Vanatoo Transparent Zero Powered Mini Speakers Review

Speakers are often a conundrum for space-strapped audiophiles. Sure, often larger speakers sound better, but there are often constraints like room size, distance from the walls and other equipment, and plenty of other imaging concerns. If you’re not listening in a dedicated listening room, often these factors are less than ideal. Fortunately, there are some speakers out there that truly make the most of their minuscule footprint, filling the room with great sound without being too picky about placement.

The first time I heard the Vanatoo Transparent Zeros, I was at Capital Audio Fest. I walked into a room full of onlookers (or should they be “onlisteners”?) with sound effortlessly enveloping me. Then confusingly, I looked around for what is usually a tower of equipment flanked by a pair of tall speakers… only to find two minuscule trapezoid-shaped boxes at the front of the room. Right then I knew the Vanatoos were special.

The Zeros come with some sweet magnetic grills and isolation pads

Granted I have built a couple of small-form-factor full-range speakers in the past that do a nice job filling a small space and work well for near-field monitoring. One of which uses a 3” driver from GR Research, and one uses a 4” driver from Fostex. Both I like to augment with a small subwoofer to fill in the lower-end. The Vanatoos certainly do not need any low-end augmentation. The bass quantity is there in spades. This is thanks to a 4” passive radiator that complements the 4” woofer, moving quite a bit more air than just a single driver. In fact, the bass is actually a bit much for me (someone used to listening to headphones) so I simply turn the bass down on the Vanatoos and all is well.

The bass adjustment is not on the source equipment, the Transparent Zeros actually have a built-in equalizer. That’s not all, they have a built-in integrated 4-channel 48W class D amplifier, USB input with built-in DAC, wireless remote, Bluetooth (with aptX), and a subwoofer out if you’re a true basshead and NEED MOAR BASS. It also comes with a host of wires if you happened to not have any USB or analog cables sitting about. So, for $359 a pair, you get a lot for your money... truly a plug and play system where all you need is a phone or computer to get grooving. These speakers sound quite good in this price-range and fill the room better than anything I’ve heard at this price.

A look at the variety of features on the back of the unit

Being an audiophile and a relentless tweaker, I’ve done quite a bit of experimenting with placement and found the Zeros sound best in a certain configuration. Per the literature, you can place the speakers firing up or stood on their handle, firing forward. I found they sound notably more controlled with firmer bass firing upward, likely because more surface area is planted on whatever surface they are sitting on. I also like them placed on an IsoAcoustics Aperta stand, mounted on a wood plinth with the included foam pad sandwiched between the speaker and the wood. To increase the clarity of the treble, I recommend removing the magnetic speaker grills. These little tweaks may sound silly, but you'll quickly hear a difference. 

I haven't tried building any large gauge cables for them yet (or use an audio-grade Ethernet cable to connect the second speaker to the base speaker), but in time I'm sure I'll try it :) Placement, I believe, is far more important. 

A look at the handsome Zeros sans grills

I don't think the Zeros sound quite as controlled in this configuration,
but I encourage you to try it yourself.

Anything not to like? As mentioned, you’ll probably want to play with the EQ and potentially use a stand to get the sound to your liking. In my small listening space, the bass was a little overwhelming and overpowered the rest of the sound. I believe the standard settings are voiced a little more for the average user vs. the audiophile or enthusiast, which makes sense given the price. Turning down the bass and bumping up the treble results in a nice, balanced sound (to these ears), falling to the warm side thanks to a forgiving soft-dome tweeter. The typical caveat for Bluetooth applies: while it is perfectly implemented on the Zeros, it takes some of the life out of the music, just like every other device I’ve used Bluetooth with. It will be a while before I ditch the wires ;) Connecting is a breeze though and easier than most devices. I was also surprised at the quality of the built-in USB DAC, being quite clear when extracting hi-res music from my phone. 

