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iFi ZEN DAC V2 - Desktop Digital Analog Converter With USB 3.0 B Input only/Outputs: 6.3mm Unbalanced / 4.4mm Balanced/RCA - MQA DECODER - Audio System Upgrade (Unit Only)

£82.915£165.83Clearance
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About this deal

The ZEN DAC V2 is a worthy follow-up to the extremely popular ZEN DAC, one of our yesteryear favourites. With all of that being said, this is a wonderful product that will make most people very, very happy. If “good listening” were more sensitized, the music market would benefit because it would become a stimulus for the enjoyment of music in general (the usual AAC, MP3 ect ect will seem like acoustic prehistory). This is still a product with fabulous bass extension and definition for the money being asked of it. I was looking for a DAC with 3 things, USB input, RCA output and 6mm output (as my old hifi amp doesn’t have one) and the Zen delivers all 3.

Does it work with PS5? - iFi audio

The highs are nice and bright, the mids are more clearly defined, and the True Bass is something to behold. Currently my music source is Tidal in its HIFI version, there I find excellent nuances in the music using this DAC. Had been running my HD599 through the ibasso dc03 and i thought that had made quite a difference but the ZEN is in a complete different league. Panasonic OS-CON caps totaling 5,410uF give very-low Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR), excellent noise reduction capability and frequency response characteristics. The iFi-programmed XMOS chip, which processes data received at the USB input, and jitter-eradicating, audiophile-grade oscillators, contribute to exemplary handling of digital audio signals as they are received, processed and converted to analogue form.Even listening through the Grados, the least revealing pair of the trio of headphones we mainly use, the V2’s sonic step-up is plain as day.

iFi Zen DAC V2 review - What Hi-Fi?

Something that is equally applicable to the original but bears repeating is that the ZEN DAC v2 is an excellent preamp for not a lot of money. The clarity and the detail it’s 20 times better than avarage speakers, i hear things that i wasn’t hearing with normal consumer speakers. It sports a fully-symmetrical, true differential balanced dual-mono signal stage with direct signal paths to ensure optimal signal purity. After much deliberation, I decided on this headphone amplifier as a sound upgrade on my MacMini (Late 2012). As I said, this DAC is a great bang for the buck, however, I’ve got two minor remarks regarding this product.Highly recommended for anybody looking to drive a really nice set of headphones without spending a fortune or needing loads of cables and a big box. I understand this is an issue in lower end DACs but just wanted to confirm if all Zen DACs have this issue or is it a faulty product. The super-low noise performance means the ZEN DAC V2 will remain quiet even in noisy situations such as yachts or RVs.

What Hi-Fi? and here are 6 we highly recommend - What Hi-Fi?

The cables that are included are far too short (for my usage anyway) and the colours of cables included leave little to be desired and make it difficult to hide it away in your setup. There are hi-fi system-friendly inputs – namely coaxial, optical and aptX Bluetooth – but while RCA outputs are onboard for hooking it up to an amplifier in a loudspeaker-fronted system, much of the Hugo 2’s design is, like every other DAC mentioned so far, geared towards feeding headphones. With the bombastic Mr Ed on the Mammoth WVH album, both ZEN DACs sound extremely good but the newer version manages to deliver the vocals with a little more richness and realism.I have been enjoying lots of old favourites today which sound fresh and engaging, with very rounded, warm tones – everything from Punch Brothers to Bonobo to Four Tet to Peter Gabriel sounded wonderful. The two units together looks slick and the amp has plenty of power for even my most demanding headphones.

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2021: Best DACs | What Hi-Fi?

Using headphones it sounds great, the true bass feature can give tracks a bit of a kick and sounds great on my Grado sr80’s.

Personally, I’d rather have a single unit on my desk than stacking a dedicated amp and dedicated DAC together, and this unit is great for that. Everything sounded amazing until I started playing games, and then I’d get this irritating buzzing in my headset.

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