Thaddy Posted July 9, 2006 Report Share Posted July 9, 2006 Why has Zhaolu become synonomous with DAC these days? Why do people spill blood and sacrifice their first born child in defending this DAC? Ok, I understand it's probably a good DAC, and the price is certainly affordable for the large majority of Head-Fier's, but does it really deserve all the attention it's getting? I don't think I have ever read one negative comment about the Zhaolu, which is quite odd. Either it really is that damn good, or it's owners just happen to be sheep. So what's the deal, am I just a hatin' mawfucka or is this thing overhyped? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBLoudG20 Posted July 9, 2006 Report Share Posted July 9, 2006 Extremely overhyped. Out of the box it isn't all that great, but for the money its a pretty good buy. We are tyalking about a DAC that costs 160 with shipping included. This is easily obtainable for many of our (uneducated) listeners. I agree it is a good DAC, but if you can afford better (and have heard better) then there are much nicer units to explore. There are just way too many idiots listening to that thing, and thinks its the greatest thing ever. Take a look at most of their post counts... most of these people have low end gear, or a very low count. Not many of the big guys would keep this for a source with extremely high end gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 This is actually a pretty common occurence in our hobby and the audio world in general. In the Zhalou's case the fact that it is so cheap means that the majority of its owners probably haven't heard anything better. Of course that doesn't give them any reason to defend it like they do, but I think that is why they do it. We actually saw a very similar thing happen with the E5 just at a higher budget level. I think most people who bought that early during its FOTM time had never heard a player costing $1k before so of couse it automatically became the best player under $1k. Somewhere along the line that turned into people saying its the best under $2k, and even $3k. Now I've heard the E5 a few times and for under $1k it is one of the better players around but it doesn't hold a candle to either of my cdps. Not even close. I imagine when I hear the Zhalou it will be a similar experience, good for the money and nothing more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddy Posted July 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Ok I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way then. I wish I could compare this Esoteric D-500 to the Zhaolu, I have a feeling it'd mop the floor with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron_Dreamer Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 I've only heard one once, not knowing what it was at the time (before this whole craze began), and it was hooked up to a DIY tube amp I knew nothing about, but it sounded pretty crappy to me. That system made the R10's sound like under-driven HD650's, UGH! I know at least a few people have had major reliability problems with it, like hum, high DC offset, channel mismatch, etc. Zhaolu = cheap-fi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerius Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 I briefly heard the Zhalou at the Hamilton meet yesterday. My 10 year old Denon CD player which uses the PCM1700 DAC chip sounds better than that damn thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayt999 Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 there was one at the saratoga meet and I missed it? darn... I was too distracted by Ori pushing his superb (as in it does a great job at making stuff perform very suboptimally) DIY tube amp that I probably missed it. if I had known that it was such a great amp and the best thing that ever existed I would have made an exeption to my usual disregard for the low-end gear and taken the time to hear it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoRedwings19 Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 I briefly heard the Zhalou at the Hamilton meet yesterday. My 10 year old Denon CD player which uses the PCM1700 DAC chip sounds better than that damn thing. It funny you should say this but there are a lot of dacs from a few years ago which still would do well today. Obviously I understand that the emm labs and esoterics are very highly regarded today. But if you are willing to look for old dacs then they are very competent at todays standards with a more reasonable price. As for the Zhalou they seems to be a lot of coverage on that as well as the storm dac. Whether these are FOTM's or really as good as people say they are is hard to be certain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFKMan23 Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Ayt and Iron_Dreamer, You guys should have seen him introduce the Zhalou, IIRC he had a unit with the cover off and another covered unit. He's a damn good salesman, have to give him that. I think it's also worthy of note that I don't remeber but someone mentioned that on toher forums, the Zhalou isn't fairing nearly as well as on Head Fi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercuttio Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 It sounded horrible out of the box. It was damned near unlistenable until Lan got into it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hungrych Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 See review in sig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron_Dreamer Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Ayt and Iron_Dreamer, You guys should have seen him introduce the Zhalou, IIRC he had a unit with the cover off and another covered unit. He's a damn good salesman, have to give him that. I think it's also worthy of note that I don't remeber but someone mentioned that on toher forums, the Zhalou isn't fairing nearly as well as on Head Fi. I just remember him insiting I had to listen to the R10 on that set of junk he brought, how it was way more synergous than my rig at the time. Yeah, perhaps if you like buying the R10's only to make them sound like V900's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFKMan23 Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 