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Despite having a laundry-list of digital smarts and seemingly complex capabilities, the ZEN One Signature DAC is extremely simple to use on a daily basis. It really is a simple plug-and-play device once you have it hooked-up to your inputs and amplifier of choice, and it doesn’t get any more complicated than pressing the input switch to change sources between USB, SPDIF and Bluetooth. Listening to the ZEN One Signature DAC The award-winning MQA is a British technology that delivers the sound of the master recording. You can enjoy decoded master-level audio since the Zen One Signature DAC has this feature. Complex and Costly but Outstanding Vishay MELF Resistors The Zen One Signature DAC has two outputs. One is a set of RCA 2V single-ended analogue outputs, and the other is a 4V 4.4mm-balanced analogue output. You can simultaneously use both while running two amplifiers from the Zen One. This DAC uses the next-generation HD Bluetooth technology to ensure the best sound from all sources. It supports extensive high-definition codecs, including aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, HWA/LHDC, and LDAC. The product has a high-gain antenna to deliver an extended Bluetooth range. Transforms and Refines Your Home Music This product delivered excellent performance when we tested it for our ifi Zen One Signature DAC Review. It did not add any unique enhancements to the sound, which we liked. This DAC allowed us to hear the master quality of various music.
The iFi Audio ZEN One Signature is purist and minimalistic in concept but you still have to manage those inputs and the Bluetooth connection so there are some buttons upfront to manage those inputs. The ZEN One Signature is also the first ZEN DAC to support all hi-res: DSD256, PCM384, MQA384kHz, Bluetooth 96KHz. Other new features include; And the Z1S is about enjoyment, at least that is how I feel about it after using it for the past few weeks and trying it with a variety of different amplifiers (both with headphones and speakers). iFi Audio extends the ZEN product range with the ZEN CAN – a purely analog headphone amplifier in a compact aluminum casing.
What To Think About
The ZEN One Signature DAC is just that - a DAC (or, d igital to a nalogue c onverter, in case you’re wondering). Unlike some of the other similarly-shaped teardrop products in iFi Audio’s range of “ZEN” products, there’s no headphone amplifier or volume control in this one - it’s a DAC in the purest sense, and iFi Audio thinks it may well be the only one you need. The ZEN One Signature DAC is designed to take digital signals from a source like your Mac/PC, smartphone, TV or gaming console, and decode them into a line-level analogue stereo signal so that your other devices can amplify it into the stuff that your brain recognises as “music”. Oh, and it’ll also happily do the same thing when it comes to video/gaming audio as well. Consequently, the ZEN One Signature is very flexible regarding use cases. It will work as a DAC/Bluetooth Receiver for a 2-ch Hi-Fi system, headphone rig, or in conjunction with powered speakers. That said, the inclusion of a premium power supply somewhat reveals an ambition to position it as a low-cost component DAC. The scope for improving your system’s sound quality expands further via the optical and coaxial digital inputs. Plug in your CD/DVD player, TV, set-top box, games console or any other device with a digital output and enjoy an instant upgrade in sound. From the press release: “…every element of its circuitry is designed for pure performance. Key surface-mounted components have been upgraded to high-end devices, including Panasonic OS-CON and Elna Silmic II capacitors, and the design has been refined to ensure short, direct signal paths.”
The Zen One Signature is Bluetooth 5.1-compliant and up to eight paired Bluetooth source devices can be stored in memory, making it easy to switch from one device to another. Well, iFi Audio seems to always have something new up their sleeve and they just launched another piece of gear and another way to inject their signature sound into a home audio setup or to a headphone amp and they call it the ZEN One Signature DAC.The analogue connections are pretty straight forwards, the 4.4mm gives you a balanced output which you can connect to an external amplifier (headphone or speaker), although you will need to supply the cable, either a 4.4mm to 4.4mm or 4.4mm to dual XLR, depending on the input of the amplifier. The compatible codec list is long. AptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX LL, LDAC, LHDC/HWA, AAC, and SBC are all compatible and playable on the ZEN One. So I highly doubt you’ll run into issues here.
