[RPGWiZaRD]

Well I don't hear any mids taking backseat at least on my ZO2v1, will see how ZO2 v3 compares like when it finally arrives, haven't seen any updates on the tracking since December 16th so getting a bit worried about the shipment...
 
Did you guys remember to burn it in? That may be it, the bass was quite overhelming on my ZO2.1 and everything else took the backseat at first but it changed a lot since the initial listen.

 

[ANDEROAN]

hey RPG, I sure hope so, I look forward to what you find out, did they let you upgrade your ZOvatar prize, or did you buy the ZOv2.3 outright? oh by the way our leader is over there > lol, I still get a kick out of your ZOvatar!

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Well I bought the ZO2v3 by my own free will / suggestion. They were nice and didn't have to pay full price but I would have probably done so if I had to as I love the SmartVektor sound and want to show my support as I want to see more ZO products in the future. Sure I was one of the lucky winners of a ZO2v1 so I probably shouldn't have needed to pay but I didn't mind especially since I already had won a ZO2 which I'm happy with so I wouldn't lose anything by paying and then I also get to keep this ZO2v1 so I can better compare the two and in worst case scenario if the ZO2v3 would turn out to sound worse I still got the v1 too.
 
I also eventually probably update my ZO1 review with ZO2 details where I'd kinda need the latest version as it's slightly different with this high and low gain and could possibly have some sonic differences as well in case they are using different components. Also I'm curious to know if it sounds any better.
 
That I'm such a fan of this product doesn't mean I'd lie about it if I don't like what I'm hearing and will probably write if I find good or bad things but at least I learnt by my mistake from ZO2v1 that I will have to let these burn in before making any proper judgement as ZO2v1 changed from being slightly worse sounding compared to ZO1 to slightly better sounding than ZO1 after burn-in!
 
Kinda funny that they only have released a ZO1 and ZO2 so far but still I will have 3 ZOs. ^_^ ZO3 is a must buy for me too in case it will have fullrange smartvektor adjustment / treble boost adjustability.

 

[ANDEROAN]

cool I hear you, seems as if you right on the ball with covering all the angles, and being thorough which is awesome, you won't leave any stones unturned, but if you do I'm sure one of us will let you know, like did you try listening to it with your head tilted on a slight angle, lol, or while wearing a red hat, LOL, ok I'll quit it, but I will look forward to reading what you find out, and then I might hop on board with the final version of the wonderful ZOv2.3! and listen to what my iPod LO sounds like - my GS Voyager inbetween my ZOv1 and my iPod! or like you said hold onto my ZOv1, and wait for the ZOv3.2 lol, with full spectrun smart vector tech! has a very nice ring to it! or FSSVT for short, well lets hope they figure everything thing out before they put it on the street, but from R&D to actual ZO in hand, no matter how many precautions you take, there is always a monkey wrench or two that can't be planned for, like I said its comendable and I'm impressed with the business model DigiZoid represents, in standing tough with all of us wonderful Hi-Fiers!! kudos MizMoxie! and to all of your family, cheers to you, so happy listening! and Happy New Year! you wonderful little bass head you, lol, hhmmm I wonder what the next contest will be? yea right, not! oorrr maybe,,, yes! lol

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I think you forgot to mention the "tinfoil hat wearing scenario" FSSVT sounds so geeky.
 
BTW I absolutely love this new short sneak peak by my favorite DJ collab atm, been listening to it over and over again, need the full track! The atmosphere & that melody in the climax part! :O
 

 
 
 
 

 

[FinnTheHumen]

 

[ANDEROAN]

hey Finn that's ZO right on the money!! and a Happy FSSVT Year to you to, lol, yep geeky, hope MizMoxie can come up with something better and more catchy when the ZOv3 hits the street, hey maybe she needs some help, hhmmm, what could she do that would help her with this impossible task, and something that doesn't involve any superhuman dna splicing, no no its on the tip of my tongue, oh nope now its gone again, oh well I'll just leave it up to her, she's always a good sport, when it come to eggheaded contests! hey that's it she should hold a raffle, lol,

 

[F900EX]

ZO2v3 arrived. First impressions are mixed. 
 
