DAC Hacks & Mods: Zhaolu Oritek DAC

[C37]

(raising belgian beer: Tripple Westmalle) What are you using now? Bought a S/H Deqx 2.6p last year and although my mind says this could/should be modded (no i will not) and is way inferior to the Buffalo dac on stereo....I like it! But i'm being really unfair as i using room correction on it on tannoys actives and next step is going fully active with it bypassing active O/P Xovers- just received all the drivers for new pair of diy speakers. Another story... And scope...

aargh- getting out of topic here, sorry.

 

[Xulonn]

Cheers back (raising wine glass with pinot noir).

Sigh! Yet another random posting here at ASR that brings back fond memories of my years in Sonoma County near the Russian River Appellation and its excellent pinot noir wines. (And prompts me to write yet another off-topic post.)

I moved to Panama mountain coffee country from Sebastopol in 2012 when I could no longer afford to live there on my retirement income.

Kharma? Serendipity? Coincidence?

1. About a year after I moved here, the PriceSmart (Costco/Kirkland related) warehouse store down the mountain in the provincial capital started carrying Hook & Ladder Pinot Noir from Cecil Deloach in the Russian River appellation, a treat that lasted for the next three years. (I sold a closed-loop swimming pool solar heating system to Cecil for his Italian-style hilltop villa overlooking the vineyards in 2004.)

2. My new neighbor and his wife moving in to our little pueblo of four houses in two days was a pinot noir vinyard owner in Forestville - less than 10 miles north of me - at the same time I lived in Sebastopol. John was a friend of Cecil Deloach, and they were part of the group that organized the growers and established the Russian River Appellation. (Plus, John's new wife is from Amarillo, Texas, and she knows the Amarillo pediatrician daughter of my late partner, whom I lived with in Sebastopol until she passed away in 2005.)

Small world!


Russian Valley Winegrowers

 

[LTig]

(raising belgian beer: Tripple Westmalle) What are you using now?

This one.

 

[617]

Seltzer master race checking in.

 

[GrimSurfer]

Sigh! Yet another random posting here at ASR that brings back fond memories of my years in Sonoma County near the Russian River Appellation and its excellent pinot noir wines. (And prompts me to write yet another off-topic post.)

I moved to Panama mountain coffee country from Sebastopol in 2012 when I could no longer afford to live there on my retirement income.
View attachment 36648

Kharma? Serendipity? Coincidence?

1. About a year after I moved here, the PriceSmart (Costco/Kirkland related) warehouse store down the mountain in the provincial capital started carrying Hook & Ladder Pinot Noir from Cecil Deloach in the Russian River appellation, a treat that lasted for the next three years. (I sold a closed-loop swimming pool solar heating system to Cecil for his Italian-style hilltop villa overlooking the vineyards in 2004.)

2. My new neighbor and his wife moving in to our little pueblo of four houses in two days was a pinot noir vinyard owner in Forestville - less than 10 miles north of me - at the same time I lived in Sebastopol. John was a friend of Cecil Deloach, and they were part of the group that organized the growers and established the Russian River Appellation. (Plus, John's new wife is from Amarillo, Texas, and she knows the Amarillo pediatrician daughter of my late partner, whom I lived with in Sebastopol until she passed away in 2005.)

Small world!


Russian Valley Winegrowers

I really enjoy Robert Mondavi Russian River Pinot Noir. I've never been to the region, but it must be special. Pinot grapes are very finicky.

 

[Zaki Ghul]

I often see those mod, the most popular one being a tube buffer on CD players... Why the hell those modders with an hand made PCB think they are better than the manufacturer? Why the manufacturer should sell a product that can be improved with a little PCB otherwise?
Every audio product is optimized to sound in the best way straight from the manufacturer, if you want better performances, go buy another product.

That's the argument I always bring up to the cable crowd! You believe fancier cables make a difference? That would explain budget cables with budget devices. But what about expensive stuff from reputable brands? Why would they undermine all the engineering that went into their product by not throwing in $100 rca cables? Why would they risk being undercut by a lesser product connected with better wires in some showroom? I think the answer is obvious but apparently not to the cable crowd.

 

[Jimster480]

What a wonderful set of mods.

 

[filo97s]

That's the argument I always bring up to the cable crowd! You believe fancier cables make a difference? That would explain budget cables with budget devices. But what about expensive stuff from reputable brands? Why would they undermine all the engineering that went into their product by not throwing in $100 rca cables? Why would they risk being undercut by a lesser product connected with better wires in some showroom? I think the answer is obvious but apparently not to the cable crowd.

I admit that I was inspired by this to write the post before
In particular not from the RCA cables but from the power cables that every manufacturer include and as always there's someone who changes them with something 100+$ (sometimes 1000+$... lmao just a week ago in a facebook audiophile group i've seen a guy who has changed the power cord at his PC, spending over 600 USD... that one really killed me, I still have the photo saved:

Spoiler

)

 

[Ralf Stocker]

Betting, grandfather's radio from 1945 sounds better?

 

[filo97s]

Betting, grandfather's radio from 1945 sounds better?

almost for sure

 

[Lotus97]

Well, I don't know of many who make the first claim, but I am definitely one of those who believes that price has nothing to do with sound quality.

You seem to doubt that there are plenty of $50 dongles that would be audibly equivalent to any competently designed DAC.

Edit: Actually, you told me I should delete my account as a result of these beliefs...remember?

First, USB Dongle DAC's should never be compared with full DAC units with XRL, RCA outputs and Optical, USB and Coaxial input and with headphone amplifers.

