I have had the Z-man hooked into my system for more than two years now. Through experimentation I can say that it does do more for some CD players than others. I started out with a low end sony 5 disc changer and the ASE improved the sound dramatically! I then updgraded to an Onkyo integra 6 disc changer and the sonic improvements were there, but not as drastic as with the sony changer. Good interconnects out of the ASE are essential. If you want to save some money go to soundstage.com and read Greg Weavers articles on home brew interconnects. I was using audioquest Jade out of the ASE and when I installed a pair of Home Brew magnetic wires, the improvement was dramatic. I have also upgraded the Tube in the ASE and enjoy the warmth and fullness the device produces. I cant go so far to say that it is a must in every system but if you have a mid to low end stereo and are looking for a low cost improvement the ASE @ $159.00 is worth checking out. For its improved sound to value ratio I give the ASE five stars!!

Bought mine for $157.00 shipping included,,,,,BOYYYYYYYY what a great improvement in my entire stereo system,,,, Now I am enjoying a very very natural soundstage of my tweeter,,, silky smooth of my midrange a,,, very deep tight bass response..... If you dont believe me,,,, I can give you the serial number of the Z MAN I bought,,,,, I REALLY WANNA SAY THIS,,,, IF YOU DONT HAVE THIS IN YOUR SYSTEM,,, YOU ARE MISSING A LOT BECAUSE THIS IS THE MISSING LINK,,,,,,,,,, i DONT MIND COMPARING IT TO X-10 D BY MUSICAL FIDELITY

Hey Ed! You don't know what the heck you're talking about. Anyone who would recommend a power conditioner over a line conditioner like the ASE is insane. The level of audible changes with a line conditioner is 3 times greater than a power conditioner. Just because someone has a harsh source doesn't mean that they have a power problem. Sometimes it's just inherently harsh, just as some cables are.
When you make nonsensical comments like that it just proves that you've never listened to an tube conditioner before. My advise to you is to make comments on only the things you have an experience with...this isn't a freakin newgroup you know!

The Z-Man ASE is a tube buffer used to achieve tubelike sound without actually using a tube amp or preamp. I have not compared it to a similar product from Musical Fidelity so I don't know if it's better or not. I do know for sure that the ASE contains much more expensive parts than MF's. Bluntly speaking, the ASE is a required addition if your CD player sounds a little bit too bright. The effect varies from one music to another but the most significant improvement can be found in the midrange. Vocals sound much clearer and there seems to be less digital noise. The end result is a more natural laid back sound. One thing though, you don't want to use cables which are meant for CDs as the input. These cables roll off the highs to hide the digital brightness but since you're making the highs even less, you won't get a satisfactory effect. If you own a $300 - $800 CD player and loves tube sound, the $200 ASE is almost a must!

This is fantastic product. First of all, its build quality is phenomenal. And I like its conventional box shape better than that of Musical Fidelity X10D. Of course, those two things don't mean a jack, unless it sounds good. And sound good it does. It does what it advertises. It takes brightness of CDs and smoothes out the sound. It also adds firm bass to sound as well as provide blacker black background. It also improved imaging of my system, although the soundstage became slightly smaller. My current system consists of Bryston B60, Vandersteen 1Cs, and Cal DX2. And this thing works really well with my system. Probably because Bryston B60 has fantastic resolution but offers leaner sound. One comment about cables when using this thing. I found that the cable used between the source and the ASE is not as critical as the cable used between the ASE and Amp. After messing with four different cables(Monster, AQ Indigo, Kimber PBJ, and Cardas), I am gonna use AQ Indigo from Cal to ASE and Kimber from ASE to the amp. I liked Kimber PBJ better than the other three. The most interesting cable was Cardas, it just didn't not work with the ASE. The sound was too smooth and muddy, although it costs more than others. Anyways, this is a fantastic product. But I strongly caution that you try before you buy.

