#004 has arrived in Austin.

Impressive machine. Looks nice side by side with the ZBox.  I have the analog out of the ZDAC into the ZBox.  I'm listening to the DVR digital output and it's improved,  Initial listening to cd playback from the ZDAC and the SCD-XA5400ES is so far surprisingly close sonically.  Whcih is impressive.

Wow ..... the past week has been an audio whirlwind for me .....

My son Geoff and I headed out to the HornFest in South Carolina last Thursday morning and stayed there until Friday night.  We did an "all nighter" of 800 miles and arrived at The Audio Karma Fest in Novi, Michigan on Saturday morning.  From there, back to Caintuck on Sunday night and hit the sack about 2:30 am after unloading.

I love audio road trips, but this was a bit much even for me .....  

To make things worse, I knew that I had a new Decware ZDAC-1 waiting for me at home.  It arrived shortly before the road trip began and I only had a couple of hours to check it out before I had to start packing things up for the trip.

My original plan was to take the ZDAC with me for show and tell at the HornFest, but I decided against it because of the all too familiar situation of a brand new piece of gear with no burn in time.

Steve told me that the unit had about 4 hours of burn in time on it and it sounded like it .....    Can you say "grainy" .....

It was especially rough on the ears sitting next to the MHDT Labs Havana, which is a very mellow NOS design.

After retuning from the road trip and a good night's rest, I scurried to the listening room and fired up the ZDAC and programmed the transport to repeat while I did some yard work.

When I get back to the room, things were much improved over the first listening session.  Truthfully, I was pretty much amazed at how much better it sounded after just a few hours of burn in.  Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if the next 100 hours or so will be a bit of a "sonic roller coaster ride" based on past experience with new gear.

By the time evening had rolled around, I decided to put the Havana back in the system and listen to some of the same music that had been playing through the ZDAC.  Since I have the two pieces sitting side by side, swapping them can be done in a matter of seconds.

The following brief comments should be taken in the context that I fully expect the ZDAC to get better (possibly much better) with some additional burn in time under its belt.

First, I have to say that I am amazed that Steve has been able to get a "NOS sound" out of a very different topology ..... and I mean this as a compliment.  I previously owned a Zanden 5000 DAC, considered by many to be right at the top of the heap in the land of digital converters ..... and, make no mistake, it sounds very, very good.  When done right, a NOS DAC does a very good job of extracting detail from the CD while being easy on the ears ..... closer to analog, IMHO.  The MHDT Labs Havana is a NOS design that sounds killer for the money and I like mine a lot.

Steve's reference DAC is a NOS design and sounds very good as well.  I must admit I blinked a few times when Steve revealed that the ZDAC was not a NOS design.  Despite my respect for his ears and design talents, I thought to myself "great, another upsampling / oversampling DAC that will make my poor ears bleed".

However, even at this point in time, I hear more similarities than differences between the ZDAC and the Havana .... which is good news indeed.  As would be expected, the ZDAC has a bit more detail.  It lacks a bit of the warmth that I enjoy from the Havana, but again, this may well change with some hours of burn in.

Even at this point, the soundstage depth and width are very good as well as the focus and palpability of vocals and instruments .....

I plan to put some hours on the ZDAC over the next couple of weeks and will share my thoughts as we go.

Based on the DACs I have heard (quite a few), I would have no problem recommending this piece.  There are a lot of pricey DACs out there that are not nearly as good as this one ..... and my unit is still "wet behind the ears" .....

More to come .....

Randy

The ZDAC-1 continues to improve sonically in frequency extremes and focus. One immediate standout is how dynamic this DAC is.

This morning Sonny Rollins' "Freelance Years" box set from Concord is in play and I'm just grabbed by Rollins and pulled into tracing his musical lines in my mind.  The ZDAC-1 is really bringing the music home.

In comparison to the same material analog out from the Sony SCD-XA5400ES the Sony is a bit warmer and has a more laid back presentation.  The image is behind the speakers and further back, the ZDAC-1 so far presents the music more as if you were close to the stage or control booth.  Not in a fatiguing way.  I find both the Sony and the ZDAC-1 to have nearly grain-free treble and midrange.  The ZDAC-1 has a fuller, more bold sound. The Sony sounds more open and deeper, as if you were pulled into the room a bit more realistically by some supernatural agent.  It's a very appealing sound.  With SACD the Sony rocks and trounces any other digital sound I've heard.

I've been listening to three sources via both glass Toslink optical cable and a few coaxial digital cables. Very interesting to compare the sonics of either cable with a source. This DAC will clearly delineate component and cabling changes.

