[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by udo /img/forum/go_quote.gif My Zapfilter is shipping today! Could somebody please post some hires pics of the D2.5C DAC board, near the CS DAC chip and the connector to the analog board?

Keep us posted of coarse. I'll be very interested in your impressions once you're done.

 

[Sean H]

Does this mean Parts Connexion has Zapfilter's then?

 

[udo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daggerlee /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did you order from partsconnexion? If so I gotta call em and see if they have my order ready!

I ordered from LC, I am in Europe. (Netherlands)

 

[udo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Keep us posted of coarse. I'll be very interested in your impressions once you're done.

Will try to do so.
LC will ship my Zapfilter today.
The D2.5C is waiting for a clock upgrade. (early next year until it's here?)

Then the real issue is if the DAC board has resistors between the connector to the analog board and the CS DAC chip.
If there are no resistors in the audio path then it is VERY easy.
If there are resistors then it is a similar job as done to the D2.0C.

So PLEASE give info on the connections between the DAC chip and the cable to the analog board. Is it direct? Are there resistors? Other parts?
Please post!

 

[daggerlee]

Spoke to Partsconnexion and they said their supplier had shipped it out, they will hopefully receive them by this friday, if not they said by next wednesday they should have it. I guess I'll give them a call on monday to see if they have them then

 

[Sean H]

I called them and they told me the same thing. You know, I'm still on the fence about getting this myself. I know the Zapfilter is awesome, not disputing that. But, it's interesting on the Parts Connexion website they used to sell AD8065 opamp modules which they have recently stopped offering and their explanation for not offering them anymore is not only compatibility issues with some CD players and DAC's in the way of voltage supply and such but they go on to say "Another point is that in more and more players we have found it beneficial to use the ZAPfilter 2 instead, as it is slightly better, and in many cases balances or even outprices the AD8065 modules.

It's interesting they say the Zapfilter is only "slightly" better than AD8065 opamps.

Just yesterday I received some of the newly designed and fanatically raved LM4562 opamps and tried them out in my D2.5C. Wow, the hype is definitely justified. They are incredibly good sounding opamps indeed. Very balanced and clean, high sense of musical flow and very high in resolution. It's like they lack a colored character for the most part and are very transparent but so clean and accurate sounding with natural weight and excellent bass. I am still breaking them in but they are truly awesome sounding at this point. Now, it makes me wonder, how much better is the Zapfilter, especially considering the comments above from Parts Connexion, using these very high performance opamps, and possibly doing logical power supply mods? I know, I know, the Zapfilter is awesome and most will dismiss my point here but I have to wonder how much of a difference we may be talking about here. I don't know, just a thought. It's interesting to have the ablility to taylor the sound by swapping opamps too, to work with other gear and headphones to form synergistic results. Anyway, definitely still considering pulling the trigger though.

 

[daggerlee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean H /img/forum/go_quote.gif I called them and they told me the same thing. You know, I'm still on the fence about getting this myself. I know the Zapfilter is awesome, not disputing that. But, it's interesting on the Parts Connexion website they used to sell AD8065 opamp modules which they have recently stopped offering and their explanation for not offering them anymore is not only compatibility issues with some CD players and DAC's in the way of voltage supply and such but they go on to say "Another point is that in more and more players we have found it beneficial to use the ZAPfilter 2 instead, as it is slightly better, and in many cases balances or even outprices the AD8065 modules. It's interesting they say the Zapfilter is only "slightly" better than AD8065 opamps. Just yesterday I received some of the newly designed and fanatically raved LM4562 opamps and tried them out in my D2.5C. Wow, the hype is definitely justified. They are incredibly good sounding opamps indeed. Very balanced and clean, high sense of musical flow and very high in resolution. It's like they lack a colored character for the most part and are very transparent but so clean and accurate sounding with natural weight and excellent bass. I am still breaking them in but they are truly awesome sounding at this point. Now, it makes me wonder, how much better is the Zapfilter, especially considering the comments above from Parts Connexion, using these very high performance opamps, and possibly doing logical power supply mods? I know, I know, the Zapfilter is awesome and most will dismiss my point here but I have to wonder how much of a difference we may be talking about here. I don't know, just a thought. It's interesting to have the ablility to taylor the sound by swapping opamps too, to work with other gear and headphones to form synergistic results. Anyway, definitely still considering pulling the trigger though.

