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Post by charleyphogg on Mar 30, 2008 3:58:33 GMT
OMZ is bit more then I wanted to spend, But real tempted. I figure with shipping Im lookimg close to 600. Anyting out there around the 450 mark that would come close? OK. maybe not come close but would suffive until then.
Whats the Zapfilter and how does that come into play. I take it that, that is not an Ori. How would that compare and at what price and sound?
I have ideas in my head, but don't want to influence feedback. I realy want 24 bit 192hz, are my only requets.
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Post by charleyphogg on Mar 30, 2008 7:26:38 GMT
Sure all, my dearch funyiom od 2nd to my typimg and first to what I mean to day.
I'd reall like to know the diid netwen zap fikter an ori
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Post by dc on Mar 30, 2008 11:30:10 GMT
Zapfilter is a discrete output stage, it can be used in many DACs/CD players. It's used to replace the cheap opamp based output board inside the Zhaolu.
They are said to be quite different when used in a Zhaolu.
Not having heard it personally I cannot say definitively, but others who have say they are equals just different.
OMZ having the wider soundstage and more vinyl like sounding with mids emphasis, whereas the Zapfilter has a distinct bass and treble bell curve.
Ori's mods include a new discrete output board, (his own original design) but a few other mods too that all contribute to the improved sound. I believe the discrete board has the largest affect on sound.
the OMZ must be bought from Ori or used, as you cannot buy a kit and install it yourself. Whereas the Zapfilter is a kit that you buy and install yourself, or get someone else to install for you.
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pagan
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Post by pagan on Mar 30, 2008 12:07:59 GMT
Zapfilter is a discete output stage, it can be used in many DACs/CD players. It replaces the cheap opamp based output board inside the Zhaolu. They are said to be quite different when used in a ZHaolu. Not having heard it personally I cannot say definitively, but others who have say they are equals just different. OMZ having the wider soundstage and more vinyl like sounding, whereas the Zapfilter has a distinct bass and treble bell curve. Ori's mods include a new discrete output board, (his own original design) but a few other mods too that all contribute to the improved sound. I believe the discrete board has the largest affect on sound. the OMZ must be bought from Ori or used, as you cannot buy a kit and install it yourself. Whereas the Zapfilter is a kit that you buy and install yourself, or get someone else to install for you. The Zapfilter is a discrete buffer (output) stage designed to replace either a current or a voltage opamp output stages. Ori looks like he designed his own discrete voltage buffer for the Zhaolu d2.5 DC Have you seen this? www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77992&perpage=25&pagenumber=13 |
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Post by dc on Mar 30, 2008 13:50:02 GMT
Alan, I have seen that thread but I am hopeless at DIY. I have an OMZ so I don't know what further to do with it. Thanks for the corrections above though, my understanding is somewhat limited, but through the help of experienced guys such as yourself and Alex on this forum and others I'm starting to piece things together. But still not quite at that stage yet. |
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Post by charleyphogg on Mar 31, 2008 4:27:06 GMT
Sheesh, posted once erlier and it didn't take evidently. Hope this isn't a mysterious double post. Now if I can just re,e,ber what I said . And of course I went through it and typed really slow and didn't have any errors. Errorless must be bad karma   Tahk you all for yor replies. Form the way the Zapfilters seem, I would go with the OMZ over them. Hmmmm not I can't access the pacificvalves.us website, guess the server is down. Anyhow, I think the Lite DAC-AH is out becasue it doesn't do PCM, LPCM 2 (whatever that is ) nor DVD-Audio, and only upsamples to 96khz. Miguel, Have you check out the O1 only using the DAC. Knowing all your gear, so to speak . I don't actually knowwhat all you have, just know you have alot,and alot of experience. If so, I assume the OMZ blows it away making the eoughly $200 dollars worth it in order for upgradiitis ? ALso Have looke at the :ite DAC Am modded, does anyone have any experience with this, or know of anyone, and I wonder if the $116 upgrade is worth it. Sorry for all the questions, and I appreciate any feedback. I'm gonna pull the plug on gtting a dac next week, as I can't wait to see where I can take my Solo too Thank you all for your help, it is greatly appreciated. P.S. I have stuff crossed that this takes |
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Post by dc on Mar 31, 2008 12:57:44 GMT
Pretty sure the DAC-AH does PCM, like most audio DACs.
