This is tempting but I have to wait to see what the new preamp will cost. If I can't afford the preamp the Zbit and my CSP3 will work.

So I purchased this in the classifieds from one of our members (great transaction, btw), and I'm amazed at what my Oppo BD105 has transformed (no pun intended) into.   The Zbit was definitely needed to get the full "high fidelity" into my Rachel.  

I'm currently listening to a FLAC copy of The Jam's "All Mod Cons/Sound Affects" MFSL two-fer.   Amazing...btw, this is the best CD pressing of these two titles.   Bruce Foxton's bass has that extension...it's like I can feel the roundwound strings against my fingers and hear the fullness of the bass...just amazing.

After my SET amp settled down, my ZBit is working just great with it. Now, I use it for acoustic Jazz and those selections which do not require heavy orchestration. For those, I replace the ZBit with my Preamp for more slam and oomph.

All in all, I like the ZBit and what it does for the sound in my rig. It may take a while before it settles, especially if the amp is also new, but once these two devices get to steady state, it is a very good addition to the gear.

Let me know what you think when you get this Lon.
Just received the TORII JR. last night and was considering one of these also.

I know the feeling.

Tommy
Where are you at on the list?

Excellent
Since he has the Jr like I do I will be very interested to here what he has to say.
Thanks Lon

Did you receive it yet Tom

I'm thinking about one of these for my Vega DAC, but it would be a custom unit with a fixed -6db for use with my Tortuga Audio LDR. I can't see myself spending 3K on the ones from Empirical Audio. I know someone who can make something nice with Finemet cores but it would be $1800 before wiring and plugs.

Seems like quite a wiat list?

My ZBIT shipped today, when it arrives on Thursday it will be almost exactly 8 weeks from order to receiving the component.

Looking forward to checking it out.

Randy, thanks for weighing in on the ZBIT and the DirectStream. I'll have mine tomorrow, and I've broken in a pair of XLR cables from Take Five Audio that I think will work well with my VooDoo Cable Stradivarius Cremona single-ended cables (similar PC-OCC wire and also cryo treated). So I'm ready to experiment. I just hope that there's not added "brightnes"--the comments about "sparkle" give me a bit of trepidation. I can always send it back. . . though I've never done that before (but should have with the cd player).

Appreciate your impressions and hope I'm equally pleased.

Okay I figured it out, there are areas on the volume control where only one channel is output. I am getting two channels out of the DirectStream now. Interesting sound with the ZBIT turned up nearly all the way. Now to start making dinner.

A few good days of listening to the ZBIT and I have a bit of an idea of what it can do. I ran it as much as I could the weekend and then a lot yesterday and today, I'd say I have about 40 plus hours on the unit now.

I seem to have a problem with the stepped attenuator, much below "all the way up" it is not functioning as it should, there is a big channel imbalance and in some positions one channel does not come through at all. My guess is that it is best used turned up so this may not be a problem really but I may send it back to the mothership to be looked at a later time.

There is a bit more treble and "sparkle" and a bit more of a forward stance than using the single-ended inputs of my DirectStream. When listening to the material recorded myself this isn't a tiny bit compressed and colored as when I use the DirectStream with the CSP2+ which is good and probably why I will be keeping it. I can handle the treble increase with the (cherished by me) treble cut circuit on the Torii Mk III amp. Overall there's certainly more volume to be had from the source (which is a boon for my DVR output) and there's a bit more dynamics (the system is so dynamic that though I think the increase is appropriate and accurate it sometimes seems TOO dynamic!). Every aspect of it is an improvement, though not as large scale as a component upgrade, etc. I like it. I'll keep it. I'm getting used to it, and taking it out of the system briefly I was surprised that I wanted it back in.

This was a larger expense for me as I am convinced that I needed to preserve the characteristics of my great interconnects and didn't want to compromise the single-ended VooDoo Cable Stradivarius Cremona by pairing them with the wrong XLR interconnect. I settled on a Take Five Deluxe XLR interconnect as I have been using one of their Deluxe coaxial digital cables and love it, and the wire types and structure and cryo treatment are very similar to the VooDoo Cable at a third of the VooDoo Cable list price. I broke this XLR cable in using it on my Denon universal player with a Reality cable that is XLR to RCA that I have on hand, and it does sound really good. I wonder however if part of the brightness and forwardness is this new cable adding these characteristics to the sound. . . but I can't know without using a VooDoo Cable Stradivarius Cremono XLR interconnect and I am not going to buy one. (Guess I could rent one from the Cable Company. . . hmmmm).

