[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by prinz /img/forum/go_quote.gif it's horrible.. no idea what went wrong. I talked with Peete, i think all parts are in good shape, they are ok. Probably i made cold solder joint, or track is cut somewhere. Tomorrow im taking my zero to electronic service. I dont know how to find mistake. Even if i look on solder, i dont know if its cold or not

Good luck, hope it works out well..

 

[andrus]

I'm looking for a cheap source set-up (still using onboard/Zune unamped for Alessandro MS-1 and Denon C551). I don't really have a set budget but I'd like to keep it as low as possible while still getting a great value. Would the ZERO be the best solution for me? I would use it as both a DAC and amp and I might be upgrading my Alessandros within a year so I'd like to be able to continue using this.

And sorry a pretty noobish question but what would be the best way to hook it up to my computer? Just get a cheapo card like the AV710 and use the digital out? Or is there an easier/cheaper way?

 

[Ben Diss]

Quote:

Originally Posted by prinz /img/forum/go_quote.gif it's horrible.. no idea what went wrong. I talked with Peete, i think all parts are in good shape, they are ok. Probably i made cold solder joint, or track is cut somewhere. Tomorrow im taking my zero to electronic service. I dont know how to find mistake. Even if i look on solder, i dont know if its cold or not

I screwed up a couple of traces when I did mine. Luckily I could see them, so I just fixed it and all was well. It's real easy to do. Remember some components make connection from the bottom and some from the top. You have to make sure you have a good solder joint on the side that counts.

BTW, I'm in about hour 200 of the burn-in. It's like a completely different amp already.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Diss /img/forum/go_quote.gif I screwed up a couple of traces when I did mine. Luckily I could see them, so I just fixed it and all was well. It's real easy to do. Remember some components make connection from the bottom and some from the top. You have to make sure you have a good solder joint on the side that counts. BTW, I'm in about hour 200 of the burn-in. It's like a completely different amp already.

I screwed up one of the LEDs on the LED mod because I didn't notice the side of the board that had to have the connection. Goofy mistake...

 

[mbd2884]

Once the reviews for Compass are out, and they are good, hopefully all the woes and problems with Zero will be over, err in that, there will be a good alternative.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbd2884 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Once the reviews for Compass are out, and they are good, hopefully all the woes and problems with Zero will be over, err in that, there will be a good alternative.

Well, you could say it was fun while it lasted..

Or you could say that the Compass does not play in the same arena as the Zero. A stock Zero is much less than a Stock Compass.

A Compass with shipping will be $360-$375 shipped. I'm taking the promo price and adding a mere $50 + Shipping for the Final price.

A Zero shipped can be had for what $170 something or so. More than double the price is a significant difference.

I don't think the Zero market will be hit much from the Compass. I think the Compass is up against the Yulongs, Keece's, etc. IMHO.

 

[sandchak]

I am not too sure, if Compass will ever be able to replace or provide an alternative to ZERO..

Lets not forget if not for Zero, maybe Compass wouldn't have been here, not at least so soon - Zero basically laid the foundations for Compass..

Whether Compass fulfills its promise, is yet to be proven.. but Zero has.. Zero will have its Fan base (count me in..) and customer base..

 

[prinz]

rotfl. i soldered all of the part from the underside of PCB :/ (they are placed on the right side, just soldering is probably on wrong side)
Could someone post a picture which elements should be soldered from which side ?
(ive replaced ALL capacitors)

 

[Ben Diss]

Quote:

Originally Posted by prinz /img/forum/go_quote.gif rotfl. i soldered all of the part from the underside of PCB :/ (they are placed on the right side, just soldering is probably on wrong side) Could someone post a picture which elements should be soldered from which side ? (ive replaced ALL capacitors)

Just look at the board and you can see the traces. It'd take a crazy amount of work to document them all, especially if you replaced them all.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by prinz /img/forum/go_quote.gif rotfl. i soldered all of the part from the underside of PCB :/ (they are placed on the right side, just soldering is probably on wrong side) Could someone post a picture which elements should be soldered from which side ? (ive replaced ALL capacitors)

I would be ROFC(Rolling On Floor Crying) instead! Be careful desoldering. You will just have to look and figure out which side has the trace on it. Some solder points will appear to connect to nothing and they don't. That means the actual traces need to be done on the other side. Take your time and look carefully at all the traces. You could save yourself a lot of grief by checking which ones work and whick ones don't with a Volt Ohm meter.

Take your Volt Meter, set it for Ohms, touch one lead to a leg on your cap, and touch the other to the "next Hop" on the circuit trace and see if the circuit is open or short. You can check some "known good" traces to see how many Ohms they should read, but there should be little resistance.

 

[prinz]

i dont have any volt meter or other electronic equipment.
I will just solder from both sides i guess..

 

[mbd2884]

While I agree for the price range, the ZERO seems like an incredible deal, but just skimming over this thread, the horror stories would be reason for me to not buy this. Just wait and save up for the Compass or a KECES 151 with a Little Dot 2

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by prinz /img/forum/go_quote.gif i dont have any volt meter or other electronic equipment. I will just solder from both sides i guess..

Hi, You can buy a cheap VM at Ratshack for not much, or borrow one, or Home depot, etc. Gives you a good excuse to learn how to use one, and it's fun to boot!

One thing the VM will save you from is this: If you have good joints and now screw around with them, you may convert a good connection to a disaster by lifting traces and what not.

 

[ScottieB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbd2884 /img/forum/go_quote.gif While I agree for the price range, the ZERO seems like an incredible deal, but just skimming over this thread, the horror stories would be reason for me to not buy this. Just wait and save up for the Compass or a KECES 151 with a Little Dot 2

Except that the horror stories are really a tiny fraction compared to the success stories... remember that people are far more likely to come to a forum to complain than to glow - the happy ones are more likely busy listening to music! Not to say that there isn't risk - any time you buy a (relatively) unknown product from overseas, from relatively unknown sellers, there's risk involved. But to not buy one just because there have been some issues is missing the point. This pretty much goes for any electronics forum.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottieB /img/forum/go_quote.gif Except that the horror stories are really a tiny fraction compared to the success stories... remember that people are far more likely to come to a forum to complain than to glow - the happy ones are more likely busy listening to music! Not to say that there isn't risk - any time you buy a (relatively) unknown product from overseas, from relatively unknown sellers, there's risk involved. But to not buy one just because there have been some issues is missing the point. This pretty much goes for any electronics forum.

Unfortuantely, there's no way to quantify the extent of the problem.

The problems that were had were pretty bad and smack of non existant QC. You would normally expect for there to be a flaw in Quality and a lot of units come off a line with the same problem, and a product goes out to customers and a lot of guys say, yeah I got the problem to, me too, etc.

These Zero problems seemed to be all over the place. That to me is what is scary. The only phrase I can come up with to describe it is:

"Slapped together"

That was what bothered me the most. Numerous different problems that reflected a Philosophy more than a assembly line Flaw.