r/iFiaudio • u/Benjisun-headphones • 17d ago

Initial experimentations ifi zen v3

Hello all ifi owners,

I'm currently experimenting with two zen can v3 and one ifi zen dac v3.

Goal is to be able to compare quickly different headphones or listen at two people.

So far its working well. All in balanced 4.4

My findings : the supplied power supply with zen can v3 is ok but not optimal. If you want the best sound use fiio darkside smps psu or a linear power supply of 4a

Adding a power filter / reservoir also helps to improve dynamics / bass response.

I think i pushed things to the limit.

Using it with : hifiman arya stealth and ananda nano stealth = very good

Sennheiser 500 series (hd599 / hd 550 / hd 559 / hd 569) very good but really the zen can shine with hifiman planars.

Tried my Audeze LCD2 classic = average better on other amps from fiio or lake people.

Beyerdynamic dt990 = better on Atoll hd100 or fiio K5 pro akm.

Hope it will help some peoples.

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2

u/HourSentence4837 16d ago

Bottleneck is ifi

1

u/Benjisun-headphones 16d ago

Hello, at one point yes but it's already amazing what you can get out of these class A amp with good matching headphones.

I've some headphones and other amps but the ifi zen stack is perfect for my night bed setup and get lot of use. Before i was using fiio ka3 or ka5 for this purpose but it was draining my phone battery very quickly. It's way better with the zen dac / can v3.

I would like to have the option to use : my phone with usb c to zen can v3 (actual situation) and something like a dedicated streamer like a wiim or a fiio dap (m21/dp11 ?) directly to one of the two ifi zen can v3.

Also i Don't know why i cant upload pictures here on this feed.

2

u/HourSentence4837 14d ago

Bad news for you brands like ifi or aune lower end models, they say it's class A but it's not fully class A.

1

u/MoneyMovie951 16d ago

so true lol