iFi Zen DAC – HiFi Desktop Analog Digital Converter with USB 3.0 B Input/Outputs: 6.3 mm Unbalanced/4.4 mm Balanced/RCA – Audio System Upgrade

i used this product for hearing music from my pc. sound quality waas better when i was not using this. it sounds dull.

Superb product! I have the DT 770 and i can say that it's real about the highs but with the Ifi Zen it tamed it a little bit and its not too harsh anymore. I can recommend this product to anyone wanting a quality DAC at a cheap price.

Sound quality: Has powerful bass, but the Bass is not emphasized in sweet spot of Superbass i.e. from 60-200hz, instead it is boosted from 60-80hz only, The vocals are correctly controlled. Treble is smooth, but not fully natural, feels a bit dull. Functionality: XMOS controller works good with windows pc, drivers are good. Built quality: Built quality is excellent.

He probado este DAC con streamings de Apple MUsic (calidad CD) y de TIDAL MASTER (calidad FLAC) y tanto con auriculares (AKG K550) como con altavoces amplificados (Audioengine2+) la mejora del sonido es muy apreciable, en comparación con un Dac Fiio más antiguo. NOTA: Acaba de aparecer la versión 2 de este DAC. La mejora más sustancial es la decodificación completa del codec MQA que usa TIDAL MASTER. Para los usuarios que usen este codec, esta nueva versión es aconsejable. Si no es así, adquirir la versión 2 dependerá del incremento de precio con el que alga al mercado.

This is a 5 star product. I’ve had some very exotic DAC’s before and the best so far has been the Bel Canto DAC3.5VB with its virtual battery system. I also had the excellent REFLink feeding it digits. Well, this little ZEN DAC marvel gets me 99% of the way there, without a fancy power supply, the REFLink as well as the balanced output. I feed the ZEN DAC directly from my PC and a 5m powered USB extender cable and its just perfect - just beautiful natural tunes. Initially I had it setup as a DAC/PRE, but was mostly using it close to volume anyway since it does not have an IR remote and controlled it from JRiver or JRemote. Then one day I decided to use it purely as a DAC, thus completely bypassing the volume control. Well this is where things get interesting and also where it really shines. Its a much better DAC than what the analog volume control will let you believe. It leaps to another level when bypassing the volume control. Although I have headphones, I rarely use them since I’m in the privileged position to listen to my speaker system all day long. The iFi ZEN DAC does duty as DAC only, then into a small digital amp and then through StraightWire Virtuoso speaker cables to Piega Premium 5 full range floor standers. The sound is full and natural, bass is tight and deep, but not sterile. Soundstage can only be described a natural and not dark. Voices and Instruments are easy to place and stable. I loaded the GTO firmware and almost immediately reverted back to stock, which I prefer - YMMV I love this little DAC and can recommend it without reserve. I can’t comment on it as a headphone amp. It sounds ok to me, but I do not listen to Headphones really and when I do its for Youtube stuff mostly on my iPad Pro. As a pure DAC though, it truly is a poor man’s Bel Canto.

Great product for a reasonable price! Upgraded from Dragonfly Black, when its headphone socket started acting up. This DAC sounds very good on its own but when stacked with Zen Can the soundstage becomes larger and everything sounds even more substantial and articulate. I have tried the DAC with Sennheiser Momentum 1.0 and 2.0 and went ahead and ordered Drop Sennheiser HD6XX and balanced cables as I could see very tangible improvement in sound quality with every of the above upgrades. I tried firmware 5.3c (GTO Filter) but found it somewhat harsh - the definition did improve but I felt that the DAC became too analytical so I rolled the firmware back to the factory version, which is 5.3 (Cookies and Cream) and did not look back. Granted I did it before installing the iFi USB drivers and properly setting up Tidal. I will revisit the GTO filter once I get Sennheiser HD6XX headphones to see if I like 5.3c firmware better, however, I am totally content with the out-of-the-box sound (i. e. firmware 5.3). To get the best out of the DAC make sure to install Windows USB drivers and set up Tidal correctly as shown in iFi videos on Youtube. If you are not satisfied with the sound quality it is likely not the DAC's fault and you need to use high-quality source and/or upgrade your headphones. I also highly recommend adding a Zen CAN amp if have harder to drive headphones. I will be using Zen DAC on its own for the office and stacked with Zen CAN in my home office. I think the short USB cable is actually a good option for desktop solutions as longer cables can be easily found and purchased if needed. However I strongly feel that a balanced interconnect cable should be supplied with the unit.

POR EL COSTO ES UN DAC DE PRIMERA CALIDAD SUPERANDO A OTROS QUE CUESTAN MUCHO MAS YO DE HECHO VOY A COMPRAR DOS MAS PARA MI NEGOSIO Y OFICINA Y EL VENDEDOR EXELENTE ME ADELANTO LA ENTREGA COMO UN FAVOR ESPECIAL LA MARCA IFI CADA VES MEJORA EN DISEÑO Y EFECIENCIA MUCHAS GRACIAS