[Carter54]

I am new to Head-Fi recently sent here by a friend from another forum so this is my first Real post here anyway.

I am looking for a headphone amp/DAC for my Xbox 360 I need it to accept Optical signal. I was originally leaning toward the Zero and I have read the review here and it seems pretty good however I just came across the Zhaolu D2.5C and thought it might be a second option.

As far as headphones that is still pretty much up in the air. I bought into the whole 5.1 gaming headphone craze a while back and now I have a couple hundred dollars of crap sitting on my desk that I am dissatisfied with.

For now I have a Koss SB40 headset I will be using until I upgrade.

My upgrade Options are: (need an amp that could drive these)
Senn HD580 (I can get a good price from a friend)
AKG K701
AKG K601
Audio-Technica ATH-AD700

If you cant tell from the list I like Open Air velour Pad Cans. I just cant stand Hot ears.

Thanks in Advance
Carter

 

[ciphercomplete]

IRC there was some discussion as to whether or not these two DACs were the same basic design so keep that in mind. That said, the Zhaolu has an extra RCA output and imo beats the Zero in aesthetics. If thats worth an extra $60 than get the Zhaolu. Personally I could use an extra RCA output.

Sound Quality wise I have a hard time believing that the extra $60 is going to get you any gains. For $20 more than the Zhaolu you could get a Zero with a discrete opamp in the DAC stage which easily beats the LT1057 that the stock Zhaolu comes with.

You probably can't go wrong with either as a first time DAC/AMP though.