TheSatelliteGuy
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2006
- Posts
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I read a couple of threads about a ZO. I did some research on what the heck a ZO did. It is a electronic sub woofer for IEM and headphones. Just hearing that in a review I almost stopped looking. I was sure it had to be crapola. BTW it is being sold by Sharper Image which is strike two. It goes between your source or amp and your cans. Strike three. The last place I want anything screwing with my grip. So I said I would order one anyway and very carefully unwrap it so I could send it back and get a refund.
It was $99 with free shipping and showed up in 2 days. It looks like a mi git amp. Very light and very small and easy to hide in your rip bag. I hooked it up to my dog walker portable which has a 71b, Imod, and JH13 on a ALO mini because you cannot use this devise with a balanced. I used ALO ic's so I new I would be able to pick this thing apartand know exactly what I was listening to.
The dogs took me for a 2 hour walk and I decided to start with no ZO. After a hour I stopped and put the ZO in between the 71b and the ALO mini and turned it on. The first thing I had to do was turn the volume down on the amp. It went very much higher when I turned on the ZO. This got me concerned because I do not want anything introducing anything new into my sounds. When I got the volume to the point that it was OK I adjusted the ZO. This is simple. One toggle switch. They start you in the middle and you can go up or down with your sub woofer control.
As I adjusted the control every 10 minutes I found less was better for me. I became very aware of the details of my music and found the ZO is very much on the transparent side. Not 100% but for me who is very particular I was not bothered be its presents.What bothered the hell out of me is when I took it out of the system and A/B the difference. It was very much like turning off you sub woofer in your home sound system. Everything seemed to lose its oomph. The sound became thin. Well that was interesting. Yesterday I thought I had the best sound on the face of the planet and it now sounded thin. Holly crap. My awareness es were just rocked.
Now I do believe sound is a very esoteric thing. It is only important to your liking. Even beyond that, many can enjoy a $500 system more than some can enjoy a $5000 system. Many of us own $2500 cans. And some nuts like me own several. I feel after one day of playing with this ZO that audio people of all levels can enjoy the ZO electronic sub woofer. The help on the lower end with IEM without bloating is very serious. If the devise is turned to high it will destroy the sound. But when you find your sweet spot with its settings, it promotes a level of sound that my 4 sets of custom IEM have never delivered before the ZO. They havesomething here and I do believe there is a place in the audiophile world for it. They could probable lisense out the technologe to amp makers sometime in the future.
In closing I would like to say that I really liked having a sub woofer on my dog walk. I will probably buy a second one because I am not big on shuffling grip around every time a change rigs. I am sure I would love my music without it and be as happy as I was with everything as it was yesterday but I know if I put this little guy in the pathway of my IEM the sound would be much more complete and satisfying now that my sub woofer was on again. Tonight I am going to try the ZO with my XIN maxed rig. It has 2 SM4Maxed matched amps. This was a necessity before Ray made 71b with balance ability. I also have 2 71a's to boot. One for my right ear and one for my left, to correct my imperfect hearing balance. I have a 20% hearing loss on my right side do to a eardrum transplant form a surfing accident 35 years ago. With the 2 amps there is a Imod and ALO dock all hooked up with ALO cable and dock. It will be interesting to hear what the ZO does with the DX1000's. ZO GO GET ONE you won't regret it. I encourage anyone who has exposure to this devise to add or rebuttal to my findings tonight. See Ya Bye
It was $99 with free shipping and showed up in 2 days. It looks like a mi git amp. Very light and very small and easy to hide in your rip bag. I hooked it up to my dog walker portable which has a 71b, Imod, and JH13 on a ALO mini because you cannot use this devise with a balanced. I used ALO ic's so I new I would be able to pick this thing apartand know exactly what I was listening to.
The dogs took me for a 2 hour walk and I decided to start with no ZO. After a hour I stopped and put the ZO in between the 71b and the ALO mini and turned it on. The first thing I had to do was turn the volume down on the amp. It went very much higher when I turned on the ZO. This got me concerned because I do not want anything introducing anything new into my sounds. When I got the volume to the point that it was OK I adjusted the ZO. This is simple. One toggle switch. They start you in the middle and you can go up or down with your sub woofer control.
As I adjusted the control every 10 minutes I found less was better for me. I became very aware of the details of my music and found the ZO is very much on the transparent side. Not 100% but for me who is very particular I was not bothered be its presents.What bothered the hell out of me is when I took it out of the system and A/B the difference. It was very much like turning off you sub woofer in your home sound system. Everything seemed to lose its oomph. The sound became thin. Well that was interesting. Yesterday I thought I had the best sound on the face of the planet and it now sounded thin. Holly crap. My awareness es were just rocked.
Now I do believe sound is a very esoteric thing. It is only important to your liking. Even beyond that, many can enjoy a $500 system more than some can enjoy a $5000 system. Many of us own $2500 cans. And some nuts like me own several. I feel after one day of playing with this ZO that audio people of all levels can enjoy the ZO electronic sub woofer. The help on the lower end with IEM without bloating is very serious. If the devise is turned to high it will destroy the sound. But when you find your sweet spot with its settings, it promotes a level of sound that my 4 sets of custom IEM have never delivered before the ZO. They havesomething here and I do believe there is a place in the audiophile world for it. They could probable lisense out the technologe to amp makers sometime in the future.
In closing I would like to say that I really liked having a sub woofer on my dog walk. I will probably buy a second one because I am not big on shuffling grip around every time a change rigs. I am sure I would love my music without it and be as happy as I was with everything as it was yesterday but I know if I put this little guy in the pathway of my IEM the sound would be much more complete and satisfying now that my sub woofer was on again. Tonight I am going to try the ZO with my XIN maxed rig. It has 2 SM4Maxed matched amps. This was a necessity before Ray made 71b with balance ability. I also have 2 71a's to boot. One for my right ear and one for my left, to correct my imperfect hearing balance. I have a 20% hearing loss on my right side do to a eardrum transplant form a surfing accident 35 years ago. With the 2 amps there is a Imod and ALO dock all hooked up with ALO cable and dock. It will be interesting to hear what the ZO does with the DX1000's. ZO GO GET ONE you won't regret it. I encourage anyone who has exposure to this devise to add or rebuttal to my findings tonight. See Ya Bye
