forum.hifiguides.com/t/ifi-zen-dac-v1-v2/7612 HIFIGUIDES POST - - - - - - - - - - ⚔️www.SubscribeStar.com/Zeos -- Subscribe Star 🥇www.Patreon.com/Zeos -- Check out the Patreon

Thanks so much, Z! Glad you loved it, and great review.

great review Zeos! FYI the green led changes depending on the format and sampling frequency it's receiving. Yellow PCM 44.1/48kHz White PCM 88.2 kHz - 384kHz Cyan DSD 64/128 Red DSD 256 Green MQA Blue MQA Studio Magenta MQB Very handy imo

Here's my review after buying one after watching this: I wanted to upgrade to a balanced setup to replace my Modi/Magni combo which was fine, albeit underwhelming. Rather than spending $1k+ I saw some glowing reviews of the ZEN DAC 2 and was sold by the very low price. I paired it with a second-hand CAN to give them the best chance at powering my GL2000's which recommend 2W+. The rich, warm tone and variety of power level options were more than enough to bring full life to my GL2000's. The really impressive feature is the Truebass function which sounds like someone's turned on a 15" sub. It's perfect for making it feel like you're standing next to the the bass drum and bass guitar at the recording. It's fun to play around with it and I find myself using it mostly with pre-2000's recordings where mastering had less emphasis on sub-frequencies. Concert-like power at the push of a button! I just bought another one for my office, no need for the additional CAN as I don't push the volume that much there.

There is a new 16 core XMOS processor in the V2, which is an upgrade over the 8 core in the original. Beside inflation, that is probably the single largest driver behind the price increase.

I totally agree! I have the V1 and I bought it because it's just has EVERYTHING!. You don't need an external power supply, the fixed-variable switch is much needed, the true bass.. just a perfect piece of equipment.

So I finally gave In and bought the iFi Zen Dac V2 and holy shit! My headphones aren't hard to drive and yet I feel like I've finally unlocked their true potential with the bass boosts for some extra oomph. I absolutely love it! ☺️

Purchased the Sundaras and the Zen Dac V2 because of your reviews - my first step into the audio world. Love your reviews!

Because of your review of the V1 and the Hip Dac, I own oneHip Dac and two Zen Dacs. My first Dac. Apple lossless music into the V1, out to my new Anandas and I am so happy. Thank you Zeos, thank you

I got mine with the zen can and just love it! Compact, can feed my speakers, and now converted all headphones to balanced.

I have my Zen DAC V1 hooked up to a gaming PC with a speaker amp connected through the RCAs on the Zen. I've found that when the PC is under load the power going to the Zen DAC can be quite noisy through the RCAs even though it's clean through headphones. Adding a power plug (even just a cheap one) cleans it up completely through both outputs as it's not relying on noisy USB power. I can definitely recommend a power plug if you intend to use this as a hub for other audio devices, especially for the RCA outputs.

Recently got a entry level audiophile combo with the HD560S and the Zen Dac V2 which set me back €310 and i am honestly blown away. Can recommend it to anyone. And that truebass button needs an addiction warning ;)

I have this exact v2 myself and absolutely love it!!!! I run my dt990pros and I haven't had a "bad" listening experiences so far and don't think I ever will. Also love you content and reviews because they are brutally honest which is what a review should f****n be!!!

I got the Zen V2 six months ago as my first USB DAC and I love it to death. It's exactly what I wanted. The build quality is stunning, in fact you can hear the metallic ring it makes in this video when you connect or disconnect a cable. That hints at how little plastic is used in it's construction. With my Sennheiser HD599's the richness and clarity of the mids and highs is spot-on to my liking. Especially with the open soundstage and gentle treble (no fatiguing brightness to speak of). I'm happy that they didn't put thumping bass in by default to impress the young audiences and instead the TruBass switch is there to add a more meaty low-end if desired. I'll probably upgrade headphones eventually but the V2 is here to stay.

IFI Zen DAC v1 and the Can are the best purchases I never took out of a Zeos video.. I retaired my Sanscrit and my Shiit Modi and never looked back..

I'd be more sold on that if it had an optical input.

It is amazing. With DT-1770 Pro and this, damn that bass. So crisp and clean and vibrates like crazy. Never ever felt anything like that from headphones haha

“MQA and Al Qaeda”…hilarious.

Answered all my questions. Thank you sir! Just bought one for my first set of headphones hd6xx. Hopefully not a bad all round setup for a first timer.

