iFi Audio has refreshed its entry-level ZEN Air lineup with three new products that cover vinyl playback, desktop headphone listening and wireless streaming.
Where the ZEN Air range has traditionally addressed wireless and desktop listening, the ZEN Air Phono 2 extends that ambition to vinyl, bringing RIAA equalisation that’s accurate to a precise +/-0.15dB.
Image Credit (iFi)
That precision extends to the noise floor, rated at -151dBV equivalent input noise, a figure low enough that background circuitry noise stops competing with the quieter passages and fine texture present in a record’s groove.
The device accepts both Moving Magnet and Moving Coil cartridges via a rear selector switch, while its subsonic filter targets record warp specifically by treating vertical and lateral groove movement differently, preserving bass rather than simply cutting low frequencies.
Beyond vinyl, the ZEN Air DAC 2 addresses the desktop listening end of the range, centring its upgrade on a Cirrus Logic DAC chip previously reserved for iFi’s portable products and now making its desktop debut with improvements to clarity, dynamics, and distortion.
Balanced circuitry adds a 4.4mm headphone output that was previously absent from the ZEN Air, and pushes output power to 484mW RMS, a 300% increase over its predecessor that gives demanding, hard-to-drive headphones adequate headroom.
Image Credit (iFi)
Two front-panel toggles extend control further: XBass+ restores low-frequency performance, while PowerMatch adds 6dB of gain for headphones that standard output levels would struggle to drive adequately.
Rounding out the trio is the ZEN Air Blue 2, which addresses wireless audio. It brings “lossless” Bluetooth to existing hi-fi systems via a three-stage architecture that separates reception, conversion and amplification into dedicated components rather than handling all three through a single chipset.
Bluetooth 5.4 with aptX Lossless support, it aims to be able to carry CD-quality audio with no data loss, and alongside LDAC, help provide a clearer, more detailed performance over Bluetooth.
All three products are available now through ifi-audio.com and authorised dealers, priced at £129 in the UK, $129 in the US, €149 in Europe, and $189 CAD in Canada.
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