@M0N, I appreciate your long and detailed reply, thank you🙏
Well then it’s balanced doesn’t seem necessary for me, I’m neither of those😅 However, the headphone is balanced. So I should get a balanced dac and amp to suit the ZMF VC right?
It’s all about a matching chain, not so much balanced or not in it self? But does that include or disregard the headphone being that the amp has an balanced output?
This is the reason for my uncertainty right now, your not mentioning the headphone. I know the ZMF VC need a balanced input, but the Dragon Inspire IHA-1 has a balanced output even though it doesn’t have a balanced input.
Are you saying the whole chain should be balanced because the headphone is, or are you saying that the dac and amp need to be either balanced or not? Disregarding the headphone?
So sorry it’s hard for me to understand.
Maybe you know if there’s any good books I can read to understand this properly? I find it hard to source proper detailed information about it, except for scattered articles and lots of reviews, but it seems I don’t see the whole picture yet…
As in you have a balanced cable for it? The headphone doesn’t care about if it’s balanced or not in the end, as you mention right after it really is about matching the chain together and not balanced itself
Regardless if the signal chain is actually fully balanced, if the amp has a balanced amp, just use that, so even though the dragon is a single ended amp, the xlr out is what you would want to use (from memory the dragon se and xlr didn’t really differ all that much but just use xlr to be on the safe side). Manufactures that have a balanced out tend to focus on that performance regardless of what inputs it has, and the single ended might suffer. This is more common in solid state amps though, with an amp like the dragon iha1 the balanced headphone out is more there for convenience and shouldn’t sound all that different from the single ended out since it’s not really a balanced design, but again use the balanced to be safe
To have a fully balanced chain, you dac and amp need to both be differential, if you have a single ended dac and a fully balanced amp, that chain is not fully balanced since one of the sources in the chain isn’t balanced
So in your case, since you have an iha-1 now (nice pick by the way), you would want to make sure you get a nice dac that has good single ended out. The iha-1 is a bit more of a neutral forward amp and also will change depending on the tubes you use, so personally with the verite I might want a dac that is a slight bit more relaxed and not analytical
I don’t know of many off the top of my head tbh, I’ve only learned through just basically experience from trial and error
@M0N Oh my…, this is exhausting The headphone (ZMF Vérité Closed) has a mini XLR input and yes it comes with two balanced cables. I never would have thought the headphone it self didn’t care…
Thank you I’m so confused on all of this it’s scary, wonder if I’d be able to pass high-school atm
I checked out the lampizator amber 3 but 3KEUR is somewhat crazy for me. Just spent like 5KUSD (shipping and VAT accounted for) and I’ve been recommended cables and power supply filter summing up to another 1,5KUSD. So to keep the total chain below 10KUSD I want to avoid spending more than 2KUSD on the DAC. (EUR is roughly 25% more expensive than USD when buying in Norwegian currency). Maybe you could recommend another DAC with a great single ended output to go with my ZMF Vérité Closed and the Dragon Inspire IHA-1?
Regarding the cables and power supply filter is the following:
Isotek Evo3 Polaris
One 1m Chord Shawline RCA
Three 1 m Chord Shawline power cables (one for the Polaris, DAC and AMP).
One 1m Chord Shawline USB
Is it really necessary to get a high end USB cable? What do you think about the rest? I do not want to spend more than I need, but I really do not want to bottleneck the beautiful ZMF VC
Right @11_Clouds! It’s unbelievable, I’m so very happy I joined the forum. Really looking forward to writing my conclusion and review of the gear I’m getting so I can contribute back toe this forum. I feel like a blood sucking animal that never gets full at the moment. Each answer generates more questions in my mind, there’s so much to learn for a newb like me!
Yeah, the headphone doesn’t really care if you have a single ended or balanced cable on it
In your case personally I wouldn’t invest too much money into cables or power filtering, you prob won’t see much return imo
For now I would seriously skip the power cables, conditioner, and higher end interconnects, since you can get those down the line and also they won’t make as big of a difference as your headphones amps and dacs, so I would focus those first and make sure you put your budget toward things that will make the larger difference first
Dac wise a used T+A DAC 8 DSD could be attainable, and be pretty great sounding, it should be around 2k usd used (dispite being balanced it’s single ended are almost basically as good as it’s balanced out) it’s a bit warmer neutral and real solid for the price they go for used. If you wanted something fairly neutral clean but engaging a chord qutest is pretty cool and should be under 1.5k usd used. I also think a holo cyan pcm is pretty solid for a new option and would work well (the holo cyan has good single ended outs unlike the spring 2 since it’s not differential balanced).
Also some other options that pair well would be a doge 7 dac or a exogal comet dac imo, both of which are fairly neutral slightly smoother and sound pretty great
Also to clarify, I did mention some dacs with balanced outs. These dacs aren’t fully balanced though, so the single ended output still sounds either just as or almost as good so no need to worry there. (since you can have a dac that actually isn’t internally balanced that has balanced outputs, which I’m sure isn’t confusing at all lol)
You’d be better off buying 3 Hospital grade power cables and spending the additional 600 pounds on a better DAC.
Dealers love to sell cables, they have big mark ups and commision.
Cables do make a difference, but it’s “incremental”. A Cable isn’t going to make a night and day difference, a DAC might.
Personally, and views do vary o n this I’d spend the extra on a better DAC even if that meant you were down to $10 interconnects/power cables in your budget.
I have some $300 audioquest interconnects lying around here, some are actually in use, but others aren’t because my primary criteria for picking a cable is how long it is.
Thank you yet again @M0N, now there’s no doubt left in my mind!
You just saved me a lot of $, or rather, you helped me increase the DAC budget
Thanks for the list of options, now the reading and viewing shall commence👍
Also, buying used saves me the VAT burden so that’s a 25% extra savings just need a good source for used gear. I’m a Z reviews patron and in a telegram chat where other patrons sell used gear, that should be fine no?
Excellent final comment there, otherwise I might had gotten confused again when reading the specs
I mean depending on what’s in there yeah, but I wouldn’t just buy any dac there, I would make sure it actually works well with your amp and headphones. Also check on hifishark.com since that’s pretty helpful
Yea I’ll probably get one of your recommended DAC’s, heck now that I saved those 1500usd I might just en up getting that Lampizator amber 3. I’ve got a lot of reading to do before I make my mind up though.
Much appreciate your help @M0N
It’s an arbitrary standard I think C13 in the US, just means it’s shielded.
something like this https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Leader-Hospital-Grade-IEC320-Listed/dp/B07KJCQX4Q
The actual rating isn’t really that important, power cables can matter, but I wouldn’t get too focused on them, just pick something with decent sized conductors and shielding.
To be clear that was just the first cable that showed up on Amazon when I searched for Hospital Grade Power Cable.
The point here is don’t worry about it, don’t buy garbage and don’t overthink it.
If you want to later you can experiment with cables once you have something you like, most dealers will lend them to you to try in your system if they think you might buy. Some people find cables have a significant impact, some can’t hear a difference.
I’m so confused on all of this it’s scary, wonder if I’d be able to pass high-school atm 
Thanks!
just need a good source for used gear. I’m a Z reviews patron and in a telegram chat where other patrons sell used gear, that should be fine no?