One year on from getting one of these. With a pair of Sennheiser 560s'. Amongst the best purchases I have ever made, and I am officially ancient. Their presence in my home is as essential as fresh air.

Love my original Zen Dac (so you must have schilled a little bit). Now attached to the Zen Stream and they are a great team for Roon, Tidal connect and Spotify connect. Another great and entertaining review👍

Z, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for the recommendation, truly an awesome piece of kit for those, like me, who don't want to put large stacks on their desk. For anyone wandering, it DEFINITELY powers Hifiman Arya Stealth (V3). Currently listening at no more than 1 o'clock, unbalanced. Rarely have to go to three o'clock for some low-volume track, and with the balanced cable (on its way) it will surely be even better!

I've just bought the iFi Zen DAC V2 this week. It arrived yesterday and it's my first DAC. I totally love this little device. It sounds awesome and the price of it is perfect as well. 199 Euro. I was looking for an affordable DAC to replace the USB sound card that I've used so far to connect my M1 MBP to my PreSonus Eris E4.5 BT monitor speakers. And I believe I've hit the jackpot with the iFi. This one should keep me listening happily to music for, hopefully, many years to come.

Thanks Z! Another satisfied customer. This is my 1st dac. I have it paired with a drop & hifiman he 4xx, which is also my 1st open back headphones. I also have it paired to my peachtree M24 speakers. This combo just comes alive. It has a beautiful warm sound. Looking forward to hearing the balanced side.

The only real downside I see to this for me is a lack of inputs. It looks like the only input is usb and I would have to buy an extra cable because that thing is way too short. I don't do all of my listening from a computer. I would like to see an analog input and maybe a few digital inputs so I could use my tv (netflix) and a transport of some type like a blue ray or cd player. Or a digital out on a reciever or some sort of switcher. This basically does the same thing my 2i2 mic interface does except I am sure it sounds way better with hard to drive headphones. So at the very least I need an optical, coax and a bonus would be if it had HDMI and RCA. For many I am sure this would be all they need, but not for me. It looks like an awesome desktop dac/amp if you use a laptop or a tower with a computer desk set up and mostly listen via your computer. That isn't me. My computer is part of my home theater set up.

first hated the camera movement and skipped your videos, but as I keep watching more and more reviews from your channel, I realized that I watched 30 min video without any crazy editing and stuff, and I'm not bored at all; oh man, that's crazy, your honesty is what I can trust 100% on everything you said and make my decisions based on your words,

Zeos is literally just putting the reviews of the gear I'm eyeing for lately. First, the HE-400SE and now the zen DAC V2.

Bought this dac two weeks ago. If anything it’s the best built piece of gear in my studio.

Got the Meze 99 Classics immediately ordered the 4.4 Balanced cable and this Dac. Jesus the bass earwobbling bass with amazing clarity. I feel like i miss nothing. First purchases in my audio journey. Might look into some open backs Sennheiser's . Thank you for this excellent review and I made my purchase with confidence an was not disappointed

Zeos, thank you for making me spend another 159€ on audio gear. That Dac and little bass bump just brought my mini autographs to life.. N'uf said. Merci !! :)

Your first ifi zen dac video convinced me to get it as my first dac/amp and I love it! Have have speakers in the back and headphones in the front and I couldn’t be happier!

Thanks for your dry humour and honesty, just pulled the trigger on this in Australia for $229 AU. Cheers

I got the zen dac2 last week. Instantly sold my schitt stack This thing is like a sore schlong..you can't beat it.

I own the similar, IFI ZEN Signature stack that I use for my 6xx and Sundaras as my main setup all balanced. I truly love the sound of this stack. I also have the IFI ZEN DAC V2 and use as a more mobile solution in other rooms with almost the same sound quality as the stack. You are correct, the quality of Dac is the best in class for the money.

I hope it does like the original does, when you have it set to variable the truebass also works through the outputs on the back. No-one ever mentions that

I bought the ZEN DAC V2 with the DT770 80 Ohm and did a balanced cable mod and been very happy with it, the bass is fing amazing.

The only "issue" you'll hear about the Zen Dac (and other IFI dac's) is the Burr Brown dac doesn't measure well. I haven't heard of anyone complaining about the sound or build quality it's always it's measurements. I like ASR but it's measurements equals quality mantra is shortsighted and dumb.

