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ifi Zen DAC and Headphone Amp Review

Stellabagpuss

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Not exactly...its about verifiable science where possible.

It's to help people understand that much of the 'high end' audio world revolves around nonsense that people very much want to believe, whether or not it is remotely true or verifiable. They count on the lack of accountability, and simply make ridiculous claims that few will bother to check or verify.

Fortunately, it really isn't that mysterious, and those with interest can bypass the bullshit brigade and look at what may actually matter.

It certainly isn't all about the measurements, but since what you hear can be measured, it can help identify glaring problems or weaknesses in the audible realm.
l was actually raising the same point, but pointing out measurements only go so far, yes they be an can aid ,but for myself, it's what that can be heard, that is more important.
I am not having a go at audioscience, more agreeing than disagreeing.
 
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Frank Dernie

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I am a big fan of this web site, I also subscribe to Stereophile and HiFi News.
I read lots of the articles but when it comes to reviews I consider the measurements outrank any flowery praise.
OTOH I have my own interpretations based on 50 years as an enthusiast and amateur recorder of live concerts (until a few years ago).
My opinion may not be the same as most here but I do consider anything somebody likes which measures poorly to be an effects generator, mind you my idea of measuring badly is distortion worse than 0.1% and snr worse than -80dB. After that ergonomics, features and reliability are the deciding factor for me not a bit better performance.
I am fairly happy better than that won't sound different to me, it may for others.
This means speakers are the most difficult thing to get right and I don't need to fret about much else I have.
 

JJB70

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If you want excellent headphone SQ on a budget then the important bit is good headphones with an amplifier capable of driving them. Quite honestly I see nothing wrong with either my Xperia Premium, Galaxy S10 or Surface Pro feeding analogue to my JDS Atom in terms of driving headphones. More power than I need with loads of headroom for all of my headphones, first class SQ and cheap.
 
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Holo Cyan/Spring still measure best as R2Rs. iFi's choice of DSD1793 chip does not seem to be capable of better than 96dB SINAD best-case. Not exactly spectacular...

That is true there have been a very few exceptions though those are about 11 times the price of the zen dac lol.

Its a interesting theory ifi has but its reliant upon the idea of multibit doing something special. Not convinced that it does myself lol.

Regardless I think the its good for the zen dac to exist as it gives a cheap entry option to try out all the different file formats out there like dsd/MQA as well as the supposed multibit magic for someone who is interested in them without needing to spend a lot of money. Someone who wants to do the deep dive into all the various stuff that supposedly sounds better would have a good time with it.
It is very disappointing that it doesnt match its specs for power output though, hopefully it gets there with a power adapter.
 

LuckyLuke575

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iFi seems more and more to be an all talk, no action brand relying on a fancy website and marketing to convince people to pay money over for mediocre audio equipment.
 

Veri

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iFi seems more and more to be an all talk, no action brand relying on a fancy website and marketing to convince people to pay money over for mediocre audio equipment.
I wouldn't go so far. The iFi nano and micro BL are adequate, the micro especially has superb power output for a battery/USB device. They are just pretty pricy with all the opcoming competition in audio world.
 

firedog

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iFi seems more and more to be an all talk, no action brand relying on a fancy website and marketing to convince people to pay money over for mediocre audio equipment.
Their low end equipement seems to be about giving decent performance and lots of features for the price. Many of them perform several functions. I think people who spend $125-$200 on such items are pretty happy with what they get.

The only problem seems to be that they write about the stuff as if it measures and sounds high end.
It would be interesting if Amir could get ahold of their high end DAC and measure it.
 

audiofool

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Yeah if your using GTO you will lose that as well as the "bit perfect" aspect of the dac. It always shows as MQA because its basically doing some sort of strange conversion of all your music into MQA. One of the reasons I am a bit suspicious of it lol.

The whole logic behind the use of the Burr-Brown chipset IFI uses is that it is a hybrid of delta-sigma and multibit that is able to process both DSD and PCM without any kind of conversion. idea being you will get both the "multibit magic" as well as the higher end delta-sigma performance. And as measurements show it does indeed outperform a straight multibit dac.

If your just going to convert anything seems like you might as well use a higher end Sabre/AKM chip at that point.

I believe mansr over at audiophilestyle.com tested the GTO filter and found that it measured badly. Most of the iFi dac using the Burr-Brown chipset measure similar to what Amir found. I am interested in it because it can be used as a DSD dac without any conversion (most dac chips convert DSD to some form of multibit, ie Sabre) and it is low cost compared to other pure DSD dacs. Of course to use native DSD required additional software complexity both in playback and measurement. miska from HQPlayer has measured (and rates them highly) some of the iFi dacs and Halo dacs in DSD mode. These same dacs are nothing special as PCM dacs.
 

Jimster480

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lol so basically i bought this dac and have issues where unless on ASIO this dac pops (hear it as a thump on headphones) when pausing a song and playing a song

maybe this unit is faulty, but then along with this review i am thinking of returning it

the thing is tho for £129 i don't know what amp to get, maybe up to £150

I have an SMSL SU-8 which has RCA Out, are there any amps with rca in to amplify
What? JDS Atom...
 

donerick456

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Darn , I was heading to bed and was all excited about my Zen Dac Coming to my office Tueday.
Glad did spurge that 4.4 to Xlr output cable! 40.00
 

donerick456

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Su-8 has matching BALANCE heaphone RIGHT? I bought one 153.00 SH-8 ?
look aliexspress SMSL company store . I will miss-spell it I try . lol
 

loop_digga

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Did you measure it off a USB 3.0 port or a 2.0? I find subjectively it sounds better off a 3.0 than a 2.0. Maybe it gets more power from it but I cant be sure.

Hi, Raimei, if I understand you correctly you managed to make Zen Dac work from USB 2.0? Without external Power from DC Power supply? (which is not included with Zen Dac)
I have 2009 Macbook Pro with two 2.0 Usb ports, I wanted to buy this device for home usage as well as office (There I have USB 3.0 ports), but one Polish shop insists that it won't work with 2.0 as only power supply. Can you confirm that they are wrong? :)
Ifi on the other hand wrote me: "Yes, it will work on both USB2.0 and 3.0. As long as the input voltage is 5V, which is standard for USB, the device will operate as intended."

Can you provide me first hand info?
 

Voxy

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Just purchase this for MQA streaming with old IPAD as source. Save me tons of money for a streaming deck if it works nicely.

I am not a fan of China build and design devices. Hopefully this unit turns out to be reliable.
 

mateematy

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today I finally found the K5Pro in my country. It costs 212 dollars and the Zen 156. Would you say that it’s worth the difference or I will be good with the Zen ? Planing to use it with the Adam T5v
 

dmac6419

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today I finally found the K5Pro in my country. It costs 212 dollars and the Zen 156. Would you say that it’s worth the difference or I will be good with the Zen ? Planing to use it with the Adam T5v
Don't know about the Zen, but the K5 Pro powers the JBL 305"s pretty loud, iFi has MQA, 4.4 mm "balanced" headphone jack
 
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