Btw, @Traian_Boldea I was just this close to buy the DacMagic 200M too. Should I go for it? The iFi ZEN DAC v2 is really nice but the XLR connection would be nice too. For sure the extra $$$ do not justify the upgrade (?) for this alone.
Neo by Oyaide d+ USB Type C Class B 0,7m looks very good and I have the Oyaide d+ USB Type A Class S 1m and it is the best usb that I had till now.
I used zen dac only with pentaconn 4.4 to XLR, 4.4mm to XLR Cable by iFi audio - Max quality balanced signal. Minimum interference.
So I cannot relate RCA Zen vs XLR 200m. So from the XLR point of view just get one of those, it is cheeper than CA200m.
I think CA 200m it is a little better than zen. A bit more on the high freq so I can say it is brighter and maybe thatās why it sounds like having more resolution. But I guess that depends on your taste. For that you should have a listen in your setup. The sound stage is clearly bigger. The mqa dropouts did not compere to the zen, went from 10 restarts a day to just one. It is more responsive than zen dac, (on/off, quick recognised by comp and Roon). I still go usb from Mac mini m1 with Roon but the next upgrade it will be a streamer, maybe LINK Streamer 2 - Stack Audio
Still no remote but same is zen dac. Iām not using DSP, volume is fixed in Roon settings so I had to manually change the volume. CA200M feels cheeper than zen volume knob, moves somehow slower and with resistance.
One thing that is harder with 200M than in other dacs is to upgrade the power. It is running on AC not DC. I foundāt out the hard way, after tried the ifi power x 12V that is DC. Nothing happened to CA200M, getting rather hot, but NAD 298 (the power amp) did not like that change and after 1 day it had autosense on/off issues.
As for dacs, I was looking to upgrade to NAD 658 but did not have the cash so I went after CA200m. Now Iām glad, 658 has not so great reviews for the dac part of it, and as preamp I just bought Benchmark LA4. I guess next in my list is a R2R: Holo, Denafrips, Pegasus or Ladder Schumann. I would like to listen to Topping as it getās so much praise for the measurements.
Hope it helps
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Thank you!
Well, Iāll give it some time to check if any price drop will happen. Maybe Iāll go crazy and try any of the SMSL new DACs. 
you are welcome
I did notice the new smslās also 
If Iāll not be impress with R2Rs Iāll go crazy with TEAC NT505 as it would be a streamer also and has the Master Clock Generator Teac CG-10M as a future upgrade.
As for the CA200M, it might be possible for the price to drop, I bought the 200M in February this year and by now it did drop 50$ at the same dealer. Iām waiting for Black Friday madness
Unfortunately, as soon as I updated to Roon 2.0.1 the issues returned.
Back to zero. Almost. Iām more confident itās a Roon issue after all. As Iāve mentioned in the past, thereās no issues when using Tidal. Also, the issue is exposed using at least another one DAC.
Iām still with the dropouts after 6 hours or so of a m4a playlist on my Cambridge 200M connected usb 2.0 A to B. One thing that Iāll experiment today is to stream to an old iMac (2007) that has Volumio on it and connect Zen Dac to that. Iāll try with all the mqas settings (full, render, etc)
Last year when core on late 2013 iMac EDIT: my core was on m1 Mac mini tidal was not having dropouts while Roon was having dropouts (only on MQAs)
No dropouts on LAN endpoints and USB Zen Dac 2 (white MacBook 2009, and iMac 2012 having volumio 3)
So I guess there is something with Roon core on m1 Macs playing usb connected to the core
Hi, I just bought the iFi Zen DAC V2 and am having the same stuttering problem. My core is an M1 MacMini connected to ethernet. My Roon Remote is my M1 iMac. The DAC is connected to my iMac via a USB 3.0 B to A cable with the A end connected to a Mac A to USB C adaptor. I use it to feed Roon to two desktop speakers.
Iām not sure what to try after reading all of your troubleshooting. Iāve updated the firmware and all of the other software. What I can say is that I never had an issue with my Audioquest Black Dragonfly so am thinking of sending the Zen back. My hope was that this DAC would be an improvement but for now itās a major aggravation.