Anyway, I'm enjoying the change in sound and I think the improvement will deepen with more use. I do think though whether the total cost is worth the improvement if like me you are also buying an expensive cable to use with the unit. If you have great XLR cables on hand, definitely, this is a nice improvement for the (not tiny) cost. If you are spending additional hundreds on cables. . . perhaps there are other roads to travel.

Will keep on playing and will update this thread soon.

I know this would also improve the sound of my Denon universal player, but that sounds fantastic running single-ended through the CSP2+. I think I'd be better served in the future by trying the ZTPRE for these two sources and a single-ended input on that for the CS2+ in tandem with the ZP3. That's a lot more coin. . . and another cable and a power cable and. . . well that option is pie in the sky for me and it's not raining pie filling yet. And my next target is the new PS Audio Transport coming out at the end of the year. . . .

This is an expensive hobby! But a rewarding one.

I'm not sure it has made as big a difference in my system, especially when considering the added cable cost. It's improved a bit over the last few days. But the stepped attenuator is NOT working properly. . . it is only really giving proper channel balance at 7/8 to full up and I'd like to lower the volume control more and can't. I hate to send it back in but I'll have to at some point. Sigh.

Thanks for the PM Randy.

I agree that probably the difference with the ZBIT in our two systems may be that power differential and the headroom situations that presents. The ZBIT has broken in a little more and sounds nice, though it's now the weekend and a three day one for my birthday girl Lucy and I won't get much chance to do more than headphone listening, and the headphones are fed by my Denon universal player. . . so it will be Monday before I can set up the speakers into the room and give another critical listening.

Interesting component.

Like you I did notice a bit of a treble boost (but with real clarity) with the Mapleshade speakers. I tame this well with the treble cut circuit and with the the complement I've been running I'm really happy with the system sound with those cables, but will be very interested to hear how the AQ sound in comparison.

Hey Lon,
Really glad that you've got the unit back and fully functioning. As I stated before, I continue to be impressed by the way Steve does business. The ZBit has allowed me to take advantage of the increased voltage of the balanced outs of the Directstream DAC, and it really has made my system more enjoyable to listen to - much fuller and more involving sound. I had tried the ZBit before in a different configuration, and it didn't provide the effect that it does in my current system. I'm convinced now that it's a keeper, for sure.

I haven't had much time for listening sessions lately, but maybe I'll get back to it this weekend. I still don't have my Aurender music server broken in yet, but it has really taken my computer audio files to the next level. I know you're not a digital guy - I was wondering about it myself for a long time, since there was such a dropoff in SQ from my CDs. That has changed with the addition of the Aurender coupled with the Directstream DAC. And it's much more convenient having so much music at my fingertips - or maybe I've just gotten that much more lazy!

Anyway, I'm glad that you are enjoying the cables. You can take your time with them.

Randy

I know that "plateau" feeling that's possible to achieve from time to time, where the music is better than it's been before, and it's satisfying on a higher level. Those are the time when we "coast", and enjoy all the tinkering that we've done with our systems. I'm in one of those moments now, and I hope that I can sustain it for a while. I agree that all the ripping is a pain. I put all my cds onto my iMac, and then transferred them to my MacBook Pro for my music server several years ago, but was never satisfied with the sound quality. Then a screaming hot deal came up on the Aurender, so I'm back in ripping mode again. Sigh. It's a pain, but the results are far above the MacBook sound.

Thanks for the kind words regarding my user name. I have been in this hobby since 2008, when I heard my first tube amps - Cary Audio (AES) Six Pacs monoblocks - and promptly bought them. Not long after that I discovered Decware, and the rest (and my wallet) is history. I have considered changing my handle, but I'm not sure what's involved. I'm "Bottlehead" over on US Audio Mart, and I see that username is not taken here, so maybe I'll switch. Depends on the degree of difficulty, and the depth of my inertia.

Anyway, happy "plateauing".
Randy

Alright Randy, good move! Good handle too!

So glad you are participating here.

Alright a few weeks have gone by and. . . well. . . .

I am very happy with the ZBIT. I'm pretty sure it's broken in, I've been running signal nearly constantly through it. It has changed from day to day, but in good ways. Right now I'm getting excellent body and texture to the sound and a great tonal balance. Better than the system before its insertion. It responds very well to great cables on both sides (balanced in and single-ended out) and to my ears in my system it even responds to isolation components.

