I was down at Exile today picking up my new ZLD (I live in the area). While I was there Brian was showing me some of the differences between the old model and the new one. I thought I'd share since I know several of you have the new one coming.
Some of you know that I work in hi tech, and I've spent several years in motherboard product divisions (both server and pc). So I'm prone to geek out on PCB design and manufacturing techniques (particularly the costs behind it as I'm in Finance)
I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of stuff, but here's what stuck out to me:
- 4 layer PCB (old unit was 1). Those in the biz know this alone is a significant cost adder
- All the RCA connections are threaded. They are much stronger (no chance of pushing on it too hard), and you can adjust how far out they sit relative to the chassis.
- Chassis and face plate are much higher quality: everything from thickness, machining, finish, and screws.
- All the knobs (except master volume) are LED illuminated and spring loaded so they can sit flush with the face plate when not in use. I think this will be particularly useful for bass, mid, and treb knobs that you don't necessarily want to adjust (or accidentally bump) that often.
- The master volume control knob (the one I use 75% of the time) is now a CNC machined piece.
- Separate volume control for tower, cabin, and sub. Much has been debated about this. When i was out with it this afternoon I found that I used the indiv volume controls as a way to set the ratio I wanted, then I just adjusted volume using the master knob as always.
- The gains are now located on the bottom (instead of the top). Much easier to access them without dismounting the unit.
- Voltage output is now 9v
I've only had the new ZLD on the water for about 3 hours (this afternoon). I'll post more as I get to know it. Since lots of you are ZLD users (new and old), I'm curious to here you thoughts.
Here are some comparison pics I shot today while I was there picking up my new ZLD.