Has anyone had the chance to try both the V1 and V2 for comparison?
I read the table on iFiâs site listing the hardware upgrades, but Iâm curious whether the newer components have made any appreciable impact on performance.
The only difference is MQA, and MQA has been proven to be a scam, soâŚ
Not exactly true. There have been various other internal improvements made, including faster clock speed and internal processor timing.
I just got my ifi ZEN DAC V2 this Jun. It is super clear and I just love the instrument isolation it provides. And began my subscription to Tidal as well. MQL sounds amazing, so does MQL studio. However I tried to stream DSD 5.2 and apparently my network wasnât good enough? I have Verizon 500 up and 500 down fiber. Where or how do I listen to DSD?
I upgraded from Korean Audinst HUD-MX1. I really tried to upgrade to separate stacks this time, but my budget was just too low. I was looking into Topping E30 & L30 (found rumors that L30 burned some headphones). Looked over Schiit stack (the main competitor) and found some reviewers say the Heresy wasnât well built or that it started ringing. If anyone has a better suggestion for a stack thatâs better than ifi Zen DAC V2, please let me know. And I see people keep mentioning Burr-Brown chips donât measure wellâŚbut does that really mean E30 & L30 sound better?
1 Like
Without FLAC being readily available I found MQA to be really pleasurable to listen to. I found it to be comparable to DSD52 even.
1 Like
âMeasure betterâ doesnât always mean âsound betterâ. I might add the Zen Can to the Zen Dac though to really make those Hifiman Headphones shine though. The Zen line is warmer than the Topping or Schiit offerings and personally speaking I think that works well with the Sundaras. I compared it to the JDS Labs Atom Amp for example, which is a much more âneutralâ amp closer to the Topping or Schiit ones (people say the Heresy sounds identical) and I found that distortion could get a little harsh on the Sundaras.
i like burr brown chips. they sound the most organic and natural. ess arent to bad either. ak chips to dry for my tastes.
Fair enough, but I still recommend you to search up âGolden Sound MQAâ on youtube
1 Like
I keep hearing about Burr Brown chips and how good they are. What current DAC uses the Burr Brown chip?
EDIT: Wait, am I seeing this correctly that the ifi ZEN DAC actually uses the Burr Brown chip set? I guess that would explain why they sound so good then! It looks like the Cambridge Audio DAC Magic line also uses the Burr Brown chip set. From what I understand those are pretty highly regarded as well. InterestingâŚ
1 Like
Correct, we do use burr brown quite often throughout all of our products 
1 Like
Burr Brown create a warm and fun sound and as Sebastien commented, all iFi products use them.
that said, when I started Googling terms and phrases to find what DAC use Burr Brown chips, I came up with very little in regard to headphone related tech. 
Not all, iFi Blue has ESS DAC
1 Like
there are not many in the budget range that use them. im not even sure if the chips are in production still. texas instruments bought them out in 2000 and from my understanding, pretty much immediately closed all their facilities. but ifi, for instance, sells a ton of them, so makes me think they are making them still somewhere.
1 Like
If I said, all - I should recorrect and say most. You should generally assume we use Burr Brown unless noted otherwise!
As @El_Nagual stated, the Zen Blue is an example where it uses ESS.
I wish Zen Blue was BB instead of ESS. Why ESS?
1 Like
I wondered that when I it was pointed out the Blue didnât have a BB. curious thing and out of character for iFi.
Let me check on this - the Zen Blue was already out before my time at iFi.
1 Like
Hi everyone,
Just a quick heads-up if you were not aware, we have a LED calculator live now that you can always refer to if you have any questions on what a specific LED means for your product.
4 Likes
Honestly, I only ever use the digital out of my Zen Blue, so Iâm not too stressed out about the D/A conversion. (Iâd probably even /prefer/ a smaller, cheaper device that was digital-only.) BTW, the xCAN also uses an ESS chip.
You need to make an EQ device with the Bass boost and 3D sound option from Zen Can.