Good review. Was also having constant issues with Windows not recognizing Zen DAC via USB and gave up on it for months. Finally revisited and discovered issue was the non iFi power supply that I was using for the DAC. Disconnected power supply and issue instantly disappeared. Skipping the power supply now on DAC and just power it via USB. Glad to have combo back. Using with HD560s and very satisfied. Also nice to free up a power socket.
I bought ifi Zen Can 2 years ago when they were offering the upgraded power supply for free. This was before all the signature series started coming out. I bought a pair of 2020 Sundara's last summer. Yes, the Xbass is all you need. I think you could skip the signature series all together and buy the "standard edition" Zen Can (I bought mine for $169 with the upgraded power supply), and have all the power, flexibility, and Xbass for $100 less.
The Xbase puts a muffling or veil if you will over the sound. The amount of base out of Xbase is not designed for any particular headphones. It is a general "whatever" amount. Xbase is like just picking some low end frequencies at random with an EQ. Who know what it will sound good with. The HFM base on the Signature does not have the veil and is specifically designed to augment the frequencies of the HFM planars. When you listen to them side by side it is quite noticeable with HFM planers.
The regular zen dac doesn’t have that issue. I bought one for my sister and drove it myself for a few months leading up to giving it to her. It’s a killer value and is an awesome am by itself.
I have the new Zen One Dac, it has a power button and works flawlessly on Mac, and I use it together with the older Zen Can that only have X-Bass and 3D, I think Zen Can is a better option as it works with all headphones.
I never understood how much of a difference the 'Signature' series improved over the much cheaper iFi ZEN DAC V2. So I got the V2 instead. And I had to add the ATOM amp to get the fullness in the sub bass. The ZEN DAC V2 power output are all based on the non included AC adapter. I wish I knew this from the start. Would of went with a Topping DX5 or something instead.
Dude, disable USB power saving modes. It's a Windows issue for devices that requires more than average power. Sleep messes up many USB devices even external Hard drives. Therefore your conclusion regarding the DAC is inconclusive because the USB unrecognisable devices after sleep mode/hibernation mode is a Windows bug.
Nice review! Regarding the USB disconnection... I have the zen one signature for a few months now connected to the USB port of a Xiaomi mi box s. I have noticed that it disconnects when I turn on a light at a distance around 5 meters/15 feet away. After I realized it I could easily replicate it... So it does not seem to be at least in my case a driver issue but more of an interference that causes the disconnection.
Is the Signature v2 an upgrade over the original Dac and silver ifi stack ? Any difference with the idsd Signature ? (which does not have real balance circuitry)
Driver is really only for ASIO. You can let windows just use generic drivers. I've had less issues since uninstalling the driver, on some windows updates it will says error on the dfu driver under device manager, it's only for firmware updates so you can uninstall the dfu "device". Set it to 32bit and 44.1khz if you don't specifically use anything above that you know of. For firmware get whichever, GTO will sound different from the rest, I use the oldest firmware, to me sounds best and MQA doesn't matter. You can also use troubleshoot audio on windows and it will switch to generis audio drivers to fix the sound, since I uninstalled the driver I have had much less issues.
which firmware are you running just curious. Not many people know or talk about firmware 7.2 (cookies and cream) Im running stock 7.3 as it sounds the most accurate to me.
@@dnd6379 same, i found GTO to be the worst yet many people claim its the best. It amplifies the mids by quite a bit and it can make some tracks kind of shouty because of that. 7.3b, 7.4b have elevated the low end of the bass which can benefit some bass light headphones. btw 7.3 is the stock fw but the one i like is 7.2 which is delisted because it is the same fw as one of their flagships at the time.
@@fhf17 I think I have 5.12 or whatever one that was on their earlier models maybe 5.2, with GTO it made my hd650 very artificial sounding/gritty and bass wasn't in the center like with sub bass notes but it was on left channel and right channel, sub bass was lackluster with the GTO, and how it made bass sound I was like oop, nope, and switched back, it was really weird, didn't expect it at all just from switching firmware.
@@dnd6379 5.12 is the windows driver. Yeah idk GTO sounds boosted somehow. To me all of the reviews of the zen dac and zen dac v2 never talk about the differences in firmwares which is really annoying.
ifi gives you more air, a broader musical picture, but the drums sound with it like a drummer in felt boots, there is no punch. there is a bass, but there is no depth. compared to the creative x5.
Good review. Was also having constant issues with Windows not recognizing Zen DAC via USB and gave up on it for months. Finally revisited and discovered issue was the non iFi power supply that I was using for the DAC. Disconnected power supply and issue instantly disappeared. Skipping the power supply now on DAC and just power it via USB. Glad to have combo back. Using with HD560s and very satisfied. Also nice to free up a power socket.
I bought ifi Zen Can 2 years ago when they were offering the upgraded power supply for free. This was before all the signature series started coming out. I bought a pair of 2020 Sundara's last summer. Yes, the Xbass is all you need. I think you could skip the signature series all together and buy the "standard edition" Zen Can (I bought mine for $169 with the upgraded power supply), and have all the power, flexibility, and Xbass for $100 less.
The Xbase puts a muffling or veil if you will over the sound. The amount of base out of Xbase is not designed for any particular headphones. It is a general "whatever" amount. Xbase is like just picking some low end frequencies at random with an EQ. Who know what it will sound good with. The HFM base on the Signature does not have the veil and is specifically designed to augment the frequencies of the HFM planars. When you listen to them side by side it is quite noticeable with HFM planers.
