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iFi ZEN DAC discussion + impression
Nov 1, 2019 at 10:57 PM Post #153 of 1,760
NiVrA said:
Oh im sorry I didnt mean to be rude or anything..I just wanted to make most of my budget..Im sorry again
Click to expand...

Its fine, I wasnt offended by your question :) That being said DCIME is right in that you can get more useful information about the ATOM in the atom thread as its going to have a lot of owners on it.

My expanded take on the Atom is that at the moment is kind of suffers IMO from not having a matching DAC to go with it. Supposedly JDS labs is going to release a atom dac in the near future( this is still a rumor). If they do it becomes more appealing. ATM the only DAC that really matches it terms of performance at its price point is the Schiit Modi which is totally different aesthetically and looks a bit strange when stacked. Its best match is the JDS labs EL dac which is $250 making it not really a option if you after a budget solution as your looking a $350 stack at that point.

Given JDS labs history if they do make one you can expect it to be a AKM 4490 (maybe 4493?) based dac that does not offer DSD or MQA support. So if that is a concern the Zen DAC is better. I actually dont care about this personally and wish the ZEN dac did not have MQA so it could be sold for even less lol but I guess its a nifty feature to have just in case.


The Zen DAC is a really unusual product, there are not many strictly USB powered AMP/DACs out there. The only ones close to it I can think of are the Fostex A3 and A4 which are quite old now and are absolutely no match for the Zen DAC. The zen dac puts out way more power and sounds better. The portability of the Zen DAC is a huge advantage over the other entry level amp/dac stacks out there. You just have to carry around one unit and a USB cable rather that two units, two power adapters, rca cables and a usb cable.
 
Nov 1, 2019 at 11:16 PM Post #154 of 1,760
Asahi Templar said:
Its fine, I wasnt offended by your question :) That being said DCIME is right in that you can get more useful information about the ATOM in the atom thread as its going to have a lot of owners on it.

My expanded take on the Atom is that at the moment is kind of suffers IMO from not having a matching DAC to go with it. Supposedly JDS labs is going to release a atom dac in the near future( this is still a rumor). If they do it becomes more appealing. ATM the only DAC that really matches it terms of performance at its price point is the Schiit Modi which is totally different aesthetically and looks a bit strange when stacked. Its best match is the JDS labs EL dac which is $250 making it not really a option if you after a budget solution as your looking a $350 stack at that point.

Given JDS labs history if they do make one you can expect it to be a AKM 4490 (maybe 4493?) based dac that does not offer DSD or MQA support. So if that is a concern the Zen DAC is better. I actually dont care about this personally and wish the ZEN dac did not have MQA so it could be sold for even less lol but I guess its a nifty feature to have just in case.


The Zen DAC is a really unusual product, there are not many strictly USB powered AMP/DACs out there. The only ones close to it I can think of are the Fostex A3 and A4 which are quite old now and are absolutely no match for the Zen DAC. The zen dac puts out way more power and sounds better. The portability of the Zen DAC is a huge advantage over the other entry level amp/dac stacks out there. You just have to carry around one unit and a USB cable rather that two units, two power adapters, rca cables and a usb cable.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much! and sorry again I guess this would be my first ever dac/amp purchase
 
Nov 1, 2019 at 11:56 PM Post #155 of 1,760
NiVrA said:
Thank you so much! and sorry again I guess this would be my first ever dac/amp purchase
Click to expand...
Just buy the ZEN DAC. It’s a very admirable and capable first DAC AMP purchase from a truly GREAT company. Mostly all iFI products are under $500. The ZEN DAC is around $130 making it a no brainer.Unless of course you have $400 available I would say go for the iFI xDSD. It is a slamming DAC at that price. The amp portion is strong too. I was thinking of purchasing the ZEN DAC myself but now am spoiled by the iFI xDSD! Anything less would be, well, less.
 
Nov 2, 2019 at 1:53 AM Post #156 of 1,760
NiVrA said:
Thank you so much! and sorry again I guess this would be my first ever dac/amp purchase
Click to expand...

No problem and no need to apologize!

Zen DAC is a great choice for a starter dac/amp IMO. You have to spend a lot more to get something significantly better, especially if you are interested in DSD or MQA as most the other affordable products dont handle one or both of those.

If the HD6xx is your intended headphone I would highly recommend getting a 4.4mm balanced cable though as I think it will struggle to power it single ended. Luckily they arent too expensive as the Sennheiser 6xx line is so popular, should be able to get one for 40-50 bucks.

A 6xx, a 4.4mm balanced cable and a zen dac is going to be one of the cost performance king combos for sure. Hard to beat the level of sound you can get from that setup.

If you are really still interested in the Atom I would hold off a little while and see if JDS labs actually releases their DAC to match it, but honestly it wont necessarily be better than the Zen DAC is. It will undoubtedly measure better but that doesnt mean you will necessarily enjoy it more :).

One possible concern to consider is rather you need a optical input or not as that is one definitely weakness with the Zen DAC...it is USB only. If you want to use it with a gaming console you will need a optical input. While I havent tried it I would be truly shocked if the Zen DAC worked with consoles at all....the PS4 might work but I would guess not.
 
Nov 2, 2019 at 7:51 AM Post #161 of 1,760
To play TIDAL MQA into my setup do you know what I would need to add to a RaspPi/Streamer set up. Currently, I have an RPI/Allo Boos DAC running TIDAL via Volumio with RCA out. I also have a Project Stream Box S2 which runs tidal and has RCA and TOS out.

I will probably pul trigger on the Zen as soon as it hits Amazon UK , the value is compelling. My Amp is a Valhalla mk1 , Phones Grado SR60 / Drop HifiMan HE-4XX
 
Nov 2, 2019 at 10:07 AM Post #162 of 1,760
801evan said:
Rank w/ 800s balanced:
1. Ifi Zen DAC
2. Ifi Zen DAC + iCan Pro (balanced)
3. Ifi iDSD PRO + iCan Pro (RCA)

On the Zen DAC with the petanconn, natural uncongested sound that's clearly better than the others. Crazy.
Click to expand...

Today I tried the HD800S directly out of 4.4 mm ZEN DAC. It sounds good.
Can it beat my Violectric hpa v181 up in balanced mode? Absolutely NO, It can not. No surprise here.
 
Nov 3, 2019 at 12:46 AM Post #165 of 1,760
just bought a unit. hopefully will arrive in 1 week time. :) my intention is to use this as a transportable amp/dac without needing to carry power plug and not needing to worry about battery life. :)
 
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