Zhaolu D2.x - Upgrade from D1.3
Mar 16, 2006 at 2:53 PM Post #31 of 214
CD with 24-bit music at 96KHz has over 3 times the data rate as ordinary CDs. so a 74 minutes CD is 2 Gig compare to 650MB. So the only possible senario is that the CDs you referred to were DVD-Audio.
 
Mar 16, 2006 at 3:18 PM Post #32 of 214
yea, i'm not sure what the deal is with that... but on the back it says "remastered at 96khz in 24bit digital stereo from the original analogue mastertapes"---it's Muhler's 2nd from 1975 by Mehta and the Vienna phil.
 
Mar 16, 2006 at 3:33 PM Post #33 of 214
That means that the studio did all the work on the audio in 96 KHz 24-bit stereo. However, after they were done working their magic, it was put on 44.1 KHz 16-bit media (using sophisticated algorithms to minimize the loss in sound quality).

The low-down here is that while the sound engineers were able to more finely tune the music to their liking because of the high-res format they were working with, the final result was still crammed down on a regular CD (unless we're talking about one of the high-res audio CDs, like SACD or DVD-A).
 
Mar 16, 2006 at 5:37 PM Post #34 of 214
I see two versions: one basic and one with changable DAC chips?
Would be very nice if the basic setup has good parts, else it might need a mod.
What about the clock recovery?
Which DAC chip would we love?
 
Mar 16, 2006 at 10:27 PM Post #36 of 214
anyone know how good is the standard and/or upgraded headamp?

Like how good is it compared to diy offerings like meta, ppa, dynahi, or comercial offerings like sr71, hornet, etc.
 
Mar 17, 2006 at 1:14 AM Post #37 of 214
Quote:

Originally Posted by granodemostasa
1. VDA-2 lost because it costs 599, two weeks ago if it had been 499 i would hvae had it already, but now i know better.... it has the same chip as the Zhalou and cost at least twice as much.


The DAC chip is only one part. There's also the receiver, and another (and more important) part is the analog stage. The VDA2, which I bought, has one resistor in the signal path for the analog stage. That's as opposed to opamps, which are inferior. That's why people use tubes or a discrete stage like a ZapFilter or other similar discrete analog stages. The sound of the VDA2 is quite impressive and I would imagine it's well worth the $599. Dusty told me he made it to compete with $2k DACs. It's detailed, clean, and wide open all the while being smooth as silk.
 
Mar 17, 2006 at 1:19 AM Post #38 of 214
The implementation of the DAC chip is as important as (or more important than) the DAC chip itself. Sticking a DAC chip into a non specific crappy implementation will result in crappy sound.
 
Mar 17, 2006 at 6:08 PM Post #42 of 214
you guys suck, now the DO2, VDA-2, and Baby D02 are back in the race with the Zhaolu! this is going no where! (and i can't afford to buy em all and audition them).
 
Mar 25, 2006 at 10:06 AM Post #43 of 214
dscn0001.jpg




dscn0003.jpg
 
Mar 25, 2006 at 12:33 PM Post #44 of 214
So these pics mean that the replacable DAC-chip setup has materialised!
Thanks very much for posting! (handmade boards?)

The AD1852 is the preferred chip?
Any possibilities for dual mono-mode DAC chips?

Other upgrades and tweaks?
 
Mar 25, 2006 at 12:41 PM Post #45 of 214
well would you look at that. i hope the mods don't have to delete those pics; will save copies just in case

anyone have comments on that clock?

so i guess the chanbeable dac boards just plug into the main board with those black connectors. not sure if i like that; concerned about noise. also the soldering looks pretty sloppy; perhaps i'm being too picky

edit: on the other hand, modular plug and play is indeed very cool; one could change dacs for different types of music or moods; now that's something that would be remarkable at this price point: btw: eddie mentioned to me that the zhaolu2 will be available in May and cost will lower than $128usd (i imagine that's base price of course. so from $80 for version one, to $50 more for version2. since the upgraded headamp is apparently the same as version1, hopefully it will cost about the same, something like $30. who knows what the different dac boards will cost, but i doubt it will be too much. and no need to worry about clock or psu upgrades. now that i think of it, if you were to consider the zhoalu2 to have an "upgraded" psu (??), the $50 price jump would be perfectly reasonably. of course there are other changes such as R-core, consolidation of boards, a few more outputs (?), coax/optical switch etc.

i just hope that it's a REAL audible improvement from version1, or at least not a downgrade in favor of more functionality. i wouldn't even wait for version2 except i'm sold on getting the upgraded headamp after seanH's comments. whether it measures up to our favorites: m3, danayhi, ppa, all that is hard to tell (i'd of course doubt it), but at the price, it's a heck of a steal, and sean said it's comparable to mapletree ear + (or some such thing) for $500
 

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