Actually, it looks like the 25.2 is easily available for quite a bit less than the ZDAC, and the 25.3, the newer version, is available at Amazon for 595. It may well sound very nice, and it seems to receive nice reviews, but that TI chipset would not be my first choice. And I would be surprised if it had the level of musicality of the ZDAC, asynchronous or not.

Mac5U, Sorry, bad English....I really love the ZDAC1, especially with the Zstage, but the Zstage, I strongly suspect I would want with any DAC since it is a great sounding tube stage, but of equal importance a gain stage.

But...... in my previous post, though I meant (in my own pathetic mind) the ZDAC, not the ZDAC/Zstage, as I consider it now, I would be surprised if any 1500 DAC out there could beat this combination. And even if a 1500 DAC sounded better than the ZDAC, the lost functionality of the Zstage is likely a deal breaker for me.

And this brings up another point I was not clear on in my earlier post. I am not dissatisfied, in need, or even suspicious.....more just curious how Steve's design efforts would compare with a well implemented DAC that incorporates async technology.....my guess being that it would stack up very well.

Trouble is, to audition anything good just out of curiosity is not easy. It usually costs a 10-15% restocking fee, and typically needs a long burnin to really hear. So for me, buying a used DAC or a new one makes little sense at this point unless it sounds more compelling than what I have.

I have no doubt that the async is a good tool, but also I have no doubt that it is only part of a very big story. I think what we hear is the bottom line. And which circuits, clocks, chips, wires and all are important.....but most important is that they are optimized for synergy, and with sound (judged by trusted ears) the most important thing, no matter which jitter solutions are used.

Seems to me that every trend that comes along becomes "the truth" in our world, and in the process, we tend to become lax in our creative process, often missing trial and error discoveries due to our ever-shifting myopic focus. Now a lot of the talk is rightly focused on Jitter and noise, along with other things that prove that digital music it is not all 1s and 0s. And the jitter guys say jitter is most important, while the noise guys say noise is.

Luckily though, there are folks with little companies, good ears and good minds trying hard to fulfill their own creative audio desires....like Steve Deckert, Bob Ziegler, Eric Hider @ Db Labs and their ilk, who think inside and outside the box....their experimentation taking them to places they did not expect to go, and ending up with great stuff at reasonable prices. My taste for sure, but I am happy with my ZDAC, just curious.

Thanks Mac5u,    Yes, there is little doubt async technology is a good thing. I guess I currently judge my stuff by its ability to completely engage me in the music, and if it does that without async, thats good with me.

When my system is tuned nicely, my mind shifts around from amazement, to gratitude, to disappearing into the beauty and back.... I have never experienced this with any other system, and by the sounds of other's reports on their systems, this appears to be a relatively rare thing. So I am very happy with the technology I have. Curious still, and always on the lookout for refinements, but in a good place. This is by no means saying that async is not a good thing.


This discussion has peaked my interest, no doubt, I just reckon no one thing is enough to make a good DAC. I might explore trying a async interface one day. Who knows.

If I recall correctly you have had the home audition jitters too , wanting to hear some Decware gear before diving in. If this is still the case....I hope you can get the gas money to go to Illinois. I can't imagine you would regret it.

Donnie, I have only used error correction with Mac software from CD to files. There is definitely good Windows software for the job, but, I don't know it. Seems to me there is some talk of Windows extraction and playback software in the long ZDAC thread if you want to wade through it. Seems like if you could check out the specific software, then you could find out if file to file error correction was possible.

http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1269827547

Also, have you checked out...

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/forum     and
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/faq

But wait. . . isn't THIS the deep end?

There's a deep end?