Interesting! I don't know if those ad8065 modules would work in my D2. does the 2.5C offer true balanced output? I remember there being doubts about the D2 balanced outputs, if they were truly balanced or not. I know the Zapfilter has a true balanced output, so that's something else to consider.

I will probably follow through on my Zapfilter order. this, plus modding my heed, will hopefully give me a 'giant killer' setup, and being a poor college student, it should be many years before I am able to afford the 'next step.' hopefully the zapfilter will let me step away from the game, for a while at least

 

[adhoc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean H /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's interesting they say the Zapfilter is only "slightly" better than AD8065 opamps.

Actually, IMO there are rarely any 'day and night' type differences when it comes to audio equipment modding.

The cap bypass mod? After reading some of the posts here you would not be unreasonable to expect an incredible change.

The reality is perhaps a little more clarity in the highs and a slight increased definition in the bass.

PS: NVM, just ordered samples.

 

[apple_tree]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean H /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just yesterday I received some of the newly designed and fanatically raved LM4562 opamps and tried them out in my D2.5C.

Can you tell where to get this opamp?

 

[Sean H]

Quote:

Originally Posted by adhoc /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually, IMO there are rarely any 'day and night' type differences when it comes to audio equipment modding. The cap bypass mod? After reading some of the posts here you would not be unreasonable to expect an incredible change. The reality is perhaps a little more clarity in the highs and a slight increased definition in the bass. PS: NVM, just ordered samples.

Yeah, could not agree more, great point. So much depends on how intently you are listening and with that perhaps you aren't as focused on the music as you should be? We split hairs in this hobby I guess and those little differences result in a measure of how appreciable they are to us. In the end it's how much you want to pay for those last little drops and at times we pay dearly for that. So, yeah, this is all a factor in my decision here. Do I want to pay the money for the upgrade and then invest all the time it will take to install it - if I can - and if not I might have to pay someone to install it. If it is better, by how much? Would it be worth it for a little bit more noticeable performance? Sorry to get so philosophical but you brought up a good point.

Did you order samples of the new LM4562? What opamps are you running now?

 

[adhoc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean H /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, could not agree more, great point. So much depends on how intently you are listening and with that perhaps you aren't as focused on the music as you should be? We split hairs in this hobby I guess and those little differences result in a measure of how appreciable they are to us. In the end it's how much you want to pay for those last little drops and at times we pay dearly for that. So, yeah, this is all a factor in my decision here. Do I want to pay the money for the upgrade and then invest all the time it will take to install it - if I can - and if not I might have to pay someone to install it. If it is better, by how much? Would it be worth it for a little bit more noticeable performance? Sorry to get so philosophical but you brought up a good point. Did you order samples of the new LM4562? What opamps are you running now?

Yep, ordered samples.

Had to pay for shipping, but it's still way cheaper than getting them from a reseller; they're going for about $5 a piece.

I'm running 2x (4x) OPA627s on browndogs into a AD712 right now. CS4398. Have tried the following:

- OPA2107
- OPA2134
- AD712
- AD8620
- AD823
- DY2000

And to that other poster, google 'LM4562' and the national product info page is the first up. You can order samples from them. IIRC, Digikey (google it) should also be in stock in a few days time (DIP8 package).

 

[Ori]

Quote:

Originally Posted by adhoc /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually, IMO there are rarely any 'day and night' type differences when it comes to audio equipment modding.

