[Penchum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pricklely Peete /img/forum/go_quote.gif Pench just wanted to point out it's not a member of the MK series...it's simply LD I+ . I made the same mistake the other night assuming it's was part of the MK series..No big deal Peete.

Yep! Fixed. The whole naming thing gets me sometimes!!

 

[Penchum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by No Smoking /img/forum/go_quote.gif As the general consensus is that the zero is a great bang for buck dac and amp would you think that the headphone amp stage of the zero(with the head-fi upgrade) would outperform a 80s integrated amp made by Sanyo. Please bare in mind that I'm only referring the headphone stage and not the DAC stage.

This type of question is tough to answer. The headphone amp in the Zero depends upon the DAC section. It can't take an outside signal and amplify it, without that signal coming through the DAC first.

If you had a CD player hooked up analog to the integrated amp and then compared that to the CD player digital out to the Zero, then you could get an idea of the overall improvements.

The other variables will be: Quality of the source, make and model of headphones, types of music being played and whether the comparison would be headphones only, or also outputs to a speaker rig.

The general consensus here, is that the "HeadFi Deal" Zero will out perform most average CD players and sound cards. It's DAC section is much better and the headphone amp works well with the DAC section, especially with the LT1364 Opamps in the headphone amp.

I'm not sure this is helping, but maybe it is.

 

[66645]

Hi everybody. As I understood from reading this long thread, for majority of the Zero users (including myself) Zero is the first amp/dac. Therefore, it will be extremely interesting (for us) to hear some competent guy's opinion on how it REALLY performs, compared to well known devices....
Something more concrete than "it sounds absolutely great, I love it!!" it's been asked several times here, but I still didn't see any comparisons.

For me personally will be interesting to know how dac section compares to something like apogee duet, minidac, etc. Also I would like to know how bad amp section is (after of before mods). Will some dedicated budget amp (LD, Darkvoice) improve the SQ, how much?

Thanks!!!

 

[AudioPhewl]

^Buy them and compare them, so the whole world will benefit from your findings?

~Phewl.

 

[66645]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AudioPhewl /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^Buy them and compare them, so the whole world will benefit from your findings? ~Phewl.

OK, but it will take some time...

 

[taso89]

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but I couldn't find it: How difficult is it to replace the RCA sockets with "proper Gucci"? Does it require soldering skills?

 

[ScottieB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by taso89 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but I couldn't find it: How difficult is it to replace the RCA sockets with "proper Gucci"? Does it require soldering skills?

Adding to this - where's a good place to buy them, and which ones are recommended? It's been a few weeks - I'm itchin to tweak...

 

[AudioPhewl]

lelek45 - I'd be interested to see how it fares. Keep us posted

.

taso89 - yes, you'd have to use a soldering iron. IMHO a good connection is a good connection, change it if you have the skills and the inclination, but any difference is likely to be extremely small...

~Phewl.

 

[Steph86]

Thanks to everyone who helped me with the grounding issue of my volume pot yesterday, I soldered a new cable from the casing of the pot to the pcb and its taken away all the humm. Now I have another problem, in the process of taking apart my unit the cap attached to the HDAM got disconnected, so I had to re-solder it back on again. It's up and running now but I don't know if the cap is actually being used or if it is damaged? Is the cap supposed to get hot, because I have had it running for the last half an hour and there is no heat coming from the cap whatsoever. I can feel the heat from the HDAM if my hand gets close, but when I touch the cap it is stone cold. I'm using the same russian caps as pete if that helps. Is there anyway of me testing it with a multimeter?

Thanks, again
Steph

 

[AudioPhewl]

^The caps shouldn't get hot to the touch IMO. Which cap is it you're talking about - have you added one as per the Burson Audio tweak, or is it another?

So long as it's connected to the correct pins, then all should be good.

~Phewl.

 

[Steph86]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AudioPhewl /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^The caps shouldn't get hot to the touch IMO. Which cap is it you're talking about - have you added one as per the Burson Audio tweak, or is it another? So long as it's connected to the correct pins, then all should be good. ~Phewl.

The caps are the green russian ones that prickley pete uses, and it is for the burson audio tweak. There is no heat from it at all, not even warm. Is there a way of me testing it with a multimeter?

Steph

 

[Penchum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by taso89 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but I couldn't find it: How difficult is it to replace the RCA sockets with "proper Gucci"? Does it require soldering skills?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottieB /img/forum/go_quote.gif Adding to this - where's a good place to buy them, and which ones are recommended? It's been a few weeks - I'm itchin to tweak...

I've been looking for a better quality set, that is made for board mounting, just like the originals, but I haven't had any luck yet. I'm trying to avoid mounting new ones to the backplate and running wires to make the connections. I suppose I may have too eventually.

I found these chassis mount ones that are pretty inexpensive:
Parts Expressayton RCA-CHRB Chassis Mount RCA Jack Pair

Has anyone seen a better quality board mount RCA's yet??

 

[AudioPhewl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steph86 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The caps are the green russian ones that prickley pete uses, and it is for the burson audio tweak. There is no heat from it at all, not even warm. Is there a way of me testing it with a multimeter? Steph

Run a continuity/resistance check from the wire next to the physical capacitor, through to the pin onto which it should be connected. Should be reading <0.2ohms IMO if connected. You'll see infinity/1 if it isn't connected to the pin.

Pins 4 and 8 are the power supply pins.

~Phewl.

 

[dario]

what are the latest news about running 3 hdam?

In this days I will buy my zero!

 

[DaMnEd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Penchum /img/forum/go_quote.gif I found these chassis mount ones that are pretty inexpensive: Parts Expressayton RCA-CHRB Chassis Mount RCA Jack Pair Has anyone seen a better quality board mount RCA's yet??

Try here: Audio Catalog

The Yarbo offering seams pretty nice, you can also find NEUTRIK chassis RCA sockets on ebay pretty cheap, and they are quite good.