I'm glad I have one. As I have NO plans to replace the Torii in my system, ever, it makes sense to have one to have great choices in sources and their output. And this is a very elegant solution to the power of more voltage available from a balanced output and how to harness and control that. I think Steve could find a large market for this if he tried. It's a very good design and execution.

I'm going to start with the cons. And really there's just one: expense. It's not a cheap component, especially with the stepped attenuator and I always have preferred that in other Decware models. And . . . it's a very transparent component, window scrubbed clean. . .which in practice has meant for me that I can hear the differences in cabling before and after clearly, and I had to spend a few too many dollars to get an XLR that works really well with the single-ended cable I use to the amp. I tried three different ones (and thanks to bottlehead for lending me a VooDoo Cable XLR) and I like what I have settled on (Take Five Audio cryo'd ones) but they cost nearly as much as the ZBIT (the cabling coming out of the ZBIT cost even more, list). I even find that the ZBIT reacts favorably to isolation components, and luckily I have four different possible ones on hand to try and have found a really nice setup. In short, there's a lot of money added here, I bet my total cost to do this was as much as your Oppo, or more.

So as for level usage. . . I didn't do TOO much experimenting. The main reason that I went for this and the main benefit it provides for me is to give me just a bit more "oomph" from my DirectStream DAC. I got used to the higher output of it's predecessor, the PS Audio PerfectWave DAC. It had what subjectively seemed about a third or a bit more output. One of the sources that I run into the DirectStream, my DVR, at it's best sounding setting (Normal) was just a bit anemic via the DirectStream before the ZBIT. It was perfect for me, but my wife usually wanted it louder. . and it ran out of juice for her for many of her channels and moods. The ZBIT gives this lowest output plenty of headroom. So it fixed that problem for me without adding the heavy compression that putting the DVR in the Narrow mode does. My system is both audio and visual, and the TV gets a lot of use, so this was something I am happy to have fixed. So after some experimentation I can use the ZBIT in two different ways. I can use the DirectStream volume control to control the different volumes for the three sources it is fed (Perfectwave Transport --soon to be DirectStream Memory Player-- DVR and unversal player for Blu-ray and DVD sound). In that instance if I leave the ZBIT in the upper quarter of its range (clicks 15 to 20 or so) the system can be silly loud and I can regulate via the remote to the right volume for each source. But to be honest I like to get up and fiddle with things so what I generally do is control the volume with the ZBIT. So for Redbook the ZBIT is generally at about 12 to 14 clicks (depending on the loudness of the cd) and for DVR and universal player about 14 to 17 clicks. I think the difference is subtle, but I find a tiny bit better dynamics and clarity with the DirectStream and the Torii at max volume, and "riding the gain" with the ZBIT. It may just be my imagination though. Leaving the ZBIT wide open and controlling the volume on either other end or both is great sound too and when I do it this way I'm perfectly content with the minor differences I hear.

Hope that helps. I would not have gone this route if it weren't for the inclusion of the DVR in my system. It sounded kick-ass to me with the DirectStream straight in to the amp. It sounds different now, there is a more full-bodied sound and I've gotten used to it in comparison to the slightly more delicate and slightly more open-seeming sound without the ZBIT. But having the DVR be loud and dynamic and making Lucy happy is worth it for me. . . though I wish it weren't as high a cost as it turned out to be.

So to put it in "percentages" I'm using the ZBIT mostly betwen 60 and 90 percent and am adjusting it according to sources (and music, though that is more according to the loudness of the disc I think when using the Transport, or the loudness of the channel output from the DVR, it's wild how some are louder than others). And to address one last queston the only downside to having this one more component and cabling in the system is that it is so passive and transparent that you need to be very selective with cabling. At least you don't need to choose a power cord!

You're welcome.

Other XLR cables worth consideration are the ones from Better Cables. Steve D. has recommended these in the past.
I use these with my ZBIT.

https://bettercables.com/collections/balanced-xlr-cables

+1, Lon. I have only taken my ZBit out of my system once, and my immediate reaction was, "Well, I won't be doing THAT, again".

Glad I could help, Lon. I've gotten so much information from this forum over the years, it's great to be able to give a little back.

I just tried this with my ZBIT and CSP2+ . . . I have to say. . . no, it really doesn't help things, I think the CSP2+ on its own gives the best sound.