ifi Zen DAC and Headphone Amp Review

[wasnotwasnotwas]

It's funny because I was reading the iFi NEO thread on head-fi and there's tons of people complaining about hissing and noise. How is that acceptable in a >€500 device...?

The continued success of iFi perplexes me. They just dont seem to be that good based on reviews here and user comments. Must state I haven't listened to any nor have any inclination to try.

 

[Veri]

The continued success of iFi perplexes me. They just dont seem to be that good based on reviews here and user comments. Must state I haven't listened to any nor have any inclination to try.

I've had the micro BL and it worked fine, very good power which in the end will give good subjective experience. But its distortion nor its noise are really to write home about.. unless you love the 3D/Bass switches, the asking price of €600 is just not justified with so much high performance alternatives out today. The Zen Dac and Hip Dac both seem to perform only "ok" which might be fine on a budget, but as seen in this review not exactly highly recommended.

I wonder if someone will send Amir a Zen Can some day, so we can see how well their budget amplifier performs not getting my hopes up lol

 

[Noodles]

ifi for me is the micro idsd and even that is overpriced af... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Zen CAN has a massive channel imbalance ... it will not do good.

 

[wasnotwasnotwas]

I've had the micro BL and it worked fine, very good power which in the end will give good subjective experience. But its distortion nor its noise are really to write home about.. unless you love the 3D/Bass switches, the asking price of €600 is just not justified with so much high performance alternatives out today. The Zen Dac and Hip Dac both seem to perform only "ok" which might be fine on a budget, but as seen in this review not exactly highly recommended.

I wonder if someone will send Amir a Zen Can some day, so we can see how well their budget amplifier performs not getting my hopes up lol

Well, if one believes the posters here suggesting their amps are "creamy" "smooth" and various other buzz words used in this thread and others, either people are carried away by the hype and imagining it OR the amps exhibit audible distortion products. I suspect its a bit of both.

 

[Veri]

Well, if one believes the posters here suggesting their amps are "creamy" "smooth" and various other buzz words used in this thread and others, either people are carried away by the hype and imagining it OR the amps exhibit audible distortion products. I suspect its a bit of both.

I'm worried about the many reports of hum, even with their 4.4mm outputs. Combined with their weird 's-balanced' misconception I wonder if there's even any ground return path used in their 'balanced' amps at all. Sure doesn't seem that way.. (just conjecture from my part though).

 

[raistlin65]

The continued success of iFi perplexes me. They just dont seem to be that good based on reviews here and user comments. Must state I haven't listened to any nor have any inclination to try.

There's an iFi rep who hangs out in some of the discussion threads at Head-Fi. So I'm sure they are all thinking of iFi as their good buddy that isn't going to steer them wrong.

 

[vins555]

I have Zen Dac and Zen Can stack , I noticed that sometimes on high gain I hear some hum, and sometimes no hum. Then i started to experiment and I found: If both RCA and 4.4mm cables are pluged in to Zen Can then I have hum, but if I use balanced cable from dac to amp I must plug in RCA cable too in order to get rid of noise. And if I use rcafrom dac to amp I must unplug 4.4 to get rid of noise. But the problem goes away if I plug in to Zen Can 3.5mm input cable and other end put in any other output with ground(in my case I used Asus DLX rear chanal output wich is not used in desktop). Then it has no hum even high gain. I think it is some ground loop issue.

 

[odyo]

I have Zen Dac and Zen Can stack , I noticed that sometimes on high gain I hear some hum, and sometimes no hum. Then i started to experiment and I found: If both RCA and 4.4mm cables are pluged in to Zen Can then I have hum, but if I use balanced cable from dac to amp I must plug in RCA cable too in order to get rid of noise. And if I use rcafrom dac to amp I must unplug 4.4 to get rid of noise. But the problem goes away if I plug in to Zen Can 3.5mm input cable and other end put in any other output with ground(in my case I used Asus DLX rear chanal output wich is not used in desktop). Then it has no hum even high gain. I think it is some ground loop issue.

Yes. Balanced 4.4 connection have ground loop unless you use rca cable too.

My opinion zen dac/can stack is good stack for high impedance balanced headphones like HD800S (comes with 4.4 balanced cable) etc. For iem and sensitive headphones this is not that good. Zen Can's xbass feature is quite nice though.

I'm still waiting for decent all in one product. I hope Topping can renew their all in one's. Cheaper version of RME AIO would sell like hotcakes.

 

[French_guy]

I'm thinking to get the iFi Zen DAC to start in the hobby....
I will also get a SHP9500. Is it a good fit for the iFi Zen?
Will I need a 5V power supply? I may use my phone (S10+) or an old tablet (Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4) or a laptop as a source. Will the power provided by the USB port be enough?