The Good :  IMO Excellent customer service they went above and beyond, sure some international buyers got the short end with having to pay more shipping charges and import tax, but in post 980 says it all, especially in the 1st part.   Hardly any hiss, and NO popping when switching it on. No complaints there.
 
The Mixed impressions :  I am not going to say bad since it's too early for me to really give a good impression but the difference between the high and low gain is huge. Using a Cowon J3 with Blox M2C earbuds says it all .  At the setting of low gain with max volume on the ZO with the J3 at a volume of 30 lol  is still wayyyy less then directly connecting the earbuds directly having the J3 at the same volume.  The real disappointing thing for me anyways using the contour levels from low to max, really makes very little difference or a difference that justifies me using the ZO.
 
Using high gain I get too much distortion and again do not see any real benefit compared to using it earbuds directly. So far I am just really disappointed. The ZO2 v1 had problems but it worked you could hear the difference.  Nearly 2 months on with the ZO2 V3 problems solved, but the sounds does not seem or sound the same. 
 
To be fair I have only tried it with the M2C earbuds, but it paired well with the V1 no reason why it would not pair well with the V3. I have other Headphones and IEMs I can try and will but for me I get the feeling I am at the end of the road for the ZO2.  I don't mean to post negative but I won't fluff it up just to get people all excited for nothing.  Maybe it's me, it's just that I feel the synergy is gone that I heard with the ZO2 V1 despite the problems it had.
 
I will give it a chance, but if my impressions stay the same of to the for sale section it goes.
 
Either way I really wish Digizoid the best and will buy the next ZO that comes out.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Have you burnt it in? My ZO2.1 changed massively after burn-in. Was quite dissappointed at first but it started sounding a lot better after 20hrs but continued improving past that as well.

 

[DannyBai]

Quote:

ZO2v3 arrived. First impressions are mixed. 
 
The Good :  IMO Excellent customer service they went above and beyond, sure some international buyers got the short end with having to pay more shipping charges and import tax, but in post 980 says it all, especially in the 1st part.   Hardly any hiss, and NO popping when switching it on. No complaints there.
 
The Mixed impressions :  I am not going to say bad since it's too early for me to really give a good impression but the difference between the high and low gain is huge. Using a Cowon J3 with Blox M2C earbuds says it all .  At the setting of low gain with max volume on the ZO with the J3 at a volume of 30 lol  is still wayyyy less then directly connecting the earbuds directly having the J3 at the same volume.  The real disappointing thing for me anyways using the contour levels from low to max, really makes very little difference or a difference that justifies me using the ZO.
 
Using high gain I get too much distortion and again do not see any real benefit compared to using it earbuds directly. So far I am just really disappointed. The ZO2 v1 had problems but it worked you could hear the difference.  Nearly 2 months on with the ZO2 V3 problems solved, but the sounds does not seem or sound the same. 
 
To be fair I have only tried it with the M2C earbuds, but it paired well with the V1 no reason why it would not pair well with the V3. I have other Headphones and IEMs I can try and will but for me I get the feeling I am at the end of the road for the ZO2.  I don't mean to post negative but I won't fluff it up just to get people all excited for nothing.  Maybe it's me, it's just that I feel the synergy is gone that I heard with the ZO2 V1 despite the problems it had.
 
I will give it a chance, but if my impressions stay the same of to the for sale section it goes.
 
Either way I really wish Digizoid the best and will buy the next ZO that comes out.

Isn't high gain meant for high impedance cans, not earbuds?  
I'm surprised you didn't blow your eardrums if you tested this.  
I have mixed feelings about it too only because I own the original ZO and this version is just a sidestep from the original.  
 

 

[F900EX]

Quote:

Isn't high gain meant for high impedance cans, not earbuds?  
I'm surprised you didn't blow your eardrums if you tested this.  
I have mixed feelings about it too only because I own the original ZO and this version is just a sidestep from the original.  
 