So far I've used three digital cables, the best of which (by a head and shoulders) is the Creative Cable's "Black Knight" -- a cable that seems to just get it right, adds a hint of coppery romance. The other cable is a very cheap one with a sort of crisp sound that came with another component and one lableled "Acoustic Research" that is pretty good, more analytical than the Black Knight.

The Toslink cable I've been using is the glass fibered "Amphenol" cable. This is hands down the best Toslink cable I've ever heard and at less than thirty bucks a great buy.  Doesn't have the boxiness and flatness I've heard in plastic Toslink cables. A very open and dynamic cable.

The differences I hear between the Amphenol Toslink and the Black Knight coaxial cable is mainly presentation. The Toslilnk is more focused and perhaps more dynamic by just a shade. Seems very accurate.  The Black Knight has just a tiny glow to it.  It almost makes you feel as if you could hear the metal warming up.  A bit more romance and mystery. A nice difference.  I find that the Black Knight wins when the Sony SCD-XA5400ES is used as a transport.  With the DVR and the Sony BDP-S2000ES Blu-Ray the Toslink seems dead on sonically, as these components seem a tiny bit warmer and fuzzier sounding when connected to the ZDAC. I'm getting very good sound from all three sources.

Perhaps you know how it feels to use Decware interconnects and power cords. . . you can try a lot of brands but you have a referrence point, a "gold standard" where you have the best bang for the buck and all the support your components and the signal needs when you get to know the Decware cables. I would be very happy to have a Decware digital cable, or Steve's heartiest specific recommendation as a foundation cable.

I have been running the ZDAC for several hours each night since it arrived ..... powering it off between sessions since it has been my experience that capacitor break-in works better with some off and on time.

As I expected, it is getting better by the day .....

I have an interesting situation with the Genesis Digital Lens that sits between my transport and the DAC ..... it allows me to input five different types of digital cabling ..... coax, BNC, AESEBU (balanced), Toslink (plastic fiber) and a discreet input for glass.  It will then output coax, AESEBU or glass to the DAC.

The really neat thing is that it allows me to toggle these different inputs on the fly from the remote control.

Since my CEC transport has outputs for coax, balanced and optical ..... I can hook all of them up to the Digital Lens at the same time for a quick (instant) comparison.

Before I received the ZDAC, I had been experimenting with a couple of coax cables (a very decent budget cable from Blue Jeans cable and the venerable Illuminati D-60) and a balanced cable.

The D-60 provided the most detail, the Blue Jeans a smooth and "easy" sound and the balanced cable gave me a richer more laid back sound with the perception of slightly more bass response.

I have since returned the D-60 to its owner and have been switching back and forth between the Blue Jeans and balanced cables going from the transport to the Lens and another run of Blue Jeans cable running from the Lens to the ZDAC.

The implications of this setup are pretty amazing ..... five possible cables from the transport to the Lens and another 3 possible cables from the Lens to the DAC .....

Needless to say, there is an almost infinite variety of possible sonic signatures and flavors.

Already, I have found a very useful application for this ..... I listen to "hotter" CDs through the balanced cable and more "laid back" CDs through the coax ..... just one button push away .....

I have yet to try a decent glass cable ..... but plan to in the near future.

Some might make the argument that another component and cable could not possibly improve the sound ..... but anyone who owns a Digital Lens knows that the improvement is audible and for real.

Oh yeah ..... the ZDAC ..... from the relatively short time it has been in the system, it has acquitted itself very well indeed.  I am liking it a lot and expect to be delighted by the time it reaches "maturity".

It should certainly be on the very short list of anyone wanting to have a top notch digital front end.

More to come .....

Randy

wil,

Very interested to hear your impressions of the cable.  I'm impressed, I bought another one which I received yesterday. Very quick and personal service from Cables on Demand.

The ZDAC-1 is really opening up.  I'm still having fun doing cd comparisons. Quite interesting, reality bending sort of thing with material I know really well.

Cd playback via the ZDAC-1 has improved over the last few days. There's more depth, more of a foundation to the sound and it's moved a tiny bit back from its more forward stance of last week.  It's moving into the sort of sound I wanted from the ZCD and never have found. So far I have two very good, very different, presentations of the recordings. An abundance of riches!  I wish I could fully describe the differences. Very cool to have both views.

For my DVR and my Blu-Ray player the ZDAC-1 is a delight. For now I've settled on using Toslink for both. The ZDAC-1 gets you right down in there, involved.  Music on programming can really suck you in. If I were looking for a DAC for a home theater system I'd look at this one.  Wow.  

Sounds like you're enjoying yourself Randy!