I’ve literally never heard this whine issue on mine. It’s a top tier delay for me, I’ve sung its praises many times!
Not saying the high pitched sound isn’t there, I’m sure it is. But I just use it to jam for fun, and I haven’t noticed it fwiw. Maybe I will next time I use it?
Very surprised to hear this suggestion! You have fantastic taste in gear so now I’m gonna have to revisit this one 
Agreed that the box is way more useful when not synced. But while it doesn’t provide a division equal to dotted ⅛ (which would be 1 × ¾, I think), it does provide ×3 and ⅓ divisions that keep repeats off the beat. Sometimes this is enough?
But more often, yeah. Synced mode is mostly useful for pitching around what’s in the buffer while forcing rhythmic results. For using the delay as a straight FX on a send or something, tap tempo is your friend.
I think this is really the key.
In context it sounds great. It’s fun and playable. If it bugs you, that’s totally understandable as well.
I don’t think there’s anyone with consistent stories about “sync stability” and the Zen?
I’ve never encountered any in my usage so it’s really the context of “mixed”/“conflicting” that matter.
Phenomenal user name!
Worth noting that Erica Synths are currently running a b-stock sale:
I just picked up a Zen Delay for 399EUR (plus taxes and customs, wjich will make it less of a bargain)
Yeah it will be probably 500 euros shipped in EU inc. VAT.
I remember gettin mine at one of their first b-stock sale and I paid 400 euros inc. VAT (well, they really messed up that time, you could get a b-stock for less than secondhand market prices).
Still, I am really tempted to get a second one just for mayhem.
I have bought and sold quite a lot of gear over the years. Very occasionally, something comes that I immediately know I’m never getting rid off. The Zen Delay is one of those, alongside the Digitakt and a few euro modules. I love it for two main reasons.
Firstly, the sound is fantastic. Almost every sound in my music can be improved by going through it. I can do tight reverb-like ambiences, or long dubs delays, or anything really. Making techno, I can run simple sounds through it and sustain interest for a long time by tweaking it.
Secondly, I love the simplicity of the interface. It encourages me to explore settings more carefully than I do on other machines. I don’t bother connecting midi, because unsynced delays are more interesting. The knobs are big and feel great, which means I actually ‘perform’ them when I’m recording.
For me, it’s totally worth the price tag, because it makes music making quicker and more enjoyable. For someone who has to fit music-making into the gaps in the rest of my life, that is invaluable.
(FWIW, I don’t notice whining or unpleasant noise for my main use cases)
Zen delay is a record-holder for me. Until a couple of weeks back I’d never bought-sold, and then bought-sold, and then bought again. After churning several dozen delay pedals I’ve accepted I can’t ever be 100% satisfied, but that the Zen comes closest.
Welcome.
Well my Zen Delay just turned up and I didn’t get a VAT or customs bill, so that’s a win!
How is the OD implemented, this being a stereo device and there’s only one tube.
Hey Richard - welcome to the Elektronauts community! Great to see you here.
For those who are unfamiliar, Richard has an incredible YT channel…his videos/guides are mandatory viewing for anyone who has a DB-01 (and there’s some nice coverage of other Erica gear too).
you get dual triode tubes, so probably just that.
Yep, eg. the most common ECC83 / 12AX7 tube you find in pretty much every “toob overdrive” type thing and a lot of guitar preamps etc. is a dual triode, so can amplify two signals at once (or one signal, two stages).
What were the others you tried? I’ve added an Echo System. Love the Zen too, but still chasing that elusive sound that apparently, I can only hear in my head.
I’m patiently waiting (hoping) for a Zen mk2 with some of the upgrades available in the plugin.
So many churned pedals… Just to mention some of the main ones: The RE-202 Space Echo - lots to like, especially the tone controls, but there’s absolutely no stereo field at all, and I found the level surprisingly weak. The knobs are tacky plastic chrome and the controls are, in the usual Roland way, calibrated to stop you doing anything extreme.
The Amplitude X-Time - possibly the worst delay I’ve ever bought. A pretty obvious attempt to rip off the Timeline. The real killer for me was its complete inability to display the delay time in BPM.
Strymon El Capistan MkII: I know everyone loves this pedal and I tried very hard to love it. In the end I found it sort of boring and limited. It has one sound, some fiddly secondary functions, and a weird stereo field. The one feature that I was eager to try, the “degrading loop” can only be properly synced using CC messages 
The Rubberneck was OK but so ugly and too easy to overload (in a horrible way).
The DIG was so good I bought it twice but the Mark 1 needs the cover popped to change from mono to stereo inputs. In the end it wasn’t worth keeping when I already had the Timeline and Future factory.
The Free the Tone Future Factory is excellent but the “innovative” interface is not as fast to use as it seems. It specializes in “nice” delays no matter how much its pushed. Won’t be selling this one although I really need to sit down and program a whole load of custom patches.
The Nemesis I really like but almost all the good controls are only accessible by computer. To get the most out of it you need to carefully customize each engine.
The D-Seed II and the NuX DuoTime - cheap pedals and you get what you pay for.
The Strymon Timeline has been a stayer - really solid set of parameters, excellent ergonomics and everything accessible from the machine itself.
Well, that’s the short version…
In other news, thanks seven7hwave (Kent) for your very kind welcome
Anyone compare the sound of the plugin with the hardware? I sold my zen a year ago. Shortly tried the plugin. Is it me or does it sound terribly thin/weak compared to the hardware?
And @Richard-Dehove wait till you try oto bim and meris lvx 
Thank you for the thoughtful reply and explanation! Welcome to the forum.