Antelope Zodiac + Arrived

[hifitubes]

Pretty sure that's not the same wall wart I have. Similar size and specs. of course. I have had (2) Zodiacs as my first had a firmware issue (which has been rectified), and I think both my PSUs have been the same.

 

[Eric5676]

Tigz: Have you or anyone else received their unit yet?

 

[tigzstudio]

I placed the order through a brand new dealer, so apparently it takes Antelope a while to get them online in their system.

 

I am hoping that it ships out to me this week....it ships from California (S.F.) close to where I live....so once it does ship it should only take a day to get to me.

 

I will keep the forums posted.

 

[ted_b]

in the other thread (as have others). I will add to my comments shortly, as I've now tried USB, AES, toslink, etc.

 

[Eric5676]

Thanks Ted!

 

For me it's coming down to one of these vs the W4s DAC-2 vs Perfectwave DAC most likely.

 

 

Starting to almost see giant killer like buzz about the DAC-2 but we shall see.

 

[tigzstudio]

I actually talked to someone that said he no longer uses his perfectwave because of the Zodiac+ trumping it.

 

[Eric5676]

The Zodiac is clearly loaded. In my case personally, I'm a little concerned that if I made a move on it I'd be paying for a few features that I probably wouldn't use (not the end of the world) and I just don't have a clear enough idea yet how much, or if, it really is "appreciably" better sound quality vs. my current Cambridge 840c which I just got a good buyer's offer on that I'm considering, the PWD, or the W4S DAC-2.

 

I try to look for value when I make moves, too, although I'm willing to spend a little extra if it really puts me over the top.

 

How do you all think my already 2 year old Cambridge 840c holds against any of this stuff? Should I take the buyer's pretty darned good offer or just hold still?

 

[ted_b]

1) Making a move in this hobby is purely a personal decision. Many times we move to "upgrade", or sometimes to simply change the status quo. IMHO, based on your requests here, on AC, and otherwise, I get the distinct impression you wanna change. Go for it!! Try a few.

2) I wouldn't lay down my hard earned cash before trying any of these inhome, in your own system, with your own music. Period!!

3) Based on the above, I'd keep your beloved 840C until you can a/b it against a new DAC. Aural memory is too short.

 

So, I wouldn't wait on the off chance that someone here has actually a/b'd the 840C vs any of these DACs...and even if they did, it ain't valid in your system. Many online vendors have these DACs and have 30 day return policies (Sweetwater, Vintage King, etc) or contact an audio dealer you know and ask for an eval. Times are tough...they'll listen if they know you're in buy mode.

 

[arnolfini]

The 840C is a fantastic machine and I would really take nobody's world that so and so give you better sound. I agree with Ted, without an audition, it is a shot in the dark.

Time to take time to give time to rest time to move and sometime to move on ...

 

 

[Eric5676]

I did sell the Cambridge 840c this morning because really, the offer was simply too good to turn down. I would have been a fool not to take it. So I am back in the market and I will be very careful. I'm a king of fence sitters and devil's advocating. Heck, I can feel buyer's guilt BEFORE actually buying something. LOL

 

If all else fails, I'll simply buy a new Cambridge 840c and get a nice unit with a brand new two year warranty out of the box (a little silly but not completely out of the question.)

 

I sold my old one that was outside of warranty for $1000. I'd paid $1400 for it new two years ago. I don't think I could have said no to that in the end.

 

This buyer was a really cool guy but he was on fire to do this thing. I really all but sabotaged my own sale trying to convince him to just go buy a new one and he still wanted to do this thing. What can I say?

 

And everyone is right: It ain't valid if it's not in my system.

 

 

[tigzstudio]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Impressions shall come in a few days or so most likely, going to let it run in.

 

 

 

 

[hifitubes]

Experimented last night to explore the possability of the Zodiac+ having a word clock output.

 

I removed the digital output cable from my Mytek ADC192, and inserted it into the Zodiac+ de-jittered output.

 

I turned off the OCX and disconnected the Lynx and Zodiac+ BNC cables.

 

As expected the Lynx was seeing the Digital Input 1 96kHz clock over AES. Lynx Digital Input 1 is muted, so no looping, but since you can't manually set a sample rate on the Zodiac+....things don't really work out.

 

JRMC is always set to use fixed sample rate of 96kHz, so that was the +'s last setting.

 

The sample rate starts to drift, with or w/o Lynx Synroclock enabled.

 

I tried to get JRMC to kick the Zodiac+ into 96kHz again, but seems like this just won't work as the signal coming down the AES cable juts keep slowly drifting then pushing the + into the next closest sample rate....88kHz, and keeps drifting. The chicken or egg scenario here.

 

I can use the Mytek to clock over the AES cable with no problem. No drift, the Lynx locks on. In the past, I noticed that some clocks don't work with Lynx, due to whether or not transformer coupling is used on the clock with regard to what the other device is using.

