[El Condor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fran /img/forum/go_quote.gif Could someone post a pic of the 4 caps that need to be bypassed in a 2.5? there was a pic in #1280 but the pic is gone from where ever it was hosted... Many thanks in advance. Fran

Hello Fran,

Here's what I had for a picture on caps bypass on the analog stage board.

Have fun!

 

[fran]

El Condor: That is most helpful, many thanks.

Another question: Did you try and measure DC offset at the outputs and if so what did you get?

Fran

 

[El Condor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fran /img/forum/go_quote.gif El Condor: That is most helpful, many thanks. Another question: Did you try and measure DC offset at the outputs and if so what did you get? Fran

Glad it helped!

And, nope!!! I probably should though

. I'll have to get a digital meter first heheeh

 

[Epicurean]

I rigged my Zhaolu so that I can swap dac boards pretty easily now and did some more comparisons.

At this point I have to say the AD actually doesn't offer any more detail or resolution than the CS to my ears. The presentations are just very different. The AD soundstage is in front of you, the CS around you. The CS soundstage is more homogenous with headphones it seems while the AD leaves a small hole between the left/right channels and the middle, at least with HD650s, which is a problem for some people. The AD has some slight harshness in the mid-highs which ruins my listening in the long run while the CS hardly ever produces a harsh tone.

So I had a short trip to AD land and thought it was nice, but now I'm back with the CS as my favorite. At least with my HD650s, but I'm aching to try out something else like AD2000 or the new Denons... Btw. I've had my balanced CK2III up and running for a week now and it sounds absolutely fantastic

 

[fierce_freak]

Thanks for your updated impressions, Epicurean! They're certainly appreciated.

 

[Sinwerm]

Thank you also for the info on the AD board I have one coming from Eddie in HK this week and will see how it sounds with my D2.0. Mostly ordered it because Im thinking of getting the Orimod and he seems to reccomend the AD board guess I will find out for myself soon.

 

[udo]

BTW: can I mod the Zapfilter somehow so the output can be slightly lowered?
This way I could use my amp a little better to control the volume.

 

[C37]

I intend to do the zapmod when my 2.5 arrives as i have one lying here. Ideally i would like the zap to feed directly a pair of active genelecs. I thus need a volume control, ( à la benchmark) In italy the importer is also using the zap as a standalone preamp ( see pic). can a 10kohm balanced pot ( i have a dact i can use for that purpose) be put between the dac (AD-1852) output and the zap input ? would it work?

 

[Epicurean]

Quote:

Originally Posted by C37 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I intend to do the zapmod when my 2.5 arrives as i have one lying here. Ideally i would like the zap to feed directly a pair of active genelecs. I thus need a volume control, ( à la benchmark) In italy the importer is also using the zap as a standalone preamp ( see pic). can a 10kohm balanced pot ( i have a dact i can use for that purpose) be put between the dac (AD-1852) output and the zap input ? would it work?

I think the AD-1852 outputs wants to see a high input impedance so I'd put it between the zap and the genelecs as in a passive preamp. I think that would also be more flexible.

Or you could adjust the volume digitally if the noise level doesn't get too high.

 

[C37]

Thanks Epicurean.
I'd rather not go digital on the volume. One more thing that worries me is the level of DC offset mentioned earlier in the thread coming out from the AD-1852 dac. I could not find anywhere info if the zap is DC coupled or not, and if coupling capacitors might be a good idea for the zap. On this example: they used capacitors to decouple to ground and also a resistor.

It' a mod for a sony XS50 shown on lc audio:http://www.lcaudio.com/index.php?page=68
Now they say it's a current DAC while if you look at the picture on the LCaudio page and enlarge it, you can clearly see bubbles 2,4,6 shorted.as i would do for the AD.Is it worthwhile to include this in my mod of the Zhaolu?
seem no-one here seems to use coupling caps...Maybe a stupid question, but i don't want to fry my speakers (Hmm This said seem to remember there is a coupling capacitor on the genelec 1031a after the main amp if I'm not wrong)

 

[Epicurean]

The Zapfilter mkII has a dc-servo. I don't have any coupling caps and get less than 1mV offset with both the CS4398 and the AD1852 and I don't think anyone else on this board has had any dc offset problems either.

 

[C37]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epicurean /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Zapfilter mkII has a dc-servo. I don't have any coupling caps and get less than 1mV offset with both the CS4398 and the AD1852 and I don't think anyone else on this board has had any dc offset problems either.

Thanks again. As a footnote, I must add I am very grateful to all the posters in this forum who gave me enough confidence to go ahead, buy one and try to mod it myself.Now if only the customs in this stupid country were a bit more efficient, i would have the one eddie sent me on the 15/06 and arrived here in belgium on the 19th in my hands but that's another story...Getting impatient...

 

[Ori]

Quote:

Originally Posted by C37 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Now if only the customs in this stupid country were a bit more efficient, i would have the one eddie sent me on the 15/06 and arrived here in belgium on the 19th in my hands but that's another story...Getting impatient...

You need to be patient... Up to one month...

But that is nothing compared to Italy...

It can take 6 months and no certainty that it would ever make it. Ain't no dolce vita with Italian customs!

 

[Nick63]

A very nice and competent headfier put a zapfilter in my Zhaolu 2.5 and did not even charge me anything. It has the ad1852 board. After a month of listening I can say it beats every op amp based variety I had tried in the Zhaolu before. It beats them soundly. I am very, very, pleased with the sound. I was asked not to mention who did the work as I am sure the person would get a number of requests from people like me who are not ready to try soldering. There is no doubt it was money well spent. My thanks go to the individual who did this for me. To this person I say I have sent something your way. It should arrive in a few days.

 

[Epicurean]

It seems that my Zhaolu is very jitter sensitive or something because when I feed it from my computer through either my SBlive 24-bit or my 0404 I get a lot of static especially when the music/sound is quiet or no sound at all. Also, when it happens the Zhaolu dac boards led is blinking rapidly. This is true with both optical and coaxial connection. When I hook up my Marantz cd-player there is no problem whatsoever, both optical and coaxial, so my conclusion is that my Zhaolu is quite jitter sensitive and my computer source is very jittery/impure. And I have tried this with both the AD and the CS board and both have the same problem.