If you are looking for an all-in-one sound solution for a small to medium-sized room and you're looking for good sound quality at a very reasonable cost, the Transparent Zeros are a great choice. Also, if you anticipate needing something portable that can be moved from room to room easily (or taken along for travel), the value gets even better. They are versatile, well made, and have carved themselves a nice niche in the market that was previously vacant.  

The Fine Print: DIYAudioBlog was provided the Vanatoo Transparent Zeros as a review sample, however this does not affect the integrity of this review. I actually use them frequently in my work-room while I build new stuff to blog about ;)  

    

Building a Mini Audio Rack with Bamboo Cutting Boards

As you may have noticed, we are at the age of the computer audiophile, and standardized 19" components are no longer relegated to audio racks because they are typically sitting near a computer rig on a desk. I personally think that's awesome as I'm not a fan of wasted space, components should be the exact size they need to be to house the internals (at least that's my opinion). The fly in the ointment is that you may have a stack of mini components that might not sit on top of one another neatly or may need a little more space to dissipate heat.

Two companies that I've seen offer mini racks with specific dimensions to match their products, a mini rack from Parasound, and iFi Audio with their cool little iRack. Unfortunately these products only work with their specific component counterparts and are not universal.

iFi Audio iRack

So I decided the easiest way to attack this problem is to build a mini shelf from wood, and typically cutting boards are an appropriate size to sit components on. To keep the cost low while still being visually appealing, I selected the Totally Bamboo 12.5" x 8" Aruba cutting board, which were around $14 each if I recall correctly.

12.5" x 8" Aruba bamboo cutting board

To fasten the boards together, I purchased a 5/8" dowel from the hardware store. Home Depot or Lowes will typically have pine and possibly walnut or oak, which aren't a perfect match, but good enough after stain. I searched a bit for bamboo dowels, but not much luck online for the thickness needed.

First the bamboo boards needed sanding so they would accept stain evenly. NOTE: I do not vouch for the safety of whatever adhesive is used by Totally Bamboo to fasten this board together, so sand at your own risk. A reasonable person would assume it is safe as it is being used with food products, but who knows these days.

I measured a short distance from each corner and drilled 5/8" holes (and Dremeled a bit for clearance) just under 1/2" into each board. A pilot hole for a size #6 screw was drilled into the center of each hole. I then measured the component that would be on the bottom shelf to determine how long the dowels should be, added 1" and cut with a band saw. pilot holes were drilled in the center of each dowel for a #6 screw. The dowels were then inserted into the holes, 1" EAR isolation feet lined up on the other side, and a 1.5" wood screw drilled in for each.

The EAR Isolation feet are 95 cents a pop (at the time of this writing) and you can get them from PartsConnexion, or if you need a large quantity, reach directly out to EAR. I use them for nearly everything.

EAR 25mm isolation feet

After that, I lined up the holes on the other board to fit, put a small amount of wood glue in each hole and let stand upside down to dry so the glue doesn't run down the dowels. Once everything is dry, the stain/finish was applied. I used Minwax Polyshades for quickness and affordability (a 1/2 pint will run around $5). 

Minwax Polyshades - cheap and quick

After four coats, the mini rack had a nice deep glossy sheen and the dowels were pretty close in hue to the cutting boards.

Below you can see an MHDT Constantine tucked in neatly on the bottom shelf, and a Peachtree t1 SPDIF to USB converter, and Schiit Wyrd USB power isolator on the top shelf. Neat, tidy and isolated from vibration.

Hope you enjoyed this relatively simple build. I found it provides a good solution to a common problem for computer or DAP-based systems (or small headphone amplifiers).


Disclaimer: The above steps detailing the building of a mini audio rack are for entertainment purposes only and not intended to be used as directions. The owner of this blog and all associated parties can not / will not be held responsible if you attempt the process posted and cause physical harm to yourself, your surroundings or your property. Please note that some bamboo boards can contain dangerous chemicals, sand/cut at your own risk. 

