News: Drop ZEN CAN Signature 6XX?

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by purr1n, Jul 3, 2020.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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  2. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    ^^Uhm...I say yes. Is that a 4.4 balanced output on the front?
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2020
  3. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Weird, not my cup of tea that this was designed for mostly one headphone. At least you can use other headphones with out the special EQ it seems.

    However, I could be wrong and call this the beez knees.
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2020
  4. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    I got to try a Zen thing over a few hours because I was debating getting one, do think stock would be a decent fit for the HD650 but I'm curious what sort of wizardry they're going for with an active EQ component.

    Wild guess says sub-bass extension and headstage expansion, which are two of the biggest complaints about the 6XX. Already know iFi can achieve the former via their XBass thing, wonder if they're cutting some presence region and adding sparkle if this is pure EQ with no crossfeed?

    Yup, the Zen DAC thing comes with 4.4mm Pentaconn standard! I think I like it as an alternative to XLR just for the ease of use and how much smaller components can be, but XLR plugs do look pretty cool ;)
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2020
  5. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    That looks interesting. I am not particularly a big fan of neither eq (hope it would not be the bass boost though) nor onebox dacamp, but that's prob only me. Ifi has been attracting my interest. Price also sounds so right for many folks buying hd6xx.

    EDIT: was wrong. It's not a dacamp, just an amp (no digital inputs).
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2020
  6. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    I wouldn't buy it, but as an initial set for a newbie if it sounds decent it may be a good combo.
     
  7. Walderstorn

    Walderstorn Friend

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    If it's just Xbass and their 3D (present in some of their combos like the Black Label) i would be super disappointed. Neither of them do the 600/650 any favors in general, just with some types of music and actually being able to turn them on and off is an advantage and here you would have no choice.

    This said if they do this right and if it pairs wonderfully with the 600 series than it would be "perfect" for many.
     
  8. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    No DAC in this one, right? Just a headamp with a 6XX button for the EQ.
     
  9. Raimei Templar

    Raimei Templar Friend

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    There was a graph posted for the active EQ prototype somewhere but I cant remember where. From what I recall it jacked the subbass up quite a bit and had a smaller boost around 6k. It looked like a pretty smart EQ designed to address the common complaints with the 650 which are lack of subbass and the "veil".

    I think 250 is a lot to ask for it personally, it seems like a nice product but for 250 you could get a Asgard and save 50 bucks,or a Magni 3/Modi which gets you a dac too. This is pretty clearly targeted towards people entering the hobby and getting a amp and a dac makes more sense than just a nice amp IMO. I guess for people who absolutely refuse to do digital EQ and only want to use a 6xx its an amazing option but very niche. If it had a dac built in for that it would have been a much bigger deal.

    The non drop version should be interesting though, as stacking it with a Zen Dac would be a interesting combo. I thought the Zen Dac was a pretty solid dac, just the amp portion was weak. I assume based on IFIs history it will be a pure class A amp which will find a place in the market, as I dont think there are many of those out there for 250 or less anymore since Asgard 3 is not technically full class A.
     
  10. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    I guess they had the prototype of it in Canjam NY this year. It definitely bumped up the bass a bit.
     
  11. nishan99

    nishan99 Friend

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    Out of all the headphones they're selling, they choose to EQ the 6XX?. Wut?.
    It seems a marketing move to package it with the most popular and hard'ish to drive headphones. Cute package ngl.
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Many serious audiophiles on SBAF including myself own the HD650/HD6XX and use it on a regular basis. The most popular thread with near 400k views on SBAF is the HD650 Love thread.
     
  13. Walderstorn

    Walderstorn Friend

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    And doesn't that make sense in every aspect? I mean yes, there are some that also needs EQ but if there are some HP's that really, really, super need EQ to be listenable that means that they are trash anyway so they are actually making people a favor :)
     
  14. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Or HD600 for the ones who think HD650 is a bit too sleepy! :p

    Noise aside, depending on how good an amp it is and given how these are probably going to sell modestly (not gonna lie, seems a pretty niche demographic even considering the HD650/6XXes are insanely popular), not to mention the implementation of a not-horrible EQ that may fix the lack of extension in stock form without exacerbating distortion characteristics, the price might be fine? Depends on how good the vanilla ZenCAN will be, as this appears to be based primarily on that.

    Brain fart, I missed that it wasn't based on the $129 ZenDAC at first so was mistaken to state how Senns would sound out of that. I can only imagine it'll be better though, since it's not an AIO and instead an ostensibly better amp.
     
  15. Dzerh

    Dzerh Friend

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    I'm not interested - I prefer HD600.
     
  16. ufospls2

    ufospls2 Friend

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    I think iFi is releasing a more standard version of this as well, I suppose it will be called the ZenCAN, which is a more universal amplifier. 4watts into 16 ohms, XBass and 3D features. If you don't have the HD6XX it would be the way to go, but for the people who have the 6XX, this seems like an interesting option
     
  17. iFi audio

    iFi audio MOT iFi Audio

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    ... or several other Senns :)
     
  18. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    FYI, I will be getting this in for review and maybe loaner. It's hard for me to turn down any HD650/HD6XX related or optimized as I'm sure many of you guys already know how I've still stuck with the HD6** series of headphones despite "better" headphones in the past 10 years.

    I have some specs on Zen Can in regards to the EQ (which I will verify once I have it in my hands) but not sure if I can share it yet.
     
  19. Case

    Case Anxious Head (Formerly Wilson)

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  20. Raimei Templar

    Raimei Templar Friend

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    The Zen Can might be the balanced amp the Modius has been waiting for considering its price. The only issue would be sourcing a female dual 3 pin xlr to 4.4mm male cable as that is a very unusual connection. might be impossible to get without having it custom built.

    I like the Drop versions midnight blue color scheme but they really need to make a custom Zen dac to pair with it as it is going to clash with the silver/black coloration of the original. I love the FOUR gain settings too that is something more amps need to do.

    The non drop version will be a gamechanger here in Japan. Schiit has no presence at all in Japan so options for getting solid affordable powerful amps here are almost nonexistent. Its pretty much just Topping and other chifi stuff and older things like the Teac HA-501/ Fostex A-4bl. Would be nice to have a non Chifi option purchasable locally. Importing Schiit is expensive :).
     

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