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The year was 1995, I was a freshly minted audiophile - just out of college and a new job in the US of A, with dreams of a system that soared to the sky and a bank balance that unfortunately went the other way. One thing I always did during these pre-internet times was to browse as many audio magazines as I could at Barnes & Noble or at the Borders magazine aisles, alas I was too poor to buy any. One review in particular caught my eye, a review of the NHT superzero monitors by Corey Greenberg in the Jan 1995 Stereophile. He went on to state that these $230 a pair of speakers coupled to a sub., would challenge many higher end speaker available at that time (I did end up buying the magazine). I was smitten, if I stretched it, ate breakfast cereal at dinner for a few weeks, drank some cheap beer like pabst blue ribbon instead of the pricey stuff for a couple of months, etc etc. I could scrounge up the $200 or so for the speakers and maybe another $300-400 for a subwoofer - (Since it was pre-internet there were no real options of buying used - other than local thrift stores etc). So after a few months I ended up getting these speakers along with a cerwin vega powered sub. I was blown away, the sound coming out of these tiny boxes was so good, I couldn't believe it. The mid range was glorious, the treble well extended, soundstage was spacious, the speakers literally disappered, and of-course no real bass - hence the vega sub. was filling in real well. I had these speakers for at-least 7-8 years well into the early 2000's and during some spring cleaning (I had bought a house by then), they were sold. I always had fond memories of these and the sound they could produce. Well fast forward to now - I am older, wiser - hopefully, grayer and balder. And I had a need for some inexpensive speakers for another location for part of my business travels, these came to my mind - having read a crushing review about these from Amir at ASR basically declaring them as junk with measurements to back it up. As much as I like objective stats., I am not one to ignore my gut and the delightful time I had with my superzeros, so I acquired a pair now in the 2.1 guise and almost impossibly very close to the same price almost 30 years ago. Hooked them up in my bedroom system and supported by a Rythmik sub, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. All those old memories flooded back and these sounded every bit as spectacular as the ones I had before.
Thanks for taking the time to read the rambling ruminations of an old audiofool.
Cheers,
Sidnht1.jpgnht2.jpg
 
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Got a Zidoo Z9x 8k over the weekend. Compared to my Z9X 4k, I see and hear significant improvement. In PQ, I think the black levels, detail retrieval and overall brightness/contrast ratio of darker films - especially using the standard DV EDID is really superb, and overall I feel SQ is also better than the 4k unit. Plus the remote is much more superior and even the UI etc. is more improved. Was concerned about being an early adopter, but I am quite satisfied. Attached some screen shots.
Cheers,
Sidzidoo8k_1.jpgzidoo8k_2.jpgzidoo8k_3.jpg
 
Got a Zidoo Z9x 8k over the weekend. Compared to my Z9X 4k, I see and hear significant improvement. In PQ, I think the black levels, detail retrieval and overall brightness/contrast ratio of darker films - especially using the standard DV EDID is really superb, and overall I feel SQ is also better than the 4k unit. Plus the remote is much more superior and even the UI etc. is more improved. Was concerned about being an early adopter, but I am quite satisfied. Attached some screen shots.
Cheers,
SidView attachment 87211View attachment 87212View attachment 87213
Would have been great if they had a streaming option too like Shield along with their Hdd playback.
 
Would have been great if they had a streaming option too like Shield along with their Hdd playback.
I tried Shield for a couple of years, at-least for me - for local content it was quite bad - especially HDR content - which I have noticed is a hit or miss - especially on projector based displays. The good ones have a vibrant - pop-out - image, and the bad ones have a dark, dull image. Now I use zidoo exclusively for local content for my projector, and for streaming I find Roku to be better than Shield. Have a basic roku for my 65" sony tv, and for local content I use plex, which looks great as well. Soon I will move my older 4k zidoo for local content there.
And the zidoo 8k is excellent with my sony vpl xw 5000es projector.
Cheers,
Sid
 
I tried my existing pc with nvidia gtx 1650 card, running jriver v32 red october. I still feel zidoo 8k is superior. Of-course not being a video/pc expert, I am unable to use the full features of the mad vr, or perhaps unable to tweak it to its full efficiency, but for a user friendly, easy to use, plug and play solution (with a proper responsive, remote), zidoo z9x 8k is excellent. Of-course for those who think $300 is too cheap, one can opt for uhd 8000 for $1500. For me, having latest zidoo for $300 every 2 years (I am sure there will be another in 2 years), is a better option as I am getting latest/better PQ, SQ etc for a fairly low price. At this point I am not willing to invest too much, either in video or source for HT as it is a fairly fast moving stream, every 2 years equipment gets obsolete. This is my opinion only, btw.
Cheers,
Sid
 
Got a Zidoo Z9x 8k over the weekend. Compared to my Z9X 4k, I see and hear significant improvement. In PQ, I think the black levels, detail retrieval and overall brightness/contrast ratio of darker films - especially using the standard DV EDID is really superb, and overall I feel SQ is also better than the 4k unit. Plus the remote is much more superior and even the UI etc. is more improved. Was concerned about being an early adopter, but I am quite satisfied. Attached some screen shots.
Cheers,
SidView attachment 87211View attachment 87212View attachment 87213
Tempting to replace my z10 pro.
 
I have been somewhat of a Rega fan throughout the years having owned the original Rega Brio, then the Rega Brio 3, Rega Apollo, Rega Saturn and finally now the new Rega Brio (another excellent buying experience with Anil @ Hifimart). Excellent analog integrated - sounds superb with the mofi 8's, drives them very well, and so very musical!rega.jpg
Cheers,
Sid
 
I have been somewhat of a Rega fan throughout the years having owned the original Rega Brio, then the Rega Brio 3, Rega Apollo, Rega Saturn and finally now the new Rega Brio (another excellent buying experience with Anil @ Hifimart). Excellent analog integrated - sounds superb with the mofi 8's, drives them very well, and so very musical!View attachment 88309
Cheers,
Sid
Nice. A friend uses this with Q Acoustics speakers. Simple and musical. The sound reminds you of some of the classic amps of the past.
 
Nice. A friend uses this with Q Acoustics speakers. Simple and musical. The sound reminds you of some of the classic amps of the past.
And that how it should be Vinny. While researching integrateds prior to getting this, 99% of them had all kinds of digital extras - dac's, streamers, fancy displays, etc etc. with proportionately jacked up prices. The simple, analog integrated, is unfortunately going extinct.
Cheers,
Sid
 
Purchase the Audiolab 6000A Integrated Amplifier at a special offer price.
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