Fosi Audio ZD3 Balanced DAC Review

[dr0ss]

Has anyone else faced this issue?

That is what you get when you feed a Dolby signal to a non-Dolby DAC. If you can't tell your source to downmix to Stereo, you can always get an audio extractor with this capability, such as https://a.co/d/9hZnzqN

 

[Iggypot]

Can anyone tell me where I’m going wrong with my firmware update attempts please?

I’m following (from what I can see) the pdf instructions that are contained in the update link, and I seem to get so far, but then get the following message?

Any thoughts….thanks in advance.

 

[alloallo]

Try to extract the files to some folder and launch the app from there.

 

[MT_bassbone]

Would there be any benefit to adding the ZD3 between a Wiim Ultra and Fosi V3 mono amps? Would it help with any potential jitter (essential is it a reclocker)? Would there be any benefit of connecting the Wiim Ultra to the ZD3 with an optical cable then use XLRs to connect to the V3's (rather than RCA's)?

 

[LewisWaddo]

Would there be any benefit to adding the ZD3 between a Wiim Ultra and Fosi V3 mono amps? Would it help with any potential jitter (essential is it a reclocker)? Would there be any benefit of connecting the Wiim Ultra to the ZD3 with an optical cable then use XLRs to connect to the V3's (rather than RCA's)?

I’ve chatted to someone that has had issues with this setup. Apparently not sounding great. I don’t stream, so I have no use for a wiim ultra. It may be just his setup being odd..

 

[Iggypot]

Would there be any benefit to adding the ZD3 between a Wiim Ultra and Fosi V3 mono amps? Would it help with any potential jitter (essential is it a reclocker)? Would there be any benefit of connecting the Wiim Ultra to the ZD3 with an optical cable then use XLRs to connect to the V3's (rather than RCA's)?

Read my earlier post. I’ve been trying this for a few weeks now and struggled. To my ears it sounds better with the Ultra going direct to my V3 Monos via RCA than it does with the ZD3 in the chain regardless of how the ZD3 is connected.

I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or what?

 

[Iggypot]

Try to extract the files to some folder and launch the app from there.

Thanks, however I’m not totally sure how to go about that. I may just leave it as it is….last thing I want to do is mess it up.

 

[Miser_Audioman]

Thanks, however I’m not totally sure how to go about that. I may just leave it as it is….last thing I want to do is mess it up.

Try WinRar, that worked fine for me

 

[Miser_Audioman]

Read my earlier post. I’ve been trying this for a few weeks now and struggled. To my ears it sounds better with the Ultra going direct to my V3 Monos via RCA than it does with the ZD3 in the chain regardless of how the ZD3 is connected.

I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or what?

I have done this with wiim pro using optical to zd3 , then xlr to v3 monos. Sounds great, works fine but would it improve over using the dacs and rca outputs in the ultra? That seems very doubtful. Keep in mind volume matching is critical for fair comparison…

 

[Iggypot]

Thanks.

So far I’ve tried connecting the Ultra to the ZD3 via USB, Coax or Optical and then the ZD3 to the V3 Monos via both RCA or XLR - this is with the ZD3 set to ‘OFF’ ie using the ZD3’s DAC and preamp (or so I understand)

Without the ZD3 in the chain, and the Ultra going directly to the V3
Monos via RCA the sound seems punchy, dynamic and well separated….but ‘with’ the ZD3 the sound takes on a ‘muffled’ quality almost like I’ve put a blanket over the speakers?

With the ZD3 it certainly feels like I need to crank the dial more to get a similar volume as do without it. With the Ultra direct to the V3’s the Ultra volume rarely goes beyond 27 on the dial, but with the ZD3 in between that needs to sit around 47 to get the same levels.

Is this just how it is, or am I doing something wrong with the setup?

I never expected that including the ZD3 would make a huge difference, but did expect a slight improvement in performance…..I certainly wasn’t expecting it to sound worse?

 

[GXAlan]

Thanks.

