ZEN Upgrade Path is The New Norm - DAC and CAN

 

Yes. A few weeks ago, I was bitten by the iFi Phono bug. I just could not believe how something so small and relatively cheap and affordable can offer such amazing analogue feeling. The bug now continues on the digital side where E1 is kind enough to loan me the whole shebang of iFi ZEN DAC and CAN headphone amp together with a Sennheiser HD660S. Talk about the complete package.

Rather than a typical review of how the DAC and CAN perform, I will bring you along a journey of which you can enjoy an upgrade path whenever your pocket allows it.  For headfi, I usually do not bother thinking of an upgrade path within the same design or model. It was usually straight from one DAC or headphone amp to another model. But there is something special about these ZENs. Read on folks!

THE SPECIFICATION

Equipped with Burr-Brown True Native® chipset, the DAC is claim to be retain the file format and produce it bit perfect. It supports PCM and DXD up to 32 bit/384 kHz, DSD256 and lo and behold, the precious MQA. For yours truly, only MQA is what I have yet to truly experience it. The rest, its kind of over saturated in the market nowadays and for me, I have been into hi res audio for more than 10 years now, way before it became more mainstream nowadays. But MQA is what I really look forward to.

There are debates going around on is it truly MQA. One needs to understand the whole MQA format so that you can really know what your MQA enabled equipment can do. For this model, it is actually an MQA renderer and will require external software such as TIDAL to perform the decoding.

It also carry the PowerMatch feature to match your headphones and IEM. On the rear, it also offers a pair of RCA line outs to either connect this DAC to a power amp/active speakers or with a flick of a switch to Fixed output, turn this DAC into a standalone DAC for your hifi. 

As for the CAN, it is a fully discrete and balanced amplifier and offers a 4.4 mm balanced connection. It runs on Class A discrete circuit that came from their flagship model Pro iCAN, that costs 11 times more. It also comes with Xbass®  analogue bass correction system that corrects any missing low freq response. Another special feature is its 3D Holographic®  dual analogue matrices that places the artist with you in the room, not in your head. Interesting! There is also a feature to choose the appropriate gain to match your headphones. 

I will not bore you readers with the full specs as they are available on iFi website.

THE UPGRADE PATH

Rather than choosing too many different type of music, I am using only 2 reference tracks but with various set up as follows. Source is the Sony Walkman and choice of headphone is my reference Sennheiser HD800S and Beyerdynamic T1.I decide to use my HD800S instead to really challenge this combo as I have heard so many good feedback with HD660S.

1. DAC on unbalanced 6.3 mm without iPower
2. DAC on balanced 4.4 mm (HD800S only) without iPower
3. DAC on unbalanced 6.3 mm with iPower
4. DAC on balanced 4.4 mm (HD800S only) with iPower
5. DAC + iPower connected to CAN and on unbalanced 6.3 mm
6. DAC + iPower connected to CAN and on balanced 4.4 mm

Catch my drift here when I say there re many upgrade path you can take with these?

CONNECTIVITY

The DAC only have 1 input which is the USB. No compatibility issue with my SONY Walkman, Samsung FOLD and even my SONY HAP Z1 ES hi res player. The only thing is, only the SONY Walkman streams out the MQA to the DAC. The Samsung needs an app to allow this to happen.

The DAC also have no issue decoding any resolution you feeds it. DSD, 24/192 FLAC, WAV, MP3 etc. You name it and the DAC can play it.

THE TRACKS

As I mentioned, I am only using 2 tracks to test the combo and experience the upgrade path

• What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong (MQA)
• Take Five by Dave Brubeck on DSD

DAC on unbalanced 6.3 mm without iPower

I first hook up the HD800S. While it was still enjoyable, I do feel that the HD800S does not match well. Something was missing with the overall presentation. Playing What A Wonderful World sounded a bit flat with less emotion can be experienced from the deep vocal of Louis. 

