Zen DAC and Audiolab 6000A

[Angus_Young]

Will the Zen DAC V2 improve upon the built in DAC inside the Audiolab 6000A? Or is the built in DAC good enough that the Zen will make no difference? But if your answer is "Yes", how much difference might it make?

My system comprises of the afore mentioned 6000A, Wharfedale Evo 4.4 fed with hi res from an iPad Pro. Generally extremely happy with the sound other than the top end could be a little smoother. Lucky enough to have an unusually large room, so I suspect that the large wall surfaces plus floor to ceiling window at one end isn't helping.

Thanks.

 

[Al ears]

I think people might struggle to tell you how much difference it is going to make to you, although many may try.
Unless you find something lacking I would stick to the DAC in the Audiolab.

 

[nightanddaygamechangers]

Highly unlikely.. I’ve got a similar standard of amp, a Cambridge CXA60, and bought the Zen DAC V2 for my office. I did a comparison when I first bought it and couldn’t hear a difference. I think you probably need much more resolving equipment, speakers and amp each costing over £1000, before the difference between DACs can easily be identified, and even then it might not be anything obvious enough to care about.

 

[Gray]

...so I suspect that the large wall surfaces plus floor to ceiling window at one end isn't helping.

Optimising room acoustics makes a massive difference....and makes a mockery of the subtle difference between DACs.

(People talk of the benefits of expensive speaker cables.....that they use in rooms with acres of bare, hard wooden floors 😆).

 

[camcroft]

iFi sell the Zen Dac V2 as a headphone amp / dac more than a stand alone dac. When I bought mine they recommended me using another one of their products ( It slips my mind what ) to be used with my amplifier. Funnily enough it made no difference to the sound of my CXA 60 and it was on loan so I sent it back. I use my Zen Dac V2 just for desk top use with headphones and it works well for that use.

 

[Angus_Young]

Thank you for the responses. I suspected I might be grasping for silver bullets.

Optimising room acoustics makes a massive difference....and makes a mockery of the subtle difference between DACs.

As mentioned, I think my top end is a little too aggressive so I'd like to smooth that out, and my over abundance of hard surfaces (room is L20'xW16'xH10' with floor to ceiling glass at one of the 16' ends) is probably a root cause of this. Unfortunately, my place is rented and my listening room is our living room, so there's limited opportunity to do anything about that. Still, I guess these kind of issues and finding solutions is half the fun of hifi!

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