The device list begins with the latest XMOS 208 series USB input chip, which iFi proprietarily modifies, followed by a BurrBrown DSD1793 DAC chip, which is certainly not the newest DAC chip available but one that iFi has used in the past. The Zen DAC’s list of component parts includes a mix of something old and something new. In many ways the Zen DAC is just as impressive, though it is far smaller and runs much cooler than its ancient predecessor. It was impressive both in sound and in the amount of heat its pure Class A amplification scheme could generate. While I have not reviewed any AMR products, my own history with John Curl’s designs goes back to his Class A, differentially balanced, two-chassis JC-80 preamplifier, designed for Frank Dennesen in the mid-80s. This impressively accredited designer-duo focused on making the most cost-effective high-performance DAC/preamplifier they could for the Zen’s price. For the Zen DAC project John Curl was drafted as the co-designer, focusing on the analog sections of the Zen DAC. IFi, formed in 2012, was created as a sub-division of the high-end firm Abbington Music Research, whose principal designer is Thorsten Loesch. While it’s certainly important to know what’s inside a component (we’ll get to that), it’s equally if not more important to know who designed it. The Zen Phono has single-ended and balanced outputs and supports both moving-coil and moving-magnet cartridges via four different gain settings.
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The Zen DAC handles USB digital inputs (2.0 or 3.0), while the Zen Blue accepts Bluetooth sources and has outputs for single-ended and balanced analog as well as coaxial and TosLink SPDIF. The Zen DAC, Zen Blu, and Zen Phono can be used alone or in concert with one another for different input sources, while the Zen Can provides headphone outputs. The iFi Zen series of components offers audiophiles and budding audiophiles on extremely tight budgets the prospect of excellent sound and extensive features for very little fiscal outlay.
What if I told you that for that same $130 you could have a USB DAC capable of not only playing back high-resolution PCM files but also DSD and MQA files, in addition to offering single-ended and balanced headphone outputs and an adjustable balanced line-level preamplifier output? Interested? I hope so. Will anyone who did not raise his hands yet who’s spent more than $130 for a cable or interconnect raise his hand? By now we should have the vast majority of the folks reading this review with their arms in the air. W ill all the readers who have spent over $130 on a dinner for two raise their hands? OK.
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