[esanthosh]

Months of anticipation and waiting ..... and...?
 
Quote:

My only complaint (again) is the amount of hiss I am experiencing with any in-ear headphone.  I think this a bit of a design flaw and should be corrected in future models.  It's an easy thing for the consumer to correct, but you do need an impedance adapter to do so.

 
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Got my ZO today.    Tried going from my 601 line out to Z0 but too loud even with the Z0 volume all the way down and 601 all the way down.   So I used just the ear out on the 601 and much better.    Definately fills in bass and mids on my B2's, just used up to 3 clicks, all that was needed, but definately clarity missing from ear out.    Did I hook it up wrong?

Going purely by specs, QA350 v2 is even more powerful than HM-601, so I am not sure how the pairing is going to be. I got a 75 ohm adapter, so hope things will work out.
 
My enthusiasm is a little punctured as I didn't buy it for the super cool looks.

 

[estreeter]

To be fair, we bought this on ourselves - those months were filled with a lot of hype generated virtually nowhere else other than HF. As I said, I'm not terribly worried about hissing, although the issue with the HM-601s lineout is troubling as I had intended to use the ZO with the lineout from the T51. Such is life.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

Tried going from my 601 line out to Z0 but too loud even with the Z0 volume all the way down and 601 all the way down.

Thought I should revisit this and state the blindingly obvious - the lineout signal wont be affected at all by changes in the volume setting on the HM-601. That said, the ZO2 should still be able to handle the incoming signal and allow you to moderate the end result from your headphone out. I expect that DigiZoid will have more to say on this very shortly.
 
 

 

[SoulSyde]

Quote:

To be fair to DigiZoid, it would be good to hear a few more reports from folk with different sources/IEMs before passing judgement on the 'hissing' claims.

For the record the hissing on my device has nothing to do with the source.  It is present without anything connected to the input.  It's also independent of the volume setting.
 
It's also present on all of the following headphones (to more or lesser degrees depending on the sensitivity):

1. AKG K 313
2. Brainwavz M2
3. Denon AH-C710
4. Klipsch S2m
5. MEElectronics SP51
6. Phiaton PS 210
7. Sennheiser MXL 570
8. Shure SE535
9. SoundMAGIC E30

 
That being said, the ZO2 does such a fantastic job at what is supposed to do I can tolerate the hiss.

 

[SoulSyde]

Quote:

Got my ZO today.    Tried going from my 601 line out to Z0 but too loud even with the Z0 volume all the way down and 601 all the way down.   So I used just the ear out on the 601 and much better.    Definately fills in bass and mids on my B2's, just used up to 3 clicks, all that was needed, but definately clarity missing from ear out.    Did I hook it up wrong?

I also tried the LOD from my iPod and got similar results.  Just run the ZO2 from the headphone jack and be done with it.  I am happier controlling the volume from my source anyway.

 

[au5t3n5]

My amp went to my house today so I told my sister to open it up and test it out for me. She says there is a light hiss with her Monster Turbines but nothing that isn't tolerable.
 
So it seems there are multiple cases of hissing, beyond just SoulSyde, and perhaps all the Zo v2's have it. I'll have to test it out when I get my hands on it and see if my gear hisses, but I have already accepted that fact that it probably will.
 

 

[estreeter]

Thanks for the clarification, SoulSyde - that is a depressing list of IEMs, and they dont all seem to be in the 'ultra-sensitive' camp either. Throw in the lineout issue and I hope these are just early teething problems with a new batch ..... 

 

[SoulSyde]

I'm going to fully charge the ZO2 in hopes of the hissing being a result of low voltage.  I'll check in tomorrow.

 

[DannyBai]

A quick impression with ZO2 + EX1000 + iPod + Lod.
 
