Ifi Audio's new Zen Air range, builds on the success of Zen V2 but at a new lower price point. Housed in an attractive resin casework, Zen Air offers exceptional sound quality for a wallet friendly price. The new Zen Air DAC is designed to do a Hi-Res digital conversion to output to your Hifi or Headphones from a PC, Laptop, Phone or Tablet via USB. Ifi's Power Match for Headphones and XBass+ technology are both present. Get HD Audio for under £100.00. A USB Cable is included in the box and all Ifi products are designed to be plug and play so you will be up and running in minutes.
Specifications:
| Input voltage | DC 5V/2.5A |
| Input | USB2.0 B Socket |
| Formats | 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192/352.8/384kHz PCM
2.8/3.1/5.6/6.2/11.2/12.4MHz DSD
353/384KHz DXD
MQA |
| DAC | Bit-Perfect DSD & DXD DAC by Burr Brown |
| Power consumption | No Signal ~0.5W / Max Signal ~2.5W |
| Dimensions | 158 x 117 x 35 mm
6.2" x 4.6" x 1.4" |
| Net weight | 315 g
0.694 lbs |
| Line Section | |
| Output | 1V / 3.3V max. |
| Output Impedance | ≤50Ω |
| SNR | <-113dB(A) @ 0dBFS |
| DNR | >113dB(A) @ -60dBFS |
| THD+N | <0.04% @ 0dBFS |
| Headphone Section | |
| Output | 1V / 3.3V max. (variable) |
| Output Power | >280mW @ 32Ω ; >36mW @ 300Ω |
| Output Impedance | <1Ω |
| THD+N | <0.04% (100mW @ 16Ω) |
| SNR | >113dBA (3.3V) |
Improve the quality of your everyday audio with the ZEN Air DAC.
DAC stands for Digital to Analogue converter. In a nutshell, a DAC converts the digital info in your source device – your computer, games console, tablet or smartphone – to music that we can hear through speakers or headphones.
Every device that is a source of digital sound has a built-in DAC. External DACs sound much better that the standard DACs used inside these devices.
The ZEN Air DAC outputs very hi-res (high resolution) quality audio. This is much better that the standard audio you would get from just using your computer, games console, tablet or smartphone.
Imagine the difference in quality from a standard TV to an 8K Ultra HD TV — but in sound! This is the difference an external DAC makes to your music.
Once you hear it, you’ll be converted (not just your audio)!
The ZEN Air DAC functions as both a DAC and a headphone amp. It’s a great first step if you are just starting on your audio journey.
Simply connect it to your computer or smart device via a USB cable. Then connect it to your headphones via the headphone jack at the front or to speakers via the RCA connections at the back.
If you already have an amp, you can use the ZEN DAC Air as a pure DAC with this amp or speakers.
The ZEN Air DAC supports different file formats – PCM 32bit/384kHz, fully native DSD256 and MQA.
PCM – Pulse Code Modulation is the file format used in CD, DVD, Blu-ray and other digital audio applications. It’s the next step up from MP3.
DSD – Direct Stream Digital is a very high-quality audio format, better than CD quality. The higher the number (sample rate), the better the recording – DSD64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024. Fully native means that it hasn’t been altered in any way from the original recording.
MQA – Master Quality Authenticated is an award-winning audio technology that enables music fans to stream the original master recording into their home, car or their mobile. With the ZEN Air DAC you can listen to MQA straight out of the box. Simply connect to Tidal Masters and check the option to stream MQA
The ZEN Air DAC also sports a couple of unique sonic tweaks from iFi.
PowerMatch adjusts the gain of the ZEN DAC Air so it functions at the right level for your headphones. Gain is just a unit of measurement that indicates how loud an audio source is and is measured in decibels (dB).
XBass+ allows you to tailor the bass to suit your headphones and your personal taste.
Both are designed to improve and personalise your listening experience.
Most DACs still use digital volume control – ours is analogue.
What does this mean? When you reduce the volume on other DACs you remove data from the song or soundtrack. With analogue volume control, you reduce the volume whilst maintaining the quality.
Put simply, the ZEN Air DAC is an easy way to experience super clear, hi-res audio quality in your everyday listening.
Sift through the noise, breathe in the Air.