Spot on!!!
There is rarely real bad equipment out there. Most products copy a so-called reference design, so that variations are quite minimal and that is good for the consumer.
However... There still are differences. One aspect where I find the differences noticeable is in long-term listening. Some might argue that it's a placebo effect but to each his own... And in long listening is where musical appreciation really lies. All that dissection of a ten second piece of a track is utterly nonsense in terms of musical value. It is here where the little improvements pay off nicely and (very unfortunately) it takes so much more effort to get that little "extra" musical value...
If you don't care about it, might as well buy a $29 DVD player, a T-Amp and the Best Buy "special of the week" speakers. You'll save tons of money and headaches with a fringe benefit of not having to suffer reading ecclectic views like this one in such forums as this...

 

[Nick63]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean H /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just yesterday I received some of the newly designed and fanatically raved LM4562 opamps and tried them out in my D2.5C. Wow, the hype is definitely justified. They are incredibly good sounding opamps indeed. Very balanced and clean, high sense of musical flow and very high in resolution. It's like they lack a colored character for the most part and are very transparent but so clean and accurate sounding with natural weight and excellent bass. I am still breaking them in but they are truly awesome sounding at this point.

You recently suggested OPA2107 opamps to me, but now you have the LM4562. Do you find them better then the OPA2107's. I realize you just got them. At Digikey they list three types of LM4562's. They list LM4562HA, LM4562MA, and LM4562NA. Which ones should I order for the Zhaolu?

 

[Sean H]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick63 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You recently suggested OPA2107 opamps to me, but now you have the LM4562. Do you find them better then the OPA2107's. I realize you just got them. At Digikey they list three types of LM4562's. They list LM4562HA, LM4562MA, and LM4562NA. Which ones should I order for the Zhaolu?

Still love the OPA2107 myself. At this point I am not sure what is better, they just sound different. From a broad perspective, the 4562 are probably the more accurate and correct sounding where the 2107 is a bit more colored and colored toward a warmer character with emphasized bass. The 4562 seems highly resolving which is to say it seems like it has excellent ability to flesh out complexities in the music, draw clear definition and distinctions and sounds extremely tight, controlled and flowing. It's also very transparent so it's very detailed which also means it isn't going to be quite as forgiving of poor quality recordings or things in the signal path ahead of them. Some people might read that and start to conjure up opamps like the AD8620 or the like but it's not like that when I say it's "accurate." It's not a bright sounding opamp and defintiely does not have any edginess or sound etched, it's just very transparent but accurate of tonality and timbre. So it is very open and revealing but also controlled and linear. The bass in particular is absolutely fanstastic, it's deep and of appropriate quantity and weight with excellent punch. But what is so special is the tautness and extremely defined detail of bass notes which is really, really good. Overall this opamp is just right and correct sounding, and very musical. Some who favor a little more of a warmer coloration may find it's too accurate for them but then others who find they like a brighter character might think it's too natural and neutral. It's not really any sort of a "band aid" type of opamp. It's high in resolution, highly resolving and gets out of the way.

The OPA2107, as I and others have described before, is of the classic Burr Brown sound which kind of favors the bass region or is the root and anchor of the sound spectrum. The midrange is a bit more forward and has a little extra colored weight to it that goes down into the bass region. The bass is very full with excellent punch but at the cost of some plumpness and a little lacking in precision. I like it though, I tend to favor big warm bass even if it's not the most accurate and precise. The treble of the 2107 is just a bit more forgiving than the 4562 but it's still plenty open, airy and detailed. Again here I like that as well. I may end up using one 4562 and one 2107 in my 2.5 (again the 2.5 just has two analog stage opamps now) which I have not tried yet.

You want the LM4562NA. In the descirption it notes the NA is "8-DIP." FYI, the opamps used in the Zhaolu's are 8 pin - DIP package.

 

[Nick63]

Thanks Sean H, you give great input. I think I will order three of each of the opamps and try them all of one type and then 2+1 mixed. I have the D2 as I may have stated, so I need three.