It stacks easily with other ZEN components (more on that later) and can easily blend into most desktop setups. Sign up if you're into that kinda stuff. January 10, 2021 Riccardo Galla. You can also use iFi’s XBass+ add a little bass extension, or the 3D+ Matrix to enhance the soundstage. The iFi Zen Can is a super-affordable Class A desktop headphone amplifier. Class A discrete output buffer from the flagship Pro iCAN using Op-Amp (OV2637A) or use balanced output on the back to connect to another device like a set of powered speakers. Considering that it is a home device, nothing gives any worries to the user in terms of long term durability. On the front of the device, you can choose between the RCA, 3.5mm single-ended, or balanced 4.4mm inputs (the inputs themselves are found on the back), and adjust the gain from 0dB, 6dB, 12dB, and 18dB. The iFi Zen CAN is an impressive headphone DAC with a built-in amp that will be enough for easy-to-drive headphones. I found that it had a generally warm sound, and provided plenty of headroom. The 3D+ Matrix is nice, but I didn’t feel particularly strongly about it whether it was on or off. Ifi is a well-regarded British corporation that produces a bewildering number of reasonably priced specialty audio products manufactured in China. The iFi logo in the center displays different colors depending on the codec it receives. However, I can’t say the same for the buttons. The iFi ZEN line started with the ZEN DAC and blossomed into a series that provides an excellent entry point into audiophile sound. The most recent addition to the series is the iFi ZEN CAN, a standalone solid state headphone amp. Would have loved to see the ESR II compared with the JH13v2. I would’ve liked better-designed buttons. While the ZEN DAC and ZEN Blue don’t really have much synergy (or even a simple way to directly connect them), both have some strong pairing possibilities with the ZEN CAN. It is priced at $169. On the back, we hav… Disclaimer: The iFi ZEN CAN was provided directly by iFi Audio. For the Zen CAN Signature edition the main highlight is the 'HD6XX' button, which is meant to improve its frequency response. very good sound quality and it looks beautiful. In detail, it has the following features: Other than those above, it has the classic iFi features like 3D & xBass sound effects. If you’re looking at a traditional wired setup, you’ve got a few more options. The unit has support for most major hi-fi audio formats as well as balanced connections, which is rare for entry-level audio products. I have one question, is the 4.4 Pentaconn balanced line output on the back muted when headphones are used? The ZEN Blue and ZEN CAN make for an excellent low budget streamer setup. Other than that, from its silicone stoppers underneath to the outputs on the back, everything is solid and durable. Picture Sunday: iFi Audio Gemini & Mercury, Class A discrete output buffer from the flagship Pro iCAN using Op-Amp (OV2637A), FET input avoids loading volume control – low distortion/noise, SE inputs (1M Ohm) ensures loading of the source so always in Class A operation, Output amplifier gain of four steps in +6dB perfect for headphone matching. In an unconventional approach from the tech learning and evaluation methods I've all but trained myself to follow since the 80s, I hooked up the iFi Zen Phono preamp without looking at anything on paper or online. Today we check out the $149 iFi ZEN CAN headphone amplifier in this review. He enjoys a fine single malt along with his favourite Jazz recordings. The ZEN CAN’s output power levels are as follows: >15.1V/385 mW (@ 600 Ohm) >11.0V/1890 mW (@ 64 Ohm), >7.6V/196 mW (@ 300 Ohm) >7.2V/1600 mW (@ 32 Ohm). That being said, there is a built in dac so you can hook it directly into powered speakers via the RCA if you prefer not to use the speakers built in DAC (assuming yours has one, most seem to offer that) or you can plug it into an analog input on your pre amp. The ZEN series is their most-affordable product line. a compact balanced-capable desktop headphone amplifier capable of up to 1.6W into a 32Ω load. As a comparison point, I listened to “Snow (Hey Oh)” by Red Hot Chili Peppers on the oBravo Cupid with both setups. The ZEN DAC is a solid entry level DAC/amp combo which also features a simple design and easy setup. It just needs the four tall, spindly legs. But design and looks are personal topics of course. iFi Audio’s Zen Blue is a wireless DAC – specifically, it’s billed as a high-resolution Bluetooth streamer. With the ZEN DAC + ZEN CAN, there was a pleasant pop to the snare. In common with the other iFi Zen Series products, the Zen Can looks smartly finished with a neatly-sized, sturdy aluminium enclosure. The first 1000 units come with iFi’s ultra-low noise ‘iPower’ AC/DC power adapter for £169. The single-ended output is 6.3mm. ifi Zen Can and Zen Blue Review. I already reviewed five different iFi products before this, which are the Nano iOne, the Nano iDSD Black Label, the xDSD, the xCAN, and the ZEN Blue. While some of the characteristics of the pairing might be true of the ZEN DAC by itself, the biggest thing that the ZEN CAN adds isn’t just a couple more buttons and some warmth, it’s raw power.  The ZEN CAN is capable of putting out a maximum of 15.3V @ 600 Ohm via balanced connection, while the ZEN DAC can only only produce 6.2V @ 600 Ohm. You can output to 6.3mm unbalanced (a 6.3mm to 3.5mm adapter is included in the box), 4.4mm balanced headphones. With 15.1v @300 Ohms on tap, it has serious power that will make even difficult-to-drive headphones. iFi Audio has been steadily increasing the breadth and scope of its product range and the Zen marks its entry level, and at £129, it is very firmly that. We’ll see how the ZEN CAN does by itself, and then take a look at the full ZEN line, and how each piece can work together in a stack. The review reflects my sincere opinions as always. It’s an absolutely solid DAC/amp combo for the price, but without pairing them with the ZEN CAN, you lose the XBass+ and 3D+ Matrix features, and narrow the range of usable headphones and IEMs. Last but not least, there’s the 5V DC power input. Because the ZEN CAN is a standalone amp, you’ll either need a separate DAC, or a source that has a built in DAC. As always with iFi Audio, the packaging is made from recyclable materials. iFi audio ZEN CAN | Review “iFi Audio is once again revolutionizing the market for stationary amplifiers in this price range, with a product that combines all the inputs and outputs available and to be had, a balanced circuit from start to finish, and power to move almost any headphone on the market.” Commentdocument.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a3d118d04774088f3cebc11a816be14e" );document.getElementById("j5019307a1").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. iFi has apparently trickled down the amplifier circuit from their flagship Pro iCan to the Zen Can, albeit in a smaller package (and with lower output power). The volume pot feels very rigid and it has just the right weight when you turn it. The small box stores an RCA cable and an adapter for powering up the device. The iFi Zen Phono’s clarity is bound to give it plenty of suitors. You can check more figures and details on the product page of the ZEN CAN. Four years ago, I favorably reviewed iFi's iDAC2 and iUSB3. super quality, Hello, congratulations on the Analysis, I am undecided between A18s and A18t, my favorite genres are Rock, Pop, Hip Hop, some Rap and Electronic, what do you recommend? It certainly made us meditate on questions of audiophile proportionality. The Zen is designed for home use, made painfully clear by its internet router style appearance. It has the discrete balanced circuitry from iFi audio’s US$1,699 flagship Pro iCAN. Simplistic expressions of sound in his reviews is the way to go for him. It has the discrete balanced circuitry from iFi audio’s US$1,699 flagship Pro iCAN.With 15.1v @300 Ohms on tap, it has serious power that will make even difficult-to-drive headphones. The set up is very simple. To me, it has a very neutral and linear response, good bass quality, and good transparency in mids & treble. The iFi Zen is a USB only DAC headphone amplifier combo intended for desktop use. You also get a 6.3mm adapter which is nice. If say Fir M4 and this is the same price.. which will you choose?? Unboxing / Packaging: The Zen blue ships in a lift top style box with the main unit housed in an egg-crate surround and the antenna, power cable, and RCA cables in a … Also, I would like to pay special thanks to Karina for this review sample. The ZEN DAC is going to provide better performance with most headphones and IEMs than the ZEN CAN, but if you’re using high impedance headphones or very sensitive IEMs, the ZEN CAN is the better choice. With 15.1v @300 Ohms on tap, it has serious power that will make even difficult-to-drive