ZERO 24 BIT/192KHz DAC/Headphone Amp/Pre-Amp

Global_Inferno

Global_Inferno

Global_Inferno

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Joined
1 Mar 2004
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859
Location
Cardiff, UK
As per title, my Zero DAC / Headphone Amp arrived this morning and all I can say is "Holy **** it's good!" :D

I'm completely exhausted (long day, nearly midnight...), but no matter how hard I try, I can't get the headphones off my head; not through trying, but it's just so good re-listening to all of my music collection over again I don't want to stop!

I'll be posting pictures and a full review tomorrow for those that are interested. But in short, ZERO + NS1000s = Awesome. (I prefer it with ANR off now, with ANR it sounds a little over-bright for me)

Now, where did I get too.. Ah yes.. "P".. Prodigy it is then. ;)
 
Oooh, give it 100 hours playback and the op-amp really starts to shine apparently. How long did it take to arrive and how was customs? As you well know I've got a rather large interest in this item ;)

Also please review the DAC, if it's clearly better than the DG then I'm sold!
 
I've managed to pump around about 6 hours through it so far. Obviously I'm going to leave it running this week while I'm at work to burn it in properly.

As for delivery, also a rather large WOW. Take a look at my tracking link in your post; it took less than 48 hours from me clicking "Buy Now" to it arriving on my doorstep, from Hong Kong. Very impressive DHL, however make sure you're in when it's delivered, it's a pain in the arse to organise re-delivery with them!

Customs weren't interested in it, so again, so far so good.

As for being better than a DG, hell yes! No competition. I've got it hooked up to my D2X via optical running 192KHz PCM and I can enable / disable Dolby Headphone along with that at will when I'm gaming. Volume wise, it goes too 11! I haven't managed to get my volume dial past about a 1/4 turn...

I'll keep you updated though.
 
So dolby headphone works properly through a DAC connected via optical? I've always wondered but never really had the spare money to experiment. There have many nights when my mouse pointer has been hovering over the buy button on the Zero DAC since it first started making noise on Head-Fi though.

I wonder how Asus new DAC will compare?
 
48 hours ain't bad mate! My flashgun from China took over 2 weeks...

The DG DAC isn't bad, per se, but after hearing my AVR I can hear all the little issues it has. It powers the NS1000s properly then? I'm sure Uriel will be interested in this now if that's the case, we all know how finicky those headphones are.

And yes, any DSPs you enable happen at the digital level before it's converted into analogue, so it simply changes the digital signal before it's sent via optical.
 
Yeah, I think it does a good job of amping the NS1000s, turning ANR on changes the sound slightly; like I said it's a "brighter" sound with ANR on.. But with it off it has a bit more bass.
 
I used a ZeroDac (Upgraded version "Opamp chip: OPA627 instead of the OPA2604) for about 6-7 months, used it with a Squeezebox Classic and found it produced a better sound than the DACMagic (which I compared it directly against), although I never used the headphone amp, so can't comment on that...

Real good value, although the build quilty is not what I would call great.
 
Well I just got back from work (yes, at almost 4am...) and I'm sick of the DGs DAC already but can hardly use my speakers at this time in the morning, I've just been paid this week too so I might have to get clicking. Any photos of it seated next to a monitor or similar for size comparison?
 
I'll take some now.. 2 secs.

Edit: Here you go (sorry for the **** quality, I kinda just happy-snapped them.. lol)

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Blimey, that thing's bigger than I expected. Unless the NS1000's are much smaller than I originally thought. :p

(sorry for the **** quality, I kinda just happy-snapped them.. lol)
Click to expand...

Lol they are not **** photos. I've seen some truly awful ones in the desk and room thread. Many people don't even realise the pictures they have taken and posted, are so out of focus, it's anyone's guess as to what the picture is actually of. :p
 
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It's quite a large unit, probably 25cm deep x 22cm across. The NS1000s are very "petite" headphones though.

Edit: Oh and no, I cancelled my E9 after realizing that should I want a DAC to go with it, the E7 didn't have a digital input. So I thought I might as well get a DAC + Amp combo unit and then buy a seperate Amp later down the line if I felt it necessary (so far, I don't!).
 
The NS1000s are really small, I was surprised when I got my first pair. The DR150s are quite a bit bigger. Someone else posted this image in another thread.



That unit does look pretty nice though and possibly small enough to fit under my new monitor (when it's finally released). I'm running out of desk space...
 
it's a £100 amp and dac combo, i dont think it's out of the ns1000's league, personally. Though id have no problems (and want to do so) using the zero with my hd650's. from all the reports im reading its fantastic value for money and that's ideal for me as i dont have hundreds to spend on a dac and an amp.
 
@Joey:
The NS1000s are great headphones for the price and considering that they pretty much require amping to get any real sound out of them I'd say it's anything but a waste.

@James:
My thoughts exactly, I found it when Google-ing and it's made huge impressions on head-fi I think. Considering its £110 price tag to get a high quality DAC and a great headphone amp it really is a bargain, with a bit of luck it'll make my Beyers sing, the DG doesn't do them any favours and my AVR while a better DAC doesn't really do much in the amp department. The only thing I think I'll miss is tone controls.
 
@Joey Not at all, the NS1000s are *very* picky about how they are driven with ANR off. Much less so with ANR on admittedly, but ANR does introduce a bit of hiss, so if you can amp them properly ANR off should give the best output.

@James For £110 I really wasn't expecting anything near this good, I thought the DAC would be good but the amp perhaps a bit compromised. I was so wrong. It's brilliant and with shipping in less than 48 hours from Hong Kong, you get all the benefits on buying it cheaply direct from the country of manufacture with none of the drawbacks to delivery times!

I'd be interested in trying these out with a set of Bayer DT770 Pros (the 250ohm version) just to see how well it copes with them...
 
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