Well,

more and more people confirm tying the Earth ground wire to RCA earth gives some difference in sound. When u upgrade the RCA, bring out 1 wire from the RCA ground by solder.

All my stock is from Japan, but now i can't get any more from japan already. I think you still can get from other place like
http://www.acoustic-dimension.com/blackgate/bgmain.htm

Yeah, Blackgate is very expensive compare other caps, but if you have listened Blackgate i am sure you wouldn't want to take it out from your player or DAC. I would said you can't found that kind of clean tonality from other brand.

"Actually just curious but I think modding BG for Zero is rather extreme?"
It is depend on you, if you are looking better improvement on your DAC or player Blackgate is the better choice.



(this is my opinion) Elna, Nichicon, Muse, Oscon and some other NOS caps are good but it still can't give those kind of clean tonality.

"You never try you will never know"

Anyone here tried snipping off the caps on the headphone board? I'm afraid the Grado will sound too bright after.

I have Earth in DAC, LT1364 in amp.

Snipping the cap does not cause your system to sound bright. It just sound more open with higher frequency. Putting in a silver cable will cause bright sound.

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to try it out...

Hi,

Good to see that. Are u not running Sun as well. I spend quite sometime switching between earth and sun and it is fun.

At first I cant get used to the vocal of OPA Sun. After a while, I sort of get used to it.

The more I listen, the clearer is the difference between sun and Earth.

also try to connect one wire to the RCA Earth by solder. use this ground wire to earth the OPA Earth ground.

I've yet to put on the Sun, love the Earth. Maybe it is placebo but there is a slight hint of more detail after snipping the caps.

Do I need to solder the earth wire to the RCA ground? I don't plan to change the RCA jacks now. Maybe just make a knot?

________

The snipping of the caps bring better transparency, lifts a veil that I didn't know was present!

After I completed the RCA jack, i bring 1 copper wire and directly solder it to the earth pin. no need to remove the board.

for ZERO starters, here is the beginner thread which is informative

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/blogs/curraw...-amplifier.html

who else want order moon??
bcoz i need 2 more unit to complete at least 3 unit for d promotion.....

Anyone tried this mod before?

LINK

Some owner did try the RCA female and removal of the capacitor situated beside the RCA female

If i get adventurous enough I might try the whole mod after my A levels Can't wait for the amp to arrive. Got any ETA? My Sennheisers sitting on the desk doing nothing at the mo

This the front of the PCB i not yet complete the mod waiting the parts to arrived
i have the PCB drill but not dare to do hehehe

Yes. Mod is fun. After Mod, the ZERO DAC can surprise. it is very interesting about ZERO mod. even small mod can bring quite some improvement.

That is another matter to connect the OPA. you need to find out the 8 pin connected to which resistors and Caps, then you connect the OPA extend cable to the resistor and caps.
[attachmentid=615138]

+12v should be connected to one of the Elna caps and another 6 pin is connected toresistor another 1 is GND


Eddy Lim

modding can be a very fun stuff.

Yup, i plan to mod as a hobby after my exams. Never really soldered before, but it looks fun. Haha. I plan to ultimately build a beta22. Kinda ambitious but not impossible. Just need to source for the parts.

Dont think solder is difficult. It is simple. google the net for some basics of soldering.

On ZERO board, it is sensitive. Dont touch the board for too long.

thanks eddy i try to trace the opamp see connect to which cap and resistor
that part of cap i change because i saw is near the opamp soo change the cap will improve the sound modified i still noobie

yeah i went to check the basics of soldering. Got myself a capalang 6 ringgit soldering iron + 6 ringgit solder sucker. Lol. I'll go play with some old spoilt electronics.

Hi,

My advise better get a good soldering station & de-soldering gun, if not will easly spoil the PCB board.

If you affordable get Hackor Sucker (de-soldering tools) is around RM60, Waller soldering station RM240.

Eddy Lim

wah this one 'noh meng'. u need to have deep pocket.

Yes, you did good choice. reading on Burson webpage If you palning to install the HDMA put in Elna/Blackgatge for the OPA powering caps that can kill up those current noise from the +12v.

Eddy Lim

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Added on October 4, 2008, 8:32 pm

i think now Willer cant get for that price i check farnell all above RM 500 ++ octave still got stock or not the Waller 921z nvm my fren have it can borrow from him hehehe

Lucky I dindt kill my board. they are many ways to mod. I am using the proton saga way first. (of course proton saga dont have air bag like mercedez)

good think never got cheap....

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Added on October 4, 2008, 9:02 pm


Yes, octave still got. I got it from octave also.

ok it sell for RM 240 ??? sure heheh i try to ask yap and see

My bad, when i asked earlier if anyone had done "this mod" before, i posted the wrong link. The link is here. LINK

Now has anyone done THIS mod before?

That is a different mod than what we had been doing. it deals with output stage, bypassing the opamp and directly couple to the tube.

What we had been doing is to change different OPA such as Earth, Sun and Moon (coming) to give different sound quality. By putting in Earth and snipping the output decoupling cap, ZERO DAC give a big jump in the transparency and detailing and accuracy, rivalled the sound of expensive cdp.