So far I’ve tried connecting the Ultra to the ZD3 via USB, Coax or Optical and then the ZD3 to the V3 Monos via both RCA or XLR - this is with the ZD3 set to ‘OFF’ ie using the ZD3’s DAC and preamp (or so I understand)

Without the ZD3 in the chain, and the Ultra going directly to the V3
Monos via RCA the sound seems punchy, dynamic and well separated….but ‘with’ the ZD3 the sound takes on a ‘muffled’ quality almost like I’ve put a blanket over the speakers?

With the ZD3 it certainly feels like I need to crank the dial more to get a similar volume as do without it. With the Ultra direct to the V3’s the Ultra volume rarely goes beyond 27 on the dial, but with the ZD3 in between that needs to sit around 47 to get the same levels.

Is this just how it is, or am I doing something wrong with the setup?

I never expected that including the ZD3 would make a huge difference, but did expect a slight improvement in performance…..I certainly wasn’t expecting it to sound worse?

You have to level match. The ZD3 goes up to 80, and may just give you finer control over the volume. The main advantage of the ZD3 will be balanced out and the galvanic isolation of the HDMI if you use optical and reduced risk of ground loops.

You may want to use the ZD3 for volume instead of the Ultra.

 

[Iggypot]

Thanks, but could you please explain what level match is and how to do it?

Thank you

 

[pandasonic]

Can anyone tell me where I’m going wrong with my firmware update attempts please?

I’m following (from what I can see) the pdf instructions that are contained in the update link, and I seem to get so far, but then get the following message?

Any thoughts….thanks in advance.

View attachment 416262

Extract (using WinRAR application) all the folders and files from the compressed (.zip, .rar) update file, to, say your 'Downloads' folder. Follow all the steps in the PDF files after that.

If you are selecting the firmware file in the screenshot, then that file is in the root folder of the extracted files/folders and will be a .bin file. Before you can update the device you need to the install the drivers and software which will allow you to update the ZD3 (as per the PDF instructions file).

Hope this helps.

 

[CarbonJoe]

EBay has a 20% off coupon good through 12/31 that is accepted at the official Fosi Audio store on EBay that knocks the price down to $122.

 

[Miser_Audioman]

Thanks.

So far I’ve tried connecting the Ultra to the ZD3 via USB, Coax or Optical and then the ZD3 to the V3 Monos via both RCA or XLR - this is with the ZD3 set to ‘OFF’ ie using the ZD3’s DAC and preamp (or so I understand)

Without the ZD3 in the chain, and the Ultra going directly to the V3
Monos via RCA the sound seems punchy, dynamic and well separated….but ‘with’ the ZD3 the sound takes on a ‘muffled’ quality almost like I’ve put a blanket over the speakers?

With the ZD3 it certainly feels like I need to crank the dial more to get a similar volume as do without it. With the Ultra direct to the V3’s the Ultra volume rarely goes beyond 27 on the dial, but with the ZD3 in between that needs to sit around 47 to get the same levels.

Is this just how it is, or am I doing something wrong with the setup?

I never expected that including the ZD3 would make a huge difference, but did expect a slight improvement in performance…..I certainly wasn’t expecting it to sound worse?

I think we all are fall into the trap of electronic tweaking. The real sound improvements come from from changes that are a pain in the rear. New speakers means you really need to sell the old ones. Room treatments require negotiation with your partner. The main ‘easy’ improvement pathway is EQ based room correction, manual or automatic as your wiim provides. That all said, farting around with the dacs etc. is a lot of fun even with the minimal impacts…

 

[Aivan]

Thanks.

So far I’ve tried connecting the Ultra to the ZD3 via USB, Coax or Optical and then the ZD3 to the V3 Monos via both RCA or XLR - this is with the ZD3 set to ‘OFF’ ie using the ZD3’s DAC and preamp (or so I understand)

Without the ZD3 in the chain, and the Ultra going directly to the V3
Monos via RCA the sound seems punchy, dynamic and well separated….but ‘with’ the ZD3 the sound takes on a ‘muffled’ quality almost like I’ve put a blanket over the speakers?

With the ZD3 it certainly feels like I need to crank the dial more to get a similar volume as do without it. With the Ultra direct to the V3’s the Ultra volume rarely goes beyond 27 on the dial, but with the ZD3 in between that needs to sit around 47 to get the same levels.