 

[LaL]

I have Zen Dac and Zen Can stack , I noticed that sometimes on high gain I hear some hum, and sometimes no hum. Then i started to experiment and I found: If both RCA and 4.4mm cables are pluged in to Zen Can then I have hum, but if I use balanced cable from dac to amp I must plug in RCA cable too in order to get rid of noise. And if I use rcafrom dac to amp I must unplug 4.4 to get rid of noise. But the problem goes away if I plug in to Zen Can 3.5mm input cable and other end put in any other output with ground(in my case I used Asus DLX rear chanal output wich is not used in desktop). Then it has no hum even high gain. I think it is some ground loop issue.

I have both Zen-Dac and Zen-Can, I never heard a hum from them but I did have some distortion being introduced form the iPower unit that came with the Zen-Can, I now just use a regular 5V power supply that I already had and they now sound fantastic, particularly with HD600.

Can you solve the Ground Loop issue by having all audio equipment running from the same power outlet socket.
►https://TechHive.com/article/306359...-from-your-audio-and-video-systems.html#toc-1

 

[vins555]

There is no strong hum or buzz. You can hear it only on high gain+18db. But hum is completly gone if I connect 3.5mm input on zen Can to any output 3.5 on motherboard or sound card. Otherwise Zen Dac sounds really nice especially with HD600

 

[vins555]

Zen Dac only will no need psu. USB power will be fine. But headphone output from Zen Dac is worse then Zen Can in terms of general resolution, I mean it's still good quality/ but Zen Can is better. And single ended is not powerfull , 4.4 balanced from Zen Dac is way more powerfull.

 

[LaL]

The continued success of iFi perplexes me. They just dont seem to be that good based on reviews here and user comments. Must state I haven't listened to any nor have any inclination to try.

When listening to music, they have a warm, natural more pleasing sound than many other more dry, analytical sounding Dac's. They are still using Burr-Brown chips from 2003 that apparently don't measure well but sound great. The bright, dry, sibilance that can be more apparent on Sabre Dac's is very off-putting to many and interferes with the enjoyment of music.
Reaction to overly detailed Dac►@3:22

 

[Veri]

When listening to music, they have a warm, natural more pleasing sound than many other more dry, analytical sounding Dac's. They are still using Burr-Brown chips from 2003 that apparently don't measure well but sound great. The bright, dry, sibilance that can be more apparent on Sabre Dac's is very off-putting to many and interferes with the enjoyment of music.
Reaction to overly detailed Dac►@3:22

Citation needed. All of this is just internet regurgitation.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...le-thinking-a-dac-has-a-sound-signature.9245/

 

[LaL]

Citation needed. All of this is just internet regurgitation.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...le-thinking-a-dac-has-a-sound-signature.9245/

You don't believe iFi steers for a slightly warmer presentation, as in their "house sound" ?
Do you use your audio equipment to listen to music ?

 

[Veri]

You don't believe iFi steers for a slightly warmer presentation, as in their "house sound" ??

I don't believe in such a "house sound", no. They seem to be very fond of these older burr brown chips, yes. They also seem to dither down the input to maximize linearity for the old chip. Whether any of this is audible is not proven, it still clears 16-bit audio threshold.

 

[wasnotwasnotwas]

When listening to music, they have a warm, natural more pleasing sound than many other more dry, analytical sounding Dac's. They are still using Burr-Brown chips from 2003 that apparently don't measure well but sound great. The bright, dry, sibilance that can be more apparent on Sabre Dac's is very off-putting to many and interferes with the enjoyment of music.
Reaction to overly detailed Dac►@3:22

If you, or anyone else, believes the (well measuring) DAC in your system is the cause of fatigue/ harshness etc etc then you are sadly mistaken. If your system sounds unpleasant , you need to look at the source or the transducer or maybe the amp- but for headphone amps thats unlikely.

 

[French_guy]

With all that being said..............is the Zen DAC a good combo to "get started in the hobby" (and knowing it's $130), with a SHP 9500?
Or is it a pure waste of money?

 

[raif71]

I have Zen Dac and Zen Can stack , I noticed that sometimes on high gain I hear some hum, and sometimes no hum. Then i started to experiment and I found: If both RCA and 4.4mm cables are pluged in to Zen Can then I have hum, but if I use balanced cable from dac to amp I must plug in RCA cable too in order to get rid of noise. And if I use rcafrom dac to amp I must unplug 4.4 to get rid of noise. But the problem goes away if I plug in to Zen Can 3.5mm input cable and other end put in any other output with ground(in my case I used Asus DLX rear chanal output wich is not used in desktop). Then it has no hum even high gain. I think it is some ground loop issue.

Humbug or hum bug ? So far, I've never heard of any hum from my stack of Zen Dac and Zen Can. I use 4.4 male to 4.4 male pentaconn connection between zen dac and zen can.

 

[raif71]

I don't believe in such a "house sound", no. They seem to be very fond of these older burr brown chips, yes. They also seem to dither down the input to maximize linearity for the old chip. Whether any of this is audible is not proven, it still clears 16-bit audio threshold.

Hopefully no more beating of dead "horse sound" is heard