I have this paired with a Zen DAC v1. The combo works great. I found the volume to be lacking on the DAC with my HD560S, so I bought the CAN - said goodbye to volume worries. The xbass and 3D also works beautifully. They xbass on the CAN is noticeably cleaner than the TruBass on the Zen DAC. The soundstage on the HD560S is quite narrow, so the 3D button opened it up as well, and does it naturally. Its a great amp in terms of functionality but I only have one problem with it - the heat.

If you're living in a hot place, the heat output from the amp could bother you as it did me. It actually runs very hot, so you can't afford to keep it running 24 7. It's a class A Amp apparently - something that I wasn't aware about prior to buying. Class A amps output a lot of heat - they use max power even when your headphone doesn't fully demand it, so it doesn't matter if you're using the low gain setting or the highest.

The heat bothered me so much that I only turn on the amp when I'm in the mood for some serious listening. When I just wanna chill, I just use my IEMs with the DAC alone, and have the amp turned off. But this is a ME problem. You may not find this a big deal, and it could just be me over worrying.

AS I have posted in my last review about Zen DAC v2 - that I will get the Zen CAN, once I get my salary; so I did.

The pair of DAC and CAN is simply to put - AWESOME! The DAC is currently acting as a Pre-AMP (sorta) to the CAN's input. I am completely broke after buying these 2 on back to back months, otherwise I would suggest to get a balanced connector for the DAC and the CAN (Amp).

I am keeping the DAC in "variable" mode so that I get better tonal quality in the output - the Burr-Brown DAC is soo freaking good, especially with my Hifiman Sundara's planar magnetic drivers.

Just a 4.4 mm balanced connector cable short of making a perfect setup for me.

For those who are still unsure - if you like balanced sound with very high quality of sound coming out of your desktop - then is entire combo could be the best bet below 60k INR.

BTW - Zen CAN is a strong amp - so be sure to turn it off when not needed, it has a switch for that, in the front.

I never really had any kind of dedicated amp cause my IEMs & headphones all were highly efficient to be driven by DAP but eversince I bought Sundara I felt lack of power thru my DAP ..that's when I decided I should get a dedicated HP amp in order to get the most out of the Sundara.. with help from headphonezone gurus and their trade in program I was able to purchase IFI Audio Zen Can and these have so much power in them and that too without altering the sound originally coming from the source (Hiby R5 Gen II).

IFI Audio Zen Can is definitely a good buy in budget segment who wants to power their power hungry headphones or even if you have to use it as a pre-amp that also works like a charm.. though not a big fan of their x-bass & 3D which alters the sound quite a bit that too not in a good way, any which ways I'm not very fond of extra features which changes the dynamics of the original source..

Another nitpicking would be 3.5mm is missing as an output, though you have the option of SE 6.5mm but still I think 3.5mm would have made more sense to give than 6.5mm.. since I only use balance connection 4.4mm doesn't really matter to me but I'm sure there would be people who would like 3.5mm as an output and not just as input source..

Highly recommended as a budget segment amp to power the power hungry headphones !!

Btw - Kudos to headphonezone team for providing great support to audiophiles' who can easily sell of their old audio gears on headphonezone and get a new one from their site itself... highly impressed with their end to end solution and also I really like their nice touch of providing audiophile playlist from each genre.. I'm listening to each of the playlist as if I'm reading a book .. one request though please have a dedicated playlist for 'AR Rahman'...

Before buying ifi zen can: I was using my Sundaras and HD 660s with the ifi Zen DAC V2 which is an excellent dac amp and I really liked its sound at that time. After having used it for 1 year I was having a small problem. The Hifiman Sundaras had started to feel a bit sharp on the high end and even the HD 660s were a bit peaky on the treble, which was bothering me. Also both of them felt thin on the bass.

My experience with ifi Zen Can: After a lot of AB tests between the zen dac and can I figured out the sound differences between them. The Zen Cans are a bit warmer with way better textured bass and also the quantity of bass is perfect. The mids have a little forward presence in the mix with more texture and clarity. So music sounds more musical on these than the Zen dac. The treble is a bit darker than the Zen dac but still a good amount of details which has solved my problem with peakyness in treble. This makes the soundstage on it a bit intimate than Zen dac. The Can also feels more grand on orchestral sountracks or just soundtracks with a big soundstage and. As the sound is more intimate, it feels more personal. The imaging is on par with the zen dac.

Conclusion: If you listen to music for enjoyment or to feel the grandness of some Interstellar tracks or Lindsey Stirling's tracks then you should definitely buy this. This is a very musical amp and also has a lot of power for power hungry cans. Sundara actually required this bass uplift and a darker treble to sound at its best form. But if you are too analytical or play more games than listening to music then you can stay with then Zen dac. If you do everything getting this zen dac and can stack is the best option.

I got this as a a companion to my iFi Zen DAC because while the Zen DAC was quite capable enough to drive my highest impedance headphones (Beyerdynamic DT880 Edition 250 Ohms), I thought something could be better. The Chord Mojo could make these headphones sound different and more open. I got this iFi Zen Can and I am happy to report that now I am very happy with the sound I am getting out of this stack. This is really the perfect complement to the Zen DAC. Only regret - I wish I had got them sooner (maybe when you guys were offering iFi freebies).

Nice amp and value for the price

Simply put this the amp is comparable to apple dongle for IEMs (like Crinacle said) but for headphones. Has the quality and the power to handle anything up to Arya and consumes fraction of power that a stack would take. Match it with Zen DAC or Topping E30 and don't look back.

They are really good quality, I use these with Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro, which has an impedance of 250 Ohms, and it is easily able to power those, I have also tested these on Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro, which also sounds fantastic, I love listening to Classical, Ethnic, Traditional music with these. On the slight contrary, I feel like the bass is too much, for which a simple Eq should do the job. Thanks Headphone zone for this sleek yet powerful device.