[ryanwang0521]

ifi zen dac Teardown

I bought it today, sounds excellent

 

[iFi audio]

ZEN DAC Black Label

Perhaps one day. Black color has a special place in our hearts and offer

ifi zen dac Teardown

I bought it today, sounds excellent

Yup, that's ours alright!

 

[Satir]

n/a

 

[Sp12er3]

Man these impressions make me Jelly, I regret not submitting for a demo

 

[Arghavan]

Zen Dac coming tomorrow. audiosoundscience's Amirm reviewed Zen Dac, has measurements and comments posted on audiosoundscience website. Bottomline - he wasn't smitten with Zen Dac. Wish there was desktop amp/dac around $400-$500 with balanced 4.4mm. That's what I initially hunted for with no luck. Nothing I've seen meets that criteria, but if you know of something please direct me.

Yeah he is not at all impressed with the performance. The DAC performance is underwhelming and the amp is not clean enough to compete with the Topping's DX3 Pro or even the K5 Pro.
Will wait for more reviews though.

 

[Asahi Templar]

Its not at all surprising that the Zen DAC doesnt measure all that well. Its using a hybrid multibit/delta sigma chipset so its never going to measure as well as one of the higher end Sabre/AKM delta-sigma chips. It actually measures very similarly to the other IFI dacs in the dac section, not surprising as they are all very similar designs.

Disappointing that the power output is less than spec, although that could be a issue with the USB port used for testing it. I think Amir is going to test it again with a power adapter so we might see a improvement over the USB only results. Subjectively I think its slightly louder with the power adapter plugged in so maybe it gives out more power.

I have now got my HE4xx to try with it and its plenty loud even using the Harmon Curve EQ which is a large EQ. Running it balanced I didnt need to go much past 12 o clock on high gain. Might be getting a little distortion at that level but its not anything too bothersome. Wouldnt recommend using anything that needs more power than it though as based on Amirs result its going to get unpleasant! I havent tried to go any louder than that as I like my hearing and prefer to listen no louder than 85db

I am having a very annoying issue with a noise popping up sometimes when I boot my PC. Randomly there will this really annoying buzz in the background of any sounds I play. It only goes away when I restart my pc. It only starts when I first turn on the PC, if it is working fine it stays working fine. I didnt have this problem for the first week I had it so not sure what is happening.

There have been a barrage of windows updates the past week so may be related to that. Not sure if its a problem with the driver for the ZEN or if its my PC USB drivers giving me issues. Wouldnt be the first time Microsoft broke my audio with updates and probablly wont be the last

 

[Satir]

n/a

 

[Asahi Templar]

Were your observations made with the GTO firmware installed?

May send Zen Dac back unopened and wait for iFi, FiiO, other maker to release desktop amp/dac with 4.4 and newer class dac, or test with GTO filter firmware installed using balanced only. 4.4mm jack/inputs are going to be used more frequently by others I suspect, so it's a waiting game on new products incorporating 4.4. I read conflicting observations using iPower (or other 5V external power devices with Zen Dac). Being realistic, I remind myself it's a $129 desktop amp/dac, but downsizing from Hugo 2, should overcome my biases as what to expect.

No, I was using the default TI filter. I tried the GTO filter briefly but initial impression was that I didnt like it. I havent spent that much time with it though, so cant give any deep thoughts.

I also think the 4.4mm is likely to become more common as its the one Sennheiser as well as Sony have embraced. They have a lot of power in the audio industry so I imagine others will follow their example.

It is interesting that other people report the adapter makes things worse, not sure why that is. As I have said for me its basically the same, maybe slightly more power. I am using a 10 dollar 5v 3a adapter. Not sure if 3a made a difference, shouldnt matter.

Yeah coming down from the Hugo is quite a drop lol. You can just think of it as a different presentation rather than a strictly worse one

 

[Satir]

n/a

 

[yerim]

he wasn't smitten with Zen Dac.

Nothing smites him more than a topping device specially with "pro" on its name.

 

[Aibo]

I ended purchasing my test unit of ZEN. With GTO filter + my handmade STR linear PS - it's fullest and most fluid listening experience I've heard in a budget DAC so far. Impression of sound-stage depth is also class leading. Just to be clear, I'm talking about line-out hooked to my amp/speakers.

BTW, had DX3 pro - it has powerful headphone output if you need that. As a DAC it sounded very compressed and thin. Hate to say this so bluntly but ZEN is much, much, finer DAC.

 

[Alboxing]

Its not at all surprising that the Zen DAC doesnt measure all that well. Its using a hybrid multibit/delta sigma chipset so its never going to measure as well as one of the higher end Sabre/AKM delta-sigma chips. It actually measures very similarly to the other IFI dacs in the dac section, not surprising as they are all very similar designs.

Disappointing that the power output is less than spec, although that could be a issue with the USB port used for testing it. I think Amir is going to test it again with a power adapter so we might see a improvement over the USB only results. Subjectively I think its slightly louder with the power adapter plugged in so maybe it gives out more power.

That's exactly right, I don't understand why people that have followed ifi for a while would expect this zen dac to measure any different??? It has the measurements of their "classic" DSD1793 implementation, we have had the same results for basically every model of their line. iOne, iDSD Micro and Nano, same results predictably (I am talking about DAC section, amp part is a completely different story).

Actually, considering the price range and the fact that none of the usual "ifi tech" was mentioned for it (ANC, OS-CONS, zerojitter, GMT, etc etc), I was expecting the results to be AT BEST similar to the iDSD nano ones, but the biggest letdown is that the amp section doesn't even live up to the official specs, not even close. Yes maybe with external power...but that should have been specified in the specs anyway.

I would really love and need an iFi desktop Dac+amp with the same performance level as iDSD micro but without the battery to deal with ....

Actually I would like to give iFi a few heartfelt suggestions as a fan....

Please let go of this MQA nonsense or at least put it only in a dedicated line of dacs.....I have tested on the iDSD nano multiple times that your 5.3 and 5.3c change the sound of PCM quite significantly for the worse (compared to 5.2 firmware), it basically makes it sound just like any other oversampling ESS or AKM dac out there, losing that elusive "bitperfect analog sound" you rightfully make a big deal of (or used to).
I read you saying that 5.3 leaves PCM untouched just like 5.2 fw, but I don't think that is true my ears disagree completely.
The proof of what I am saying, imho, is that the Zen Dac is now advertised as "True-native DSD" and not "True-native DSD and PCM" unlike the nano and micro models, even though the dac subsystem is the same.

 

[dcime]

The Zen DAC is "entry level". That is quoted from iFI themselves on this forum.

 

[Alboxing]

The Zen DAC is "entry level". That is quoted from iFI themselves on this forum.

If I were iFi I wouldn't go any lower than the iDSD nano, performance wise. That is already entry level to me. And the price is kinda similar, only 50$ difference.

iFi products are held in such regards (well deserved) because they innovate the audio market with their proprietary tech and because their products are unique and target that group of people that appreciate engineering quality above all.

 

[Satir]

n/a