In the usb options you can turn off "turn off this device to save power"
Goodness! Glad you are back at it. Thank you for another excellent review.
The regular zen dac doesn’t have that issue. I bought one for my sister and drove it myself for a few months leading up to giving it to her. It’s a killer value and is an awesome am by itself.
Perhaps the connectors or the cable itself was faulty ?
The sleep option on Zen won't work, you need to change your power option to hibernate instead of sleep. It works. This is an issue on Ifi
I have the new Zen One Dac, it has a power button and works flawlessly on Mac, and I use it together with the older Zen Can that only have X-Bass and 3D, I think Zen Can is a better option as it works with all headphones.
Nice review! Would love to get my hands on these.
Wish you could review the HD6XX version of the Zen Can. I wanted to hear your take on it's improvement with the HD 600 line or with the HD 800S
I never understood how much of a difference the 'Signature' series improved over the much cheaper iFi ZEN DAC V2. So I got the V2 instead. And I had to add the ATOM amp to get the fullness in the sub bass. The ZEN DAC V2 power output are all based on the non included AC adapter. I wish I knew this from the start. Would of went with a Topping DX5 or something instead.
Do you think the HFM Mode sounds better then with the Micro Signature with no XBass?
Dude, disable USB power saving modes. It's a Windows issue for devices that requires more than average power. Sleep messes up many USB devices even external Hard drives. Therefore your conclusion regarding the DAC is inconclusive because the USB unrecognisable devices after sleep mode/hibernation mode is a Windows bug.
Nice review!
Regarding the USB disconnection...
I have the zen one signature for a few months now connected to the USB port of a Xiaomi mi box s.
I have noticed that it disconnects when I turn on a light at a distance around 5 meters/15 feet away.
After I realized it I could easily replicate it...
So it does not seem to be at least in my case a driver issue but more of an interference that causes the disconnection.
Search usb device sleep mode, and try without putting the USB on sleep/off, just idle.
If it does not work perhaps change the cable
@@OptLab I've tried to reproduce this fault with Rpi but I couldn't. At least it is not zen one's problem
And will you be comparing the Micro iDSD Signature to the Hifiman EF 400 with the Arya?
What is the function of second balanced output at behind?
Is it for iem? Because when i using it my volume went down so hard
that's more of a passthrough to another amp, in case you've got more than one amp in your chain ^^
Is the Signature v2 an upgrade over the original Dac and silver ifi stack ?
Any difference with the idsd Signature ? (which does not have real balance circuitry)
Have you ever used the Idsd signature as just a dac connected to the can HFM signature as the amp? How does it sound
Sorry, I have not :(
we didnt know about the gameing video maybe video link them on here
I post them on the channel and I throw out a heads up when they release, check em out! ^^
@chuckolatte is this zen combo better for arya stealth or is the ifi signature pairing superior, thanks
iFi Signature, undoubtedly
How does HFM affect the ananda?
Not sure, I don't own an Ananda anymore
@@chuckolatte600 ah alr
Driver is really only for ASIO. You can let windows just use generic drivers. I've had less issues since uninstalling the driver, on some windows updates it will says error on the dfu driver under device manager, it's only for firmware updates so you can uninstall the dfu "device". Set it to 32bit and 44.1khz if you don't specifically use anything above that you know of. For firmware get whichever, GTO will sound different from the rest, I use the oldest firmware, to me sounds best and MQA doesn't matter. You can also use troubleshoot audio on windows and it will switch to generis audio drivers to fix the sound, since I uninstalled the driver I have had much less issues.
which firmware are you running just curious. Not many people know or talk about firmware 7.2 (cookies and cream)
Im running stock 7.3 as it sounds the most accurate to me.
@@fhf17 I really disliked the GTO, other versions sounded the same to me but I defaulted to the oldest firmware version.
@@dnd6379 same, i found GTO to be the worst yet many people claim its the best. It amplifies the mids by quite a bit and it can make some tracks kind of shouty because of that. 7.3b, 7.4b have elevated the low end of the bass which can benefit some bass light headphones. btw 7.3 is the stock fw but the one i like is 7.2 which is delisted because it is the same fw as one of their flagships at the time.
@@fhf17 I think I have 5.12 or whatever one that was on their earlier models maybe 5.2, with GTO it made my hd650 very artificial sounding/gritty and bass wasn't in the center like with sub bass notes but it was on left channel and right channel, sub bass was lackluster with the GTO, and how it made bass sound I was like oop, nope, and switched back, it was really weird, didn't expect it at all just from switching firmware.
@@dnd6379 5.12 is the windows driver. Yeah idk GTO sounds boosted somehow. To me all of the reviews of the zen dac and zen dac v2 never talk about the differences in firmwares which is really annoying.
My SSB instincts want to fight the hands.
do u wanna get tech'd???
I don’t have a PC but on Mac I’ve never had any usb issues with connectivity.
I got here at 69 views NICE
nice
@@chuckolatte600 Lol
I don't trust a guy that drinks Jim Beam. I'll go and buy the DAC.
ifi gives you more air, a broader musical picture, but the drums sound with it like a drummer in felt boots, there is no punch. there is a bass, but there is no depth. compared to the creative x5.