The components that make up the ZEN One Signature’s circuitry reads like a who’s who of the industry’s finest. Panasonic OS-CON and ELNA Silmic II capacitors and Vishay MELF resistors are just a few of the many top quality components that go into the ZEN One Signature. More usually found in products two or three times the price, they go to make the ZEN One Signature a class-leader at its price. I mentioned Bluetooth there, because for my first few days with the Zen One Signature, I relied on it primarily as a reference against which to compare a number of standalone Bluetooth receivers for that aforementioned Wirecutter roundup. I also spent a good bit of time comparing its Bluetooth decoding to that of the Rotel A12MII. Various flavours of Bluetooth codecs are supported, from SBC and AAC, to aptX and aptX Low Latency, and higher-quality forms such as aptX Adaptive and aptX HD, LDAC and HWA/LHDC, so the ZEN One Signature can handle whatever source audio you beam to it at its highest quality. While seasoned audiophiles will naturally lean towards the ZEN One Signature DAC’s wired inputs and hi-res capabilities, its Bluetooth performance is what sets it apart from other DACs on the market and I can honestly one of its most impressive features. Listening to a 96kHz version of Phoebe Bridger’s take on that same Metallica song via Qobuz, I was hard-pressed to hear any perceivable difference in quality compared to a tethered USB listen a few minutes earlier. You should definitely think of Bluetooth as a “bonus” here, rather than a “compromise” - the addition of it in the ZEN One Signature DAC means that you’ll have far more reasons to jump in and simply enjoy your favourite music, whatever the occasion.However obviously and once again, the volume knob was omitted so bear in mind also that both outputs are fixed and therefore volume must be controlled at the amplifier. Described as a ‘universal DAC’ owing to its all-encompassing input options, the ZEN One Signature takes the DAC stage from the ZEN DAC V2, adds S/PDIF inputs (optical and coaxial) alongside the USB port, stirs in Bluetooth technology from the ZEN Blue V2 and seasons the pot with Signature-grade circuit enhancements to create a delicious audio brew. The result is a pure DAC (no built-in headphone amp or volume control) that serves as a home audio hub for all your digital devices, from smartphones and tablets to PCs and Macs, disc players and audio servers to TVs and games consoles. This product also has 4mm Balanced and RCA single-ended analogue outputs. You can connect the DAC to an integrated amp, preamp, headphone amp or active speakers. Burr-Brown True Native chipset One last thing to note is that the output of the Z1S, from the unbalanced RCA’s, is over 3V, which is quite a bit more than the usual approx 2V output of an unbalanced connection. This can actually cause clipping on the input of certain amplifiers, depending on the design of their preamp stage. As there is no volume control on the Z1S, you would need to drop down the source to avoid this if it is your case.
All of this is wrapped up in a sleek chassis that follows the curvilinear design common to all of iFi Audio’s Zen product lines. I think the thing I like most about the design, though, is its reliance on clear visual clues that tell you at a glance, from across the room, what it’s currently doing. The main iFi logo in the center, for example, glows different colors to let you know what format is currently being processed, dependent upon whether you’re relying on one of the physical inputs or connecting via Bluetooth. White means PCM or LHDC; cyan means DSD or LDAC; green means MQA or aptX Adaptive; blue means MQA Studio or bog-standard aptX; and magenta, as I understand it, means that the DAC is either acting as an MQA renderer after an external source has already done the first MQA unfold or, if you’re using Bluetooth, it means you’re getting aptX HD. And if the light is off, that means you’re listening via Bluetooth but with standard SBC instead of any advanced codecs. I haven’t tested the D50s myself, and my only hands-on experience with Topping DACs was with the less-expensive E30. But with that one, I could definitely hear a difference between powering the unit with USB versus plugging it into my SurgeX, whereas I couldn’t hear such a difference with the Zen One Signature. So that’s something to consider, depending on your setup. You have likely noticed that the ZEN One Signature DAC has a small white antenna protruding from its rear. This feature allows the product to receive a stable incoming Bluetooth signal and connect to your Bluetooth source.
Dynamic Duo
The rest of the circuitry seems iFi Audio solid as always. They customarily employ some well-known components for circuitry control and power delivery and always display a “spare no expense” attitude. The iFi Audio ZEN One Signature is not the exception. iFi Audio ZEN One Signature takes the DAC stage from the ZEN DAC V2, adds S/PDIF inputs (optical and coaxial) alongside the USB port, stirs in Bluetooth technology from the ZEN Blue V2 and seasons the pot with Signature-grade circuit enhancements to create a delicious audio brew. To me any signal-to-noise ratio above 90 decibels is acceptable but the higher the better of course and the ZEN One Signature sits at 105 decibels which is lower than the ZEN DAC Signature Series HFM which sits at 117 decibels. With the Atom, the Z1S just seems to present a very clear, precise and yet warm signature, something that I really enjoy for my preferred music genres (which is mainly focused on vocals and acoustic instruments). Aside from a power button and an input selector button, there aren’t any controls to worry about, as the Zen One Signature is purely a digital-to-analog converter, with no amplification, no volume control, no EQ, no anything else of that sort—all of which means you’d think there’d be nothing to talk about in terms of setup. But this is me we’re talking about, so of course it wasn’t that simple.
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