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Editors' Choice Award - The Absolute Sound
Highly Recommended - avsforums.com
Five Stars - techradar.com
Sleek Design and Upgraded Tech for Unparalleled Performance
Journey to somewhere tranquil and invigorating, where melodies can uplift, and vocals can move you to tears. iFi's new ZEN DAC 3, with its sleek design and unparalleled performance, immerses you in pure harmony and sonic purity.
The ZEN DAC 3 serves as your gateway to the world of high-resolution music, offering support for sample rates of up to 768kHz. This future-proof feature ensures full compatibility with all music formats available on streaming platforms, bringing you the best in sound quality.
Equipped with a built-in headphone amplifier and the versatility to function both as a DAC and a DAC/preamp, this all-encompassing device is the only piece of equipment you’ll need on your desk.
Award-Winning Performance
The ZEN DAC 3 won an Editors' Choice Award from The Absolute Sound magazine.
"The Zen DAC offers a lot of features and high sound quality at an entry-level price. When it is mated with other high-performance components, SS found the results reference or near-reference level, though the Zen does require careful system-matching and quality cables that will likely cost far more than the DAC itself."
ZEN DAC 3 also landed a Highly Recommended award from Ed Selley at avsforums.com, lauding its "superb audio performance with excellent sample rate support, excellent headphone performance, well made and easy to use… If what it does fits your needs, it’d hard to do better and the ZEN DAC 3 comes Highly Recommended."
"Five Stars" from techradar
Simon Lucas at techradar awarded the ZEN DAC 3 its top rating of Five Stars in his June 1 2024 review.
"Safe to say the iFi Zen DAC 3 represents good value in every respect. It’s properly built and finished, it’s specified to do a thorough job, and with the price uppermost in your mind it’s a very capable performer indeed. There are better desktop headphone amp/DACs available, but they’re all more expensive and not by just a little."
New Look, Upgraded Capabilities
The acclaimed ZEN DAC series has garnered numerous awards, including being named What Hi-Fi? magazine's Best DAC under £200 (around $250) for four consecutive years.
The ZEN DAC 3 continues its legendary status by doubling its high-resolution support. The USB-C connectivity streamlines cable management and provides USB input overvoltage protection, safeguarding it against potential harm. Moreover, a significant reduction in DC offset minimizes audio clicks when adjusting settings. These improvements propel the ZEN DAC 3 to new heights of audio excellence.
Sporting a new look and upgraded capabilities, the ZEN DAC 3 supports all PCM formats up to 768kHz, DSD natively supports up to DSD 512, and it even provides full MQA decoding. Compact enough to use as a USB DAC/headphone amp on your work desk and stylish enough to use at home with your favorite active speakers or amp, it delivers a level of specification and performance that punches above its super-affordable price tag.
Its beautifully balanced design gives you both fixed and variable output gain options, ZEN DAC 3 can seamlessly connect to headphones, an amplifier or active speakers. The two 4.4mm balanced outputs (one for headphones and one for other amplifier) effectively minimize distortion and crosstalk for enhanced sound quality.
Other connections include stereo RCA analog outputs and the all-new USB-C port.
"ZEN DAC 3 is a No Brainer"
"If you are under a tight budget and out there in a market in search of a solid versatile, and transportable DACamp/preamp that can work with IEMs headphones and can be used as a preamp as well as a pure DAC then iFi ZEN DAC 3 is a no brainer," observes longtime reviewer pradiptacr7 athead-fi.org, December 16, 2024.
"In a market crowded with similarly priced options, the ZEN DAC 3 stands out by offering excellent musicality, a secret sauce missing from DACs these days," notes Yagiz, headfonia.com, June 24, 2024. "Its ability to transform everyday listening into a more immersive experience is where it truly shines, making it a worthy consideration for those looking to upgrade their audio setup without breaking the bank."
Total Hi-Res Audio Support
Hi-res audio support is state-of-the-art with True Native® playback. It handles PCM data to 32-bit/768kHz, DSD up to DSD512 and single and double speed DXD.
