Okay, I have to weigh in also. I use a computer (Mac) and currently have a wired connection 225 feet by ethernet cable to my shop and an Airport Express connection to my Torii MkII with HDTs. Obviously the Torii is awesome and I would love to try the new dac instead of the $100 Airport Express. But my wired connection in my dusty cabinet shop with its Trends T10 ss amp is pretty good for work space listening. With tools and machinery running I know my ears are desensitized a bit although I have taken great care over the years to protect them. The Torii still knocks me out when I come in during the work day for a break so even with a cheap dac it is performing really well. I am selective about kbps as much as I can be with 128 being the least i can stand with 192 or higher preferred when possible. The internet provides access to previously unavailable music experiences and I live in a rain forest in the middle of the Pacific on Maui's North Shore. As bandwidth increases I expect only better things available through the web. I liken it to an organism developing a nervous system.

It's been more than two weeks now of heavy use, and the ZDAC-1 probably sounds mostly the way it will from now on.

What a product! For the price I think it's a great deal, so versatile and so faithful to the audio signal. I still love the analog out sound from my Sony SCD-XA5400ES -- that is also a big value product with a distinctive deep sound and in use with a ZDAC-1 is a wonderful transport (I've tried six machines on hand as transports and the 5400 clearly excels).

So though I had really good redbook playback before, the ZDAC-1 has distinctly improved the audio of my Blu-Ray player (while not dramatically, it's improved) and my cable DVR (a BIG and satisfying improvement).

This is the sort of component that will match well with the revealing and rich sound of Decware amps and speakers. With the three input formats, there's a lot of versatility in one chassis. I'm very happy to have #004!
So though I had really good redbook playback before, the ZDAC-1 has distinctly improved the audio of my Blu-Ray plawyer (while not dramactically, it's improved) and my cable DVR (a BIG and satisfying improvement).  

This is the sort of component that will match well with the revealing and rich sound of Decware amps and speakers. With the three input formats, there's a lot of versatility in one chassis. I'm very happy to have #004!

Juan,

Thanks very much for the info on Mac ripping and playing. This is very helpful for me. I will get my ZDAC soon and look forward to comparing computer output with my other CD players as transports. I sort of dread converting all the CD's for computer output, but will definitely do it if it gives me better sound. Since smoothness from bit perfect transparency is one of the potential sonic advantages of a computer-to-DAC setup, I am really glad you sorted that out and passed it on. You're saving me a lot of web time! So thanks a lot!

Juan,

Thanks again! Very helpful!

A couple questions:

1) Is Apple lossless and Flac truly lossless for serious listening through seriously transparent gear....without any degradation from AIFF or WAV?
2) It looks like you save your rips to your desktop. Makes sense to put them in their own place. Then presumably you put them into iTunes. I am not an iTunes user. Tips?
3) Have you investigated the USB cable thing. Is USB such that it could benefit from better cables, or are they well made enough from the get go to to get all the data across without any loss or corruption.

Thanks for your advice and Good Luck!

Thanks Juan for your explorations and conclusions. Very helpful.

I figured that since a lot of discerning music heads use Flac or Apple Lossless, it must work well. It will be fun to compare them myself and see if I can tell the difference. The compression is certainly nice for disk space.

Mike,

I agree about computer playback. Really, once set up, it is good theory in most every way. Convenient, space efficient, potentially true to the signal the mixer and mastering engineers were using (at least these days). The potential pain is in the transition, especially for guys like Lon with huge CD collections. And I agree with Randy, for those of us who had vinyl, there is something satisfying about handling a CD case and CD. Then there is the sound. I hated CDs when I first heard them. So cold and digital sounding. But we have adapted to digital sterility with the tools we use in recording and mastering, and then with playback gear, all making all those individual bits come together more smoothly, sounding more analog and natural. Thus the basis of this thread... the Decware ZDAC1.

I got my ZDAC a couple days ago, and as I impatiently wait for it to burn in (this is day three), I have been playing with different sources. Initial AB listening showed me that my Rega Apollo transport and whatever Rega decided to do to make an analog sound is quite good.

Though too early to tell, on first impressions, I liked the Rega through the ZDAC better than my MacBook Pro playing error corrected, uncompressed rips (Thanks to Juan Antonio for making this simple for me!). I suppose this is partly because Rega uses a special chipset that initializes each CD, analyzing disc errors, optimizing the lens height for less errors, streamlining the error correction algorithm for minimal processing, and using a big memory to buffer what error correction occurs. This is supposed to correct errors without sonic artifacts. Whatever it does, I like it with the ZDAC.

But this is way too early to be conclusive. I have to wait for the DAC to burn in, compare a bunch more reference material AND tune my system, including connections, to the sound signatures of the new gear.

And Connections!!! I compared two inexpensive Toslink cables, one plastic from Blue Jeans, and the other, the Amphenol glass Toslink (cables on demand). Like Lon, I found the Amphenol really good...notably better. So....like many before me, my minimal experience indicates that the ALL 1's and 0's cable theory suggesting that any working digital cable is as good as another is less-than-accurate. These cables sounded very different to me. The Blue Jean plastic was fine, but after switching to the glass, the sound seemed to shift from the realm of technology to the realm of music. Richer, rounder, and more natural sounding.

Looking around a bit on forums, there is convincing evidence that this is as real with USB as it is with Coax and Toslink. So I now realize I need a decent USB cable in order to more equitably compare my computer before the ZDAC, with my Rega as a transport. I will report later what my further impression are.

I am avoiding commenting on the ZDAC until it burns in, but on day 2.5 one notable aspect is how smooth it is becoming. Very nice.

Yes Lon, thanks plenty for the Amphenol cable tip. Very good tip in my book! I am really glad to hear that the ZDAC is now comparable with your beloved Sony offering another sound signature choice. Please keep us informed.

I've created a support forum for the ZDAC-1 today.

http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?board=zdac

Since I hope to finish up the last of the first 25 units this weekend we're going to need a place to talk about it!

So far so good.  I am almost finished with the owner's manual.  I will post it in the new forum as soon as it's completed.

Thanks,

Steve