 

 

 

[Clybourne]

As you found out, the Zodiac Plus isn't a master clock. It has our clocking technology built-in, but it's not designed to replace one of our master clocks, when that application is needed.

 

[tigzstudio]

http://www.welbornelabs.com/

 

I contacted Welbornelabs to see if they can create a custom power supply unit for the Zodiac+, or have any thoughts of doing so in the future.

 

I will let you know what they say about it.

 

 

My review should be coming soon as well....as I have plenty of hours on my unit (200+), I am absolutely loving it.

 

 

 

 

 

[ted_b]

Antelope Zodiac Plus threads here and Rob reminded em that this one still has me saying that PM and Antelope are doing weird things with sample rates (i.e relocks before every song, whether sample rate changes or not). That is no longer true (as of several weeks ago) and was fixed by Rob with (first) a personal beta copy that did the trick, and then the 1.62 and 1.63 production releases that also did the trick. Net/net, there is no longer a sample rate lock re-lock issue with the Antelope and PM. It works like any other DAC I've used..i.e it locks onto a sample rate and reports the change...only when one changes. Thanks to Rob for great customer service (again). Looking forward to native device integer support!!!

 

[Alan B]

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/antelope/zodiac.html

 

 

 

[tigzstudio]

Yeah the review was posted some days back, I personally agree with most of his statements....with the exception being about lack of body/weight.

 

In my rig I feel it has plenty of body and weight for my tastes, and feel it is quite balanced overall (not too much and not too little). It is an excellent match for my studio monitors, and especially my LCD-2's.

 

My Welborne Labs custom Power Supply made for the Zodiac+ will be coming soon as it just shipped today as well. I will post my impressions on changes noticed if any. But to be honest I am more than happy with everything about my current setup the way it is now.

 

[ted_b]

I sent him an email (published in his letters section) that stated he needs 200-300+ hrs for slam/weight/heft to be broken in. Then another letter came in to say 800 hours! Anyway, it's there for the patient, as tigzstudio commented.

 

[Rym]

Unbelievable how much external clocking can do !

 

Call me crazy, but I went for 2xZ+ & literally clarity, openess, transperancy all have risen...must be a power supply issue, was one of the guesses. Any other experience/comments ?

 

Anyone tried the 10M with the Z+ yet ?

 

Great job, Antelope !

 

[ted_b]

Is it a clock? how do you have external clocking connected? Does external clocking negate the auto sample rate switching of players like PM, Amarra, etc.

 

[hifitubes]

When you add an external clock to Z+, you have to manually change SR on the clock; what I did was leave everything set to 96kHz in JRMC15 as I have quite a bit of native 96kHz material now (upsample the rest).

 

[Rym]

As for the manual clock adjustment, yes, that is one way, but those clocks which offer "audio-through" facility, will re-clock to the new sample rate & accordingly if they feed to the Z+, it recognises it & does the rest internally. Meanwhile, the CLK also sync this new rate with the Z+

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find one which does this all the way to 192K. Maybe the Trinity ??

 

[hifitubes]

I never tried that when clocking everything to the OCX, even with the Lynx set to auto-change, being set to external clock gave me the idea it would not send some kind of command to the OCX to changes rates.

 

[Rym]

Don't know about the OCX, but DCD-8 from Brainstorm for example takes audio in (AES or SPDIF) from the LynxAES16 & can change the CLK outs (which could be fed to WC IN of the DACs) on the fly for upto 96K via AES Single-wire input. SPDIF, I am yet to try, but it is supposed to work then upto 192K. (only challenge would be to make the output of AES16 into SPDIF !) In this set-up it would not be advisable to CLK the LynxAES16, only the 2xZ+!

 

[Clybourne]

None of our clocks are reclockers, I know I've repeated this point several times, but there still seems to be confusion. You can use them as a master clock for an audiophile converter if there's a WC input on them, as in something like the Lynx (with Syncrolock off), which could be clocked by a Trinity or OCX (those can then be clocked even more accurately to our 10M). Then you could go digital out to another DAC of your choosing. It's true you'd have to manually set the rate for playing various clocking rates.

 

Our Zodiac Plus is a DAC, Preamp, Headphone Amp and Reclocker. So you can feed digital into it and it will de-jitter it and convert it and also output it "reclocked" on it's digital outputs, if you'd like to then send that de-jittered signal to another DAC. The Zodiac Plus will adjust it's rate to whatever the incoming signal is up to 192khz and de-jitter it.

 

If you'd like to clock then the Zodiac Plus from another clock (which would need to be a Trinity/10M combo to realize any significant audio difference), you would have to again use something like the Lynx, because the Zodiac Plus can't currently accept WC input when in USB mode.

 

Hope this helps clarify things better. I'll update you as this situation changes, as we're constantly working on implementing clocking technology in our converters in new and interesting ways.

 

Marcel at Antelope