Awesome! You've prepared nicely and will be starting a fascinating journey.

Can it be topped? There's always more to explore in this hobby. . . power treatment, improved room treatment, cabling, fuses (an area I'm exploring), and more. Thank goodness! It remains interesting day after day.

I hope it arrives early in the day, and I know you'll keep us posted.

My prediction, and I hope you don't prove me wrong, is that you'll be very happy. These amps are game-changing as you suspect.

Definitely something to consider. I'm using two currently! Our systems and rooms are different, but what I find the preamps add most is "body"--the instrumental image is fleshed out more and more solidly placed in space.

As I say there's always something to explore. But my guess is just adding this amp will make an ear-to-ear-wide-grinning difference in your system.

Nice! And congrats on the newborn-amp, Tom!

Hopefully you get it seasoned up quickly! Feel free to leave it with me while you're out of town! LOL


Aaron and I have some ideas brewing, I'll share with you later tonight.  

I'll try not to pester you during your listening session...too much.

Hi Show,

I do use it in the chain and there is benefit, but I think Lon nailed the concept when he said the addition of a Decware pre places the image more solidly in space.  That's the essence of the contextual attribute that I was referring to.

I do have a zbit which I am not sure is the same thing but it does add richness.

Yeah I haven’t been tuning in on the zrock stuff.  I thought they were more of a help to internet radio boosting the bass.

I've built my system now around how the ZROCK2 influences the system. It's a cherished component!

Palomino,

Enjoy your new 25th Anniversary amplifier. It's something special.

HK

I just got my ZR2 back with both the A-Mods.  I’m right there with Archie and Lon.  After experiencing the UFO-25 I expected to be amazed and even then I was not prepared for the difference the A-Mods made in the ZR-2 and what the ZR-2 does right across the entire spectrum, not just the bass.

I’m pretty sure you’ll be more than impressed with the UFO-25, throw a ZR-2 with both A- mods in the mix and the combo will totally wreck you.

Quote:


I'm not terribly interested. I like to keep my signal path super short.


From the ZROCK2 page:

Quote:


I have none of these issues in my system, and haven't really felt like I needed a boost. I wouldn't turn down a demo of a ZROCK2 in my system to see how I feel about it, but I don't feel like I *need* it.

Also, too broke for more gear right now.

Good advice and well-described Archie.

I'm not sure it's true that many are getting benefits outside of its intended use. Its targeted usage is broader than that. I think what many of us are getting big benefit from lies in this bit from the page:

The reality is that many speaker/room combinations will roll off the lower bass leaving you with a leaner, drier, less rich sound.

When you combine typical low-bass performance with a Z-ROCK you end up with a much flatter bass response in the bottom octave where many systems lack.

A Z-ROCK restores this missing information and makes your music sound full and rich at lower volumes. Using a Z-Rock gives music gains a nice "hit" that you normally don't get unless you're at a concert or club, and does so without having to be turned up loud.

That is the biggest benefit in my situation. In a well-treated room such as that you and Eric are aspiring with success to outfit the benefit I am sure will be there, but may be less pronounced as you are addressing the problem in other ways. I can't "treat" my room, and the ZROCK2 is in some sense a great compensation for that. I won't be without it now, it makes everything better.

Do experience one if you can. Don't close your mind to what it can do. I closed my mind for so long to the impact of a great preamp, to the impact of great tubes, to the ZROCK2. With each crack opening my mind my system improved and the enjoyment I have with my system deepened.

It astonished me how much the ZROCK2 improved every aspect of the system.

While bass gets the most press with the ZR2, I find a wonderful bloom in the lower mids that I like even more.

Well I still like saying "sub the size of Vermont"

Well stated. The way these amps present detail was the fundamental difference I noted at first. Many amps "highlight" detail which is interesting but can be unnatural and fatiguing with listening time and is hard to tailor into the entire system sound. These amps present the detail as integral to the entire sound field, and the analogy that works for me is that the details are woven into an entire tapestry of sound, creating the most natural and cohesive sonic presentation I've heard.

Adding the modded preamp took this to another level that I didn't realize was a button on the elevator, and I can only imagine that the modded ZROCK2 will possibly add another floor to the elevator panel (Steve implies it will, and he has not been wrong with this new tech so far).

That "ease" will increase in tiny increments as the amp seasons.

Cool. Though I know it's the way for many, no playlists for me. I have thousands of discs and each time I pull one out and put it on I remember why I bought it and am just drawn deeply into the music.

This is what I value most, not playing "spectacular sounding music," but enjoying the fantastic MUSIC that I love in playback this fulfilling.

I've kind of lost track of that thread since it moved, but always a good source for new music!

Scott, What's been your experience in finding the music on Tidal vs Qobuz?  I am not a fan of the Tidal search capabilities.

Thanks Scott.

PAL,
I recently signed up for the Qobuz BETA and have a 1 year TIDAL, both can be turned on in my Roon. Previously I had only fair success with my searches in Roon through TIDAL
Since my recent addition of Qobuz, right before Roon had a fairly major upgrade and also TIDAL had an upgrade, I don't even attempt to claim how all this integrates and works together at this point (I'm working on trying to get myself schooled on it!) I can now source almost anything I search for and add a playlist or just simply to my library. I'm really impressed with it as Lon has an extremely wide
range of music he posts, almost every time I search it finds it, I'm amazed at how it does and also the quality of the feed. Granted, I have a pretty decent processing pathway for it, but so does most everyone else here. I was to the point where I did an $5 a month update (higher res, better interface) to my free Pandora because of the lack of finding stuff on TIDAL. Even if I have to maintain a subscription to Qobuz and TIDAL, for me it's a great deal, about $50 a month for almost unlimited high res music is way less than my trying to purchase all this unknown and known library. Granted, I don't "own" much of it, I have it at my finger tips. Additionally there is availability to purchase tracks and albums in hi res at a very decent discount on Qobuz. They got it nailed at least so far, for my needs. If I can actually sort out how it all integrates, maybe I can drop TIDAL and then I'm down to $25 a month for all that.
It's been incredible having all this new material to listen to on all this new modded gear and my ZTPRE is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow so I don't plan on sleeping much til spring!
Best,
Scott

Interesting, I just got my Qobuz notice.  Not a beta customer, but I can now access the 1 month trial.

PAL,
Mine was I beta, 30 day trial. It sounds like from somebody’s post the beta is over tomorrow, not sure, but I bet you’ll enjoy it.
Scott