THE IFI ZEN AIR SERIES COMPRISES A DAC, BLUETOOTH DAC, HEADPHONE AMP AND PHONO STAGE

Based on the ZEN Series the iFi ZEN Air is a budget range at £99 per device.

The ZEN Air DAC, ZEN Air Blue, ZEN Air CAN and ZEN Air Phono look similar to the ‘main’ ZEN line, featuring the same desktop-friendly size and distinctive shape.

The full iFi ZEN Air Series

IFI ZEN SERIES

In place of the extruded aluminium enclosure used throughout the ZEN Series, the ZEN Air devices feature a synthetic polymer case with a textured finish, each in a different shade of grey. Not just generic ABS plastic; it’s a high-grade thermoplastic polymer with additives to reduce brittleness and improve shock absorbance.

The iFi ZEN Air DAC

IFI ZEN AIR

The circuitry in the ZEN Air models has been simplified but they retain most of the core features of the ZEN Series, discrete components and symmetrical channel layouts, for example.

IFI ZEN AIR DAC

USB DAC + headphone amp

Like the ZEN DAC, the ZEN Air DAC includes a high-quality headphone amp capable of driving all manner of headphones and earphones. It can also be used as a DAC/preamp to feed an amp and speakers, or a pair of active speakers, via stereo RCA outputs. It connects to PCs, Macs, smart devices and so on via USB.

The iFi ZEN Air DAC retains the form of the ZEN DAC

The core DAC technology is the same as the original ZEN DAC, using a Burr-Brown DAC chip that iFi favours, combined with custom technology including bespoke XMOS firmware and digital filtering, and iFi’s GMT clock system to tackle jitter. Hi-res PCM is supported to 32-bit/384kHz, alongside DXD, and DSD64, 128 and 256. Thanks to the Burr-Brown chip’s True Native design, PCM and DSD take separate pathways,  this enables both PCM and DSD to remain ‘bit-perfect’ in their native form. MQA is also supported (MQA rendering, like the original ZEN DAC, rather than full MQA decoding as performed by the ZEN DAC V2).

Detail of the iFi ZEN Air DAC rear panel

Whilst simplified in comparison to the ZEN DAC V2’s fully balanced topology, the ZEN Air DAC’s analogue stage has a symmetrical channel layout and audiophile-grade circuit components, including a custom op-amp offering ultra-low noise performance, and low-impedance power supply rails featuring Taiyo Yuden and Murata low-ESR inductors. Like the ZEN DAC and ZEN DAC V2, the ZEN Air DAC’s headphone amp has switchable gain, which iFi terms Power Match. This matches the level of drive to the load presented by the headphones, by adjusting input sensitivity and thereby signal strength.

Rear of the iFi ZEN Air DAC

XBass+ is another user-selectable feature, a sophisticated form of ‘bass boost’ that subtly enhances low frequencies without muddying the midrange. It operates entirely in the analogue domain rather than messing with the digital signal via DSP and may be switched in or out via another button on the front panel. The ZEN Air DAC omits the ZEN DAC’s 4.4mm balanced outputs but otherwise retains the same connections. A 6.3mm headphone output resides at the front, with an asynchronous USB Type B input at the back alongside gold-plated stereo RCA outputs with variable level control.

IFI ZEN AIR BLUE

Bluetooth DAC

The ZEN Air Blue enables Bluetooth audio transmission from smartphones, tablets, laptops and so on to an existing audio system. iFi has included the HD Bluetooth engine it has developed for deployment in all its current-generation Bluetooth-toting devices. Making full use of Qualcomm’s advanced four-core QCC5100 Bluetooth processing chip, every current high-definition Bluetooth audio format is supported, including aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, LDAC and HWA/LHDC. Other codecs covered include regular aptX, aptX Low Latency, AAC and SBC. This means that every source device is handled at the highest audio resolution its Bluetooth specification allows.

iFi ZEN Air Blue

Like the ZEN Air DAC, the ZEN Air Blue’s analogue circuitry has been simplified compared to its mainline ZEN equivalent, but a symmetrical channel layout and low-impedance power supply rails are retained.

iFi ZEN Air Blue back

The ZEN Air Blue is Bluetooth v5.1-compliant. Up to eight paired Bluetooth source devices can be stored in memory, making it easy to switch from one to another. The cable outputs have been simplified compared to the ZEN Blue V2, losing the balanced 4.4mm analogue output and optical/coaxial digital outputs, but retaining the gold-plated stereo RCA analogue outputs.

iFi ZEN Air Blue detail

IFI ZEN AIR CAN

Analogue headphone amp

Like the ZEN CAN, the ZEN Air Can has no digital input of any kind; it connects to any audio source with an analogue output, such as the headphone output from a DAP (Digital Audio Player), a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone, or the RCA outputs from, say, a CD player, or a phono stage like the ZEN Air Phono. It could also be paired with the ZEN Air Blue to add Bluetooth reception, or perhaps combined with the ZEN Air DAC to upgrade the DAC’s headphone amp stage.

