Hey
I’m planning on buying my first planar headphones either the hifiman sundara or the hifiman deva pro
My question is what amp should i pair with my zen dac v2? If i can pair any amp with the zen dac other than the zen can what would you recommend? I’ve heard alot of good things about the jds atom amp
you have the Zen DAC v2 without the balanced and se connectors? it’s a little confusing as iFi has a combo called Zen DAC, which was the original, then they released a Zen DAC that’s only a DAC to pair with the Zen CAN, thats only an amp. then to really muddy the waters there is are Signature versions and v2 revisions. 
It’s the recent one they released its got both balanced and unbalanced headphone connection its a dac/amp combo i think they released it in 2020 not sure
Hm if you get some after market 4.4 balanced cables, you could try to drive them with your zen DAC
If your planars lack a bit of slam in the low end than a more powerful amp could help, something like the schiit magni is a solid choice or if you like the stack the zen can is a bit more pricey but you have the better bass boost to play with
The atom should not be that much more powerful than the balanced port of the zen DAC, so not sure if that’s much of an upgrade
I have the Zen DAC V2 with the standard Zen Can amp. I use it to drive Hifiman Anandas. I love to stack the bass boost on both the DAC and the amp at the same time. Many have said that the Ananda lacks bass slam, but not so with the Zen Stack! I can get them rumbling almost like they have haptic vibration in there. Anandas are only 32 ohms but they can take a lot of power. I can even push them to 18db gain sometimes on the Zen Can and it doesn’t distort, although it’s a bit much on the ears! I picked up a 4.4mm wire from Hart Audio for the balanced input/outputs. It was around $20, I think.
zen dac should be fine with sundara not sure about deva