The DAC/AMP class has been top-of-the-line fields of innovation prior to now few years. Manufacturers like ifi, Questyle, iBasso, and Fiio have all been competing in opposition to each other to provide higher and higher amps at extra reasonably priced costs than ever earlier than. Though this will not be one of the best for these corporations, the true winner right here is the patron. Entry stage DAC/Amp combos are bettering continually. Ifi’s Zen DAC ($229) is not the most recent realease, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a preferred possibility when taking a look at reasonably priced desktop DACs. Let’s check out the ifi Zen DAC 3 to see the way it stacks up in opposition to the competitors.
What’s within the Field?
- Zen DAC 3
- RCA Cable
- 3.5 to six.3 mm Adapter
- Fast Begin Information
- Instruction Card
Format/Ins and Outs
Earlier than I discuss concerning the format, I simply wished to take a short second to say the aesthetics of the Zen V3. To me there is a retro futuristic look. The aluminum accents and arching curves make these gadgets completely stackable with different ifi merchandise. Visually talking, it is harking back to a futuristic wanting jukebox. The knobs and buttons work sensitively and do not feel low-cost.
The middle of the entrance panel is the amount management which might be activated or de-activated with a “variable” or “mounted” swap on the again panel. An LED behind the amount management tells you what kind of file is being amplified. The two buttons to the left of the amount management are the “x-bass” setting and the “power-match” setting. “X-bass” boosts the low finish of your listening gadget and the “energy match” part is the excessive achieve setting in your DAC. The entrance ports help a 6.3mm (1/4in.) single-ended cable or 4.4mm balanced cable.
The again panel has one other balanced 4.4 mm output proper subsequent to the aforementioned quantity bypass. There is a single-ended RCA and usb-c enter to complete out the ins and outs. The choice of an influence provide is beneficial attributable to the truth that it will not leech energy from a laptop computer if that is what you are utilizing to energy the gadget. I did not discover any distinction to audio high quality or quantity whereas utilizing it each methods. I want that ifi supplied the person with a 5V energy provide and did not promote it individually. However, it is easy sufficient discovering a funds energy provide to keep away from draining your battery when utilizing this gadget.
Design
To get this out of the way in which rapidly, I used to be capable of simply energy the ‘hard-to-drive’ planar magnetic Audeze LCD-5 (90dB/1mW). I am not one to play music very loud (I attempt to keep between 70-80dB) however I hardly ever needed to flip the amount dial above 12 o’clock. With 210mw at 32Ω from the single-ended outputs and 390mw at 32Ω for the balanced outputs, you will not want exterior amp except you could have very insensitive headphones and need to drive them very loud.
The Burr-Brown 4-channel chip permits PCM and DSD information to take totally different pathways earlier than being transformed to analog data. Dealing with 768 kHZ PCM/512 DSD at 32 bits, you wont have to fret about sign loss. I am not a genuis with regards to these matters, however a lot of the music we’re listening to maxes out at 16-bits of data. There’s an incredible article explaining the restrictions of 32-bit streaming and why in a sensible utility, essentially the most we data will get to about 21-bits of helpful audio. No matter this digression, the amp has satisfactory signal-to-noise ratio and little or no background noise when utilizing prime quality tools. The ifi Zen DAC 3 helps MQA for lossless streaming.
Soundstage – iFi ZEN V3 Evaluate
I personally have a pet-peeve describing sound-staging as holographic, so I’ll be width and peak by calling them broad or tall. In that respect, there’s good width to the amp that I heard whereas listening to open-back headphones. The accuracy of headphones just like the LCD-X and ultra-wide HiFiMan Arya Natural stayed in-tact. Stereo-imaging didn’t bleed from driver to driver the way in which it does with different entry-level DACs. It was additionally fairly simple figuring out the place sounds sat within the sonic picture with respect to closeness and depth.
For the spectacular imaging and width of those headphones, I’ve to say that the peak of recordings did sound a bit extra compact than it does on different amps. There is not an excessive amount of nuance within the tallness of sounds, and noises do not have the stage-like high quality that high-end amps do. I am not dissatisfied at this contemplating the that these are solely $229, and I am not evaluating this to a $1000+ piece of hi-fi tools. For the sake of transparency, it is sensible to say this when speaking concerning the staging. There is a contact of tallness in music, nevertheless it’s not breathtaking or stadium-like in any respect.
Listening Impressions
I examined just a few totally different pairs of headphones with the DAC. I used the Audeze LCD-5 and LCD-X, Sennheiser HD800s, and HifiMan Arya Natural. I’ve already listened to every of those headphones on totally different DACs/DAPs/amps. The one headphones right here with a powerful frequency character goes to be the Arya. The remaining are comparatively impartial with some bumps alongside the way in which. Notably, all of them had a barely hotter colour to them that was added by the amp. Even with “X-bass” off, there was a push within the lows and low-mids.
The Audeze LCD-5 and LCD-X each had a pleasant width and had been simply capable of be pushed. The LCD-5 was the least delicate out of all of those, however sounded nice with the high-gain setting on. I by no means needed to go above 12 o’clock to drive these to my liking. The bassiness on right here is not overpowering, however provides some good depth to a few of my favourite pairs of cans. I used a balanced-XLR right into a 1/4in. Audeze adaptor. I by no means felt like I wanted extra energy to make these sing. I most well-liked listening to them with out the bass-boost, however followers of bass might be pleased conserving it on. If I had been to take an informed guess on how a lot it raises bass quantity, I might say round 8dB.
The Sennheiser HD800s is unbelievably clear sounding. I examined the “mounted” mode as a result of I used to be attempting to see if they might distort in any locations. These are essentially the most delicate headphones out of the bunch, so I assumed they’d be the primary ones to distort. Though I wasn’t snug at this stage, the sound high quality wasn’t impacted negatively. Even loud songs with a number of suggestions like “Nonetheless Burning” by Incendiary had no points.
The tremendous vibrant HifiMan Arya organics sounded a lot better to me with this DAC than they usually do by a daily amplifier. Though lots of people laude the Arya Natural for being a headphone that punches above it is weight class, I’ve at all times discovered them too vibrant and sibilant at occasions. The “X-bass” setting evened the frequency response out for me drastically. Though I agree their a very good pair of headphones for the value, they don’t seem to be essentially what I search for in a frequency response. That being mentioned, should you’re trying to heat up a pair of headphones or are simply on the lookout for extra bass in your set-up, this is a superb possibility.
Abstract
The Zen DAC 3 is extremely helpful and versatile. It is comparatively clear, however the bass-boost setting actually brings out a number of clear low finish. I wasn’t very impressed with the peak of the soundstage, nevertheless it undoubtedly retains headphones broad high quality. For $229, you’ll energy comparatively insensitive headphones at manageable ranges. Because it solely requires a USB-C to energy, you’ll apply it to the go or at dwelling.
Get the ifi Zen DAC 3 and all the opposite merchandise I discussed at Audio46.
