[les_garten]

Grettings Digit Heads!
Ok, I've just finished Hell Week! Well not really a week, it only took 3 days to read the 775 pages of this thread. Now that I have "started" payment of my dues, I would like to be welcomed to the League of Extraordinary Gentleman here! Just bought the Completely upgraded LC model while I was around post 350 last night. Kinda wish I had waited till around post 500 or so when the earth and sun mods came to light. Or waited till post 770 or so when LC has kinda dropped from Favor, Ohhh Well, we'll see what happens. Ordered some cables from Monoprice.com.

I do have a question, I have an HT Omega Stryler 7.1 SC. Would I realize any "real" increase in SQ by going to a Claro+, or Claro Halo SC? I am referring to SPDIF out here.

Another question, what happened to the PP Mod Kit??

Ohh, and I am not Andrea.

Ok, that should complete my Intro


Asus P5K3-Deluxe >> HT Omega Stryker 7.1 >> Zero DAC HDAM >> Beyerdynamics DT770- 250 ohm
__________________________________________________ _______ >> Klipsch Promedia 2.1

Thanx!
Les

 

[sennsay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by les_garten /img/forum/go_quote.gif He has a soldering station that he needs to set the temp on. You can go from 680-750 with no issues. Like I posted above, my Weller 1001 is a 65w Pencil station made to do pretty fine work. I set it at 700 degrees for board work like you are doing here.

Gotcha, didn't know he had a station.

Should be an easy fix then.

 

[Currawong]

If anyone's interested, I had another listen to the HDAMs after some burning in. The Moon I reckon is the one to go for, having the most soundstage of the three, the Sun being the most "in your face" and the Earth being in between.

 

[djchaz]

Ok, dumb question alert, I'm new to Head-fi so I'm sorry if this has been answered before. I searched the forums but couldn't find a clear answer.

If I use the HDAM with the Zero DAC does this replace the need for something like the OPA627? Thank you.

 

[StratCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by les_garten /img/forum/go_quote.gif Grettings Digit Heads!

Welcome to the party -

Quote:

I do have a question, I have an HT Omega Stryler 7.1 SC. Would I realize any "real" increase in SQ by going to a Claro+, or Claro Halo SC? I am referring to SPDIF out here.

I'm not familiar with either of these cards. Sry.

Quote:

Another question, what happened to the PP Mod Kit??

Can be found in this thread: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/frankenzero-bang-buck-exploration-diy heart-370985/

 

[StratCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchaz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, dumb question alert, I'm new to Head-fi so I'm sorry if this has been answered before. I searched the forums but couldn't find a clear answer. If I use the HDAM with the Zero DAC does this replace the need for something like the OPA627? Thank you.

Yes, HDAMs and OPA627 perform the same general electrical function and are generally interchangeable, and you will only need one or the other.

They both act as "op-amps". OPA627 is a monolythic semiconductor IC; HDAMs perform the same function using discrete components (mostly transistors in this case). For each Zero op-amp you will need one or the other. There are three op-amps used in the Zero: One in the DAC section, and two in the headphone amp section, again for a total of three.

Popular thought around here seems to be to use an OPA627 or HDAM for the DAC op-amp (with HDAM preffered) and two monolythic IC op-amps in the headphone section (LT1364 preffered).

HTH

 

[djchaz]

Much appreciated, thanks StratCat.

 

[StratCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchaz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Much appreciated, thanks StratCat.

NP.

Enjoy!

 

[x_lk]

Just received my new Zero with HDAM, LT1364 and ALPS pot upgrades from LC yesterday. In my case, reasonable price (after bargaining

