THE ZEN CD PLAYER has been REDESIGNED from the ground up!
The transport has been massively improved. It's using a new DAC chip and clock, all new circuit boards, improved layouts and improved wiring. In fact the only thing that remains the same on the inside of this machine is the rather huge power supply which we loved so much! This new machine, besides being a leap forward in build quality, makes an equally strong leap forward in sound quality. The reduced jitter, increased bitrate and general character of the new DAC chip makes the ZCD sound overall smoother, slightly warmer and a bit more organic than our original model.
The new DAC chip is a bit of a surprise. It's a panasonic MN6474A that is used in only a few players that I've been able to find.
( a list of DAC chips used in today's CD players and DACs can be found here:
http://www.vasiltech.nm.ru/files/cd-players/CD-Player-DAC-Transport.htmAt nearly twice the cost of say the popular PCM1702 chip used in so many hi-end units, I wouldn't have expected to find it used in this Tascam player.
MN6474A
D/A Converter for Digital Audio Equipment
Overview
The MN6474A is a CMOS digital-to-analog converter with a built-in 16-bit digital filter for pulse code modulation (PCM) digital audio equipment.
It uses noise shaping technology to convert a digital signal into a PWM signal.It contains a 4-fold oversampling digital filter that permits simplification of the low pass filter after the D/A converter, thus greatly reducing the power consumption of the entire D/A conversion system.
This of course lends itself well to our implementation in the ZCD player where the active 7th order low pass filter AND hi pass filters have been eliminated. The chip is driving the tube stage directly with no filtering whatsoever.The chip provides both regular and inverted phase outputs for both channels.
The chip contributes to cost and size reductions for CD players and other digital audio equipment.
Features
Built-in 4-fold oversampling digital filter
(ripple of only ±0.0072 dB within the supported band and attenuation of 62.7 dB within the cutoff band)
Internal resolution of 18 bits
Two's complement input (I2S input code also supported)
Built-in overflow limiter
No zero cross distortion
Sample-and-hold circuit is unnecessary
Output pin for detecting zero input
Single 5V power supply
How much better is the new ZCD200 vs. the original ZCD? Well, the imaging is as good or better. The frequency balance is better behaved, less aggressive. The player is smoother with no loss of detail.
Actually I wasn't terribly thrilled when the CD160MKII was discontinued and the CD200 turned out to be a completely new animal because I had to start completely over again with the output stage design and voicing. A tedious process when you have a million other things to do, but in the end it has been well worth my time and I'm happy with the end result.
I'm keeping the introductory price at $799 until Christmas. Also I am almost done with the ZCD-200i that will have a built-in IPOD dock, so we are going to actually have two models this year.
Steve :)