heh, Maytbe it was before you came but IIRC, you might have come before him. I just remeber him giving a damn good sales pitch about it and pointing out he internal parts and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron_Dreamer Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Yeah, I was there after he had already arrived. The trip he did on me was later, just before we went to dinner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFKMan23 Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 ah ok. I kind of disappeared during dinner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akwok Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Ok I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way then. I wish I could compare this Esoteric D-500 to the Zhaolu, I have a feeling it'd mop the floor with it. I doubt it.. the Zhaolu kicked the Esoteric D70's ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddy Posted July 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 I doubt it.. the Zhaolu kicked the Esoteric D70's ass. Oh shut up. Just for that I'm not getting the D02 Why you gotta break balls man? Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akwok Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Oh shut up. Just for that I'm not getting the D02 Why you gotta break balls man? Why? Cause I'm a ballbreaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddy Posted July 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 It's ok, I'll still try to get a D02 just to spite the Zhoho fanboys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiberian Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 1. sour grapes, 2. people are too stupid or stubborn to believe you pay for what you get in the US, 3. ori is a decent shill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patu Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 I don't think I have ever read one negative comment about the Zhaolu... Didn't you read my comments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APureSound Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 I don't post here much, but I do read a lot. As some of you know I got a 2.x for a review. They were expecting to receive a "this is the best thing ever" review from me since I got the Dac for free. I am sorry to say but I refused to do so and I offered to send the Dac back to them after trying it. comparing it to everything I could I could not justify spending $160 for it or whatever they go for. In the end I was told to just keep it and I ended up sending it off to my father so that he had something better then onboard sound for his PC. All in all I was greatly disappointed with the dac when i spent time testing it. Few people who I privately talked to told me to let it burn in ect and it was for over 300 hours and tested again. -Alex- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercuttio Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Before I had mine modded, I let it burn in for close to 300 hours. Honestly, it was still terrible. I would go as far as to say worse than the EMU0404 soundcard I was using before. The EMU was edgy yes, but it didn't feel like a huge warm claustrophobic thing breathing down my neck whenever I tried to listen to it. The midrange stock is pushed so weirdly forward and something in there can take any soundstage and just shrink it in around your head with a honky sound. The GS1000 felt totally claustrophobic on it, and even if you don't like the GS1000 sound, you have to agree that this is quite the feat for any DAC. The midrange also had such a strange "buzzing" digital noise in the background at times... it's like there was the slightest amount of radio signal happening back there just at the corners of perception. Maddening. Oh, and the amp on the $178 model is absolute crap. Worst I've ever heard... nasty bassy little thing. I know they're always telling people to "Upgrade to the discrete module" blah blah blah. Having not heard it but seeing how the company sets things up, I think it must be like the old "Comparing parts of the Titanic" analogy. Sure, one is slightly higher than the other, but they're still under a whole lot of water. After the first round of modifications, it's pretty damned listenable and I'm fairly impressed. It's an open, brighter sounding DAC that may need a little bit of control in the upper register. Nice forward midrange, decent texture, pretty good! The GS1000 brings out sibilance like whoa, so it might need a few tweaks in the brightness area. Lan disconnected both the internal amp and all of the lights on the front of the unit; she runs in darkness now. Apparently even that was causing some of the horrible sound. But I wouldn't buy one of these for $178 and live with the stock sound. No way in HELL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Post Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 Zip ] As some of you know I got a 2.x for a review. They were expecting to receive a "this is the best thing ever" review from me since I got the Dac for free. -Alex- "Alex, How Could You?" But seriously, it's funny that this is a confirmation that these guys definitely do try to make shills out of head-fiers. C'mon folks, if you accept the unit for free, your positive review is going to be suspect no matter how honest your impressions. Also, any head-fier should also spell out the "freebie" fact before a review so everyone knows its comes with a grain of salt. Even pro reviewers refuse to take payola, instead just borrowing a demo unit and sending it back, or paying for it if they really love it after the review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted July 10, 2006 Report Share Posted July 10, 2006 That buzzing could very well be caused by high dc offset. I hadn't seen anyone confirm or deny that they fixed that issue with the 2.x version but it sounds like they haven't. The midrange also had such a strange "buzzing" digital noise in the background at times... it's like there was the slightest amount of radio signal happening back there just at the corners of perception. Maddening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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