It was a similar experience playing Take Five. There were certain instances where the the DAC can give a good kick the HD800S but most of the time, the overall presentation was leaning on the flat side of things.

It felt more engaging with the Beyer T1. The overall presentation sounded more natural and also well defined. The instrument playing with Louis sounded more airy and also a certain level dynamics started to kick in. 

With Take Five, the DAC gave the T1 quite a workout on the percussion and double bass. Quite musical to be frank. The bass digs deep quite decently with the thumping of the snare sounded dispersed.

DAC on balanced 4.4 mm (HD800S only) without iPower

The deep growling vocal of Louie sounded deeper than using the unbalanced 6.3 mm cable. The intro of this evergreen track sounded soothing with a very spacious ambient. The various instrument playing gave me a chill as it is very mesmerizing. The wire brush percussion can be clearly heard. Given that this HD800S is known to be a difficult headphone to drive and picky with the amp or DAC, I am quite please to hear what I hear. It does show little signs of restricted sound but still acceptable.

On DSD file, the DAC worked quite well with the HD800S. The bass was extensive on Take Five. It provided a natural sounding and thumping of the percussion and double bass. The wind instrument sounded airy and more spacious than an MQA source despite it is not the same song. 

DAC on unbalanced 6.3 mm with iPower

Hmmmm.... quite surprised how much having a dedicated power supply can change things. Apparently the iPower does reduce noise I suppose having to hear a slightly more dynamic sound from the HD800S. Louis vocal started to be more expressive and also the overall song sounded more airy and livelier. More fluid than when the DAC was drawing power form the SONY Walkman.

This is also true with Take Five. The DAC gave the HD800S a good shaking with the double bass and percussion. The sax also sounded sweeter. I can only summarize it as more music was coming through the HD800S when the DAC is used with the iPower.

Switching to T1, the improvement was even more evident. Bass was more refined and overall ambient the first track was soothing. Larger sense of space coming through the T1.

With Take Five, the DAC injected this track with a sense of dynamics that swings the overall presentation towards a more engaging presentation. It pulls me in to close my eyes and imagine this track being played live in front of me. 

DAC on balanced 4.4 mm (HD800S only) with iPower

Now, connecting the iPower to the DAC gives slightly a cleaner sound to the HD800S on balanced cable. The deep vocal experience can still be heard but the impact was more on the fluidity of the music flowing through the HD800S.  Less restrictive.

Now, I did play around with the PowerMatch feature and it does help a bit to smoothen the highs and made both cans more fluid. 

DAC + iPower connected to CAN and on unbalanced 6.3 mm

With both the T1 and HD800S, the CAN drove it quite sufficiently. I find that the T1 is more forgiving compared to the HD800S with this ZEN iFi CAN. With the T1, the overall presentation was leaning more towards a warm and laid back sound while with the HD800S, the DAC and CAN combo presented a brighter sound experience.

DAC + iPower connected to CAN and on balanced 4.4 mm

This was a tricky one. The HD800S sounded the best a Zero dB Gain. A more relaxed and fluid sound from the CAN. The killer is that I had to drive the volume know up to about 12 o'clock to get the music sound livelier. But the sound quality is spot on. Increasing the gain on the CAN will only produce a harsher sound at a lower volume. So, I don't really recommend that.

THE CONCLUSION

If I am to rate each upgrade path on a scale of 1 to 10 compared to how much you need to spend and the improvement you get, it goes like this:

• DAC with unbalanced headphone = 7
• DAC with balanced headphone = 7.5
• DAC with unbalanced headphone + iPower = 8.5
• DAC with balanced headphone + iPower = 9.5
• DAC + iPower + CAN with unbalanced headphone = 8.5
• DAC + iPower + CAN with balanced headphone = 8.0 

Certain consistent observation:

• The DAC alone is a great piece of unit. The PowerMatch feature can help to bring out the peformance of your headphone to acertain level. Highest value for money here for RM 629.
• The iPower brings in something special to the DAC, mainly on the dynamics and surfacing more musical details. This to me is the biggest change in sound especially its just RM 239 to have this extra ooommpph to your listening pleasure.
• Moving to balanced headphone connection opens up the presentation slightly more but please ensure that the whole headphone design allows this and not just a matter of using an adaptor.
• Adding the CAN will need proper matching with your headphones. Suggest to demo the CAN first before purchasing. Adding this will cost RM829 which will bring your complete stack close to RM1700. This is where you really need to ensure you have the right headphones to match this stack.

