ifi Zen DAC and Headphone Amp Review

[Jimster480]

Fair assessment mate - the iFi Zen Dac is a great starting point and still use the V1 as my desktop setup from PC. Obviously it's not ideal using the headphone output and sound effect/modes but alright for people until they buy a dedicated amp. Lacks depth and power. I've got it set as a pre-amp, connected to a Drop THX AAA 789 via 4.4mm pentaconn to XLR balanced cable, and it sounds excellent to me. Works well in Exclusive mode with Tidal and MQA (don't start about that but they do hi-res FLAC too, just nice when the led changes colours to confirm).

No doubt everything has increased in price but was hard to go past the Zen Dac when it was A$200 (~US$130) years ago. I looked up that Audient id14 mk2 device, looks like it's more for microphones but guess it's a DAC as well.

Makes no sense. The performance is horrible and was horrible back in 2019. There were devices for the same price which still had better performance all the way back in 2019.
It can't even achieve 16 bit performance on audio.

 

[G-rig]

Makes no sense. The performance is horrible and was horrible back in 2019. There were devices for the same price which still had better performance all the way back in 2019.
It can't even achieve 16 bit performance on audio.

Lol wot? You can't get cd quality from the Zen Dac? Sounds like you're doing it wrong. The ifi PC app confirms the bit rate, all the way up to 24 bit. Sounds like you haven't installed the drivers properly.

I suppose most of the chi-fi fans would probably recommend a topping this or that, they aren't cheap any more either and fairly clinical.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Lol wot? You can't get cd quality from the Zen Dac? Sounds like you're doing it wrong. The ifi PC app confirms the bit rate, all the way up to 24 bit. Sounds like you haven't installed the drivers properly.

I suppose most of the chi-fi fans would probably recommend a topping this or that, they aren't cheap any more either and fairly clinical.

What bit rate the app shows has nothing to do with the device performance. The performance you can see in Amir’s review. Not really something to write home about but probably not bad enough to really be audible. Much better (performing and price) choices existed then and now.

 

[G-rig]

What bit rate the app shows has nothing to do with the device performance. The performance you can see in Amir’s review. Not really something to write home about but probably not bad enough to really be audible. Much better (performing and price) choices existed then and now.

Oh right, well it is pretty decent for the price and haven't wanted up upgrade or anything. What would you recommend with the same features for the price?

So what is the bit rate if it's not what the device app says?

>probably not bad enough to really be audible.

Sums up most things on here, people stressing and worried about things they can't hear.

 

[G-rig]

Some people get sucked in the specs tech and graphs and you wonder if they even enjoy listening to music..

The headphones, music mastering and source files make the biggest difference, then it's a game of diminishing returns.

 

[uwotm8]

It's even funny to see some people getting that mad on iFi

Meanwhile I'm happy with Zen Air DAC but I newly bought Dropheiser 6xx just need more power (oratory1990 EQ preset negative gain is brutal).
At the same time, I couldn't get rid of stupid idea to connect Adam T5Vs using balanced input. So I started to looking for a proper chi-fi replacement, that has to 1) be reliable with no bugs 2) do all the stuff Zen does 3) have XLR connectors beacuse I'd like to use decent cables or at least not absolute trash a la noname TRS to XLR (cheapest balanced or fake balanced DACs tend to use TRS jacks) 4) be a nice product overall and sells locally in EU.

I ended up with Toppinng DX5 and Loxjie D40 Pro as a cheapest options for 350 and 500+ euro respectively. And there's still a room for reliability improvements sometimes according to what owners say. Hmm, but normal Zens are balanced (Air is SE only), what it there's a 4.4 to XLR cable? Hehe. Appeared that iFi has these. Long story short, I ordered 220-euroish Zen DAC 3 and balanced cable for 6xx (should be roughly 4x power what I have with SE now) and will get balanced cable for speakers then.

Should just get Zen DAC v2 before instead of Air, well, not a big deal anyway.

Haters gonna hate

P.S. I like Zen (Air) DAC(s) only as a complete desktop solution. I would't buy it as a dedicated DAC. Wouldn't buy a dedicated Zen DAC with no amp. Wouldn't buy their dedicated amps too probably; Air Can is stupidly low on specs, more expensive ones have enough decent rivals.