ifi Zen DAC and Headphone Amp Review

[M83]

I too got a power adapter instead of using usb to barrel cord. Previously the barrel/usb cord was connected to a power strip which has usb jacks but I experience some static electricity (could be due to my power strip) when connecting to it. When using this power adapter, no static was detected but to me SQ wise usb/barrel vs power adapter for the zen dac there is no difference.

I think definitely worth spending a few £/$ on a power adapter, especially if any audible interference present.

I guess YMMV depending on how good source device components are.

The change I noticed is small/subtle, but I'm definitely happier with v5.3C now on mains power.

 

[mundee]

Have you any problem with cuts of the beginnig of the songs, as someone mentioned here.

i do... tidal and mqa gives cut outs all the time.

 

[M83]

i do... tidal and mqa gives cut outs all the time.

I haven't tried Tidal personally. I use Amazon Music HD, with exclusive mode on.

 

[Zek]

i do... tidal and mqa gives cut outs all the time.

... and what about playing audio files from PC?

 

[mundee]

... and what about playing audio files from PC?

I do not have offline MQA files, sorry. Regular hifi (flac 16/44) does not have this problem. Ifi needs to fix this, they’re ignoring this problem I believe.

 

[Haze]

I was gifted a Zen Can for Christmas that I've paired with my Zen Dac. At max gain there is audible hiss when you turn the volume all the way up. I don't know what kind of inefficient lumps of lead would ever need that much volume but none the less the hiss is there. It's not a ground hum, it is unaffected by touching the dac or the amp. It a wind through the trees hiss.

Is this anything I should be worried about? Any ideas what's causing it?

 

[Jimbob54]

I was gifted a Zen Can for Christmas that I've paired with my Zen Dac. At max gain there is audible hiss when you turn the volume all the way up. I don't know what kind of inefficient lumps of lead would ever need that much volume but none the less the hiss is there. It's not a ground hum, it is unaffected by touching the dac or the amp. It a wind through the trees his.

Is this anything I should be worried about? Any ideas what's causing it?

Yes, not terribly well designed electronics

But in fairness- with reasonably sensitive cans/ speakers, you might well get some degree of hiss out of lots of amps at full tilt. As long as thats well below max listening levels, not really an issue. I bet if you plugged some 600ohm cans in, the hiss will reduce/ disappear.

 

[LaL]

I was gifted a Zen Can for Christmas that I've paired with my Zen Dac. At max gain there is audible hiss when you turn the volume all the way up. I don't know what kind of inefficient lumps of lead would ever need that much volume but none the less the hiss is there. It's not a ground hum, it is unaffected by touching the dac or the amp. It a wind through the trees hiss.

Is this anything I should be worried about? Any ideas what's causing it?

Use a 4.4mm Balanced interconnect. It also sounds better than RCA, more defined bass.
►https://Amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07ZNZDHMJ
►https://HartAudioCables.com/product...ntaconn-balanced-cable?variant=32513487044689

 

[raif71]

I was gifted a Zen Can for Christmas that I've paired with my Zen Dac. At max gain there is audible hiss when you turn the volume all the way up. I don't know what kind of inefficient lumps of lead would ever need that much volume but none the less the hiss is there. It's not a ground hum, it is unaffected by touching the dac or the amp. It a wind through the trees hiss.

Is this anything I should be worried about? Any ideas what's causing it?

Try to stay at 2nd gain. It's enough for me using Senn hd600 and Sundara. Also I use a pentaconn male to male cord to connect zen dac to zen can and the headphones are using pentaconn ended jacks.

 

[Veri]

Use a 4.4mm Balanced interconnect. It also sounds better than RCA, more defined bass.

There's people on head-fi that ironically, get grounding noise when using only 4.4mm interconnect, that goes away when connecting RCA cables as well. So it might make noise actually worse.

 

[mshenay]

Use a 4.4mm Balanced interconnect. It also sounds better than RCA, more defined bass.
►https://Amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07ZNZDHMJ
►https://HartAudioCables.com/product...ntaconn-balanced-cable?variant=32513487044689

I've not had that or I should say this issue at all and I use a 4.4mm to dual 3pin XLR

I'd also like to ask @amirm how loud are you listening??? I'm running thru the Zen Dac with just USB Android Player pro with my own Ether CX and with power boost off I'm not even at 1'o clock... to think your running power boost ON and pushing that much higher and still complaining about not having enough volume is concerning...

Just doing a quick crude level check with an SPL Meter I can get peaks of 90.5 dBa at 3 O'clock with power boost off and I listen with peaks of about 77.5 at around Noon

This is with an Ether CX... playing "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk,

I think It would be helpful in the future if you can document your average listen levels and what your Peaks are for the music your testing with... to say there isn't enough volume without disclosing what actual dB level your not able to achieve ... is rather disingenuous.