headphones thump to the beat. On the left, beside the power button and input switch, there's a control for selecting the appropriate gain. The iFi ZEN CAN is available from selected retailers. The OV series operational amplifier used in the ZEN Phono is an example of a top-notch component used to get the best sound quality out of iFi … iFi Zen DAC Review [revised] Antdroid | July 12, 2020 The iFi Zen DAC is a $129 Digital-to-Analog (DAC) converter and headphone amplifier that is bound to get some interest for entry-level audiophiles and people looking for a small unit to use at work or to take with them on the go. The ZEN DAC and ZEN CAN combined, are potentially a best in class combo in the under $300 range, but if you’re on a tighter budget, your specific needs will determine which unit is best for you. The art of listening for art's sake - the art of listening to music, including hi-res audio, MQA, DSD, and 5.1 surround sound. However, the ZEN CAN isn’t a hybrid of any kind. iFi Audio ZEN CAN Review. The iFi Zen DAC is an excellent DAC and amp for the price. On the back, some inputs are 4.4mm balanced, 3.5mm single-ended, and RCA. I can’t help but wonder if this feature isn’t specifically targeted at the Sundara and the Audeze LCD-1, two excellent entry-level audiophile headphones which have recessed sub-bass. Sometimes photography wins, sometimes his love for music takes him over and he puts that camera aside. About iFi ZEN Can. Thanks for the great review. I wasn’t able to hear any distortion or background noise. Awards are by far the most commercially important awards in the industry in the UK and beyond. iFi Audio ZEN CAN Headphone Amp Review. Daikin’s mission is to provide the most advanced air conditioning solutions to every household. Packed with amazing features, unique cooling performance, and great energy-saving technology. They pay attention to the products of course, but they also pay attention to make you happy. It is a close relation in design terms to the Zen Blue Bluetooth DAC we looked at recently but there are some crucial differences too which we’ll cover in due course. The iFi Zen Dac’s main selling feature is the balanced headphone and line-level outputs and for a very low price. I’m pretty sure this is also the case for their actual customers. The ZEN DAC offers two line out modes: fixed and variable. The ZEN CAN provides a number of options for connectivity and a good number of controls to accommodate different types of headphones and listeners. Whether you use it standalone or combine it with something like the ZEN DAC or ZEN Blue, it provides plenty of power for the biggest, hungriest headphones, and has a low noise floor while driving sensitive IEMs. Class A discrete output buffer from the flagship Pro iCAN using Op-Amp (OV2637A) For more info, you can check the Zen Can product page. iFi Zen Can Review. Learn how your comment data is processed. reviews earlier this year, for the ZEN DAC, ZEN Blue and hip-dac. and it is the perfect follow-up to our 5 star WHF? Right from the start, you feel that this is solely a device for desktop use. To my ears, it provided a little more benefit to balanced armature based IEMs, and the least benefit to any of the over-ear headphones. This means that the ZEN CAN can power pretty much any headphones you can throw at it. Output is more varied as on top of the aforementioned headphone jacks there are two RCA sockets and one 4.4 mm jack (which one can then convert to other standards, such as two XLR3 connectors). – Headfonia Lieven. I can’t get past the fact that, to me, looking heard on, the chassis of the iFi Zen DAC looks like an art deco console table. This combination is a touch cleaner sounding than the Zen Blue with clearer mids and more coherent bass. With the ZEN Blue + ZEN CAN the bass felt slightly more congested, and the snare had a little less snap. A stand-alone DAC devoted to the Bluetooth standard, Paul Rigby looks at iFi’s Zen Blue Who knows? We send out infrequent non-spammy emails with news, videos, and deals. The ZEN Blue has a built in DAC, but does not have an amp, so the two are a match made in heaven. Thank you. This is a considerate decision from iFi and I’m glad that they’re keeping this up. The ZEN CAN has trickle-down Class A discrete balanced circuitry from iFi audio’s US$1,699 flagship Pro iCAN. If you want wireless streaming functionality, then it's a pretty easy choice: the ZEN Blue and ZEN CAN provide excellent sound quality and convenience for the price. It has many of the features iFi DAC amps are known for but at a reduced price and with a different look from iFi’s past products. The iFi Zen Can is a super-affordable Class A desktop headphone amplifier. 