Drop x iFi ZEN DAC Signature Review and Measurements

Purrin rubbed out the corner of the D on Drop and DAC.

 

We all know it is made by iFi. Just another exclusive product. They have been getting more and more custom, which means more exclusivity.

At least Audeze thought better of it with the LCD-2C.

 

https://drop.com/buy/ifi-audio-zen-dac-signature-drop-exclusive/talk/2666019

 

Was it rubbed out? The edge looks quite well defined, like it was stylized.

 

I'm gonna be out a DAC since I'm letting go of my current one soon to reshuffle things (sigh)— the bass boost might be more acceptable on HD600 but the more-Harman treble thing might be overkill, no?

And no I promise I didn't say something vaguely on-topic just so I could also point out that there's too good an opportunity for silly jokes when you put "rubbed out" and "D" together in a single sentence.

I'll see myself out now.

 

I took what he said at face value and was legitimately trying to help answer @fraggler's question.

 

You've got your wires crossed. The DAC and AMP are two separate products. It's the amplifier that features the EQ.

 

That I did, whoops. I find this series even more confusingly-named than their previous ones! Will reserve queries for the appropriate thread

 

Just to make it crystal clear, here's how the final version looks like

 

This would be a pretty great dac for the Koss ESP 95/x I think. Having a really nice volume pot to control the ESPs volume so you dont have to deal with its irritating pots is really nice and it matches the ascetic well. Based on the impressions of it, should be a pretty good match soundwise too. Would be very interesting to compare a HD6xx plus the Zen stack to a ESP 95/x and the Zen DAc here given that they basically cost the same.

Hope they offer it again in the future, cant get it now but this dac is quite interesting. Looking forward to seeing it compared to the original!

 

Why do you say you can't get it now? They must have extended the purchase window - it shows as available for two more days.

 

I mean I can buy it now as i have reached the limit of my audio budget lol. It is not selling well so I am not sure that it will come back in the future.

 

It's a marathon, not a sprint

Drop's sales are in short windows separated in time, so it's likely that our device will be available there again.

 

I am in. Wanted to compare it to non sig side by side.

 

Oh, let the logos and letters not fool you folks.. This product deserves more awareness in sbaf. Drop collaboration did a good amount of anti-marketing for the zen sig dac. I sincerely recommend @iFi audio to sell this on their amazon store as well. I believe people (of course myself included) would hate "order in July get in Nov" hassle for this price range.

I wasn't that wrong. No they don't sound that similar. But kinda very similar "experience" which I often associate with "musicality". To me zen sig and idsd pro seem much closer to each other than, say, modius to yggdrasil (or modi mb to yggdrasil).

I will post in-depth thoughts later but for now let me put this way.

1. I will take zen sig over Modi 3, Modi MB, and Zen non-sig any day. Safely speaking, it can perform no less than any of them in any aspect I care.
2. I think I prefer zen sig to modius in the context of headphone listening. Better staging and nicer tones. Sweeter mids too. Yet compatible technicalities.
3. In fact very tempted to pick up one. Started debating myself.

PS. Where can I get cheap but decent 4.4mm pentacon to XLR adapter? Getting curious how it sounds with balanced configuration.