IsoAcoustics Aperta Bookshelf Speaker Stand Review

When I went to Capital Audio Fest last year, I noticed an interesting little stand underneath a few of the bookshelf speakers at the show made by IsoAcoustics. I personally do most of my listening at a desk, whether it be my computer desk or work bench, so any opportunity to enhance that (sometimes not ideal) listening experience is very welcome. I say sometimes not ideal as with freestanding speakers or bookshelf speakers on stands you have more freedom to move them to an ideal position away from the wall, etc. and they typically sit directly on the desk, which doesn't give them any isolation.

While I like my Auralex Subdude, their low-cost MoPads aren't the most attractive isolation solution for monitors. The Propads look better, but angle adjustments are somewhat limited.

The Auralex MoPads, an effective though homely solution

The Propads with 3 layer dampening

The IsoAcoustics stands were initially offered in plastic, which still didn't really turn any heads in my humble opinion either, however IsoAcoustics recently released the Aperta, and now the larger Aperta 200. IsoAcoustics has a nice online calculator to let you know if they'll work with your speakers.

These puppies look great, are crafted of solid aluminum, have good heft and are built to last.

The Aperta is available in silver and black

You can purchase an aluminum platform so you can place them on top of most speaker stands too. Two of the four feet per unit are height adjustable, so you can adjust the axis of sound and get those tweeters at optimal ear level.

Simple yet effective height adjustment system

Decoupling your speaker from your desk using the Aperta offers some very notable benefits: Bass is more punchy and less muddy and the overall sound is clearer and more dimensional. Getting the speaker away from the surface of the desk below reduces the deleterious effect of distortion caused by first reflections (Linkwitz has a great article on speaker floor reflections if you'd like to learn more). I did find that bass quantity decreased (bass generated from vibrations emanating off the desk), so you may have to turn up your subwoofer a bit to compensate if you have grown used to that level. If you are decoupling your monitors from your desk for editing purposes, you'll be getting a more accurate frequency response as a result.

Are the IsoAcoustics stands worth the $200 to $250 a pair they are selling for? I'd say absolutely if you are an audiophile, audio enthusiast, or sound/video editor. In the audiophile segment they are a relative bargain, you'd pay that much for a typical three point isolation system for one single speaker. If you're looking to pick up a pair, they're pretty much the same price everywhere, but I'd recommend reaching out to Ryan at FrontEndAudio.com. No relationship, but he was very pleasant to deal with and shipped it off to me quickly... free shipping doesn't hurt either ;)

If you have a few more dollars to burn, IsoAcoustics has relationships with partner companies that incorporate their product into stands and purpose-built editing consoles. Argosy is a company that makes the latter, and man would I love to have one of these: The Halo workstation is available for $1,500-2,500 depending on the options, and while great for an editor, I could totally see this being used as a computer desk with plenty of room for amp, pre-amp, DAC and headphone amp, all at at arms length but not in the way.

The Argosy Halo Workstation

I hope you enjoyed the review. As always, if you are looking for a new set of cables to improve your audio system, be sure to check out Zynsonix Audio for some great solutions.

AES EBU 110 Ohm Digital Cable

The very first real-time software MP3 player was a program called WinPlay3. This program was released way back in September of 1995, back in the days of half gig hard drives. As MP3s gained popularity and began to distract computer users from glorious MIDI music, Winamp from Nullsoft was released in 1997 and by the next year, Winamp in its various iterations was downloaded over 3 million times. Several years later, the first version of iTunes was released to the public in 2001. Fast forward to today, a little over a decade later, and computer audio has become very widely accepted and many audiophiles are more likely to fire up a PC than pop open a compact disc player.

The WinPlay3 Program

Because the CD player is going the way of the dodo (obsolescence), audiophiles choose to interface their PC with a DAC (digital audio converter) in order to extract the music in the best sounding way possible. A DAC requires a digital signal be carried from the PC to the external DAC. In some cases the PC has a direct output for a digital signal from the motherboard or sound card, in other cases, a user may choose to use a USB to SPDIF converter box, such as the M2tech HiFace or Musical Fidelity V-Link to name a few.

