[Samgotit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Pak ...I've read reports that in stock form the high frequencies can get a little grainy.

This was my experience (though I would not limit it to the highs) before I modified it. A lot of nice bass and smoothness all around after I modified it.

Get those opamps and electrolytics out.

It has been noted that electrolytics in an output stage can sound grainy.

 

[Puffin]

There has been a lot on here about mods for the Ah. Can anyone tell me what the value of the capacitors is that most people are removing and replacing with large poly caps. There have been some pictures in another thread of a guy who did this and it showed resistors that run up the side of the caps. What are the values of the resistors ?

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ori No need to guess. Just bring your modded DAC-Ah to the So Cal meet. If all goes well, there should be one seriously modded Zhaolu D2 in there...

Nice, verry nice... Looking forward to listening to your Zhaolu at the SoCal meet. Now, it wouldn't be too much trouble slipping in a litle something called X-2 in the Zhaolu box somewhere

 

[Ori]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L Nice, verry nice... Looking forward to listening to your Zhaolu at the SoCal meet. Now, it wouldn't be too much trouble slipping in a litle something called X-2 in the Zhaolu box somewhere

That may happen, since the first unit comes with my next door neighbor... Did I say first?! Yepp, there is a second one in the making...

However, most people would laugh at the ratio of cables to unit cost... I just hope the meet is not too noisy, like the one we had in San Jose a few months ago. It was fun, but the noise level was directly proportional to the excitement...

That makes it hard to tell anything about sound quality...

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ori That may happen, since the first unit comes with my next door neighbor... Did I say first?! Yepp, there is a second one in the making... However, most people would laugh at the ratio of cables to unit cost... I wouldn't. If you hear that unit then you know that the $400 total cost is a serious joke... I just hope the meet is not too noisy, like the one we had in San Jose a few months ago. It was fun, but the noise level was directly proportional to the excitement... That makes it hard to tell anything about sound quality... A well-kept secret is how well the cheaper X-1 works as a digital cable!

Great news. BTW, is this DAC coming to SoCal meet single-ended or balanced? I remember you saying you can only optimize for one or the other.

 

[Ori]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L Great news. BTW, is this DAC coming to SoCal meet single-ended or balanced? I remember you saying you can only optimize for one or the other.

Both are single-ended. That's the popular configuration is any case...

 

[granodemostasa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ori That may happen, since the first unit comes with my next door neighbor... Did I say first?! Yepp, there is a second one in the making... However, most people would laugh at the ratio of cables to unit cost... I wouldn't. If you hear that unit then you know that the $400 total cost is a serious joke... I just hope the meet is not too noisy, like the one we had in San Jose a few months ago. It was fun, but the noise level was directly proportional to the excitement... That makes it hard to tell anything about sound quality... A well-kept secret is how well the cheaper X-1 works as a digital cable!

I have no clue what you mean by all the cable comments...
I found it fits in the usps flat rate box

, meaning even cheaper

We did have some serious quiet time, after everyone left to go eat... that's when Morsel and amb got to test their amps (and i got to hear what the big o really sounds like

).
however, one would have to have several things to make the comparison happen (at least AB style), a transport with two digital outs (could be optical and CoAx), and either two identical amps or some AB switch. (if multiple people have the headfive, then that would make it easier).

 

[Ori]

Quote:

Originally Posted by granodemostasa We did have some serious quiet time, after everyone left to go eat...

It got even quieter around midnight...

Quote:

a transport with two digital outs (could be optical and CoAx)

Use an RCA splitter. For some reason, optical is inferior to coax in the Zhaolu, so you want to eliminate that as another variable in the test.
If you want a very "clean" test then you should run the two DACs through separate power isolation devices, to eliminate high frequency noise interference as much as possible, without constantly having to turn off one of the units.

 

[Audioexcels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ori That may happen, since the first unit comes with my next door neighbor... Did I say first?! Yepp, there is a second one in the making... However, most people would laugh at the ratio of cables to unit cost... I just hope the meet is not too noisy, like the one we had in San Jose a few months ago. It was fun, but the noise level was directly proportional to the excitement... That makes it hard to tell anything about sound quality...

So who's the lucky second one in the making? If you ever find your way up north here, we always have a place for company and we get 1/2 off at a beachfront hotel

. I did some serious noise today. But aside from the cdp hash crap, it was very beautiful. Got a LOT of cds out today and will be burning some stuff off, but not sure in time for the mail tomorrow.

