I understand this is an issue in lower end DACs but just wanted to confirm if all Zen DACs have this issue or is it a faulty product. TDK C0G (Class 1 ceramic) capacitors offer high stability and low losses for resonant circuit applications.

iFi Zen DAC review | What Hi-Fi? iFi Zen DAC review | What Hi-Fi?

I’ve not had an opportunity to try out the 4mm jack as I don’t currently have any ‘phones with that size input, but apparently there’s a bit more oomph through it. This is still a product with fabulous bass extension and definition for the money being asked of it.The True Native Burr-Brown chip design keeps the DSD bit-perfect and allows you to enjoy your music in studio quality just as the artist intended. The dragonfly still sounds good but my monitors are prone to background noise and you get a whine sometimes. Drives both efficiently, using the Power Match with the Sennheisers with the standard unbalanced output.

iFi Audio ZEN DAC v2 Review | AVForums

From what little I read, it would be extremely difficult to say that one is better than the other in a double blind test. Even the Bass Boost button is useful, giving a subtle but through lift to the lower frequencies, though I rarely need it, The one thing I would say is that, though you can just run it from the USB feed from the PC, it does sound much better if you use an external power supply, giving the sound more solidarity and weight.You’ll get better performance for your money going wired with the AudioQuests, but, to quote our review, “when portability is paramount and convenience is key, you cannot currently better the iFi Go Blu”. Enveloped in the Space Blue finish now associated with our Signature products, the ZEN DAC Signature has been designed to be a DAC, pure and simple. This magic middleman is still available (albeit in a more updated version), though it was soon followed up by the superior DragonFly Red, and now the popular line tops out with the DragonFly Cobalt, a multi and current What Hi-Fi? Pentaconn adapter cable -> double XLR, for connection to speakers that support balanced connections: it is difficult to find and a little expensive, but the balanced connection eliminates any background noise, giving a very clean and defined sound. Every device that’s a source of digital sound has a built-in DAC (TVs, games consoles, CD players, phones, portable music players etc).

iFi Audio ZEN DAC V2 iSilencer - Richer Sounds

If you’re sitting on the fence and can’t afford a Chord Mojo Just go for it you won’t have any regrets. The palm-sized device can significantly boost the sound of pretty much any kind of digital source thanks to its USB-C, optical, micro USB and 3. Various key surface-mounted circuit components have been upgraded to high-end devices, including Panasonic OS-CON and Elna Silmic II capacitors. These under-the-hood advancements aren’t, of course, obvious to the naked eye, which would have some trouble telling the new Zen DAC from its predecessor looking at the two side by side. This design feature allows you to have complete control over the desired volume according to your listening preferences.I have no experience with other DACs to share a comparison, but I am quite satisfied with my spend on this device. It is so well worth picking up a nice balanced cable if your current headphones can support it (not all of them can). In fact the iFi ZEN DAC has given my reference stereo system with the YBA separates and the LSA bookshelf speakers a new lease of life. If you aren’t a big fan of headphone listening, however, and would be satisfied by a DAC that can purely sit between a digital source and amplifier to make a sonic difference in a hi-fi speaker system, then we would point you to another Chord (yes, Chord Electronics largely dominates this market) – the Qutest.