What about resolution? Some of you have very high-end amps ( Bryston and Classe to name two ). And very mid- fi sources. Adding anything like this unit into your system is like killing the messenger! Yes it sounds 'smoother', but at what cost to the overall quality of your music system? You are trying to reproduce a 'live'( in the studio or in a venue its captured live by the recording your listening to )or 'smooth'. It's funny but speed is what can really bring music to life. Transients and timbre, openness and air, the things that reveal are what may fool us into thinking it might be alive. Not dead, just to be 'softer'. Check out the signal to noise ratio on your amp and then the Z-Man, for a clue. Its why revealing cables do not match well with is unit. You have to buy down the line for the thing too sound 'smooth'. There is help for our systems with harsh sources ( and other electical components ). That's Line Conditioning. And my personal fave is by: Vans Evers. Keep on listen!

Well, seeing that I just shelled out about 6 grand for an amp (Classe CAP-150) and speakers (Thiel 2.3), I wasn't really eager to go and spend a couple more thousand on a new CD player. So I though I'd give the Z Man a try. When I called, I got the Z-man himself and went ahead and ordered the product. My CD player is the Yamaha 845 5 disk changer. Anyway, go ahead and spend the $200, the comments of the other reviewers stood up in my review of this piece of equipment. I use Kimber PBJ .5 meter interconnects and they do fine. This box really, really, really improves that digital sound. I still play vinyl and the black box gets me more of waht I like about analog. Caveats: It does reduce soundstage width, but in my set up, added depth. If other people use your system, tell them to either leave the box on, or turn it on before you turn anything else on, do not turn it on while you're playing anything, you will blow the fuses in your amp. For what it does, it's grrrreat.

One thing about the ASE - I do not recommend the use of the PBJ as the Z-man suggests. The sound from PBJs are quite harsh (can we say Sibilance?). It can defeat the purpose of what you are trying to accomplish with an ASE, namely to tame the sibilance off the highs. For a better match you should try the Straightwire Chorus for $30. It's half the price of the PBJs and it sound so much silkier...

I've had the opportunity to audition both the Musical Fidelity X10-Dand the Z-Man's ASE in an A/B test and I can say unequivocally that the ASE is the better product.
The X10-D does tame glare and brightness but to the detriment of vocals. Listen to female vocals closely when doing an A/B comparison with and without the X10-D. You will hear that the bottom-end of the female vocal is absent: Voices sound two dimensional...thinned out. Bass is fuller with the X10-D but it's also messy, not tight and defined.

The ASE has all the good of the X10-D but none of the bad. The good include a wide sound stage, details are brought out across the spectrum, a fuzzyness that is characteristic of tubes (timbre). But where ASE excels over the X10-D is the way that it enriches the mids and bass. Vocals are not thinned-out like the X10-Dbut full, richer and the bass is more defined, thighter, and fuller than the X10-D. The overall effect is that the source that it's connected to sounds so much more. A nice thing about the ASE is the fact that you can change the tubes to get an even better sound according to the Z-Man. Buying a better (more expensive) tube can make the details stand out even more.

The added bonus here is that when you call the Z-Man, it's he himself that answers the phone and talks to you. He is very pleasant and knows his product inside and out. I suggest you give him a call to audition the ASE yourself.

For those who owns the X10-D all I can say is,"what are you still doing with it"?

Well, I went and bought an ULTECH CD Player (HDCD etc) Very Good CD player under 1,000. Anyway, listened to it with and without the ASE. Also bought a line conditioner, Power Wedge 114.
The ASE doesn't harm the sound as much as some on the page would suggest. I did not detect a loss in resolution. I did notice that the soundstage is wider, deeper and better defined without the ASE. I was advised by the Z-man to upgrade my Tube ($60) to alleviate this problem, humph. I'm considering trading up my Classe to an Audible Illusions tubed preamp and Bryston Monoblocks, so the ASE may be consigned to the bedroom stereo anyway.

Oh, if you only have money for an ASE or a line conditioner, get the line conditioner. Not only is your sound better, you have insurance against power surges and it's better bang for the buck.

Still, vinyl sounds better than digital, regardless of the ASE.