[FullBright1]

Received the Zen-Dac today.

Here are my initial impressions.

*** Potential fatal flaw. In my set there is a (mild +) L<>R channel imbalance issue when first engaging the otherwise excellent Volume control. Seemingly, there is no digital V= balance control being applied to both L&R,... especially noticeable when using easy to drive sensitive headphones.

Listening to :

Kandace Springs
Mussorgsky (Pics at an Exhibition)
Pat Metheny
Chaka Khan
David Bowie
Sarah Jarosz
Sarah McLaughlin

The IFI retail box is generic, but decent.
Its obvious upon listening that the company spent all the money on the tech and not much on the box.
Included accessories are nice considering the low cost of this gear. (see photos)
Build quality is machined aluminum, Art Deco styled, coolness.
The all metal box feels substantial in your hands and nicely machined.
Nice rubber feet on the bottom.
Input Jack is solid, gear feels well considered, well designed, and executed with Precision.
Im a fan of a good volume knob, and this one is very nice. Very good taper, smooth feel, and nicely machined.
Typical of a much more high end Dac-Amp you noticed the photos show a balanced out, an unbalanced out, a power match button, and a very nicely implemented Bass boost button.
The back reveals another balanced out, a "variable - fixed" switch, and a nice set of outputs suitable for your favorite powered speakers or other ideas you might have in mind.
So, thats a lot. This is an impressive little gear box.
See the back of the box photos for all the stats you could ever want to know.

Sound :

Very Clean but not Lean.
Neutral overall frequency response with a bit of extra presence dialed in so that you hear all the details shining through.
More clinical then warm.
Nice stereo field.
MQA playback certified.
Bass boost button designed for IEMs.
This piece of gear sounds like the designer of the Chord Mojo created it.
Loads of power. Tons of Gain. Sensitive Volume Knob...... Try not to go deaf.
Im using Hifiman HE-EditionX V2,.... Audeze LCD-X, .....and Sennheiser HD58XX Massdrop to audition this little metal beast.
This amp dac would be impressive @$399.99 USD< but @$129.99 USD, there must be something WRONG.
But nope. Everything is JUST FINE. As a matter of fact, this is a fine piece of $100 obo gear.
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[PaganDL]

Hi @FullBright1,

Any further thoughts? Is there any solution to the channel imbalance?

Just curious on your POV as usual though personally not really interested in this DAC Head Amp though I may demo it just for fun if there is nothing else.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[FullBright1]

Hi @FullBright1,

Any further thoughts? Is there any solution to the channel imbalance?

Just curious on your POV as usual though personally not really interested in this DAC Head Amp though I may demo it just for fun if there is nothing else.

Hope you have a great day !

Its unfortunate but this channel imbalance is for me, insurmountable.
Ive been listening again this morning, and its not something i can deal with.
I can't know if this is just a defective unit or if IFI just didnt use a simple digital control to ensure equal V balance at very low volumes.
I dont play my headphones very loud, so, it could be that even if this IS just their circuit, it would not be an issue for others.
I think that most of us who are into this headphone and gear obsession are very sensitive to any type of perceived issue, even if its a small one.
A pity overall, as this gear sounds very good.

 

[PaganDL]

Its unfortunate but this channel imbalance is for me, insurmountable.
Ive been listening again this morning, and its not something i can deal with.
I can't know if this is just a defective unit or if IFI just didnt use a simple digital control to ensure equal V balance at very low volumes.
I dont play my headphones very loud, so, it could be that even if this IS just their circuit, it would not be an issue for others.
I think that most of us who are into this headphone and gear obsession are very sensitive to any type of perceived issue, even if its a small one.
A pity overall, as this gear sounds very good.

Hi @FullBright1,

Channel imbalance really annoys me, I rarely encounter this issue myself & only my Elemental Watson M2 tube amp has a similar issue though this rights itself past 7 on the dial & only on really sensitive headgear though this particular amp isn't really meant for gear too sensitive & I don't listen very loud either...
But for the Zen, this is a serious QC issue, I don't suppose IFI offer any recourse to fix this, maybe return the unit & get another one or warranty repair?

I don't suppose you've tried to use an external line control of some kind which might mitage the issue either, have you?

As a whole, not really a fan of IFI gear, they don't do much for me sonically but they aren't bad overall, they just don't do anything for me...

Hope this gets sorted for you eventually.
Be interested to know how things turn out.