Wow, the dragon fly did not have this issue on m1 Mac mini? I only have Zen Dac v2, Hip Dac v2 and Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 200M. All of them do the stuttering. It is true that the zen dac does it more than CA 200M but still, all of them have issues. I do not mind as it is only for mqas, and on CA the issue is coming back hours to hours. There is a solution, to have a streamer, so the music does not use Mac mini m1 usb but ethernet, I had an old laptop running volumio connected to LAN and USB to Zen Dac v2 and there was no issue (tested for 36 hours non stop)
Iām sorry that you have those issues, I also really want my dac to go usb from Mac mini m1 core but not like that.
The interesting thing is that the Dragonfly was connected to my iMac via USB. Zero issues. I understand that the Zen DAC is a renderer AND decoder so perhaps that explains the difference. Thanks for letting me know about the 200M. Iād have major ābuyers remorseā if Iād spent double the money for the same issue. I seriously considered that but decided it was more than I needed for this application. I have a Bluesound node 2i as my primary DAC. No issues. Iām within my return window so barring a response to my ticket with IFi that solves this problem, Iām sending this back.
If I would be into mqa I would send it back. Back when I used Zen dac daily I had no other option, so I just let roon do the mqa just not to have the stuttering.
For me and my system 200M is a step above Zen Dac but the issue with mqa/roon/macminiā¦ still there, it is just not as often. Anyway I do not listen to mqa as much as I used to. Until Iāll upgrade the dac Iām looking to test a device to clean the usb from m1 core versus LAN streamers.
All the best
Hey there!
Just sharing my personal experience.
I do have the Zen Dac V2 hooked up through a regular usb 3.0 to my win laptop.
Idk if the main question of the topic was answered or wasnāt but U can only have full MQA unfold with WASAPI because it requires exclusive access to your DAC and ASIO wonāt support it.
So if u are using ASIO you should turn on core decoder for at least 1 unfold but if you want full you should use WASAPI in exclusive mode.
Also I recommend you turning on core decoder in WASAPI mode too because without DSP Roon will still let your DAC do the full unfolding but with DSP settings itās a must for obvious reasons.
And in response to previous experiences, in my case I havenāt had any stuttering even though Iāve been using this setup for a long time.
hey,
thanks! I was curious for such an experience, as I was suspecting is a drivers/os problem. I think this thread started from a point and turned in to Zen Dac on macās. On Mac I think the drivers are called CoreAudio and are different from ASIO or WASAPI (I think those are for win), or ALSA (linux). Also I think we are having problems mainly on M1 Macs not intel.
1 week ago I bought a zen stream that has a volumio (linux) os so no issues there, as I did test with a volumio installed on an old iMac. So no shuttering. Anyway the SQ is better than connecting Dac to Roon Core usb.
Thanks
All the best
Traian
So, Iāve switched my RoonServer to a linux based mini PC. And took the decision to attach the iFi ZEN DAC v2 to it. Guess what. No more issues with MQA files.
The DAC is great. Itās a shame that the combo macos + roon + ifi is a disaster. But, Iām happy that Iāll unsubscribe from this thread
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Iāve got a Zen Stream last weekā¦ I did not expect such difference between Macs usb and the zen stream, but it was. And no more MQA issues
Enjoy
Is it good? Howās the wireless performance?
It is very very good. And everywhere people just say good things about the sound. The setup is a mess, had to read 2k posts to get it to work right (but maybe it is still easier that a pi). But if you know the steps it is a 10 minutes setup (with all the booting wait). If you ever get one drop me a line so I can point to the step by step guides. It sure looks nice on top of Zen Dac
I am sorry I do not have wifi, my room is so far from the wifi that is installed for my kids, all my things are wired and the phone on 4G as the wifi gets too weak to hold the connection. I should get a mesh but audio is eating all the cash.
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Thanks! Well I love my ZEN DAC but I think my next step will be an all-in-one. Keeping an eye on NAD M10 v2. Unfortunately Roon upcoming subscription prices kind of destroyed my plans.
looks nice.
I love my NAD 298 and the only thing I would want is another c 298, to bridge them and have one per speaker (then new speakers LOL and subs)
Iām still looking for a dac
Not sure if this helps, but I had the same stutter issue when I got my ZEN DAC v2 this summer, with MQA but more often with DSD files. I updated to 7.4c version and everything was resolved and havenāt had an issue since then!
The only thing is that for some reason, between playing tracks, Roon will disconnect from the DAC and then will show: No Audio Zone (then Failed to Initialize Audio device), but then reconnects back to the DAC, and I have to click PLAY for it to work. Which is kind of annoying.