AD1852, OPA2604, basically Zhaolu AD, but Zhaolu has better approach at selecting components. Plus, the circuit is almost identical to the basic DAC circuit that is even apllied to Zhaolu, cept the dac buffer/pre-amp stage consist of only one opamp rather than two, meaning signal is non-balanced (zhaolu 2.5 and higher model do not haf balanced output but aminot mod would enable balanced).

Headphone out is also a simple buffered class-b output, almost similar..but then agian, everything is very similar in the audio electronic world.

The cache factor would be the price..but i bought a Zhaolu D2.5A (keep in mind, ac in-line filter, better regulation and board design, all capacitors are branded boutique capacitors, implementation is much better) at..- EDIT : I din know a bulk is on, so I wont bother -



This post has been edited by ijan: Jan 22 2008, 08:34 PM

First and foremost, why the comparison between the wolfson DAC and opamps?

And DAC ICs are not interswappable, pin-pin compatibility is important, also clock, input, timing parts..sum are swappable, but rarely..usually falls in the same family, like CS4396, CS4398 and AK4395, AK4396.

Oh, sorry then, my bad.

Improvement, i dunno, I have yet to see the internals, but since all DACs are the same (low cost DAC), then the same formula goes:

upgrade caps, remove redundancy, optimize filter, upgrade/remove decoupling caps, upgrade dac pre-opamps, optimize noise removal.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/review-ze...pre-amp-269458/ <-- is this the same ZERO dac u guys are talking about? If yes then nothing much to say..

HDAM is really overhyped. The long cable is an antennae for TV3 & 8TV.

The OPA637 is miles better than the OPA627, but it cannot be used in a DAC circuitry since its not unity stable...sadly..the 637 denounces the 627 so bad i never use the 627 unless stability is main priority.