If you are looking for 200$ Dac, STOP LOOKING THIS IS IT! iFi Zen DAC V2 Review |vs Topping, Fiio...

[@ahmedpc03]

Great review! It provides a detailed comparison with others, giving meaning and depth to the analysis. thank you so much

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

Thank you so much for watching and liking.

[@Chess_ki]

Hey, nice review! I have this DAC and it performs really well, i am very satisfied with it :)

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

Hey man thanks a lot!

[@WEB-df1of]

no ifi fanboy, just an opinion: i tested a long time ifi v1 and v2, and as everyone says zen dac is a warm sound. v1 is warmer than v2. but v2's punch is better and its low and high frequencies are cleaner and more defined, v2 sounds more spatial or open, v1 tends to saturate faster. on the other hand the firmware i liked the most was the first version in both (xx. b) which is the one that comes from the factory. the following versions tend to control the low frequencies more, like a cooler or more balanced sound, especially the GTO version. just as a recommendation v2 would be a better option("better", I don't think that's the right word, but you know what I mean.). also its powermatch and truebass are a great help and it is appreciated that it is analog. also the headphone preamp is very good, although my headphones are not so difficult to pick up (hifiman he5xx and beyerdinamics T70) but they sound very good. In the end both ifi models are very good. I hope it will be useful to someone.

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

Thank you so much for sharing this insightful opinion and thank you for watching my review!

[@DavidGonzalez-fh9zn]

I don't like the look of the ifi zen dac, but I'll give it a try and if I like the sound, it will stay hidden in my system. I bought a Rotel rcd12 15 years ago and it still works, but I want to use it for transportation. Good video.

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

It should be an ugrade, not certain in that combo how much of an upgrade but you should here some sonic upgrade with it. Thanks for continues watching if my videos man it is appriciated.

[@geevee1045]

Another great review. But can I just confirm... did you say the best sounding DAC in this comparison is the Dragonfly Cobalt? Just checking, Thx.

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

Sound wise purley, Cobalt is the best. But feature and ports is completely lacking.

[@portugasanwa]

I want to buy it but it deliveries low power, I know it´s enough for the most devices but if you have a hungry planar headphone it doesnt deliver enough power, I ´m between it and Toping dx3 pro+

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

It is great that you know your needs right away, and not to be. Disappointed after purchase. I am not a headphones guy, so my expertise here are really limited. I prefer sound of ifi to topping, but all of that falls in water if they are not strong enough to drive your headphones. If not driven correctly your headphones are going to sound far more flat, and you certainly do not want that.

[@blaidd-ppga]

Hey, I got a hifiman sundara and it sounds really low connected to my Mac and pc. I later learnt I need a dac, I ordered the zen dac v3 but it only has 390mw power output while the fiio k7 has 6x the output. Should I cancel my order and go for fiio? Thanks in advance for your reply!

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

Well definetly you need pre amplifier for Sundara. And no, Sudara is not so hard to drive that you need all the power of fiio. I see benefits of fiio as a future proof buy if you continue on path of upgrading headphones. But you need to buy decent balanced cables, and what matters the most is that which sound you like the most ifi or fiio. But zen dac should do a good job with your headphones.

[@blaidd-ppga]

@@HIFIDaydreaming thanks for your answer! What are balanced cables? Can I not just use the cables that came with the sundara?

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

@@blaidd-ppga yeah, maybe I used the wrong terminology here. The regular cable should be fine, most of the headphones cables are balanced.

[@portugasanwa]

@@blaidd-ppga You have the single ended(3,5mm or 6,3mm) it has two channels output and you have the balanced cables (4,4mm and 2,5mm) wich has 4 channels, balanced deliveries more output power, your amplifier must suport it and your headphone or iem need a balanced cable

[@kurt120032002]

Yea good luck wasting 200$ on the worst dac I ever had including phones with 3.5 mm jack... well technically is the 2nd worse, the first is zen blue, but since that can be use as BT to Optical/COAX it still has the right to exist. This piece of trash is insanely sharp without any resolution. SMSL M7 is 6-7 year older then this and is far better, Ifi Hip-Dac - the original (the blue one), BTR5, Pro-Ject S2 digital... (those are just the ones that I personally used) there are a lot of options in 20$ ish price range, both above and below that price, but don't get this trash just because someone is building a portfolio of positive reviews. My 8 year old SMSL M7 is still in use as pc-dac at work, while ZenDac i gave it way for free after 6 months, it was that bad, and went on ifi subredit page and told them they f.. up. I told them all they had to do is to make a hip-dac without battery, but thy fucked it up.

[@dragonstone6594]

Are you sure this thing is 200$? Because it looks like it came out of a dollar store bro. It so ugly, I ain't even putting this outside my house. 😂

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

Have you seen and touched this device in store? Everyone have personal tastes, but I like how this device looks and feels, it is a metal body with nice textures and tactile feelings. Plus with HIFI price of device is not always in alignment with it's looks, but with how it sounds.

[@dragonstone6594]

​@@HIFIDaydreaming For me the looks matter almost as much as the sound quality. So this device is out of the question for me, because it would be sitting on my desk, and I don't want my eyes to be asaulted everytime I look at them. lol Good review though.

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

@@dragonstone6594 I respect that! And thanks for watching man, hopefully i will review something in future you will like aesthetically as much of sonically. 😁

[@dragonstone6594]

@@HIFIDaydreaming I would suggest for a review to do the Fosi ZA3 vs the XTZ Edge A2-300 or 400 and pair them with large spreakers like the Magnat Transpuls 1000 or 1500 and see if these class D amps can drive them.

[@HIFIDaydreaming]

@@dragonstone6594 that is great idea, but it is also a lot of gear that I don't have that i need to buy. Maybe something like fosi review, i actually plan to do something like that, to test with rest if the gear and that is more reasonable. I don't have magnapans, but i really wish to review them one day.