The only drawback of this combo is their combo choice of the front fascia, LED colour and fonts size and colour. You reaaaallly need to go close to the unit to figure out on which input you are on, which gain you are on etc. 

So there you go folks. A complete upgrade path for your iFi ZEN headphone stack. For a demo, please contact E1 Personal Audio based in Sungai Wang. 

I Spy an iFi - Getting Zen with ZEN Phono

 

In the recent months, I have seen posting after posting of iFi products through my Facebook feed. Its true they say, if you keep seeing it, it will come 😁😁😁. Thank you E1 for loaning me a sample unit of the iFi ZEN Phono unit. Been using it for over a month now and it does help to listen to something new during this CMCO. This unit brought back fond memories when I restarted my vinyl journey back in in 2011. After about 11 years of leaving the vinyl cult, I restarted the passion with the purchase of  a Clearaudio Concept TT and an NAD PP3 Phono stage. Not sure of how vinyl market revival would be, I did not want to spend much on a phono stage. Hence, opted for this NAD phono stage which was about RM450. I then tried Musical Fidelity V Series phono stage. All of these were sub RM1000 phono stages. All of these phono stages did not give me a high level of satisfaction, hence had to go a bit mid range. 

This ZEN Phono (also sub RM1000) is a totally different story. Hooking it up to my Lenco L78 put a smile on my face. I also hook it up to a higher grade Clearaudio Solution AMG Wood TT and it gave me an experience like it was connected to a much more expensive phono stage. So, read on folks.

THE BUILD AND SPECS

It fits in my palm. It measures at only 158 x 117 x 35 mm and weighs about 500 grams. But don't be fooled with its size. It is sturdily built with nice finishing chassis and front face. The power and subsonic button feels solid when pressed. 

The front face looks subtle and uses light blue LED for indicators for the power, subsonic filter and the input selector MM, MC- Very Low, Low and High. The stencil used to label these functions however a but to light and cannot be read from far.

The unit can only accept 1 RCA input and 2 Outputs (1 RCA and 1 4.4. mm balanced). It also comes with a grounding terminal. The input selector uses a small switch to select between the MM and MC options based on the cart you use. Power supply is of the expected 5V plug.

One plus point of this unit. Small it may be but when you hook up your interconnects, it does not tilt upwards due to the weight of the interconnects. I remember my NAD. Once I have hooked up the interconnects, the unit will be tilted up due to the weight of the RCA.

All and all, the unit is beautifully finished.

The specifications is as follow as per iFi's website.

THE EQUIPMENT

• Lenco L78 TT with Shure M44-7 cart (MM)
• Clearaudio Solutions AMG Wood with Hana SL cart (MC)
• SPL Audio Director Mk2 pre amp
• SPL Audio Performance power amp
• PMC Twenty5 24 speakers
• Cabling and RCA - Siltech
• Sony PCM D100 Hi Res recorder

THE TRACKS

I stick to 3 tracks for both set up of MM and MC to compare the performance.

• Take Five by Dave Brubeck on 45 RPM
• My Hero by Foo Fighters  on 33 RPM
• Get Lucky by Daft Punk on 33 RPM

THE SESSION

WITH LENCO L78

Take Five

The very first thing I notice was how huge the sound of the sax especially in between 130 to 145 minute. When it hit the higher notes, it sounded extended without any hint of ear pinching sound. Very nicely done. On the percussion, it gave the PMC speakers quite a work out to really deliver that hard hitting sound but still maintaining the characteristics of the hollow drum sound. The snare also sounded well dispersed across the listening area. 