 
Yes, but the point is Low gain IMO does very little and high gain is like you said too much, its like taking a shower you're choice is hot or cold but not both.
 
RPG, no not "burned in" But I do agree with after a day or 2 using the ZO2v1 it improved and was a keeper with the sound, problem with V3 is, no burn in will not solve the volume issue
 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

 
RPG, no not "burned in" But I do agree with after a day or 2 using the ZO2v1 it improved and was a keeper with the sound, problem with V3 is, no burn in will not solve the volume issue

What you mean volume issue? The highest point of the low gain mode in v3 is so it can be used with LOD with IEMs, then it NEEDS to be that silent compared to using HO on your J3, it actually might be still almost too loud for some IEMs with such setup. But ZO2v1 or ZO1 didn't even have this feature, those are just like using high gain in v3 except u can't control the volume in high gain. But the volume control is mostly useful for LOD users, HO users shouldn't need to use it. Look, it's not an easy task to make it fit for every possible config.
 
But if they want to further expand compability/usability in the future ZO3 for example and to truly cover all kinds of setups in the best way possible, this is what could be done as my suggestion; Add a separate small gain switch to the side somewhere like this which is separate from the volume control switch so that you can control the volume in both gain modes and possibly even add a "medium" gain with a gain strength that is right in the middle of the current high and low gain which would fit perfectly for IEMs/Headphones volume-wise when using headphone jack with an ohm rating of aprox 24 ~ 64 ohm & medium sensitivity.
 
As it seems currently like in your case, using headphone out with a higher ohm IEM or a low ohm headphone you get "right in the middle" that doesn't fit perfectly with neither low or high gain. But again, if they made your config to work perfectly some1 else would have to suffer from this instead if only sticking to the current config of the low/high gain. But yea currently if using headphone out and you are a low ohm headphone user or higher ohm IEM user it might mean either you have to use low gain and set source volume to perhaps around 50~80% or you use high gain and have to set source volume to like 10~20%.
 
I've personally used ZO2v1 from headphone jack and I've always maxed the volume on it (and my source volume is set to 11~15% depending on headphone) as it seems to sound best that way to me anyway so haven't had any use of the volume control, for a LOD user it's a must have though.
 
Since high/low gain wasn't even a planned feature for ZO2 to begin with I feel you're nagging about something which wasn't planned to be there in first case. But yea remember to send feedback to digizoid (there was a specific email for that) and digiZoid might look into it for future products.
 
EDIT: To sum up:
 
ZO2_v1: Couldn't be used as a LOD setup with any IEMs or easier driven headphones
ZO2_v2: Couldn't be used with any headphones with an ohm rating aprox ~80 ohm and higher & medium sensitivity
ZO2_v3: Can be used with IEMs with LOD + can be used with headphones up to a ohm rating aprox 250 ~ 300 ohm but 32 ~ 80 ohm or so headphone/IEM users using Headphone jack on the source is not perfectly matched but still very usable and can be using either high or low gain

 

[F900EX]

I will try using a LOD and see what happens, using Klipsch Image X10 IEMs I can now hear the different contour levels and see if I can make it work.

 
Regarding the M2C earbuds, I think it's a matter of the synergy is gone from them using the V3 vs the V1. 
 
Like I said I am not complaining, not looking for a refund lol, I know what I signed up for sometimes it works out sometimes it don't. 
 
Maybe I just need to find the right headphones for the ZO and also work for me.  I love using the Blox M2C earbuds, just such an impressive sound stage, clarity - details it's hard to go back to anything else.  
 
 

 

[Vuk33]

So is the v3 the last of the updates? I would like to order the Zo2 but not if they are still having problems with it.

 

[djevoultion]

I emailed them and they said ZO2 rev 3 is the last and final model for at least a year.
 
I'm confused with people having volume issues, from what I understand, can't you control the volume on the Zo2 digitally and also control the volume on the source?