Specs
- Outputs : 6.5mm single-ended, 4.4mm balanced, RCA fixed/preamp
- Frequency response : 20-40kHz
- SNR : 116dB (line out) / 113dB (headphone amp)
- THD+N : 0.0015% (line out) / 0.005% (headphone amp)
- Output Impedance : 1Ω
- Output power (USB) : 260mW @ 32Ω (unbalanced) / 330mW @ 32Ω (balanced)
- Output power (External 5V) : 520mW @ 32Ω (unbalanced) / 660mW @ 32Ω (
Design
If there’s one thing I really like, then it’s when companies do their own thing. No, doing something simply for the sake of being different doesn’t necessarily mean that what you’re doing is good or useful; but when a product stands out due to a unique design, it can often feel just a little more interesting.
iFi’s products don’t ever seem to follow any particular design trend, at least not one shared by other manufacturers. There’s always something just a little different about them, and iFi’s new ZEN line is even more different in design than anything else iFi has produced.
Thus far, this new line is comprised of two products, namely the ZEN Blue, and the ZEN DAC. A review for the ZEN Blue will be coming in a few days, so keep an eye out for that.
In the case of the ZEN DAC, what we have here is a fairly compact little desktop DAC with a very intriguing design. To some extent it kind of reminds me of the dashboard of a vintage car, back when features were few and all of the various dials and knobs were spaced out across the dash.
The entire case is made of metal and it has a very nice reassuring amount of heft to it despite being as compact as it is. Both the front and back panels have a brushed metal finish whereas the main enclosure features a matte dark-greyish metallic finish.
If we look closer at the front panel we notice that it’s actually angled backwards a bit which perhaps also aids in giving it that dashboard look as the main enclosure creates a little bit of a hood.
Dead in the centre is the relatively large volume dial. It’s very nice and seems to have been machined from a single piece of metal. Turning it is also incredibly smooth and there is only an exceptionally minor amount of up and down play. Unfortunately, the volume control is entirely analogue, which means that there is some channel imbalance at very low levels. With regular headphones and IEMs at normal listening levels this isn’t an issue, but if you want to use something as sensitive as the Dunu DK-3001 (13Ω/110dB), or even just want to listen at a low volume, then this can be noticeable. I tested this out with my HD58X, and where the minimum point for the dial is at about the 7 o’clock position, turning it to about 8 o’clock is where I started to hear music come through but only through the right channel. It’s only just before the 9 o’clock position that the sound balanced out properly between the 2 channels.Another usual concern with sensitive IEMs is hiss, and the ZEN DAC does have a bit of hiss. Again, I used the Dunu for this and I could definitely hear some hiss even on low gain as soon as I plugged the headphones in. But it really is such a small amount and I really could not hear any of it when I played music. Switching over to high gain revealed a lot more hiss, but you’re never going to use high gain with such sensitive IEMs anyways.
Behind the volume dial sits a multi-coloured LED which is intended to indicate the sampling rate of the music being played. Green is for anything up to and including 96kHz sampling rates, whereas yellow indicates up to 384kHz streams. Cyan and blue are for up to DSD128 and DSD256 respectively, whereas magenta is reserved for MQA files.
Towards the left of the volume dial is the True Bass switch, and a little further left is the Power Match switch. The Power Match feature is simply a gain switch which allows you to use the ZEN DAC with both low-sensitivity and high-sensitivity headphones whilst still having a very usable range of control over the volume. These switches, however, did make the ZEN DAC feel a bit less premium due to how loose they are. Tapping on them with my thumb makes them feel and sound a bit cheap and not even remotely as nice as the volume dial. They do have a pretty distinctive click albeit that this too sounds just a bit hollow.
Over to the right-hand side of the volume dial are both of the headphone outputs, and here we are treated to both a ¼-inch single ended output as well as a 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced output. The single-ended output is capable of producing up to 230mW into a 32-ohm load, whereas the balanced output can get you up to 330mW into the same load.
Whilst this will definitely be enough for the vast majority of headphones out there, there are certain more demanding headphones which will lack some bass impact. The thing is, though, the ZEN DAC actually isn’t capable of producing the above quoted power figures out of the box, but we’ll cover that a bit more shortly.
Turning the ZEN DAC around and starting on the very far left there is another 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced connection, but this is a line out. This is pretty interesting because balanced line outs is still an extremely rare thing to see despite how long balanced connections have been featured on desktop audio devices. Seeing it on such an affordable device is practically unheard of.
There are also a set of regular stereo RCA connections to connect the ZEN DAC to an external headphone or power amplifier, but between the RCA and balanced line outs is a preamp switch. What this allows you to do is to select whether the line outputs will be at a fixed level, or you can let the signal run through an internal preamplifier which will allow you to control the level via the volume control dial on the front. Having this versatility is often extremely important, especially if you intend to connect the ZEN DAC to some studio monitors as these will often have their level controls on the rear of the speaker cabinet, and they are of course completely independent from each other too. So that’s a job done well, iFi.
