This ifi zen can , have a very problematic hum problem, which seems to never go away. None of my other amps have this problem. All are attached to the same power outlet. So no ground loops. If* wants you to purchase their other products such as groundhog , purifier etc etc. Seems like a scam. Please buy ifi products with caution.

Edit : Good news is , I have finally found a solution, to atleast enjoy my investment.

1) Simply use a 3 pin 2A 5V adaptor not a 2 pin. Using a 2 pin adapter is the whole problem. I used a Sony 3 pin adapter, (it has a 3rd pin which connects to earth,) that came with my Sony XZ premium phone. There was an immediate relief from HUM problem. The sound quality also improved a lot. earlier it sounded lifeless and sooo digital , nowhere near an analog sound. Now after using a 3 pin adapter the amp is sounding like a refreshed and an improved amp. This is exactly how it should sound. Change your adapter and experience it yourself. I am using a 4.4mm to 4.4mm cable to connect my Zen dac to my zen can and using my ipod as a source . There is now no Hum regardless of the volume or gain level. Earlier, Hum used to magically appear as soon as I used to pause a song 🎵, now there is no HUM even if you pause.

BUT when you remove the source , and the amp is still on , hum comes back. Very poor design and very poorly engineered product really.

2) The RCA input from my HIBY Dock creates havoc. So RCA input is still a problem, very loud Humming noise. My dock is all OK, it's well grounded and works fine.

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.

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).

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.

Bought this after much research as I already had the Schitt stack (Modi and Magni) along with a clutch of other amps. However was looking for something that can drive by HD650 and provide a balanced output.
This amp ticks all the boxes!! It’s got loads of power, is clear and clean with a very comfortable non-fatiguing sound.
Paired it with my Ifi Blue V2 and the extra DAC from the V2 further enhanced the sound
And as always, HPZ you guys rock!! Efficient delivery .. thank you!!

I paired this amplifier with the Chord Qutest DAC through the RCA input cables. The output is to my Hifiman Ananda headphones through the balanced output. The price of this amp is almost 7 times lesser than the Chord Qutest DAC. However, I was pleasantly surprised not to see any degradation in the ultra clean sound of the Qutest through this amp. At 16k, this amp is really a steal.

The sound: The balanced output sounds amazing. The bass, mids and highs all sound clean and neutral. Some say this amp has a warm sound. I disagree and say it depends on the DAC you feed the amp with and also the headphones. The amp does not colour the sound in any way. It also has pretty good volume. With the Chord Qutest feeding 3 volts RCA signal to the amp, I keep the gain setting on the Zen can at 0 dB and volume control at most at 12 o'clock. So, this amp has plenty of volume. I also drive my Beyerdynamic DT770 pro (250 ohm) through this amp and get plenty volume at 6 dB setting. So pretty sure this should be able to handle headphones needing more power. There is slight hiss at very high volumes, but that isn't a concern cause anyone would become deaf listening at that volume. At low to medium volume, there is no hiss that can be heard.

Design: It has a sturdy metallic build and no ventilation holes. This is good cause dust cannot enter the unit. It looks classy with a satin finish. The unit can get warm. The volume pot is silky smooth (way better than the scratchy Schiit Magni 3 volume knob). The buttons are of good quality and looks like will last long. XBass is good to add some bass. But, I do not use it cause I prefer an unfiltered sound. Besides, my headphones have enough bass. 3D effect wasn't quite impressive. Though it gives the illusion of instruments moving further away from you, it brightens the hi-hat and crash sounds and other high frequency sounds a bit which I didn't like. Anyway this is a fancy feature which is of not much use to me. I prefer to keep all the effects (XBass and 3D) off. If IFi sold a version of the amp without the XBass and 3D options, I would buy that.

Conclusion: The Zen Can is an amazing amp for its price. To get the best from the amp and a good listening experience you should pair it with a good DAC and good headphones. Definitely recommended.

I have been using the zen-dac for about a year now and i've been really happy with the upgrade compared to my mac output so was not really prepared for the sonic upgrade I would get with adding just an "amp" but I am blown away with th e details I now hear. I use a sundara as well as the senn 598 and both sound just brilliant with the amp on. Fantastic upgrade for music and work!

Crisp clean and a huge upgrade over zen DAC's amp
it has an almost similar base without turning on the xbase to the DAC's true base. But turning on and off the xbase has a slight effect. Zen DAC has
a much-pronounced effect it boosts and muddies the midrange. in my opinion, xbase corrects the base rather than boosting it. I use the second gain option on
all of my headphones I don't have to hit 1 Oclock to get loud also I can hit 100% of the volume dial
without any distortion on quiet songs or if I use EQ. 3D button I don't know my brain does not allow me to enjoy soundstage on a headphone.
it comes with a power brick but it is not the IFI ipower one its a switching 5V 2.4A. if you have the money go for it. I would even recommend it for Hd599

Really feature rich at this price and no slouch on quality front either. XBass really adds to he body and 3D definitely separates out the instruments a bit more. Recommend keeping both on during listening. Need to pair with good DAC or similar source and probably test with DSD files to get best out of the Zen Can

This is my first headphone amp, so take my views from that perspective. I have been using this amp for around 2 weeks now and I have to say the build is very good. The volume knob is smooth, and though some people dislike the rattling buttons, I like it and somehow feel it complements the aesthetics of the product. I do want to point out that they do not feel cheap or like they would fall apart. build is a solid 10 out of 10.
For people wondering, it does come with the power adapter from iFi.
I feel it has a good variety of inputs that one could as for from an amp. I have used them only over the RCA inputs for now.
Now coming to the amplification part, this has a good spread of gain selection. You could easily use them all the way from very sensitive to hard to drive headphones. I have used it with Hifiman Deva and though it has a low impedance(18 Ohm), it has a relatively low sensitivity(93.5 dB per mW). If you know how the sound pressure scales over wattage you will understand this needs a good amount of juice to power them. I usually have Zen CAN set at 6dB gain at 12-1 o'clock and sometimes at 12dB gain if I feel like it. I usually never had a necessity to push it till the 18dB gain setting. Bottom line - it is a powerful enough amp for most of the headphones out there.
Now coming to the special features - XBass and 3D
XBass is good, it gives a nice push to the bass especially sub-bass to enhance or at times bring out the rumble. It is a noticeable difference but not a huge one. And I feel it is not something easily achieved via EQ tuning. I could not. I had an EQ tuning for watching movies where I had elevated the bass to get the extra oomph. And I have to say I liked it better with the XBass turned on.
3D on the other hand though is not noticeable at all. Or at least I did not see any difference there. So I would not recommend buying the amp just for that feature.
All in all, I love the Zen CAN, it serves its purpose very well and looks great on my desk.

very clean, powerful amp
really opens the sound of headphones, drives even hard to drive headphone and more than just a regular amp, has a 2 sound alter options 3D and X-BASS
3D increases sound stage adequately really works with music (best with both open and closed back headphones)
X-BASS tights lower ends and also increases sub-bass (only if the headphones have better bass like DT-770 pros)
but using this special effects doesn't change the sound drastically it just adds some salt and pepper to ur liking
Yes i have paired it with IFI ZEN DAC which is also great and on the left is IBASSO D14 dac/amp using that as a line- out to my ZEN CAN

At the end its a great deal amp with not minimal performance but by the cost and hats off to headphone zone to bring like this brands to us

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.

I recently purchased a zen can to ensure I can connect balanced headphones and IEMs and still use my chord mojo 2 as the amplifier. It works seamlessly and sounds great!

Only regret is that I didn’t wait to purchase the new zen can