XLR output from full DAC units put Dongle's 3.5mm headphone line out to shame in terms of final sound quality to hifi speakers.

I had PC internal sound card that had RCA outputs and it also had a 3.5mm line out output, both outputs used the same DAC but when I used the 3.5mm line out into my power amp I lost 30db and it sounded like crap when compared to RCA outputs of the same sound card.

so if you believe that same tech can be put into a Dongle from a full DAC unit then I don't know what to tell you. This kind of comparison should never be mentioned in this forum anymore, its just mindless to read Sabaj D5 XLR output to my Anthem MC225 power amplifer=USB Stick Dac 3.5mm headphone line out to my Anthem MC225 power amplifer.

 

[BDWoody]

First, USB Dongle DAC's should never be compared with full DAC units with XRL, RCA outputs and Optical, USB and Coaxial input and with headphone amplifers.

so if you believe that same tech can be put into a Dongle from a full DAC unit then I don't know what to tell you. This kind of comparison should never be mentioned here anymore, its just mindless.

They can certainly be compared in terms of sound quality/transparency. If all one needs, is what a $50 dongle (actually, the $9 apple dongle measures as effectively transparent) offers, there is no need to spend $.01 more chasing sound quality.

Many don't need more than USB in.

If you believe you can tell the difference, I don't knew what to tell you either.

 

[AudioSceptic]

They can certainly be compared in terms of sound quality/transparency. If all one needs, is what a $50 dongle (actually, the $9 apple dongle measures as effectively transparent) offers, there is no need to spend $.01 more chasing sound quality.

Many don't need more than USB in.

If you believe you can tell the difference, I don't knew what to tell you either.

Probably down to the low output and possibly lesser load tolerance?

 

[wwenze]

Wow I used to have that (The original, not the modded). Think it was 2008 or something. The D 2.5A version using AD1852. IIRC it was performing almost at the max the AD1852 can do, which is nothing by today's standards but worth something back then.

2008 was also a time when people believed if you removed op-amps with bare wires you get better sound. Yes I too did that. "Purism" and "KISS". And then I entered university and learnt about the I/V curve of a transistor and it was the end of all that.

Jitter components are quite visible although this is likely the fault of the main DAC portion:

Some extra stuff have been added to the SPDIF receiver circuit. Most likely with the "intention" of "improving" things.

 

[KNUPAC]

I can't believe it, I just saw this review!
I owned this 12 years ago, it was praised from heaven to hell on Head-fi subjectively and my ears say the otherwise.
There is a high distortion when on moderate loud volume and the bass is breaking up, and the maker advises me back "Don't listen on loud volume it will damage your hearing" and that's it! I know there was something wrong with this DAC/AMP but you just have proven that was the case!
This is my most regretful blind buy experience in the audio hobby!

 

[mmakshak]

Any chance of a listening test?

Let me just say I own an Oritek Audio dac, and Ori is quite a guy. At the time(2005?), he added a battery supply to his dac, and it was the best digital I ever heard back then. The batteries were not what you might think. Ori has incredible ears, and always improved his products. His interconnect was excellent. I hope he's doing well.

 

[mmakshak]

If he's the same Ori Mizrahi-Shalom who was owning Oritek Audio in the Bay Area 10 years ago or so ... Oh my Gosh! Snaked-Oil interconnects, speaker cables and such ...

According to LinkedIn, it appears he's currently R&D Engineer at Synopsys Inc.

I went to Ori's house back in the day. I would say he's a genius. His interconnects were good, and the improvement in the more expensive one was clearly audible. His DAC, with his battery power, was the best digital I heard back then. I hope he's doing well. I still have his DAC. He showed me the difference in op amps versus discrete(is that the word?) components. He also modified a RGR preamp for me. I use his speakers(Genesis with the inverted tweeter and a passive radiator.). I also should mention he modified my Dynaco stereo 70, which sounded as good as

If he's the same Ori Mizrahi-Shalom who was owning Oritek Audio in the Bay Area 10 years ago or so ... Oh my Gosh! Snaked-Oil interconnects, speaker cables and such ...

According to LinkedIn, it appears he's currently R&D Engineer at Synopsys Inc.

I went to Ori's house a number of times. His interconnects were good, and his most expensive interconnect was clearly better than his cheaper one. I own his pair of Genesis(not that company we normally think of) speakers with the inverted dome and passive radiator. He modified my RGR preamp. He also modified my Dynaco stereo 70, which to me, sounded as good as Lamm research, except maybe in the bass. He made it single-ended. He showed me the difference in sound from op amps versus discrete components. I own his DAC. The best digital I ever heard back then was his DAC with a certain battery supply. I consider him to be a genius, and I hope he's doing well.

 

[mmakshak]

Being an old retired audio enthusiast with too much time on my hands, I have continued my (likely pointless) responses to the attacks on Amir and ASR at AudioAsylum.com. Here's a LINK to the thread, and my handle there is Dave VH. (Good luck in navigating the threads at AA with their ancient format.)

Ori had a 3 watt single-ended transistor amp that drove Wilson Alexandria speakers at the house of the founder of "What's Best Forum". I didn't hear it, but from what Ori told me, it drove the speaker.

 

[wwenze]

Oh boy.

 

[amirm]

Ori had a 3 watt single-ended transistor amp that drove Wilson Alexandria speakers at the house of the founder of "What's Best Forum". I didn't hear it, but from what Ori told me, it drove the speaker.

I was co-founder of WBF. My partner indeed had Wilson speakers. But it strains credibility that he would let the guy near his speakers let alone have him hook it up to the same. But let's say he did. It is trivial to "drive" any speaker to some audible level. That doesn't mean anything.