I look forward to reading about the socal meet and how the "correctly" modded 2.0 will do versus the competition. Be sure to take the Revox with you just for kicks, but hopefully not to kick the modded 2.0's booty

 

[vmajor]

With regard to the optical being inferior to coax on the Zhaolu. I cannot tell any difference at all using either of the following sources:

1. Sony CDP3000ES optical vs coax out
2. Sony CDP3000ES coaxial vs iRiver H140 optical out (wavpack playback)

My system is relatively high end: ME550 power amp (Australian design, apparently very good) Genesis IM8300 speakers (planar ribbon tweeter, titanium dome midrange, kevlar bass). My headphones are ATH900 and I have the Zhaolu upgraded preamp driving the lot (for the time being)

I can easily discern differences between DACs, upsampling/resampling, preamps, and even opamps.

However (when well designed) I do not hear speaker cables, interconnects, digital cables, power cables etc... thus my aural acuity may not be attuned to a level that would enable me to hear differences between optical and coaxial digital on the Zhaolu.

Cheers,

Victor

 

[Ori]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vmajor With regard to the optical being inferior to coax on the Zhaolu. I cannot tell any difference at all using either of the following sources

Perhaps the sources I tried have inferior optical out. I have tried a few sources on several systems and optical cable quality varied as well, but the general impression was consistent: coax was superior.
Interesting that you are using the Zhaolu as a "preamp". I've found the basic headmp unit a bit lacking. Perhaps you have the upgraded version, which I haven't heard.
Quote:

However (when well designed) I do not hear speaker cables, interconnects, digital cables, power cables etc...

Of course, when they're all well-designed...

It's hard to imagine that you can't hear differences between interconnects, for example. There are many reputable designs which are vastly different in noise handling and sometimes in electrical characteristics. Given that these differences are amplified, you should hear them. Notice that I didn't say "identify them", as in a blind test, but for that matter you (or me) would likely fail to identify a Sony receiver vs. your nice amp...

 

[Zowbombs]

I cannot hear a difference between the Coax and Optical on the 2.0 (EMU-0404 transport) ABing is quite easy since the input selection buttons are right on the front panel of the Zhaolu.

 

[s.a.b.]

I have the Zhaolu upgraded preamp driving the lot (for the time being)


Victor,

When you say "upgraded preamp" I presume that derives from the upgraded head amp? How do you like using it- what do you plan on using instead (as I've noted you say "for the time being")?

 

[vmajor]

Ori:

Regarding power amps, it really depends on the electrical properties of the speakers you are driving. I initially used 2 x NAD 214 monobridged to drive one speaker each. I upgraded to 1 x ME550 and the bass improved a lot. Similar thing happened with my friend that bought Apogee Ceantaurs, my dual NADs drove them so poorly that we thought we broke the speakers in transport, untill we tried a Classe integrated and the speakers came to life.

Both my Genesis and the Aprogee speakers require the amplifier to deliver a lot of current. Many amps cannot achieve this.

Ori and SAB:

Yes I was refering to the upgraded headamp. I said "for the time being" because I am absolutely certain that within a year or so, the "upgrade" bug will bite and I will just HAVE to try the Zhaolu with a standalone preamp

The upgraded headamp + Zhaolu produce a very detailed experience. Imaging is amazing, I can hear the acoustic cues so much better than ever before. However I am not too confident that the midrange is as nice as it can be - brittle comes to mind and the overall experience is lacking that final 5% of magic to make it trylu involving.

I'll do some more opamp rolling to see if that personal 5% magic thing appears.

Cheers,

Victor

 

[2426]

Sorry for changing the subject, but I've been talking to Eddie from DIYKITS.com.hk, and he said he could mod the DAC-Ah for me. This is a part of our email conversations.

I usually make mod to DAc-ah is like this.
First it is oppositive phaze at out put and very high gain .
People suffering with volume control and inverse Positivte to negative pole to
speaker
I did Mod with OPA at phaze invert function and with very little gain at 1.2.
It back as normal 2 volt at output stage.
It is running with 4pc 1543 in paraller which is very high dynamic .
replace Elna caps (redish one) at psu .
replace os-con at digital part.
Replace with BI-polar caps 22uf 12v at out put stage which will be higher
defnation than with polar one.
Replace the opa with 627 which can inprove the high extersion for sure.
This Mod cost $55US with two 627

Do you guys think that this is a worthwhile mod? Thanks.