🔷 iFi Zen DAC Signature

This is the official thread for the iFi Zen DAC Signature

This thread is for discussion and reviews.

  • 4.4mm BAL and RCA line or variable out, USB in
  • Burr Brown Dac, 32/384, 11.4mhz DSD
  • MQA

:red_circle: Drop Link

[Reviews]

Z Reviews

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Zeos likes most things…when he doesn’t, he’s frank about it…but he REALLY likes this stack, or at least the amp as he didn’t really play with the DAC much. he didn’t know it was being launched with the amp. lack of communication on Drop / iFi’s part.

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Perhaps @ZeosPantera will give a more thorough review on the dac later on?

I suspect so.

I feel like this dac is going to be a hard sell at $250 to people that are not buying the amp and want the stack just for the look, it’s low on features and requires a rare/custom cable to use the balanced output.

2 Likes

I agree…price is a bit wonky being you can get the combo from iFi for almost half the price.

Yep, Modius is sitting there at $199. The iFi can claim MQA and DSD, which may or may not matter to most users. Modius has 4(!) digital inputs and more standard balanced connectors.

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Joshua Valour released his review in YT.

He basically says the amp is very nice and the Dac is meh.

he posted a more indepth explaination in his comments. I posted his remarks over on the other thread for the amp here.

Yes, and it looks like on paper at least that it is simply the same dac that is in the OG ifi Zen Dac, and it only costs $130, $180 if you buy it with the same ifi powerbrick that the signature dac comes with.

They’re acting like they’re selling a Porsche and charging you extra for weight savings… :stuck_out_tongue:

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I want to sit down with it on a few balanced amps and studio monitors. I just ordered the proper 4.4 cables to test with today.

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Ah okay, thank you Zeos. I will keep an eye on the Patreon for when you post that. Quite interested to see how this measures up.

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that’s awesome!

where did you get the pentacon cable(s) from?

Z, any way you can finnagle some HD660’s to try on the 6xx / 3D function? see if it’s a trifecta benefit for the whole 600 family?

Got the last one of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08279BFXS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and one of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WSRRN1X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I did not get the 660’s on it before disassembly. My life is madness right now. You will all understand why in a future post.

3 Likes

Got around to watching Max Setting’s review. He described DAC (which is Burr Brown) as being warm, bright, blunted/soft (attacks), but still detailed. Which I thought was a funny combination. @Antpage2 maybe this is the DAC for you

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?? Is that even possible? Aren’t those two terms the opposite?

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no, warm means bumped mid bass and clear vocals. Bright means raised treble