The DAC-AH is also non over sampling, so doesn't actually do anything to the signal.
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Post by charleyphogg on Apr 1, 2008 3:13:55 GMT
Pretty sure the DAC-AH does PCM, like most audio DACs. The DAC-AH is also non over sampling, so doesn't actually do anything to the signal. Thanks for that DC. Now I have to weigh the DVD-A stuff I have, which includes a mighy sweet Dark Side of the Moon, guess I could always switch out when the urge came. And hopefull hearng Migie;s tale om the dac pf the O! I'm sure he has his hands full, so tis is in no way, a....., can't think of the word, prode him into jumomig om it. Decisions, decsions  Sure is tempteing to just het the OMZ and xat screw it. Buy the time I get something else, serll it, pay for shippimh tnen move up to the omz, what have I lost? |
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Post by hypercatabol on Apr 18, 2008 21:14:55 GMT
Hmm, not sure if I understand you right, but you seemed to start off by asking about different analogue output stages but you're basically looking for a DAC that can take a hi-rez input, right?
If you're using your PC as source, then how about just going for a good soundcard like the Emu1212m/1616m? Save a lot of dosh.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2008 21:45:38 GMT
charleyphogg
Most commercial DVD-As will not output SPDIF (or Optical)
Supposedly to prevent high quality copying! You will be restricted to playing them via a usually inferior Analogue Out.
Non commercial DVD-As can be set to output digital by the creating software.
e.g. DVD Solo (Cirlinka)
SandyK
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Post by charleyphogg on Apr 19, 2008 2:39:16 GMT
Hmm, not sure if I understand you right, but you seemed to start off by asking about different analogue output stages but you're basically looking for a DAC that can take a hi-rez input, right? If you're using your PC as source, then how about just going for a good soundcard like the Emu1212m/1616m? Save a lot of dosh. Hi hypercatabol and welcome to the forum. I had a pretty decent soundcard in the X-Plosion. Although I have never heard one of the Emu's, I wanted to go external dac to do the Solo justice. Tahnks for your input though. |
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Post by charleyphogg on Apr 19, 2008 2:44:24 GMT
Most commercial DVD-As will not output SPDIF (or Optical) Supposedly to prevent high quality copying! You will be restricted to playing them via a usually inferior Analogue Out. Non commercial DVD-As can be set to output digital by the creating software. e.g. DVD Solo (Cirlinka) Thanks for that Alex. I didn't know that. So far all of my DVD-A is non-commercial. Think I need to get a sticky note and paste it so when I do get DVD-A I'll remeber why they wont play.  SandyK |
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Post by charleyphogg on Apr 19, 2008 2:46:33 GMT
Pretty sure the DAC-AH does PCM, like most audio DACs. The DAC-AH is also non over sampling, so doesn't actually do anything to the signal. According to the software on my Chaintech AV710 I am currently sending out via the optical out SPDIF PCM at 44.1 Khz. I hope I am making sense. ;D Yes, as someone once said... " Makes Perfect Sense "  |
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Post by charleyphogg on Apr 19, 2008 3:04:36 GMT
I went with the OMZ 4.1. I received it Tueday morning and hooked it up about 2pm that afternoon. I was pretty much expecting at least some sort of immediate improvement over my soundcard even from the get go. For the first 36 hours there was no difference. I went to bed Thurs at 2 am and still no difference, woke up a couple of hours later and immediately had a grin from ear to ear.
Really opened the Solo up. Even now the sound signature hasn't really changed, but it has so far increased the bass .