Unfortunately, the ZEN DAC only features a single input, and that comes in the form of a USB connection. Personally, I like to see at least USB and an Optical input on such a device, but since there is obviously no way to switch between inputs and USB being the most common requirement, I guess having only USB makes the most sense.
Over on the far right is a 5V DC power connection, which is a bit odd. ‘Why is this odd?’ you may ask; well, there’s no power adapter included in the packaging. You see, the USB input doesn’t just send the digital audio from your PC or other source to the DAC chips, but the USB is also used as a source of power for the ZEN DAC. Now, remember earlier when I mentioned that the ZEN DAC actually is not capable of producing the figures I quoted out of the box? That’s because it is only when you use an external power source that the ZEN DAC is capable of reaching those power figures. As for what the regular power figures are, your guess is as good as mine since iFi neglected to publish them.
I suppose it’s a good thing to make the requirement for an external power-supply optional as a single USB cable does make hooking it up more convenient, and if you don’t need any extra power than what the USB connection can provide, then surely you wouldn’t want to pay for that extra piece of hardware.
Still, if you do need it, that’ll set you back roughly an extra $50 if you’d want to use one of iFi’s iPower adapters, bringing the total cost closer to the $200 mark.
Overall, I think the ZEN DAC has a pretty interesting design and it certainly does offer a fair number of features given the asking price and how compact the unit is, but the limited number of inputs will be a sore point for some.
Sound
The sound character of the ZEN DAC is something I’d describe to be typical iFi. It’s a slightly warm and natural-sounding signature, but hearing the difference in its specific character vs another DAC or DAC/AMP product is incredibly small and just plain tedious. Honestly audio products, especially affordable ones, have become just so damn good over the last couple of years, and most of the time their capabilities far exceed our ability to distinguish between them. Having said that, some differences do exist, and some of those are audible albeit rather subtle.
The reason I mention this about the ZEN DAC, is because if I had to rely entirely on my own hearing I wouldn’t be able to tell you how good of a product it is. To me it sounds fine, it sounds like a good product. But, thankfully, we live in an age where we don’t have to rely entirely or even predominantly on our own perceptions. That’s good news for us, but it’s not so fortunate for the ZEN DAC.
If we head on over to www.audiosciencereview.com we can see the full in-depth measurements that Amir conducted on the device. Even when measuring the performance of the line out, iFi’s reluctance to switch away from Burr-Brown DAC chips means that it performs rather poorly in reality and, according to Amir, “we have distortions that pierce the noise floor of 16-bit audio even”.Similarly, measurements of the headphone outputs have also shown to be rather poor. Even the balanced output proved to not have a great deal of clean power, and the worst of it is when using very sensitive IEMs as the distortion figures are noticeably worse at low-power levels.
Value
So, whilst the ZEN DAC can boast with the fact that it has a number of features, and it does sound good for regular listening, it does show its severe limitations when you subject it to some objective testing. I think, at least from an entirely personal perspective, there’s no absolute right or wrong here. As a complete package in terms of the design of the ZEN DAC, the feature-list, and in subjective listening tests, it seems like a perfectly reasonable product for the asking price. However, if we consider the objective measurements, then it becomes really difficult to get a clear idea of what kind of value it packs.
As mentioned, the ZEN DAC seems to sound fine, but when it comes to audiophiles, “fine” simply isn’t good enough. You could argue that if you can’t hear a problem, does it really matter? To regular consumers, absolutely not. But to audiophiles, the pursuit of absolute audio fidelity is a very big driving factor. In much the same way as a 10 horsepower increase in a car that already has 500hp might seem pointless, a petrol-head is likely to chase those numbers rather than focus on what kind of real-world difference such a small increase can make.
The fact is, the ZEN DAC simply does not measure very well. Heck, even the more affordable and far more compact FiiO K3 has better signal-to-noise ratio and distortion figures, albeit that it can’t produce as much power.
At the end of the day, the ZEN DAC is more about features than what it is about outright measurable sound quality, and which one of those two factors is more important will depend on your needs. No, the ZEN DAC really is not a terrible-sounding product, but if you are looking for the highest fidelity then the ZEN DAC just isn’t going to provide it. For about double the cost of the ZEN DAC you could opt for the Topping D50s which measures better than other desktop DACs costing way more than its price-tag of just $250, it also includes built-in Bluetooth and even boasts COAX, Optical, and USB digital inputs as well as a remote control for volume and input adjustments. The only thing is that the D50s does not have a headphone output, so you would need a separate headphone amplifier too. What’s more, the D50s is periodically available on Drop.com for as low as $185, which is just an incredible bargain.
So, for the most part, the ZEN DAC is an OK product, but its limitations and compromises are definitely there. It’s fine as just a simple, well-built device for casual listening, but to really get the most out of your audio it would be best to look elsewhere and perhaps spend a little more.