Get Lucky

On this track, the vocal came out to have high clarity to it but leaning more towards a flat presentation. The bass coming from the bass guitar sounded soulful and I could hear note by note. The bass drum however sounded a bit flat as I prefer a more rounded and bigger bass sound. Still managed to get me tapping my feet and move my body to the groove of this track but I could do with a little bit more bass on this one. The hi hat play however was excellent sound. Sharp and precise. The guitar although sounded a bit faint as a background instrument, it still sounded melodic. 

P/S: Please excuse the background sound of the pianica playing Harry Potter score.

My Hero

Yeah! Love the overall raw sound on this track. In this 'loud' drum filled song, it is very critical that the system can extract and reproduced the drum as accurate as possible. While there are parts that the iFi Phono really shine presenting the intensity of the drum works, the sound of the hi hat however was a little but dry and rough. It was also drowned at the mark of 248 minute. For vocal, again the iFi have no problem presenting a high clarity of vocal from Grohl. At this point, it seems to be one of the consistent character of the iFi. On the shredding guitar works, also it sounded really energised and really ferocious. 

WITH CLEARAUDIO SOLUTION AMG WOOD AND HANA SL

Take Five

While through the MM section, this track sounded big, it did not have that musicality subtlety like being played through the MC section of iFi. Listening through the same section of the song, the high notes here sounded more musical rather than just louder or bigger. The snare sounded even more well dispersed but at the same time, that hard hitting contact between the the stick and the snare can be experienced at a different level here. The toms also sounded punchier through the MC section. Even the tingling sound of the ride playing sounded very musical.

Get Lucky

I experience the same listening session through the MC section of the iFi ZEN Phono. More musical albeit the smaller overall soundstage. The clarity of the vocal remains but with more energy and emotion to it. The bass line also sounded livelier and I can relate to the groove of the music in a more intense level. More engaging all round. It really got my body moving to this track. The hi hat play also sounded even cleaner and crisp. The bass sounded fuller and extensive, the way I like it. 

My Hero

When I thought the MM section have already delivered a lot, this listening session though the MC section sounded even more engaging. Gone was the dry hi hat and came in the crisp sound I like. The overall song sounded livelier while still maintaining that rawness that I like. At the same mark of 248 minute, although still sounded a bit drowned, the drums actually sounded more audible note by note. There was something about the guitar works as well as they sounded heavier and more engaging,

THE CONCLUSION

Bringing up the vocal and present it with enough emotion seems to be a consistent characteristics of this iFi ZEN phono regardless on MM or MC task. Quite remarkable sound coming out from this small unit. For bass, I find that the MC section does a better job in presenting a deeper dig and more extensive bass experience. The MM however sounded more hard hitting. It depends a lot too on your choice of cartridge for your TT. On the highs, the MC delivers a more crisp and sweet sound compared to MM. Regardless for vocal or instrument, I do not have to worry of ear pinching high note experience as the ZEN Phono delivers a clean sound. Overall, this is a very 'quiet' phono stage which allows more music to come out from your vinyl collection. Quite remarkable for a sub RM1K phono stage. For musicality however, I would stick to using the MC section of this phono stage.

Who is this phono stage suitable for? Firstly, if the budget allows, it could be for those who just about to start the vinyl journey. Secondly, for those with RM200 to RM500 phono stage, you might want to give this a try as well. I am confident that you will experience a big jump in sound quality. Thirdly, for those who want a simple, no nonsense and straight forward phono. Last but not least, if your collection of vinyl is mainly rock and vocal works, give this is a demo as well. 

For further enquiry or demo, please contact E1 Personal Audio or Asia Sound on 0321102328 or 012 5122089. The unit can be purchased at RM729.