the ZEN DAC does a great job of bringing out the studio atmosphere… This kind of ambience and immediacy would be impressive in a high-end DAC; that iFi Audio’s ZEN manages it for less than many would pay for a digital cable is frankly amazing.”

Zen DAC V2 + Zen Stream: the perfect match? iFi Audio Zen DAC V2 + Zen Stream: the perfect match?

Other than that, the two Zen DACs are basically the same. You get the same nice chassis, SE and Balanced connections, Truebass analog bass enhancement, and Power Match gain control. i'm liking it, both on my sundara's and the hd650's. but then again i have nothing to compare it against. the 650 also benefits from the "3d"effect where the soundstage becomes a little deeper (great for live recordings). i never use it with the sundara (that one has enough depth already).The Burr-Brown True Native® chipset means file formats remain unchanged or ‘bit-perfect’. This means you are listening to music as the artist intended in the format in which it was recorded. If you are in the market for an affordable and compact desktop DAC/headphone amp, iFi Zen DAC could be just the thing you need. Along with great looks, compact design, and affordable price, iFi Zen DAC delivers very nice, distortion-free sound and can drive the most demanding headphones (up to 600Ω). In this review, we will discuss the features and performance of this very nice entry-level DAC/headphone amp.

ZEN DAC by iFi audio - Super-affordable DAC/amp from iFi audio

HD 6XX (balanced): It's good, i like the bass boost function with it, you definitely want high gain for this one. Unbalanced is probably a step down (not tested). Does it sound better on the Ferrum? Yeah, but it's best on the Echo MK II tube amp anyway, so who cares. We’ve used a balanced design for the analogue stage – rare and not found at this price point. This makes it pretty special for the best sound quality. With super-low noise performance, it will remain quiet even in noisy situations such as yachts or RVs. A fully-discrete and balanced amplifier audio circuit. The full symmetric dual-mono headphone amplifier with gold-plated 4.4mm balanced connection. Premium engineering is more expensive but lowers the noise floor to a whisper-quiet levels.Getting ever closer to the theoretical ideal of pure, frequency-constant capacitance, these capacitors reduce capacitor-induced distortion to vanishingly low levels. And who expected it? A small jewel that has the essentials and something more … a marvel. Connect speakers and sub to the rca out, usb in PC, essential the 5v power supply, clean and powerful sound. A whole other world, it reports a very precise sound both as a preamp for active speakers and as a headphone amp. I waited till my Balanced Adapter came in the mail so I could review this unit properly. This is my second foray into the world of AMP/DAC combos, my first was the Fiio E10k (Olympus 2). Since this is only my second AMP/DAC, I’m not going to jump the gun and say something like: “THIS IS THE BEST DAC/AMP MONEY CAN BUY !” . The truth of the matter is, I simply don’t know and I’m not an expert. At first I was put off by thinking it needed a dedicated power supply, but in fact that is optional and the Zen works from just a single USB cable.