Best Sonos ZP-80 Mod?

I have the cullen zp80 modded running into the cullen modded ps audio dac 3.
I had both pieces for a long time before sending them (dac first) to Cullen Circuits.

My modded dac took a long time to break in, ( close to a month) it certainly delivered full bodied sound but also revealed the limitations of some poor recordings. This improved enormously as time progressed but I suppose we all have this dream (well I do) of sweet enveloping sound from every recording. I was happy but knew (dreamt) that something better could be wrung from the flac files.
Well the modded zp80 returned just last week and I can tell you, straight out of the box, it was a marriage made in heaven, the ps audio dac III and zp80, work like a charm together. I am thrilled with the results, ( little dark at first but in a rich warm way)
and wonder what will develop as this unit breaks in.

Good recordings are spectatular, wall to wall soundstage, really tight bass ( in the chest stuff), instruments have a texture to them, what was previously faint or hinted at is there clearly.
However I think the combo is also sympathetic to lower rez files from the rhapsody service,very enjoyable. It cant make a silk purse out of a sow's ear but comes close.

Is my journey over? No( I think I'll spend all my life messing with this hobby) however this is certainly my best source ever and the most convenient.

When I hear just how good lossless files are, I want more of them. I have downloaded some of the 16bit files from Linn and they sound as good if not better than my oppo sacd or dvd audio sound. I do wonder what native 24 bit files would sound like if the zp80 could decode them.

Money very well spent and Rick Cullen and his staff are very easy to talk to.The phone is picked up, often by Rick. Emails are answered promptly.

Highly recommended

What to point your attention, that Rick Cullen's mod upsamples from default 44.1kHz to 96kHz (or 48kHz - worst case possible). Audio degrades from such resampling unless it's done properly.
I would prefer to have 44.1kHz output.

I have received my Cullen modded ZP80 yesterday morning. Was shipped over here to Germany without problems.

The first impression is just stunning. I set up the Cullen ZP80 and the standard one as two zones so I can switch directly for comparison and the difference is just amazing and much more obvious then I had ever expected. Much wider soundstage, even most complex music (Mahler, Wagner operas) sound transparent and not as "muddy" as with the standard ZP. On Jazz, the Keith Jarrett Trio come accross as if they were sitting in front of me in the living room!

I will now have a serious look at the PS Audio DAC as modded by Rick Cullen for the next stage of sound improvement.

Finally, Sonos convenience and high end sound seem to come together :-))

bbrip

Ivanfx,

I guess the focus in your words is "unless i'ts done properly"

My Cullen ZP80 is 96khz and it's improvement rather than degradation.

BBrip

>What to point your attention, that Rick Cullen's mod >upsamples from default 44.1kHz to 96kHz (or 48kHz - worst >case possible). Audio degrades from such resampling unless >it's done properly.

My findings with the Cullen modded ZP-80 match up pretty well with what has already been reported.

However, after doing some comparrison, I do feel that results will vary, based on the system that it is being used with.

In comparing the stock zone player vs. the modded player, I feel strongly that the DAC & digital cables, etc. play a major role in how much the performance improves.

Though the mod is a noticable improvement over the stock ZP-80, we could not get it to match the performance of our reference cdp's.

My goal is to eventually replace my cdp with Sonos. For me, we are not quite there yet.