parx

Ruben, which cables do you use with the DDC? I presume they also make a large difference to the quality of the sound?

Thanks Ruben for the reply. It's good to hear some feedback about the Phasure as I have not heard it yet. I agree the sound could be influenced by the rest of the system components which is always problematic. One thing for sure is that the Zodiac is a very good sounding Dac. I think it can be improved upon slightly, so I would be interested in how you progress.

I have the Zodiac Gold + linear powersupply and also use a USB-SPDif converter as I don't find the straight USB input to sound lively enough for me! I am thinking of buying another DAC and in particular will be looking at the Phasure NOS at some point. Its software is very technical, and it also requires a powerful pc but I would be OK with that. Its volume control is via software. Also I am not interested in DSD and mainly listen to redbook. The Chord Qute might also be worth checking out.

I agree with Mani. Some of the more recent PCM remasters that I have bought on CD can be hit and miss because of poorly kept source tapes, or deaf and/or low skilled mastering engineers. I also intend to rip my CD's just in case they suffer from CD rot! (I have approx 10 CDs suffering from rot). Anyway the Dac I have is capable of playing good quality MP3's well (which I never thought I'd say. I was previously a big fan of MiniDisc).

Great review Ted. I have a very large collection of CDs, so am only interested in PCM redbook. I found that doing the same tweaks with my current Dac (Zodiac) have improved it considerably (I use a 3rd party linear power supply, HiFace 2 spdif converter, and high quality cable). I also found that JRiver was the only audio player that I liked. I am often surprised when people comment that redbook isn't good enough, or DSD is a necessity rather than an alternative! The QuteHD looks like a great Dac with some unique features.

Hi Bhobba Thanks for the details of your comparisons with the Phasure and Killer Dacs. I read your thread from a few months back and wondered what had happened. I am considering the Phasure for my next Dac so I will be interested in the results of the next Dac standoff! The majority of my music is PCM redbook Flac. Happy New Year! Parx

I expect equipment to sound great out of the box. If it doesn't then I won't buy it. The Zodiac Gold that I bought did suffer from burn-in. It sounded great, but whilst burning in the sound would sometimes change! Since I was a non-believer of burn-in this resulted in me questioning my own hearing! I now believe in burn-in, but I am wary of it rather than accepting of it, if that makes sense!

When auditioning the Gold I heard it via Antelope's included USB cable and also paired with the Voltikus. The most impressive aspects of the sound were the bass, airy, layered and natural sound. The Zodiac was better than the other equivalent Dacs at hand, however a brilliant CD player would still beat it in realism/organic/analogue qualities. I then tried all sorts of variables and as a result found the following which takes the Gold where it can compete with the very best: Linear power supply (beats the Voltikus) but more importantly is a significant upgrade HiFace 2 + the very best SP-Diff cable is another significant upgrade (haven't tried other converters, but did try cables) JRiver beats other players I tried (I use DSP plug-in to boost 1 bass fequency). I am Windows only. After reading about computer audio and also from the knowledgable people here, I believe that audio via USB should be superior than SP-Dif. 2 different USB cables should not make a difference, therefore I didn't explore this further at the time. However recently I have been looking into the USB solutions from Ifi, and it's possible that high quality USB cables + USB powered solutions + possibly USB filters could be a huge upgrade and match or exceed the Hiface2 - Coax solution. I would suggest upgrading your Gold power supply to linear. I was very skeptical that it would improve the sound to the extent that it did, and was even more surprised as it was competing against the manufacturer's own unit! I agree with you that the Gold can compete with the very best Dacs (I also am using it in my 2nd system!)

Thanks for the optimisation link. I was still suffering the odd drop out after booting the PC. I'll try these settings.

Review of the Platinum by the poet from 6moons: 6moons audio reviews: Antelope Audio Zodiac Platinum When the reviewer heard the Gold I believe he kept it (for a while). The sound of the Platinum is not really compared with the Gold, but rather the Vega! As a Gold owner I'd like to know whether the new upsampling and filtering improves the sound of PCM, and how to exploit the 'quasi NOS' features of the Platinum. The DSD is a bonus!

I use JRMC on Windows 7, and a Hiface 2 Usb->SP/Diff converter (via Asio) running to a Zodiac Gold and the sound is fantastic. However I have been plagued by intermittent audio drop outs for a very long time. I tried the 'obvious' settings such as: in Jriver playing from memory and increasing skip resistance in Hiface control panel increasing the buffer in Windows shutting down unnecessary operating system services but still no joy. Finally I think Ive solved it. In Windows Control Panel->Power Options there are 3 settings (Balanced, Power Saving and High Performance). I was using Balanced on both my machines, and I have changed this to High Performance with no drop outs so far. (Hope this helps someone) PS Igor if you're reading this, please update the Zodiac firmware to get back a signal lock without having to power down the machine. I contacted support who told me to try a different cable, try new firmware... However an option to reset and get a signal lock would be useful. PPS For any HiFace owners fed up of unplugging and replugging their device for it to appear as a Windows sound device: Don't set the HiFace as the default sound device, choose something else Also see article below on Devcon (There is a newer version of devcon available which works with Win 7): How Do I Force Windows to Remove and Redetect a USB Device? - National Instruments I rarely have to unplug and replug the Hiface now and it also mainly stays recognised. PPPS The Zodiac sounds phenomenal when upgraded with a better power plant than the Voltikus PPPPS Merry Xmas everyone.