By the way, just got the RME ADI 2 PRO FS, as expected, it is ridiculously good.
My Lexicon Alpha is now in well deserved retirement.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[FullBright1]

Hi @FullBright1,


By the way, just got the RME ADI 2 PRO FS, as expected, it is ridiculously good.

!

Thats a sweet gear.
Have fun....

 

[PaganDL]

Thats a sweet gear.
Have fun....

Most definitely, most excellent woman.
It has already added so much to my audio chain though this is certainly among the hottest (temperature wise) DACs I've used but easily fixed with good circulation.

Maybe one day, I'll consider the Rupert Neve DAC though with current exchange rate, 1.8 average minimum is hard to swallow...maybe if it's still around in another 2 decades but as Rupert Neve gear, you never know...

Trying not to be tempted by the LK Solo next but it is hard to resist (despite no demo...yet) though my aging PC is definitely next...

Hope you have a great day !

 

[musicfan145]

*** Potential fatal flaw. In my set there is a (mild +) L<>R channel imbalance issue when first engaging the otherwise excellent Volume control. Seemingly, there is no digital V= balance control being applied to both L&R,... especially noticeable when using easy to drive sensitive headphones.

I was afraid the volume pot might have been one place they skimped to get to this price point. Is the channel imbalance on all the outputs (balanced, unbalanced, and variable RCA out)? I was thinking of using the variable RCA out to feed my Vali 2, which also has a terrible volume pot.

 

[FullBright1]

I was afraid the volume pot might have been one place they skimped to get to this price point. Is the channel imbalance on all the outputs (balanced, unbalanced, and variable RCA out)? I was thinking of using the variable RCA out to feed my Vali 2, which also has a terrible volume pot.

I have no idea.
I only buy headphone amps and Dacs for their Headphone output....
So in this case, my particular unit had the imbalance.

 

[fonkepala]

Thanks for sharing your review of the iFi Zen DAC. On my unit, I perceive no channel imbalance with sensitive, low-impedance earbuds.I'm enjoying it very much currently.

 

[Satir]

n/a

 

[FullBright1]

Thanks for sharing your review of the iFi Zen DAC. On my unit, I perceive no channel imbalance with sensitive, low-impedance earbuds.I'm enjoying it very much currently.

Its a fine sounding cool looking ultra-afforable gear.
Hopefully, these random issues regarding the channel imbalance, is just a product of what is normally Q-Control "first run" edition situation that will be ironed out.
If you have another $100 USD and you want to spend it on a Tiny yet awsome Dac-Player then run and get the :

FiiO BTR5- : 24bit Hi-Res CSR8675 Bluetooth5.0 Receiver/USB DAC/DSD Headphone Amp with LDAC, aptX HD, aptX, AAC (3.5mm Unbalanced & 2.5mm Balanced Output.

Its killer.
Im only using it as a Dac<>MacBook Pro, and its GREAT.

 

[fonkepala]

There's an ifi Zen DAC discussion & impressions thread here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-zen-dac-discussion-impression.917041/

P.S: Thanks for the tip. Still liking the BTR5?

 

[ishmaelk]

I have no idea.
I only buy headphone amps and Dacs for their Headphone output....
So in this case, my particular unit had the imbalance.

My ifi zen dac didn't have any channel balance issues,and although it's mostly quite good, the zen couldn't compete with the ifi nano idsd once I upgraded the firmware.
Which reminds me that the firmware upgrade made a huge impact on the sound.
Why was the firmware upgrade necessary for such a new unit... is beyond me.
Overall, a nice dac, whatever Audiosciencereview says about it.

 

[Gazny]

My ifi zen dac didn't have any channel balance issues,and although it's mostly quite good, the zen couldn't compete with the ifi nano idsd once I upgraded the firmware.

Are you in favor or against the update?

 

[ishmaelk]

Are you in favor or against the update?

I'm completely in favour of the upgrade. It really is necessary, it improves the performance a lot.
Problem is... the improvement was more noticeable in the nano idsd, in my humble opinion.
Sure, the Zen had the bass boost and the power match functions, but I never really used them.
All I wanted was a decent dac with headphone amp, and I couldn't justify keeping the Zen when I already had a couple units which worked better.
For example, the Beresford Caiman TC7520SE, which is already almost 9 years old, performed better than the Zen.
Sure, it doesn't decode dsd or higher resolution formats via usb, but the overall presentation was so much better.
Don't get me wrong, I believe the Zen dac is a great unit for the price, as long as you use it with headphones that aren't very power hungry, and if you like boosted bass for anemic sounding recordings.