Kamran
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Hmm…where to start?
So I got my ZR2 on Thursday and put it before the pre as Steve had recommended, but it was behaving the opposite of what I expected. So after much trial and error and support from Lon (thank you so much!), I reached out to Steve. He (thankfully) figured out the issue in a heartbeat. Basically, I didn’t bother paying attention to the input impedance of my Schiit Freya Plus pre, which is 10K, whereas the ZR2 needs to see 20K or higher. Putting the ZR2 after the pre didn’t help either as I was getting a loud hum.
So now what? After speaking with multiple folks, I was thinking about the following options:
1) Packing up the ZR2 until Sarah arrives (hopefully) Fall/Winter 2023. 2) Selling the ZR2 and getting my money back for now and perhaps put in a new order later (after getting Sarah). Wait…don’t get too excited. 3) Eliminate the pre and use the ZR2 as a volume control—credit to GroovySauce for that idea!
So I experimented with option 3, which initially didn’t go as planned. I took out the pre from the chain and went from DAC to ZR2 to Had amp and turned down the gain knob of the ZR2 to 0, thinking of slowly raising it to the desired level. Well—I forgot that it was in bypass mode. I put on “A Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak and almost blew out my ear drums!
Thankfully, I had the reflex of a Jedi and paused it within 2 seconds. After calming down, I disengaged bypass mode and started the track again and voila! Silence (remember the gain knob was at 0). I then slowly raised it and perhaps barely got it past 8 O’Clock before reaching the desired volume level.
I was also partly freaking out because my OCD kicked in and I started wondering if I had blown the drivers, arcing my neck up to any remote signs of flabbiness or distortion, but based on my 2 hours of listening, they seem to be fine. I guess it takes more than 2 seconds of an unattenuated signal to fry the voice coils…
Thank God, as I was not looking forward to the “Honey, I blew the Drivers” conversation.
Fast forward to my conclusion. While I cannot get in to magic zone of 1 O’Clock, I plan to burn in the ZR2 in this manner until Sarah arrives and sell the pre (I will post it in the classifieds here first for a couple of days before working my way up to Audiomart). Figured, I’d share this experience. A hard lesson learnt about paying attention to input/output impedances and the unintentional discovery that the ZR2 can be used as a volume control.
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