digiZoid releases Zo 2 personal subwoofer, we go hands-on

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The Zo 2's packaging is almost the same as the box that contained the original version

The box contains two audio cables, a USB charging cable, instructions and the Zo 2 personal subwoofer

Side-by-side - the original on the left, the Zo 2 on the right

The Zo 2 (right) is exactly the same size and weight as the original, but features a soft-touch matte coating instead of the scratch-prone shiny surface on the outer shell

The icons marking the in and out have changed to an image of combined eighth notes from musical notation and a speaker symbol

Same position for the USB charging port on the left side

The Zo 2 has the same thumbwheel control as version one

Zo 2 offers 32 levels of pre-tuned contour profiling, indicated by colors of the unit's LightBar

The Zo 2 now features two gain modes - a Low Gain mode for an audio source with a non-adjustable output level and a High Gain mode for headphones

Zo 2 incorporates a 16MHz 16-bit Ultra Low Power Microcontroller from Texas Instruments on a gold-plated, four layered printed circuit board in place of discrete logic for better system management

The lowest (green) profile is said to have a flatter frequency response, so it acts more like just a headphone amp, while the highest (red) profile gives slightly higher bass intensity

Contouring tones from my HoneyTone personal guitar amp

My Vox tube amp benefits from some subtle sound shaping courtesy of the Zo 2 personal subwoofer

Even the audiobooks on my Kindle take advantage of the audio enhancement capabilities of the Zo 2

digiZoid has released version two of its Zo personal subwoofer, and Gizmag's Paul Ridden has spent some quality time with the powerful little device

Article Summary

Almost two years ago I reported being very impressed by the sound sculpturing capabilities of the Zo Personal Subwoofer. digiZoid has now released version 2, and brought some significant upgrades to the pocket-friendly headphone amp. With so many quality dedicated digital music players (the Cowon C2 or the Colorfly C4, for instance) and high end smartphones already offering pretty decent audio reproduction, is it worth laying out extra cash for sonic enhancement technology that sits between device and earphones? I've been giving a review unit a good testing over the last week or so in an attempt to answer that very question.

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