) plus fast shipping (5 days from HK to Canada) ... so, LC does not look bad at all. The received Zero looks solid and tidy in general, except that the shaft of replacement pot sticks out about 1cm. So I fixed it with a hand saw - it was actually pretty easy. Then I followed Currawong's instruction, snipped two pair of treble killing caps off. So far, I am very satisfied with its SQ. I did want to ground the HDAM as mentioned by lots of headfier from this thread. But it seemed that the HDAM module from LC is different comparing to the latest offers from audio-gd. I looked at my HDAM very closely, found two pins labeled as 'AG'. I'm leaning to believe they are either 'Analog Ground' or 'Audio Ground', but not 100% sure. I don't want to risk frying my Zero by accident, so would like to hear from other owners of LC version, if this 'AG' pin is the right pin to ground with. Thank you in advance.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by x_lk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just received my new Zero with HDAM, LT1364 and ALPS pot upgrades from LC yesterday. In my case, reasonable price (after bargaining ) plus fast shipping (5 days from HK to Canada) ... so, LC does not look bad at all. The received Zero looks solid and tidy in general, except that the shaft of replacement pot sticks out about 1cm. So I fixed it with a hand saw - it was actually pretty easy. Then I followed Currawong's instruction, snipped two pair of treble killing caps off. So far, I am very satisfied with its SQ. I did want to ground the HDAM as mentioned by lots of headfier from this thread. But it seemed that the HDAM module from LC is different comparing to the latest offers from audio-gd. I looked at my HDAM very closely, found two pins labeled as 'AG'. I'm leaning to believe they are either 'Analog Ground' or 'Audio Ground', but not 100% sure. I don't want to risk frying my Zero by accident, so would like to hear from other owners of LC version, if this 'AG' pin is the right pin to ground with. Thank you in advance.

Was the HDAM attached to the socket via the cable or did you have to do it? I thought AG was initials of the manufacturer?

 

[les_garten]

Hi,
Let me re-phrase my SoundCard question. Insert the manufacturer of your choice. Let's say you have a Company that makes better than OEM soundcards. Pretty good soundcards in fact. If you are just looking at the SPDIF outputs of the SC's, are there significant differences in the quality of the sound coming out as digital??

Let me analogize this to spark plugs in cars. There is not a HUGE difference between most of them in your car. You can drive around with a $1.50 NGK or a $15.00 Bosch Platinum and the car will feel and perform the same.

I realize this is a generality I am asking about. I just thought that there would be real dirt in a SC's DAC and amplification stages compared to a relatively clean capture or encoding stage or whatever you call the preparation of the bitstream from the Hard drive, so that maybe a $100 SC into my DAC may sound as good as a $250 SC into my DAC(Zero).

 

[BigTony]

I have a £9 SC, and using custom driver I get bit perfect digital output for my dac over coax, for 2 and even 5.1 ch.

 

[sennsay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif If anyone's interested, I had another listen to the HDAMs after some burning in. The Moon I reckon is the one to go for, having the most soundstage of the three, the Sun being the most "in your face" and the Earth being in between.

Would have to agree with you there, Currawong, though I don't use mine in the DAC and haven't tried it there. However, in my KHA amps it reigns supreme, not just for it's soundstage, but for it's sheer joy of life communication abilities.

Have just finished building KHA II with it's FrankenWorks parts, Dale resistors, Nichicon caps and all Black Gate bypasses, plus a new OPA Moon. Even with only a few hours under it's belt and still sounding very fresh, that huge soundstage and large focused and tangible images is prevalent, thanks to a New Moon Unit (

). Only another 200 or 300 hours until it runs in ...... and despite it's freshness it rocks!
With OPA Earth in the DAC and the Frankie BA cap mod, at over 200 hours now, just about leaves me speechless! No matter what amp comes after it, stunning barely covers it. My little Corda 2Move has turned into something that sounds as if it ought to be vastly larger and hugely expensive. Gobsmackingly brilliant. Humungous soundstage and so open that my Denon 1000s sound more like Senns! No, I'm not kidding! Speed, timing, fun and extended frequency extremes ...... even the Denon's flaws seem to have melted away beyond bothering about. These two bits of kit seem to be a match made in heaven.
Currawong, have you tried your Corda Move with Frankie? I'm using a great quality AudioQuest Mini 3 cable to connect up. Simply extraordinary!

S-Man in heaven.

 

[nauxolo]

bored

 

[DaMnEd]

It is an Opa-Earth equivalent, but not quite the same.