Digital signals can be carried a few different ways, either optically or via a coaxial cable. Many enthusiasts frown upon optical cables due to perceived jitter and myriad other issues, although I have found the glass ones to be acceptable in the past. Optical cables actually isolate the ground from one device to another which can be a benefit in the case of a dirty ground at the source. The other option, a coaxial cable with a single center conductor isolated with a dielectric and a return which is typically a copper mesh over the dielectric, can be terminated with either an RCA or BNC.  In the case of the AES/EBU, there is still the copper mesh over the dielectric and there are two conductors in the center.

Standard digital coaxial cables are preferred to be rated at 75 ohms, and since BNC connectors are legitimately 75 ohms, they are preferred, but in many cases BNC connectors are not offered and an RCA will suffice. If you are lucky and your PC output and DAC both have an AES/EBU jack, then you’ll have the best possible connection between your devices. AES/EBU coax cable should be rated at 110 ohms.

AES/EBU, also known as AES3, was developed by the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) way before the first software MP3 player in 1985 (although revised in ’92 and ’03) and is effectively the professional version of S/PDIF. Much more additional information regarding the AES/EBU standard, including protocols, time slots and channel status bits can be found at http://en.wikiaudio.org/AES_EBU .

Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 featuring an AES EBU connection

Now that we covered what an AES/EBU is and where it came from, I’ll go ahead and assemble a nice audiophile quality one. One of the fortunate things about the AES/EBU protocol is that is calls for a standard XLR connector, of which there are many audiophile versions floating around, I’m sure some of which use time-corrected flux capacitors and pixie dust gathered during ancient times. I’ll personally be using the DHLabs Silver Sonic XLRs, which is a strange name as the contacts are gold-plated pure OFC copper (no brass!), but they’re great connectors for the dollar, and the DHLabs Silver Sonic D-110 110ohm coax cable, which has silver plated copper conductors within a PTFE dielectric, spacers for constant impedance and a 100% coverage shield.

Silver Sonic D-110 Cable and XLRs

First on the agenda is covering the wire with some nice sleeving. I selected the Techflex brand Carbon Reflex sleeving, which is a polyethylene terepthalate material braided with 3M Ultra reflective monofilament. In simple terms, the weave reflects light and looks pretty impressive.

As noted in the photo below, there are two insulated wires (positive and negative) and a drain wire which connects to the shield for the ground. Also in the center is the Silver Sonic XLR female pieces.

Sleeved with Carbon Reflex

...and here are the Silver Sonic XLR male pieces.

Silver Sonic XLR male connector

Although not necessary, I sleeved the drain wire with Teflon like the other two conductors for uniformity.

Drain wire with Teflon sleeve

These wires are soldered in place on each of the male and female connectors. The ground wire (the drain wire in this case) is soldered to pin 1, the positive wire (red in this case) is soldered to pin 2, and the negative wire (black in this case) is soldered to pin 3. Also note that with the Silver Sonic connectors, slipping the boot over the decorative sleeving requires some patience.

XLR Pin Diagram

Once everything is soldered in place, the barrels of  the DHlabs connectors are slid over the soldered connections and the three screws over each connector are replaced. The two screws over the boot in the back back a very substantial strain relief system. Below you will see the finished digital AES EBU cable. 

Finished digital AES EBU Cable

Hope you enjoyed reading this post. If you are interested in having your own custom digital AES EBU cable (or any other cable) made, please contact Zynsonix for a quote.


The Fine Print:
The above steps detailing the building of a cable are for entertainment purposes only, and not to be performed under any circumstances. The owner of this blog and all associated parties can not / will not be held responsible if you attempt the process posted and cause physical harm to yourself, your surroundings or your property. Please keep this in mind.