Zhaolu Dacs...Anyone familiar with these units?

Discussion in 'Hi-Fi and General Audio' started by Jose Garcia, Jul 27, 2006.

  1. Jose Garcia

    Jose Garcia

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    Hi!

    Searching around several forums, I read about this Dacs at www.head-fi.com where it seems to be considered a "giant killer".

    The site is http://www.ifiaudio.com/home.html.

    Have anyone here hear it or compared it to anything else?

    Thanks,

    Jose.
     
    Jose Garcia, Jul 27, 2006
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  2. Jose Garcia

    Tenson Moderator

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    You can't complain for that sort of price! Any idea what the shipping to the UK is?
     
    Tenson, Jul 27, 2006
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  3. Jose Garcia

    wadia-miester Mighty Rearranger

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    Its a real benchmark killer
     
    wadia-miester, Jul 27, 2006
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  4. Jose Garcia

    Dynamic Turtle The Bydo Destroyer

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    Dynamic Turtle, Jul 27, 2006
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  5. Jose Garcia

    Tenson Moderator

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    The guy who makes Storm Digital is a nice chap as well, I have talked at length with him and helped translate some of his literature.

    A nice option might be to get the case and put in something like a Monica 2 or a Tube Lover NOS dac. Batteries have their pros and cons, I would want to try both before deciding if I wanted to use it.
     
    Tenson, Jul 27, 2006
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  6. Jose Garcia

    anon_bb Honey Badger

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    Can it challenge the mighty teac as well tony?
     
    anon_bb, Jul 27, 2006
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  7. Jose Garcia

    anubisgrau

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    a battery is not an external one like in altmann - it's housed inside the chasis and directly plugged into the wall when used so i don't think it makes any inconvenience apart that you may need to change it after few years of use. it doesn't seem to have any difference in everyday use to normal AC-powered DACs or am i getting something wrong here?
     
    anubisgrau, Jul 28, 2006
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  8. Jose Garcia

    Tenson Moderator

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    My point was rather that while batteries have very good static performance, under a dynamic load their noise floor goes up drastically, there are a number of measurements showing them to be noisier than a simple PSU and regulator when under dynamic conditions.
     
    Tenson, Jul 28, 2006
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  9. Jose Garcia

    Dynamic Turtle The Bydo Destroyer

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    Which begs the question; Do DACs place "dynamic" demands on their PSU's?

    DT
     
    Dynamic Turtle, Jul 28, 2006
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  10. Jose Garcia

    Tenson Moderator

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    Exactly, and I'm not sure!
     
    Tenson, Jul 28, 2006
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  11. Jose Garcia

    sideshowbob Trisha

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    No, is the straight answer, I can't see how they possibly could.

    Anyway, this particular DAC looks really ugly to me so it can't sound any good.

    -- Ian
     
    sideshowbob, Jul 28, 2006
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  12. Jose Garcia

    Dynamic Turtle The Bydo Destroyer

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    What, compared to the Benchmark DAC1 or a Derek Shek NOS jobby?

    The case looks great (despite being silver!) and the LCD display looks really cool.

    There are much better pictures on the Head-fi thread.

    DT
     
    Dynamic Turtle, Jul 28, 2006
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  13. Jose Garcia

    sideshowbob Trisha

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    I mean the Zhalou one. Ugly as sin. Must be rubbish.

    -- Ian
     
    sideshowbob, Jul 28, 2006
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  14. Jose Garcia

    Tenson Moderator

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    I can't find the info I read ages ago about dynamic loads from small amp I think it was back in my headphone days!

    However, this shows how the noise changes under different load conditions and even in time. You can see how things would just get worse for dynamic loads.

    http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/regulators_noise4_e.html

    So really it depends on what type of battery you use and what the intended load and application is. Check how much current your DAC takes before decided to go for battery or well regulated PSU (which would be a fair bit better than the reference regulator in these plots).
     
    Tenson, Jul 28, 2006
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  15. Jose Garcia

    Dynamic Turtle The Bydo Destroyer

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    We all know that the better looking a piece of Hi-Fi, the better it performs (i.e. Clearaudio, Sonus Faber :MILD: ).

    Ugly hi-fi sounds rubbish (LP12, Tannoy, Naim etc. :D )

    DT
     
    Dynamic Turtle, Jul 31, 2006
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  16. Jose Garcia

    sideshowbob Trisha

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    Clearaudio is tacky bling and Sonus Faber looks hideous, the sort of speakers a pimp would admire the looks of. IMO. :)

    Well, two out of those three are highly overrated. And I think my Tannoys look very pretty anyway.

    [​IMG]


    -- Ian
     
    sideshowbob, Jul 31, 2006
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  17. Jose Garcia

    Dev Moderator

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    Yes they do Ian. I still think you should get "proper" (read bigger) Tannoys though:).

    BTW, your supertweeters have changed their shape a bit!!! The left one almost looks like a Tivoli that's laid an egg:).
     
    Dev, Jul 31, 2006
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  18. Jose Garcia

    sideshowbob Trisha

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    They will get bigger, patience mon brave...

    That picture is pre-supertweeters :) As you can see, I was originally trying to use a Tivoli and a Buddha to increase HF response. It wasn't working.

    -- Ian
     
    sideshowbob, Jul 31, 2006
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  19. Jose Garcia

    Dynamic Turtle The Bydo Destroyer

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    Just can't help thinking how much nicer a pair of charcoal Cremona's would look in those corners.

    Probably sound better too ;)

    DT
     
    Dynamic Turtle, Jul 31, 2006
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