Thanks to the Burr-Brown DAC chip’s four-channel True Native design, PCM and DSD take separate pathways – this enables DSD, as well as PCM, to remain ‘bit-perfect’ in its native form right through to analogue conversion. This is not the case with all DAC devices from other brands – even if DSD compatibility is stated, many such DACs convert DSD signals to PCM.
Extensive jitter-eradication technologies are applied to the digital stage, including iFi's GMT (Global Master Timing) femto-precision clock and the intelligent memory buffer. The low-jitter crystal clock has been updated to provide >20dB better performance.
16 Core = Hardcore
With its 16-core tech, the ZEN DAC 3 is an MQA decoder rather than a renderer only. This enables you to play back MQA audio files and streams, delivering the sound of the original master recording.
The LED glows green or blue to indicate that the unit is decoding and playing an MQA stream or file and denotes provenance to ensure that the sound is identical to that of the source material. It glows blue to indicate it is playing an MQA Studio file, which has either been approved in the studio by the artist/producer or has been verified by the copyright owner.
MQA rendering technology (used in the original ZEN DAC among other iFi products) connects to an MQA Core signal (such as TIDAL) and completes the final unfold of an MQA file. Usually, the computer has carried out the decoding. Now you only need the ZEN DAC 3 to do the whole job!
"I Would Happily Live with One"
"If you enjoy the iFi house sound, this has it. If you want something that is well built, this is. If you want something that looks good, well, that is of course subjective but it certainly looks different to all the other options," remarks Acho at Spain's achoreviews.com, August 4, 2024.
"For someone who is looking for a nice all-in-one package that can drive “normal” stuff without issue, then the Zen CAN 3 is a very valid option. I would happily live with one on my desk."
Smooth and Balanced
A low jitter, crystal clock contributes to the sonic excellence. The super-low noise performance means the ZEN DAC 3 will remain quiet even in noisy situations such as an RV or even your yacht.
The balanced design for the analog stage – rare and not found at this price point – makes it pretty special and delivers the best sound quality, normally found in higher priced models. The ZEN DAC 3 sports Pentaconn 4.4mm balanced outputs at both the front and back. On the front, there’s also the popular 1/4" headphone jack.
Flexible Performance
Switch effortlessly between 'variable' and 'fixed' output. Set to 'Variable,' and you can use the ZEN DAC 3 as a preamp to feed a power amp or active speakers. Or you can set it to 'fixed' output to bypass the volume control when connecting to an external preamp or integrated amp.
iFi's PowerMatch headphone amplifier has switchable gain to perfectly match your headphones. For IEMs, normally high-sensitivity, leave PowerMatch at its lower setting for hiss-free listening. On/over-ear headphones with relatively low impedance require more power – press PowerMatch to increase the level of drive.
Ace of Bass and Switchable Gain
ZEN DAC 3 adopts XBass+, the newest iteration of iFi's signature analog EQ. It enhances the bass but does not muddy the midrange, which is perfect for use with IEMs or open-back headphones which often lack bass.
The PowerMatch headphone amplifier has switchable gain to perfectly match your headphones, too.
More on 16 Core
The XMOS 16-Core chip processes the audio data received via the USB digital input. This new low-latency XMOS microcontroller has greatly enhanced processing power. Compared to the current generation of eight-core chips, this new 16-core IC delivers double the clock speed (2000MIPS) and four times the memory (512KB), as well as the latest SuperSpeed USB standard.
iFi’s in-house digital development team has programmed the XMOS firmware to optimize sound quality and ensure a perfect partnership with the Burr-Brown DAC.
USB-C Powered, Upgradeable Performance
The ZEN DAC 3, powered by USB-C, simplifies cable management. However, for audiophiles seeking to elevate their system, the 5V power input offers an upgrade path. When an external power supply is connected, the USB-C port will only transmit data, ensuring a purer signal. <M/p>
The optional iFi iPower2 (sold separately) is an ultra-quiet, ultra-clean audiophile-grade power supply, featuring Active Noise Cancellation II technology to cancel out all incoming EMI and RFI noise. It is more than 10 times quieter than most audiophile power supplies.
Power Up, Protect On!
The DC offset output voltage has been improved in the ZEN DAC 3. This means less audible clicks while switching functions. ZEN DAC 3 also benefits from input overvoltage protection via the USB-C port.
