with good amount of variation in the audio along with some pink noise, some silence and frequencies sweeps (not more than a couple minutes of the last three).
Put foobar 2000 on repeat play of the playlist.
Go into Preference, Playback and at the Total Time Played – I hit RESET.
Then as the playlist play I can look at the total time played and know how much time I have on the burn in.

 

[Penchum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4EvrChaser /img/forum/go_quote.gif Howdy, This is how I burn in my equipment. I pick some of my favorite tracks (APE format) from different genre with good amount of variation in the audio along with some pink noise, some silence and frequencies sweeps (not more than a couple minutes of the last three). Put foobar 2000 on repeat play of the playlist. Go into Preference, Playback and at the Total Time Played – I hit RESET. Then as the playlist play I can look at the total time played and know how much time I have on the burn in.

I thought this would be a good time to "add" in my method of burn-in.

I use a music source like an MP4 player or my notebook. I select a variety of music, then put the player or software player into repeat mode and get the process started. Sometimes I listen in, sometimes I don't, but I always keep tabs on what is happening as often as I can. I use the alarm function in my cell phone, to remind myself it is time to "check it out". 4 days is 96 hours, so I usually stop there, and do some critical listening. This is usually enough time and I can decide what to do next.

This works great for everything but tube amps. Ow, and I always vary the volume, never exceeding levels that are considered "normal" listening levels.

For tube amps, I stop running them at 8 hours, let it cool to room temperature, then start up the next 8 hour session. The 1 hour cool down makes me use my alarm a little more, but it keeps my new tube amp from hurting itself.

 

[4EvrChaser]

Howdy Penchum,

I also vary the volume but I turn the volume a little higher then my normal listen volume then lower the volume to where I can just bearly hear it then back to my normal listening level for a few hours each. This is repeated throughout the burn in cycle.
Everyone has their own way of burn in and this is what I do from reading all of the other ways that other people burn in their equipment.

With all of what I have read with people using tube amp and my want of one is driving me crazy!
I promised my wife after buying the ZERO and a new headphone for the new computer that we got.

I would lay off for a while again. This is a bad place to visit. She is about to limit my time on the internet.

Just a little off topic – Penchum (or anyone else), do you think the LD IV SE would be a good tube amp for the Sony MDR-SA5000 and Ultrasone HFI-780? TIA!!

OOPS!!

Got to go. See is eyeballing me. Time for dinner. See (Talk) to y’all later.

 

[koppite]

Hello all!

Well, it just arrived! 6 Days after Lawrence sent it. I'm literally sitting here and laughing because of how awesome this sounds. UNREAL.

Couple remaining questions: I saw some discussion of this before and am still unclear. I have the PCLink USB to Optical connector. Any thoughts on the quality of this device/cables/etc? I'm going to order an optocoupler and will report back any differences. Anyone have some thoughts for now?

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ciphercomplete /img/forum/go_quote.gif OK I just got my HDAM about an hour ago. Its never coming out of the Zero. I will do a more extensive write up later but I wanted to share my initial reaction. The first thing I heard was soundstage! Not just width but on my superior recordings, HEIGHT! The HDAM does this with incredible ease. If you listen to alot of live music or music recorded in one take with live instruments you have got to get the HDAM. I am going to get to work on soldering a wire adapter together so I can put the Zero's top back on. As it is now the HDAM is about 3/4 of an inch to tall to allow the top back on the unit.

Wait till it's fully run in.....I love mine, it just simply is at another level ....no other way to describe it. Should hear depth along with width and height + fluid, unrestricted dynamics. Bass is unreal

Treble is smooooooooth

I'm glad another head fi'er has joined the HDAM owners group

Theres two of us now

Peete.

 

[Enthusia]

I am perplexed, doesn't the headphone amplifier come stock with the zero dac, or is there something I am missing here.

 

[Pricklely Peete]

It's a DAC with a separate headphone amp in one chassis, so yes Enthusia you are correct. It can perform preamp duties as well

What has you perplexed ?

Peete.