I was contemplating getting a Zen dac ever since it released a year ago. I just want to finally try the pentacom cable that came included with my hd660s and don't have much money to spend for what would become my daily driver dac/amp for when I am both in front of my computer and just sitting exclusively listening to music somewhere around the house, however, after reading Amir's review I was very disappointed. a couple months ago I bought myself a sonata hd pro which is without a doubt the clearest dac I have ever listened at, driving my 660s to even higher levels I would feel comfortable at, but I got this feeling that I am still not getting their full potential which I might solve by plugging them to something more powerful, hence why I am back to evaluating getting a low cost balanced dac/amp unit. I first thought of the Zen dac signature, hoping that the (advertised) higher quality components might improve its measurements, while I don't expect this one to power a set of HD650 (thus why they also sell the Zen Can) maybe it would be just enough for the 150 ohm 660s, but their cost (plus the fact that i am in europe) discourages me
as an alternative I was thinking of the hip dac. while the dac part should be the same as the zen, I was thinking that the fact that it runs on its own battery and that its signal usb port is separate from the charging one could result in the signal staying somewhat cleaner, even when connected to a desktop, and I am not an electrical engineer but perhaps having even less out ports than the Zen might help in this regard. I would love to know your thoughts about this
then the Fiio Q3 is just launching as an alternative for portable dac with 4.4mm output, and at about the same price to boot. my problem with this one is that its maximum power delivery doesn't seem very high, but maybe fiio's measurements might at least be more honest than IFI's, the fact that the review for the Q5s gave an awful impression doesn't help though. I want to believe on the Hip's potential but every time I open IFI's website their advertisement seems sleazy AF (power match, true bass, anyone?) to put it gently.
what do you guys think would be a better solution? any other alternative around the 150€ bracket? I know that if I just want more power a NX4 would get me covered far better than any of those two could dream of but then I still wouldn't have a way to test my cans on balanced