[buzzbuzz]

My Zishan dual 4497 (0.5c) heats up after 10 minutes of playing, especially when playing hi-res audio files with balanced output. This overheating happened before a SM capacitor just broken off. (One poster here had the exact cap broken off too). The DAC still works.

To all the modders here, is there a way to lower the temperature ?

 

[ExTubeGamer]

Too bad the Zishan DSD is out of sale. Is there a used market for it?

 

[buzzbuzz]

Too bad the Zishan DSD is out of sale. Is there a used market for it?

 

[buzzbuzz]

ExTubeGamer

You did not look hard enough. Lol

 

[ExTubeGamer]

The 9038 DSD is on sale again. Should be about 100€ on the NiceHCK store while it is on sale.

Is there a huge advantage when playing DSD files compared to my Zishan Z3?

 

[raabje]

I did a comparison between DSDs ESS 9038, DSDs CS 43198 , and Z3 with ESS 9038. I changed the opamp, I tried a few different ones, Muses and Burson.

I mainly play 24 bit 96 khz flac files, I record them myself, I capture a high quality Tidal stream when playing om my computer. So these are not native files from a mastering studio or a commercial recording.

The difference between Z3 and DSDs is that the Z3 sounds a little bit flatter. DSDs has a bit more 3D feel in the sound. I guess this is the difference between a single and dual DAC.

But, I only hear this when I hot swap my headphone between devices, playing the same song, same volume, at the same position. And the difference disappears real quick, in a few seconds, because your ears don't have a memory. So from a theoretical point of view the DSDs does sound better. And mind you, I like it to own all these devices, I don't mind that some are redundant. If you have to choose only one, the Z3 has the better form factor. The DSDs has a better screen and interface (but still pretty spartan). And maybe you have to change the opamp to get better results.

edit, I found my review here: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/burson-audio-supreme-sound-opamp-v6-vivid.22718/review/26473/

 

[ExTubeGamer]

I guess I would need a better OpAmp instead a new DAP.

For even better audio quality I use an old android phone with an USB-c dongle.

 

[raabje]

Better opamp, I think a step up is a quality one instead of the stock opamp. I did some testing, and in the end for me there is not much difference between high quality opamps. I tried Burson V5i and V6vivid, Muses 01, 02, 8920. I think the Zishan players are tresholding or limiting the full sonic capacity of the high-tech opamps.

Budget wise I think the Muses 8920 (genuine, not fake) hits the sweet spot. The 8920 has the character of a 01 for a much lower price.

 

[Setmagic]

Zishan have terrible transistor based buffer stage and also very high output impedance about 10ohms+.
It's still good according price-performance for high impedance headphones.

I'm not a fan of my DSDs anymore.
24-64ohms headphones that I'm testing now results is from bad to terrible depending of impedance curve of headphones drivers. With is unique for each other.

It's working well with my 250ohms but it's useless for me now.
Same as Zishan U1.

 

[raabje]

Yes I can understand. It was a nice experience to ride on the Zishan wave for a while. But the novelty wears off. I did some tinkering with them, and now it is time to move on. I still like and use them as casual portable players, I just grab one, no matter what model or opamp.

My step up will be a proper desktop DAC or headphone amp.

 

[buzzbuzz]

NickHCK and a few more stores at Aliexpress have Zishan DSD (single?) AK4497 for around $190usd. Limited supply??

 

[XTF1]

Is there a huge advantage when playing DSD files compared to my Zishan Z3?

Which version of the Z3 do you have: AKM, CS, ESS? You mentioned playing DSD files and this could be one unique case where the DAC matters—e.g. if the Z3 output impedance & current limitations are not an issue for your HP/IEMs, the dual ES9038 DSDs (or Z4) may not be better than an AK4493 Z3 for DSD files… I don’t play DSD files except for anecdotal tests, but others may know.

 

[Setmagic]

Which version of the Z3 do you have: AKM, CS, ESS? You mentioned playing DSD files and this could be one unique case where the DAC matters—e.g. if the Z3 output impedance & current limitations are not an issue for your HP/IEMs, the dual ES9038 DSDs (or Z4) may not be better than an AK4493 Z3 for DSD files… I don’t play DSD files except for anecdotal tests, but others may know.

DSD files don't need same DAC like PCM files.
DSD is a different audio format who only need simple analog filter.
Technically all modern DACs changing sound to DSD "like" and passes it in low pass filter (LPF).

DSD isn't better than PCM - just different format and it's bigger than file in similar resolution as PCM.

We can hear difference in DSD Vs PCM file when provider decide to do better mastering on for example DSD album.
Overall DAC quality also matter and digital filter that is used of PCM.

 

[ExTubeGamer]

Which version of the Z3 do you have: AKM, CS, ESS? You mentioned playing DSD files and this could be one unique case where the DAC matters—e.g. if the Z3 output impedance & current limitations are not an issue for your HP/IEMs, the dual ES9038 DSDs (or Z4) may not be better than an AK4493 Z3 for DSD files… I don’t play DSD files except for anecdotal tests, but others may know.

In fact I do use an 9038 Z3 mostly with IEMs. I am fine with the sound at the moment, so I don't think I'm gonna buy anything new.

 

[ctleake]

Oh my. It is the sd card at fault, not the Zishan, VLC Media Player had exactly the same problem stepping to Next, and some of the FLAC files are corrupted, playing sections of other FLAC files. What an unholy mess!!!

it seems to me that it would be better to carry around 8 16 Gb sd cards than stuff one 128 Gb sd card full, only to find your precious collection corrupted in one duff card...

Here’s my latest experience with my Zishan DSD.

Foolishly, it took me ages to realise I had been sold the CS43198 version!

So ignore my posts about the Dual AK4497 version!

The CS43198 version is the one I experienced all the difficulty with FLAC files playing out of sequence in folders at the beginning of the sort order. (By the way, the CS43198 version is pretty good, though I’ll be in the market for the Dual AK4499 version when AK sort out their production costs).

I appealed to NiceHK to query Zishan about the problem, and was told: Don’t use FLAC. Great, thanks Zishan!

So stubbornly I carried through my project of writing a bash script to collect all folders containing multiple FLAC files into CUE file controlled single joined FLAC files. Wow, that was a labour!!! - because my FLAC files are buried quite deeply: /<composer>/<work>/<work_number>/<performer>

And it worked almost perfectly! Considering I couldn’t find anything to produce a CUE sheet programmatically except shntool (sox faired no better) which only generates the track start times - and NOTHING else, I had to use intensive logic to generate track titles on the fly. It took me ages.

Now my whole library consists of these programmatically generated CUE sheets and joined up FLAC file.

I say it worked ALMOST perfectly, because some of these CUE files don’t find the correct end time, showing a ridiculously high end time of 5+ hours. But some are correct. Why??? Do any of you smart people know?

Still, I’m in better shape now. I just have endure the bad CUE files jumping off deep into my sd card at the end of playing the FLAC. But at least it plays the FLAC through, stopping at the end.

If anyone wants to experiment with my bash script I could send it to you.