okay, so here it is my detailed opinion on Beyerdynamic T1 3rd gen and Ifi zen dac v2+zen can setup:
Just so you know, again, I am a newcomer in the audio topic, consequently I am less experienced and had no gear before in this price range (or at all), so I am going to approach things from this viewpoint.
Let's start with the Ifi stack:
Really good. Like, I just plugged in my dt770 32 ohm to my laptop's 3.5mm jack output and lots of times I found myself on 100% volume, which still wasn't enough for some Youtube uploads (I know, nasty youtube compression formats, ughh). I've also tried Tidal's HiFi quality with it, but basically you can't feel that much difference with better formats without a dac+amp. You can pretty much feel that your headphone would do better with a stack, that's it.
So after I set up the dac+amp and plugged in the dt 770's and started to play something, everything suddenly got much more detailed and accurate with much more clarity, the higher and lower frequencies got more life to them and more separated. This was the point where you could feel much more difference between better audio quality files and the worse ones. Some would say that this stack sounds a bit warm, but basically with my average and inexperienced hearing, it's just sounds right, really clear and detailed with zero background noise, I can't say anything wrong about it to be honest, maybe that the dac has no on/off switch, but I believe you can just turn off the output current in the settings of your laptop when you shut it down, so it won't receive power, thus it will automatically turn off with your device. But this is just a really subtle thing compared to the sound quality it provides.
The famous truebass function is also worth mentioning, lots of reviews say that it was made to emphasize lower frequencies, but I didn't know what that means until now. Basically, it brings up the really deep bass ranges and adds to the song a really deep, background glow which softly rumbles in the background when there is such effect or instrument in the music you're listening to (it will be kind of unnoticeable when you're listening to music which has no bass effects/ instruments obviously). It goes really well with the T1, despite it is considered as a dark and already warm headphone and it adds a totally different dimension when this deep bass is in the background of what you're listening to the whole time and it's just sounds so natural.
And in addition to these, this dac+amp offers a lot more features, I didn't talk about the balanced in- and outs, power match and other stuff. It's just definitely worth the money. I would buy it again just for the quality and for the truebass function.
Okay, so Beyerdynamic T1 3rd gen:
The next day after I received the Ifi stack, the T1 also arrived. Maybe because of the price, or the 3 month research that I've put into this, but I opened this with shaking hands, plugged it in and started to play something.
Fyi, I read every (I really mean it) review on every possible website, forum, post, comment and thread (like this one) about it. I also watched every related video on youtube and everything else I could find so I'll write down what I was interested in but didn't found answer to.
This headphone is indeed different from the other, cheap headphones that I had until now - and I mean this in a really good way.
This is just another dimension, again. Despite it's an open back headphone, there is a really good and accurate bass depth, which rumbles in the background with the music (this fits perfectly with the truebass function as I mentioned), with a really good clarity, just perfect imaging (you can tell exactly where the sounds come from, they are really nicely separated), and a really wide soundstage which makes this an immersible experience.
There is also the high frequency dip (beyer recessed the upper mid section of these headphones, because they proved to be too harsh to people with more sensitive hearing, which causes pain in your ears after a longer listening session). I actually experienced this with my dt 770's, after a few hours my ears were often hurting and I am not listening music with lots of harsh frequencies. For some people, this was a really negative thing which made them hate the 3rd gen, what I can understand if you prefer other, classical genres, but for me the music just sounds perfectly right and natural, and it is really comfortable without any unpleasant pain within your ears after even 8+ hours sessions of constant listening to anything. This is also definitely worth the money for people who are looking for some blues, hiphop or similar genres.
Forgot to mention that how much of a joy watching a movie with these is, since they're really cinematic. You can hear and feel every detail (details in music and movies that you didn't even heard before), I instantly had the feeling that I am sitting in a cinema.
Just for a reference point, I found this setup to go really well with jazz/ blues (ex. Hot Jazz Band, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Freddie King), and 90's hiphop (Biggie, 2pac etc.) and even electronic music, but I am still experiencing around with it.
Sorry for the long post, I hope it answers a few unanswered questions for someone who is thinking on buying these.
I am really curious about this setup, because I don't have much experience with audio overall and I think I could write down my first impressions from a different viewpoint.