One interesting thing I noticed about my V1 is that when the rear output is set to variable, the bass boost is applied there too.

I recently got the ZDV2 to go along with my Focal Clear MG Pros I got at the same time, and I agree with everything you said. Amazing piece of gear, and best of all? It’s plug and play on the PS5 as well! I’m in sonic nirvana. ❤️💕

my ifi zen arrived 30min ago and i am very happy with the product and the sound. you describe the products very vividly and thank you for that, because of your description I knew exactly that I wanted ifi Zen. giggity

Hell yeah, I bought this before the review and now I feel good about myself!

Ok this time in the thumbnail, his mousepad literally is just the german flag

Topping Dx1 very good alternative as well, I am thinking of pairing it with the Ifi zan air/normal can. Just for the features it has of Xspace or Xbass, or at least wait more time for a new product just to have those magic buttons for cheaper or something.

Thank you for the review. Have been looking at a few DACs with headphone amps built-in around the 200-dollar price point, and you sold me on the ifi Zen Dac V2. I am a bit dizzy, though, because of your unique style of recording.

"I go on stranger's home and i feel their knob." Such honesty.

I've had the iFi Zen DAC v2 for about a month now, and I can say that I'm not disappointed, but then it was my first external DAC so I don't have much of a reference point for comparison. I can tell you that with my DT 770s (250 ohm), it did get loud enough at around the 1:00 to 2:00 position in high gain mode, but after adding the iFi Zen CAN a couple of weeks ago I can definitely hear the difference. The same tracks at the same level now sound more full and alive with the DAC+CAN combo, so the satisfaction level just went up.

ifi for the win! I have a few of their products and i am always absolutely satisfied.

im really liking the zen dac v2 and the can signature combo with hd800s. the true bass is just too good

Haven't watched the video yet but I literally bought this yesterday and it arrived this afternoon :0 what are the odds

I have the first one I was using it with the kph30i for the longest time and it's amazing.

Z thank you for ruining my life in a good way! The first review I watched was your review of the Kanto YU4 speakers. I took a leap of faith and asked my wife if she would get them for my birthday. She obviously loves me and purchased them for my office. All I can say is NICE! That review got me started. Next - my stereo system. Until a few weeks ago I had no idea what a DAC was or what it did. For that matter I didn't know how great music could really sound. Because of your reviews I am loving music in a way that was not even on my radar. Here is what I have learned from Z reviews. Get my damn speakers up off the floor (I have bookshelf). Buy a middle speaker. Now movies and music are far better. Purchase a quality headphone - yeah I splurged. Such a difference - Audeze closed-back are amazing. I hear instruments and all kinds of shit I didn't know existed. And finally, after watching this video I immediately ordered this recommended DAC. Holy shit, my system grew up and came to life. I am loving it. Again, thank you Z.

Got v1 (after your review) for my desk/workstation. My knob is sometimes noisy/scratchy when turning. Prob gonna disassamble and spray it with contact spray and drill the spot/point on the knob so the green LED can shine trough.

Been using it for months, confident that it would be good.. I was amazed how good it actually is. Love it!

Dude, your shilling of the V1 was super effective, as well as that fixed output switch and always-on analog outs. Exactly what I wanted for my PC headphones/speakers setup, plus it sounds great, PLUS it was cheap. done

It really needs separate volume knobs for the headphones and the line out. If your monitors are always on, the options variable/fixed are inadequate if you want to isolate your monitors for late night listening for example. I had the same issue with the scarlett solo. But at least they added a headphones knob on v4

Love my Zen Dac V1. I have it connected to my monitor's usb port and it turns the dac off when I turn off the monitor. Perfect for when I go to sleep! I also use Dolby Atmos for headphones (settings are Music + Balanced) on my pc and it's just audio Bliss!!!

Bought this a month ago :) Am very happy with it, also using the iFi ZEN CAN amp with it.

Love the review! Love the Zen Dac (bought v1 because..ZEOS) but...PEACOCKS? What are these??? How did I miss these??? When did Zeos review these? I am subscribed with notifications since 2019 but I don't remember these. Because Zeos, I own the Aiva's, the Sivga Phoenix & 006, and the ESS 422's with the Zeos mods, among other things. Does anyone know if Captain Comfy-pants has reviewed these?

Purchased the cable and Zen Dac V2 while listening to the 21:43 mark... thanks Zeos

Thank you for the review! I've been using the fiio btr 7 as my to go and pc DAC for over a year now, but I always hate how the sound is cut off in first few second if there is no sound/noise. This is going to be my dedicated DAC for now on. Love your review gave me a piece of mind when I ordered this.