09/17/2020 iFi Zen DAC Review At a radical budget price, iFi delivers its "Zen DAC", which is both incredibly versatile and clever. The amplifier also supports the new balanced standard of 4.4mm for its balanced headphone output. The output is a little more neutral than the ZEN CAN, so if you don’t like the extra warmth, and have headphones or IEMs for which you won’t have much concern about power or hiss, the ZEN DAC might be a better pick as a standalone unit than the ZEN CAN. There’s one more 4.4mm balanced output on the back which I think is there for speaker connection. The iFi Zen DAC costs less than £130 and can reproduce these tracks to a level that is at least on par with my CD player. On the 0dB setting, I was able to pair it with all the IEMs I had available (including the current Campfire Audio lineup, 64 Audio Tia Fourte and U12t, Meze Rai Solo, and the oBravo Cupid), and it was able to drive all of them perfectly with no noise or hiss. The ZEN CAN is an excellent headphone amp, and a great value. I had been using an AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt, but I wanted to try the CAN (combined with the Zen Amp) to experience balanced input on my HiFiMAN Ananda headphones. Generally speaking, the XBass+ isn’t so much of a “bass boost” as it is a gentle extension in the sub-bass. The ZEN Blue is a very simple and straightforward to set up wireless streamer. You can get it plugged in and paired with your phone within minutes of opening the box. But more attractive than your typical router, the front panel has only the pairing button and two indicators on the shiny metal surface. Enter the iFi ZEN CAN. I found that the XBass+ was a nice addition to the HiFiMAN Sundara, and helped regain the sub-bass that’s rolled off in the Sundara’s design. The other indicator shines a steady blue for 44/48 kHz, and white for 88/96. Read their 5 star review … The presentation of the package is unimpressive, to say the least, but it works perfectly as I didn’t see any deformations from shipping. You’d have trouble keeping a vase of flowers on it, though, because this unit only spans a dinky 117 x 100 x 30mm and weighs a mere 491g. There is definitely some feeling that the soundstage is a little bit bigger with it on, and I didn’t feel that it sounded bad at any point. It might sell only burger and chips nowadays but back when I were a lad, Southport’s Bold Hotel was the height of sophistication. The iFi ZEN CAN is a powerful, versatile headphone amp and a great value for the money. (Might I possibly wear out the "I" on my keyboard by the end of this review?) Sound-wise, the ZEN CAN reflects iFi Audio’s house sound unsurprisingly, with a very clean presentation, a nice background, good resolution, and clarity. This review was originally published on Audioreviews.org ... iFi Audio is a UK-based manufacturers focusing primarily on DAC and Amps in various form-factors. The bass had a nice physical thump to it. The sound impressions were taken with Sennheiser HD800S, Hifiman Deva (wired), and the Thieaudio Phantom headphones. However, I’m also aware that this is not a premium amplifier which you can easily say by looking at its asking price. The iFi ZEN CAN is available from today (31 July). Recently they’ve released the ZEN CAN, a follow up to the popular ZEN DAC. The ZEN DAC is the one unit in the series which can be used in a 100% standalone fashion. BLOG: The Fav Album Of…. The Bluetooth connection to the combination of the ZEN Blue and CAN provided a marked improvement in sound quality over a direct connection to either, so you’re getting the best of both worlds – the convenience of a wireless connection and improvements in sound quality. I also realized that it is quite smaller in real life than in photographs. In terms of inputs the iFi ZEN DAC is quite limited: there’s USB, and that’s it. Belonging to the group AMR (Abbingdon Music Research Group), which is one of the largest audio equipment manufacturers in the UK, iFi Audio is a manufacturer of several DACs and amplifiers, as well as other accessories for computer & home audio. I bought the CD version of an album to experience the ultimate sound quality but thanks to the iFi Zen DAC I can now experience the best quality through a music streaming service. He tries to keep his photography enthusiasm at the same level with audio. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Disclaimer: The iFi Audio ZEN CAN sent to us for the purposes of this review is a sample in exchange for our honest opinion. Reserved for family treats (i.e birthdays and the like), a trip to “the Bold” would see a swarm of waiters darkening your table. Even though the iFi ZEN is only $149, it does use quality components throughout the unit. The most important comparison in my mind is between the Drop Zen CAN Signature and the regular iFi Zen CAN. We'll Match or Beat Any Price + No Tax Outside NJ, Creating a ZEN Stack: Pairing with the iFi ZEN Blue and ZEN DAC, ZEN Blue DAC is not as powerful as ZEN DAC, Incredible power, quality, and versatility for the price, The best standalone choice for most headphones and IEMs, Lacks the ability to work with the full range of the most sensitive and most power demanding headphones. The ZEN CAN has trickle-down Class A discrete balanced circuitry from iFi audio’s US$1,699 flagship Pro iCAN. We used the later of the those two as I do not have any … You get the device on the left, and accessories on the right. In the centre of the front panel is a rotary volume control, flanked by a range of sockets and buttons. You will need to be using a pair of headphones capable of handling that amount of power. Whether it is a full frame camera or a custom in-ear, his standpoint persists the same. Performance-wise, I can’t find any fault with the Zen Can. iFi Audio has a very open and charming communication which makes things a lot easier, at least it’s been the case for me. As a thank you, get free overnight shipping on your next order over $599! The WHF? Nevertheless, I think this is a very thoughtful design for home-usage. This is a figure within spitting distance of PM 's own measurements [see Lab Report, p75], albeit via the highest gain setting. The review continues on page 2 about the sound. There were two reasons that led me to this choice: the need of a balanced digital to analog converter and the lack of a large budget. Last year I bought the first Zen series product by iFi Audio: the Zen DAC. The soundstage also scales nicely with the DAC you use. I want…. If you don’t want to use a wireless connection, or if further improvements in sound quality trump convenience, the ZEN DAC and ZEN CAN can be connected to provide one of the best combinations for driving headphones south of $300. I’m not into fancy packaging, to be honest, so this gets the job done for me. ZEN CAN Standalone (using phone or PC for DAC). How would you compare the Neo with the 64 audio Tia Trio? – Headfonia Store aka Michael Ting! The ZEN CAN promises to drive all of your headphones and IEMs, big and small, with both a low noise floor and enough power to drive the biggest of big boys. iFi is most likely the first name to come up when pondering on a go-to amp/DAC. The front side has the on/off button, input selector, gain switch which has 4 levels, the volume pot, the 6.3mm & 4.4mm outputs, and the xBass/3D effect button.  All of the switches are indicated LED lights, and I liked the fact that there are 4 different gain levels which makes this amp highly versatile. While the ZEN CAN probably won’t bring you inner peace, it is a great headphone amp to get you started on the path of high-end audio. Award! This is a dedicated Bluetooth unit: it has a range of output options, but the only way it can receive a signal is from a Bluetooth device (smartphone, tablet, computer). Connect your Amazon Alexa or…, BLOG: The Fav Album Of…. It’s rugged, smooth, and reassuring. Luckily, most common sources – like phones and laptops, have built in DACs, so if you don’t have a DAC, you can connect to it directly from the headphone jack on any number of devices.Â. The iFi Audio ZEN CAN is a compact balanced-capable desktop headphone amplifier capable of up to 1.6W into a 32Ω load. iFi ZEN CAN Review The iFi ZEN line started with the ZEN DAC and blossomed into a series that provides an excellent entry point into audiophile sound. The case itself is simple and sturdy. The exact sound signature is going to largely depend on what DAC you’re pairing it with, and it will scale nicely with more expensive DACs or DAC/amp combos that might be lacking the “oompf” to really make your headphones pump.
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