Definitely everything is much clearer, more refined. I thought I could hear the symbols pretty good before..... HAH. Everything is quicker Natuarly the soundsatge has improved.
HD-580's are still sounding damn good with it. Full frequency range, I can't find any area that is lacking, wich doesn't surrpise me since I didn't with te solo through my soundcard.
Goes to show you, that you don't know what good is until you've heard it.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2008 3:46:59 GMT
Charleyphogg
Good to see that it has lived up to your expectations.Perhaps you are feeling better yourself too, and that helps even more ?
Regards
SandyK.
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Post by charleyphogg on Apr 19, 2008 6:41:05 GMT
Charleyphogg Good to see that it has lived up to your expectations.Perhaps you are feeling better yourself too, and that helps even more ? Regards SandyK. I wish that was the case. Sleep is thy enemy. So right after I woke up from a nap and it sounded better wouldn't apply here. That's why I mostly post at what is to me, late at night. Tthats what started me down this path of headphones. I got my first set so I could have something to do at night. I hadn't had any experience with any sort of "real" headphones, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money on them, nor have to get an amp. But the left to right action really got to me. So then I got a Total Bit Head becasue of the crossfeed, and not wanting to spend money on it.... I mean, after all music is music  . So I thought. I hope it lives up to my expectations. I wasgoing to try and just repeat the same songs over and over, and listen evey once in awhile, but thatwent out the window when things started to open up and get crisp. Hopefully I'll have some with 2 Cardinal's day games on this weekend ( baseball, St.Louis Cardinal's ) will keep me distracted Appreciate the kind words SandyK. Thanks for all you do man. Best regard, Chris |
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Post by dc on Apr 19, 2008 14:53:21 GMT
dc, which do you prefer the Ori V4.1 or your modded Lite Dac-Ah? I find that I really dig the sound of the modded Lite Dac-Ah, I have not done extensive side by side comparison but at times I find that I prefer the smooth and warm presentation of the Lite Dac-Ah. It should not be considering I have about $200 into it versus the $525 for an Ori V4.1 Care to share your thoughts? Thanks. As much as mods improve the DAC-AH it's still a cut below the OMZ. The biggest area is details. OMZ has far more resolution and details than the DAC-AH. Soundstage is also waaaaay bigger on the OMZ. It's one of its strongest points and has always been much bigger than the DAC-AH. DAC-AH does have the edge on bass, has nice deep bass. Thumping hard on pop and electronica. Bass quality though probably isn't as good but really nice. I think in terms of smoothness both are very smooth and laid back sounding. They're equals here I would say in their presentation. This is an area where there's no better or worse, more preference. |
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Post by leo on Apr 20, 2008 13:05:28 GMT
Zapfilter is a discete output stage, it can be used in many DACs/CD players. It replaces the cheap opamp based output board inside the Zhaolu. They are said to be quite different when used in a ZHaolu. Not having heard it personally I cannot say definitively, but others who have say they are equals just different. OMZ having the wider soundstage and more vinyl like sounding, whereas the Zapfilter has a distinct bass and treble bell curve. Ori's mods include a new discrete output board, (his own original design) but a few other mods too that all contribute to the improved sound. I believe the discrete board has the largest affect on sound. the OMZ must be bought from Ori or used, as you cannot buy a kit and install it yourself. Whereas the Zapfilter is a kit that you buy and install yourself, or get someone else to install for you. The Zapfilter is a discrete buffer (output) stage designed to replace either a current or a voltage opamp output stages. Ori looks like he designed his own discrete voltage buffer for the Zhaolu d2.5 DC Have you seen this? www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77992&perpage=25&pagenumber=13Thanks for posting that link Alan! I'm going to mod the onboard output stage on the Elcheapo dac to the same, the Elcheapo will now have a choice of discrete or this op-amp stage output. I'll update the Elcheapo thread once its been tried I like the simple idea of the added 3k9 resistor |
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. So I thought. 