The ZEN Air Can retains the use of discrete, high-grade components and a separate, symmetrical layout between channels. Power available is  1200mW into a 32-ohm load. iFi’s quad-amp circuitry features custom OVA-series FET op-amps using a ‘folded cascode’ design, with specialised feedback circuitry to optimise performance. The input stage features automatic gain matching between inputs and feeds a TOCOS precision potentiometer, while the discrete, complementary bipolar output stage utilises the same Class A buffer found in more expensive iFi headphone amps. The power supply circuitry includes ‘stealth mode’ voltage conversion, with linear regulation, noise filtering, physical isolation from sensitive audio circuits and more than 4,000uF capacitance to keep ample power in reserve to respond to musical transients.

Alloy shielding within the thermoplastic polymer outer case protects sensitive signal paths from interference. FET-based switching between settings is handled by a microcontroller, which only ‘wakes up’ when the user changes a setting, thus eradicating any sonically deleterious interference. XBass+, iFi’s bass enhancer, and XSpace, which widens the soundstage to compensate for ‘in-head localisation’ effects, are both present. Gain adjustment to precisely suit the connected headphones is also provided, with three steps, 0dB, 9dB and 18dB.

The ZEN CAN’s dual headphone outputs of 6.3mm and 4.4mm are also repeated here, although the 4.4mm output is not fully balanced as it is on the ZEN CAN. Instead, it benefits from iFi’s S-Balanced circuit design, which cuts noise and crosstalk by 50 per cent with single-ended headphone connections. Similarly, the ZEN Air CAN sports three analogue inputs, but here, the 4.4mm balanced input is swapped for an extra pair of single-ended RCA sockets, providing two stereo RCA inputs and one 3.5mm S-Balanced socket in total.

The full iFi ZEN Air Series – photos available soon of the Can and Phono models

IFI ZEN AIR PHONO

MM/MC phono stage

The ZEN Air Phono is compatible with both MM and MC cartridges, it also delivers an ultra-low noise performance. Like other ZEN Air devices, the ZEN Air Phono simplifies the fully balanced circuit design of its mainline ZEN equivalent but still retains a symmetrical channel layout with high-quality surface-mounted components offering low ESL (Equivalent Series Resistance), high stability and low distortion. In common with many iFi devices, a custom OV Series op-amp is used – in this case, the OVA2637A.

The ZEN Air power supply has an oscillation frequency of 1.2MHz, at least 20,000 times that of mains electricity. In this circuit, a filtering capacitor with a 10uF rating is equivalent to 200,000uF at lower, audible frequencies, delivering superb filtering power. The power supply circuitry is located on its own ‘island’ on the circuit board to ensure there is no contamination of the audio signal – just super-clean +/-15V DC.

The iFi ZEN Air Phono has a subsonic filter, engaged via a front-panel button to tackle the large subsonic signal output caused by warped records. A feature of all iFi phono stages, this proprietary circuit ‘intelligently’ filters out the unwanted subsonic output without affecting any deep bass on the recording. Connectivity is kept simple: gold-plated stereo RCA sockets in and out. A grounding terminal is also provided; attach a turntable’s grounding wire to this to eliminate audible hum. The ZEN Phono’s four gain settings to suit different cartridge types are replaced by a simple MM/MC switch (40dB/64dB gain). The ZEN Air Phono’s high-gain MC circuit still delivers a signal-to-noise-ratio of -82dB.

IFI ZEN AIR PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

The ZEN Air DAC and ZEN Air Blue arrive first, available from selected retailers from today. The ZEN Air CAN and ZEN Air Phono follow in May. Each unit is £99.

HiFi Pig Says: iFi seems to have redefined ‘budget’ by offering the new iFi ZEN Air series at £99 while still retaining the audiophile qualities of their higher-priced products.

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