Is this just how it is, or am I doing something wrong with the setup?

I never expected that including the ZD3 would make a huge difference, but did expect a slight improvement in performance…..I certainly wasn’t expecting it to sound worse?

Usually, you should set the source (streamer) to fixed volume (0db) to get the best quality and then control the volume with the ZD3.

 

[Iggypot]

Thanks all.

I’ve managed to update the firmware to 1.06, so all good there.

I’m going to have another go at hooking it up in between the Ultra and V3 Monos and see if I can get a better result.

So, if I connect the Ultra to the ZD3 via Optical, Coax or USB I believe this bypasses the Ultra DAC and uses the DAC in the ZD3….essentially using the Ultra as a streamer only?

If that’s correct, do I set the ZD3 to ‘Bypass’ or ‘Off’?

Lastly do I then set the Ultra output volume to 100% or what?

So many bloomin settings with all this paraphernalia

 

[Aivan]

Thanks all.

I’ve managed to update the firmware to 1.06, so all good there.

I’m going to have another go at hooking it up in between the Ultra and V3 Monos and see if I can get a better result.

So, if I connect the Ultra to the ZD3 via Optical, Coax or USB I believe this bypasses the Ultra DAC and uses the DAC in the ZD3….essentially using the Ultra as a streamer only?

If that’s correct, do I set the ZD3 to ‘Bypass’ or ‘Off’?

Lastly do I then set the Ultra output volume to 100% or what?

So many bloomin settings with all this paraphernalia

Yes, if you use any of those digital outputs from the Ultra, you will not be using the Ultra's internal dac.

However, there are some differences between them.

Essentially, usb output will send asynchronous data to the dac and then zd3 will use xmos chip to reclock the data packages etc. Also, in this case, you wouldn't have to worry about sound drouputs and the dac is in charge of reducing the jitter etc. Measurements suggest that it is a decent implementation od xmos.

Also, to be able to push all the information from the streamer to the dac it is advised to set the volume on the streamer to fixed (0db). If you reduce the volume on the streamer, it will essentially remove some bits of data, resulting in lower sound quality sent to the dac. This probably works differently if you are using the Ultra's internal dac.

Finally, to be able to control the volume, you need to use the zd3 as preamp, so setting the switch to off will enable volume attenuation. Bypass will automatically set it to max and assume you are regulating volume somewhere downstream, like a real preamplifier or an integrated one.

 

[Iggypot]

Yes, if you use any of those digital outputs from the Ultra, you will not be using the Ultra's internal dac.

However, there are some differences between them.

Essentially, usb output will send asynchronous data to the dac and then zd3 will use xmos chip to reclock the data packages etc. Also, in this case, you wouldn't have to worry about sound drouputs and the dac is in charge of reducing the jitter etc. Measurements suggest that it is a decent implementation od xmos.

Also, to be able to push all the information from the streamer to the dac it is advised to set the volume on the streamer to fixed (0db). If you reduce the volume on the streamer, it will essentially remove some bits of data, resulting in lower sound quality sent to the dac. This probably works differently if you are using the Ultra's internal dac.

Finally, to be able to control the volume, you need to use the zd3 as preamp, so setting the switch to off will enable volume attenuation. Bypass will automatically set it to max and assume you are regulating volume somewhere downstream, like a real preamplifier or an integrated one.

Thank you that’s very helpful

So, can I assume you would recommend I use USB from the Ultra to the ZD3?

Then I leave the ZD3 switch to off and control the bulge though that?

Finally about setting the Ultra output volume to 0db..do I do that here and just move the slider from 100% to 0?

Sorry for the noob questions but this is very new to me and I’m a bit bamboozled by it all

 

[GXAlan]

Thank you that’s very helpful

So, can I assume you would recommend I use USB from the Ultra to the ZD3?

Then I leave the ZD3 switch to off and control the bulge though that?

Finally about setting the Ultra output volume to 0db..do I do that here and just move the slider from 100% to 0?

Sorry for the noob questions but this is very new to me and I’m a bit bamboozled by it all

View attachment 416772

For your WiiM, use fixed volume output. WiiM is always sending maximum blast and Fosi attenuates