Zero Dac with Earth does give value to my old timer CDPs that have good built ( but lacking in DAC capability ) a big boost, thus saving me the money to hunt for a new and more expensive CDP.

Moreover, in my opinion the quality of new entry level CDPs are no match than those old timers. Coupled with Zero Dac, my old timer CDPs are given a new lease of life, at acceptable low cost investment ( Proton Saga level ? ).

What am I saying is there is no regret for me to buy a Zero Dac.

The only problem is how to keep tracks of so many moddings going on , for a person with ZERO tech background ( sorry, i am from financial school ) . People here are taking 5 steps a time, I am just happy to take only one step at a time.

What is Output Decoupling ( snipping ) ? can google the term ?

P/S > THANKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE DONE SO MUCH R & D ON ZERO DAC.

To all the ZERO users, pls refer this page for some information regarding ZERO and the mods. It is simple.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/blogs/curraw...-amplifier.html

Oh, so it's either one or the other? Can't do both together? Too bad. His review of his mod looks really awesome. Haha. But has anyone tried it before?

The ways you asked questions , give me the impression that your questions are more related to your assignments that you need to do in class, lacking the passion/appreciation for HIFI .

just my 2sen opinion.

I dont even have the amp yet, i just want to know what mods can be done to let the zero reach its full potential so i can go hunt for parts now. dont start the flaming.

If you had the proper intellect to read, you'd realise i've never done any soldering before and just want to know what can be done before i go ahead and try doing it. just my 2sen opinion.

Sometimes expression of opinion is totally a freedom but to express it with strong words is really uncalled for.

Please learn to appreciate the infor already provided in this thread.

Wow ... cool down guys ... just did my cap snip (those cap around the RCA output) yesterday ... to my ears the difference is quite significant, lots more transparency till the level of abit fatigue listening to ...

Anyone of you agrees with me?

Why bother to ask questions, then yourself jump to the conclusion before knowing, as if you already have all the answers to yourself.

That sounds like a smart way to ask questions.

are u using headphone, if so, extra 2 cap need to be snipped around the headphone opamp.

On my system, I dont really feel if it sounds harsh but it avoid the high frequency being roll off and hence more details. The sound harsh is coming from the vocals, and vocals lies in the frequency range of 2000 Hz.

Perhaps yr gear in the chain has something to be improved or the recording is like that.

What?! Since when did i do that? Are you even reading my posts right? You should say that to yourself, "don't jump to conclusions".

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Added on October 5, 2008, 10:14 pm

So if we're using headphones, we gotta snip another 2 caps (on top of the 2 beside the RCA female jacks)? What difference will this make to the sound? Reduce the brightness? Personally, i dont like over-harsh treble.. Makes me have a headache listening to it..

I guess you are right.

Since it OT, so no point to argue further.

I think most probably it's the less roll off high frequency, before the cap snip the highs just kinda extend like "dwinnnnn" now become "dinnnnn" Hope u guys know what I meant

So far anyone one compare the ZERO with discrete opamp with any entry level CDP?

To all Zero DAC lover,

If any one of you planing to install a super clock on your Zero DAC, KingWa JZ-1 CD/DVD摩机时钟板 could be a good choice.
I have tested this clock on my marantz CD 94 player and another player it sounded very good, more dynamic, strong attack & thickness but a bit lack of transparentcy.
I did a compare to my singapore super clock and Audio_GD clock sounded very close to my singapore clock, i hope after 100hours it can sound better then the singapore clock. (the singapore clock cost me RM800.)

Attach below are some of the pic.

Hello everyone,
I was looking to upgrade to a nice soundcard (Auzentech 7.1) untill I bumped into this thread. So basically this is something like an external "soundcard" huh? I have optical output from my computer, so when I play movies or music from my PC, it goes like this?

PC-->Optical-->DAC-->Analog-->Speaker (Logitech Z5500).

Does it work like this? What about all those Dolby and DTS sound Movies? Can you get 5.1 surround sound from this DAC? I see the DAC only has 2 output, stereo?

It won't do surround sound, only stereo.

nope this DAC pnly stereo i think nowdays those AV amp already have built in DAC

I tried the zero dac/earth with my old Onkyo CDP ( those day cost about 2.5K ) entry player, using SS amplifiers ( pre /power ) and Jamo/JM Lab speakers.

The gain is great, having nice and outstanding vocal , more transparency and more detailed in instruments , though using less expensive QED interconnect this time ( still need time to run in ).

I see zero dac/earth as an enhancement to my system, less as a competitor to my CDP.

Fatigue with Cap Snip? meaning it is anti climax ? So better put on hold , right ?

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Added on October 6, 2008, 4:31 pm

Emm ... as ccschua mentioned, it's the more extended high makes me feeling abit fatique, before the cap snip the highs were gently roll off ... more easy to me ears, although it doesnt sound accurate

Thanks for your reply.

I think i stick to the gentle high ( with roll offs ) , so that i could get some little naps in between the music.

If u are using PC player, u can switch to stereo out to DAC. If u output 5.1 PCM code to ZERO, it cant lock the signal.

Snipping the caps with Earth is still less fatiguing compared to OPA627 with no snip. If you feel the need for additional transparency, go for it. If not, don't bother