You made me get the original zen dac and I’ve never regretted it, thank you Good sir

I have the v2 paired with the zen can and I can tell you that my Sundaras sing! Just got into dacs and amps and I’m so glad I picked this hardware to start with. Also, Zeos is the best. He really knows his fuck shit and shit fuck. Keep it up!!

YOU WERE NOT WRONG I just impulse bought this immediately after catching up on some of the channel's most recent videos with Amazon return policy because why the hell not for $160. Holy f*** batman. I have now been radicalized to ifi. Reading over the papers on the Gibbs Transient Optimized filter optional firmware. I'm wondering what Z's opinion on the optional 7.20c variant is. It seems like there could be some advantages but idk if I can really tell the difference between digital filters with my budget tier HiFi setup and listening room. Thank u for this video btw I'm so friggin happy with this unit.

Loved the fucking review. You were the only one who explained how it sounds. Btw, try and reduce the movement on the video as it can cause some motion sickness. Defo, I am getting this unit. Thanks to your review. No wonder it was WhatHifi's winner for Best DACs in its price range. Love the fact you mentioned the long extended cable too.

I use a Zen Dac V1 + 58x Jubilee for my primarily gaming set up. Nearly everyone of my friends who have tried out my set up aren't ever nearly as impressed in the pc, or the fps, or the set up itself... They always come away talking about the sound.

Sadly I can only listen to this channel. I can't watch it because I get motion sickness from the wobbly camera.

Zeos, they upgraded the XMOS to 16 core and also upgraded their global master clock for less jitter coming from the USB input.

I just ordered mine.. I'll let you know how I go.. I'm awaiting my new AudioTechnica's though.. That is a Black Friday purchase.

I do appreciate the USB Type B, though. USB is supposed to have a lot of different form factors for different use-cases and seeing a chunky Type B cable for a heavy, stationary peripheral makes me smile. A Type C port would have been as appropriate for it as Type C for a printer (ie, it wouldn't really make sense). I do agree, though, that the cable is way too short for anything other than laptop/smartphone usage and trying to find an appropriate Type B cable that actually supports USB 3.0 can be difficult.

Why is there no mention of channel imbalance? I just my Zen Dac V2 last week, noticed it immediately on all 4 of my headphones, requested a replacement, received it two days ago, noticed the same thing, and am sending both back. On just above 0 volume the left earcup is completely quiet while the right is barely audible, on low volume the left earcup is 20-25% quieter than the right, and when you increase to about 9:00 the difference goes down to 10-15% but that was still too much for me. Why haven't I heard about this from you? I read it a lot on the amazon reviews and on reddit and experienced it myself with two units. I don't have this issue with my K5 Pro or my BTR5.

It's not something ifi advertises but the the Zen Dac will work just fine with a standard USB 2.0 B cable. So if you have a longer one of those lying around you don't even need to buy a longer 3.0 tall boy.

I had the Oppo HA2 SE before and it was great, but a bit too sterile/clinical sounding. I used it for three and a half years, and had to stop because the li-po battery inside it began to swell and expand to the point where the casing changed shape. Figured it wasn't safe to keep using, planning on taking the battery out and recycling it, and getting a new battery for using it only on portable situations with a laptop in the future. For desktop use, I just bought this ZEN V2 last week ^^ and yes it's awesome and everything I'll ever need. Like you, I also experienced withdrawal after turning off the truebass :D it is amazing to listen to. The only thing that sucked a lot was that super short blue cable. If you want to use it with anything but a laptop you need to find another cable... and I did. I've also ordered a balanced graphene cable from XINHS for my FH5, that's going to be awesome! Thanks for the review, even though the purchase was already made, it helped confirm that I made the right choice.

actually there are a small differences between the og zen dac and he zen dac v2 (and actually the zen dac v1 later versions ) , for the line out opamp they switched to their own custom opamp , and made the power delivery better , and the usb controller is better and that is about it the amp is still the meh amp and its noise floor is not that great . so basically just get the V1 , all the V1 at the moment are just the v2 without MQA decoding so that means its actually better .

