šŸ”· iFi Zen Dac/Amp v2

Sound great with my HD650, weak for my Argons, the true bass is fun to play with. I connected it to my SP200 via the RCA and itā€™s super clean (ordered some 4.4 to XLR, should be here Friday). I even subscribe to Tidal for a month to test out MQA.

Awesome. Glad you are enjoying the heck of it and it sounds great to you.

The Argons do take quite a bit of power to drive!

I have to say this is pretty odd, but the Zen DAC v2 really brings the HD650 and the M1060 (2.5mm) really well. I havenā€™t tried the HD58x on them yet, gonna work my way up to it. The HE4xx is as always flat, again, not bad, just boring to me, its like listening to a well recorded person talking on youtube and then it just sounds like you are just listening to a well recorded person on youtube talking in their room (you hear all the little echos and sounds of the room). And I will re-emphasize this, yes, the Argons will work at a reasonable level, but everything that makes the Argons they Argons is gone (the sound stage, the bass, THE LIVE of the headphones).

I ordered the 5v iFi iPower for it, when my GPU ramps up there are some pops, see if that fixes it.

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If you really want to hear what the Zen DAC can do, ditch Tidal with their crappy MQA junk and get a Qobuz subscription. Standard 44.1kHz and everything above, Qobuz clearly sounds better, and is less expensive.

Honestly, I have no idea why ifi decided to proceed further with MQA. Itā€™s a junk, failing technology that isnā€™t (and never was) needed or wanted.

Anywhoā€¦

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Thatā€™s an awesome stack! TUBES!!!

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Yep. I was looking at this one, put it on the list, saw MQA, scratched it from the list.

MQA is an annoyance, for sure, but it shouldnā€™t disqualify it from your consideration. itā€™s slightly higher price is not just because it can decode MQA nowā€¦it also has a superior chipset for processing the USB signal.

that said, you may be able to find a sweet deal on the Zen v1 via the used market.

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I get what you are saying. Iā€™m good. There are some great DACs out there that donā€™t have that garbage on them. Iā€™ll just buy one of them when Iā€™m ready.

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wellā€¦further to what I said. donā€™t drop the Zen v2 just because it has MQA as it is an awesome combo unit. I have the v1 as my daily driver and am loving it! :smiley:

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This DAC is too good just to write off because it has a feature, included more to bump sales.

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Well, enjoy it then. Iā€™ll pass, thank you.

that is too bad. you do yourself a disservice. :frowning:

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Not really. I am not allowing a penny of my money to go to these bullshit artists. That is all. This has nothing to do with Ifi, either. Or SMSL. Or anyone else. I get why they might want to offer MQA products. I currently enjoy SMSL products that donā€™t have MQA on them. There are far too many other incredible products out there for me to be the least bit worried.

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I canā€™t stand MQA and will never listen to it again (since I no longer have Tidal), but Iā€™m sure as hell not getting rid of my SMSL M400 because it can decode MQA. Thatā€™s just stupid.

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let me ask you a question. If your friends start listening to Tidal MQA, are they still your friends?

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LOL. Why wouldnā€™t they be? Kind of a dumb question, donā€™t you think? People are free to do their own thing. As am I. If you think MQA is so great please go, do. I will pass.

Ya think? Look, you tried it, you ended up not liking it. No one is looking for you to throw your gear out the window! I have no such ties. I am MQA free and will remain so.

Youā€™re missing the point, but whatever.

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If itā€™s a good product itā€™s a good product, I donā€™t think Iā€™d not buy something that had a feature that I had no intention of using as long as it ticked all the other boxesā€¦For instance Iā€™ve just got a DX300 which has a built in EQ and Bluetooth neither of which I doubt Iā€™ll ever use :man_shrugging:t2:

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Exactly. Speaking of Bluetooth, my M400 has Bluetooth. Guess where the antenna is?.. Still in the box, where itā€™s going to stay.

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