The sound is cleaner than line out.  The hiss is still there but less.  Can't notice it when music is playing.  I'm really enjoying with the Lod.  I have the volume down to the lowest level and it's still quite loud so I'm thinking this is a flaw.  Just one click of the volume and it's almost too loud.  I tested the vector switch and I'm favoring it the most with one or two clicks.  At this level, it sounds fantastic.  I turn the vector switch all the way up and the bass is too thick.  Another flaw I've noticed is that when powering the ZO2 off, there's a two or three second delay and it doesn't pop like the original ZO but it distorts and the music goes back to normal.  When powering it back on, same thing happens, but the music not only distorts, but fades away and goes back to the set volume.  I thought this was fixed but doesn't seem so.  The pop went away but this distortion isn't a fix in my opinion.  What counts is the sound though and I'm impressed.  The EX1000 and the LOD, brings the whole sound up a notch and that's a nice improvement from the original.   

 

[F900EX]

I fully charged mine and was no different but aside from this issue, I agree with Soulsyde the ZO2 does such a fantastic job at what is supposed to do.
 
Was it worth the wait and $100 .....  most definitely yes.  You gotta play around with it to find that sweet spot
 
 

 

[deadkenny64]

Quote:

Got my ZO today.    Tried going from my 601 line out to Z0 but too loud even with the Z0 volume all the way down and 601 all the way down.   So I used just the ear out on the 601 and much better.    Definately fills in bass and mids on my B2's, just used up to 3 clicks, all that was needed, but definately clarity missing from ear out.    Did I hook it up wrong?

What I am having trouble grasping is that with the addition of the volume control, the ZO2 should be designed to work well with most portable source's line out with a reasonable range.  I don't think anyone was requesting massive gain for the ZO2.  With the magic that the original ZO provided to BA IEMs, you would think that various brands of sensitive IEMs would be used during development and testing (in regards to hiss). 
 I am anxiously awaiting mine but hiss and lack of usable volume would be a deal breaker.  I hope these are correctable issues and not a result of the design.

 

[ChrisSC]

Quote:

What I am having trouble grasping is that with the addition of the volume control, the ZO2 should be designed to work well with most portable source's line out with a reasonable range.  I don't think anyone was requesting massive gain for the ZO2.  With the magic that the original ZO provided to BA IEMs, you would think that various brands of sensitive IEMs would be used during development and testing (in regards to hiss). 
 I am anxiously awaiting mine but hiss and lack of usable volume would be a deal breaker.  I hope these are correctable issues and not a result of the design.

x2

 

[vvs_75]

Quote:

I also tried the LOD from my iPod and got similar results.  Just run the ZO2 from the headphone jack and be done with it.  I am happier controlling the volume from my source anyway.

 
[size=medium]This is not what I was looking forward. The ZO2 release in the first place was mainly to add ability to use it straight out of LOD. Certainly during prototyping it has been tested with iphone, ipod and other DAP line outs. Obviously something went wrong, what use to have 32 steps in volume adjustment if at minimum volume setting output sound level too high.  L[/size]
 

 

[mrAdrian]

oh no. my TF10...
 
Does adding the 75ohm resistor changes the sound of the source however? I have the 'flight attenuator' that came with the 10pro. On and side question, if zo is hissing independant of source output, the resistor should be added after zo right? Otherwise if the line out signal from the source is too high, maybe the resistor could tame it a bit by being in between source and zo?

 

[kiteki]

 
Quote:

 
 
Being too serious face about things like this is kinda juvenile.
 

Yeah that.
 
Nice new avatar btw.

 
Quote:

To be fair to DigiZoid, it would be good to hear a few more reports from folk with different sources/IEMs before passing judgement on the 'hissing' claims.
 

Maybe they have a pet snake, and if they feed him, the hissing will go away?
 
Honestly I think hissing complaints silly anyway, just turn the volume up. In the Kama Bay Kro Scythe amplifier, when they 'fixed' the hissing (noise interference), the filtration they added made the amp sound worse than the first unit.
 
 
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Fii0 E5 - ZO2 - Cowon J3 / Earbuds BLOX M2C

Are the BLOX M2C that good? They focus on treble and clarity, right?