I'm still using an Xfi Titanium HD card from 2011 that I love dearly... this may get me to finally make the switch. (edit) 24h later, I pulled the trigger using your affiliate link. Dammit. lol

Thanks for the reviews Z , I've using my m40x's for years now I'm going to be trying IEMS recently bought the moondrop arias I've had limited income for many years so I'm spoiling myself with nice decent tech and was thinking about buying a dac for ages and wouldn't mind picking there's up. Once again I always come to your reviews for cans ect so thanks for the amazing content and awesome reviews.

On the wonky USB connector: USB has to two main properties we're interested in: speed class, and connector type. The two can be related, but are not the same thing, ie high speed classes might need a different connector. For about 20 years USB had 2 classes of connector, Type A and Type B. A is the standard wide short rectangle that we would just call USB, it's for host devices like a computer. B is for peripherals, it's that tall square connector with beveled corners that your printer uses. A and B exist to make it simplify the design process, and to an extent to make it easier to know what type of device you're dealing with. It's just a dumb peripheral? Cool, you don't need to give it fancy power capabilities and just stick a B port on it. Higher speeds are easier when you have more pins in your connector and wires in your cable, so USB 3.0 (a new speed class) came with modified A and B connectors. A got a blue plug, and they hid more pins right at the back so it still has the normal ones at the front and can work with a 2.0 port. B for some godforsaken reason got a two car garage bolted to the bottom for its extra pins. So that wonky thing you have is a USB 3.0 Type B connector. Maybe it's so you can't confuse a host device by using a high speed host port and cable on a low speed peripheral, but it feels like such a clunky solution. Type C does away with separate ports for host and peripheral. USB is now a mature tech and there are many easier ways of solving that so there are standardised negotiation protocols. If you connect two smart(ish) devices together over USB C they have a chat to see who's "host", and if it's a dumb device there's just a specific value resistor between two pins, so the host can read that and know what it's dealing with.

At about the 20 minutes mark, pulls out a silver PS2 fat with vertical stand. 🔥Hot🔥 dang!

Boom, subbed!- you bought me man (and made me buy this dac amp for my shp9500) I will get back here and thank you again when it arrives ;)

Ah, gotta love that you support golden on this. I loved my Zen but I think my Monolith is better. For the money though, Zen is a beast.

Great review Zeros! Love the info!

Great review thank you. Just ordered can't wait till it gets here.

Another great video Zeos!

Man, I first came here looking for a review of the 1More Tridents, you solidified that purchase (I was already a 1more fanboy) their just so fkin good. I got the Zen dac coming today, and I again found your channel searching to see what I should expect. I love your reviews, your passion is great and is exactly what I look for trying to find extreme value budget products. Its also great to see you using the exact headphones i'm wearing to watch the video to test this thing!

Man, I wish they made it only a DAC, it would have had more features/output and for the money it would have made me think of spicing up my D10s.. Even though I love that little rascal

Bought one recently for use in the bedroom. The light on the volume knob is very bright and there is no way to turn it off or turn it down - the only way is to pull the USB cable.

thanks for this recommendation this thing is the only one in stock anywhere and its cheap and sounds great big up man

I just got this today as I was curious and its freaking slamming!

Thanks for confirming my purchase :D

Thank you very much for this review. I have a question from a music-production perspective. I'm looking at an headphone/monitor amp, and I bumped into your videos about dacs. Would you recommend this unit for someone who wants to be able to do critical listening, mixing and mastering? Would it be extremely annoying to use this unit (because of the one knob) to control a pair of monitors and headphones at the same time? I've been watching at radial monitor and phone amp, but that's a very different unit. Thanks for any help you could provide. Roberto

This is my first dac/amp. Thanks Z!

I don't know, I'm seeing a bunch of complaints about channel imbalance...

Listening to this dude with my ifi ZEN DAC (v1) :) my speakers are Edifier R1800T III and my headphones Audio Technica MSR7 balanced 4.4 pentaconn :D

That bass boost description. 😂

Thank you for going back to the old thumbnails. I still prefer the red, but I’ll take this.

Just ordered the Zen dac v2 with the ifi Zen Can Amp with 4.4mm outputs . I’m sporting a woody !!! Omg!!!!

love the video! love the way you present.

Hey audio gurus! Does this unit have enough juice to bring AKG K712 Pro to its fullest/best sound? I am ABSOLUTELY sold on the bass boost!

Thanks a million time! Finally found my first dac

i just got mine, reallllyyy enjoying it - sounds awesome - and I keep my bass at standard, dont need the additional punch.

Do the hifiman sundara match well with this dac/amp?