 

[M83]

I've not had that or I should say this issue at all and I use a 4.4mm to dual 3pin XLR

I'd also like to ask @amirm how loud are you listening??? I'm running thru the Zen Dac with just USB Android Player pro with my own Ether CX and with power boost off I'm not even at 1'o clock... to think your running power boost ON and pushing that much higher and still complaining about not having enough volume is concerning...

Just doing a quick crude level check with an SPL Meter I can get peaks of 90.5 dBa at 3 O'clock with power boost off and I listen with peaks of about 77.5 at around Noon

This is with an Ether CX... playing "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk,

I think It would be helpful in the future if you can document your average listen levels and what your Peaks are for the music your testing with... to say there isn't enough volume without disclosing what actual dB level your not able to achieve ... is rather disingenuous.

Interesting observations and questions.

I am using Denon D2000 with power boost on, and the loudest I can handle is 10 o'clock on volume before it becomes uncomfortable.

Definitely experience higher volume with mains power relative to 5v usb. I've had probably 20-30 hours of listening in total with the Zen Dac, and I'm really starting to appreciate it's capability more now.

(I have a G1217 Project Polaris on the way. My Zen Dac will be used as a dac only when the Polaris arrives)

 

[M83]

Well, what an evening...I took delivery of my Garage1217 Project Polaris ready to pair with my Zen Dac...

All connected ready for a first listen to the new complete set up, and the Zen Dac stopped being recognised in Windows 10. The vol pot LED was lighting up, but nothing in the ifi driver about the presence of the Zen Dac. I tried different cables, on different laptops, with usb power, with main power, reinstalled drivers...But nothing. It just died a sudden premature death.

I look a punt on the ifi, and recognise the risk having read mixed reviews about reliability/build quality etc. It's being returned via Amazon, and I won't bother getting another. Fingers are lightly burned.

Topping DX3 Pro it is...

 

[LaL]

having read mixed reviews about reliability/build quality etc. It's being returned via Amazon, and I won't bother getting another. Fingers are lightly burned.

I thought the issue with the Zen-Dac on ASR is how it measures, I never saw the complaints about build quality or reliability. I've used mine on a number of different Desktops,Laptops,phones over the last year and never had this issue.

 

[M83]

I thought the issue with the Zen-Dac on ASR is how it measures, I never saw the complaints about build quality or reliability. I've used mine on a number of different Desktops,Laptops,phones over the last year and never had this issue.

I bought it even knowing about questionable QC (possibly on certain batches) and I probably was just unlucky, but I've seen others with similar issues and DOA units out there.

 

[M83]

Project Polaris arrived on Thursday, and I'm very impressed. It's far more powerful than the Zen Dac's amp. It is fun, open, and warm. Bass is low, deep and plentiful without being overbearing. It sounds great to my ears.

Even using the Polaris without a dac (just line out from Pc at the moment), it's up there with my most favourite devices I've ever come across to listen with as it's so much fun - EDM/Electronica/Trance etc is perfect for it.

I have bought a Schiit Modi 3 to replace the Zen Dac, so it will be interesting to see how it fares.

 

[iamjamesh]

It sounds (mostly) wonderful in Tidal, although the Tidal app itself can be touchy (particularly the FireTV/AppleTV based apps). The desktop app, it should be said, DOES have occasional cutouts on MQA material (whether this is Tidal or the iFi Zen's limitation is unclear - suspect it is the VERY high bitrate material, such as "2L - The Nordic Sound", which is purportedly 352kHz), which is EXTREMELY annoying, but it is SO satisfying to see the Zen light up magenta when MQA is bitstreamed into it (THOUGH I would VERY much like to know what bit-rate is actually being achieved after the Zen performs it's "unfold" - one of life's great mysteries, and would make it easier to detrmine if higher bitrates of MQA post unfold are more likely to have dropouts). Another area in need of improvement is the "balanced" outputs, which have audible buzz/distortion, so I will stick to the "unbalanced"...
I may also stick to Amazon Music, as Tidal is inferior for all but Atmos music on my Apple/FireTV.

 

[M83]

Very impressed with the Modi 3 & Project Polaris combo used with my Denon D2000.

Modi 3 just plugged straight into a usb port on my pc and worked. No messing around with drivers, firmware etc. For me, Modi 3 beats the Zen Dac hands down.

 

[vins555]

but it does't play DSD

 

[iamjamesh]

but it does't play DSD

Yeah, that surprised me; I was hoping this would replace my FiiO, which doesn't do MQA, so I am now jumping back and forth between the two...