Adds excellent versatility to speaker systems, but limited ironically, by cables
I love ifi. To me, they parrallel FiiO in providing products across segments for budget, mid-fi all the way to the high end. Here are some of the newer releases, all of which look promising.
Brand & Segment | ifi | FiiO |
Dongle | Go link, Go bar | KA5, KA13 |
Portable DAC/amp | Hip Dac 2 | Q |
Desktop DAC/amp | Zen DAC, CAN and Blue | FiiO K7 |
Bluetooth IEM module | Go Pod | UTWS5 |
Bluetooth dongle | Go Blu | BTR3, BTR5 |
High end DAC/amp | iDSD2 | K9 Pro ESS |
By and large most of these products are reliable, and priced competitively enough depending on how far in you are on your audio journey. I am stuck in the mid-fi region, complete with 4.4mm balanced cables, bookshelf speakers and headphones. I didn't like the uno or the Hip Dac 2. And while I love the Zen Dac v1, it's largely overpriced now. I'll wholeheartedly recommend a clean sound DAC from any company of your choosing, and pair with the
affordable, USB powered Zen Air Can. I myself am not much of a dongle guy, but the Go Bar, while expensive, sounds great too! As does the iBasso DCO4 pro if you have access to it.
If your budget is higher, and your ears that much more golden, the Zen Air Blue may be of little interest to you. But for someone who wants to add basic bluetooth functionality to a speaker system? You only have this or FiiO BTA30 to choose from. I'm not counting in the Aiyima stuff as it's mostly available on Aliexpress with no warranty.
Anyhoo, enough of the preamble. Let's get into the TL;DR
Great sound quality out of LDAC
Attractive unit and small. Sits comfortably on top of a speaker
Competitively priced, given limited amount of products available, with FiiO BTA30 being the other option.
Short DC 5V cable is extra inconvenient. More so than their usual short RCA cables.
You can't replace a DC 5V cable as easily, and it won't work with some types of mains powered DC 5V power cables. And with ifi's usual short length, you can't even connect it to a wall outlet on the floor. You literally need an extension cable then a USB power head, and then the DC 5V cable to connect the Zen Air Blue to a speaker
I love my Zen Air Can for how easy it is to use with a standard USB power bank but for some reason, the Zen Air Blue
cannot be powered off a power bank consistently. It switches off on its own. Tried with a few different power banks. You can't bring the Zen Air Blue around as a portable unit with a power bank, the way I do with my Zen Air Can for trialing new headphones and systems at shops.
No 3.5mm or optical outs limits you to ONLY RCA capable speakers. Bookshelves will have this, but I like optical too for when the option is there on speakers. Edifier E25HD for example, sits on my desk and uses coaxial.
No RCA cable. Good luck if you bought this and are in a university trying to work this with speakers.
ifi Zen Air Blue
There is a slightly older product that combines both bluetooth and USB DAC in the Zen One Signature, and a now discontinued albeit poor measuring Nano iOne. I was drooling out the mouth for the ifi Zen One Signature at launch, but now that I have Zen Air Blue, I am relieved I didn't drop the cash for it.
The biggest downside for the Zen Air Blue for me? Battling corporate ifi cost saving measures.
You can't use the Zen Air Blue easily because the cable is just too damn short. AND THEY DIDN'T INCLUDE RCA CABLES. Who does that?? It's like supplying a bed without pillows. I guess ifi heard everyone complaining about their short purple RCA cables and said, you know what? Hope you like zero cables better. 20 bucks later, I've finally got to adding it into my setup.
I was wrong ifi. You got me good. Put the RCA cables back in the box with the Zen Air Can, the Zen Air Blue please...
Corporate ifi cost savings department is truly villainous
Use Scenarios that worked for me
- Connecting to a barely Edifier R2000DB in storage. This speaker has bluetooth already, but it transmits at SBC. Also, the sound is colored through Bluetooth compared to RCA or optical. Sound quality is largely indistinguishable from wired in with RCA, and with Wavelet on mobile, you can tweak EQ. With Netflix and watching some movies, the bluetooth lag is also not too noticable. Good enough for shows, perfect for music.
- Connecting to Zen Air Can for a distraction free work setup. Without the multitude of things on PC to do, focusing just on music from my phone has been quite liberating. I can see this being a coffee table setup if you want to read on an armchair and playing ambient/rain noise through full sized headphones.
Both of these scenarios worked like magic. Simple, stable connection, with sound quality that was only slightly worse than using the Zen Air Can with the Zen Dac v1. At most you are losing 3-5% sound quality, weird as it is to quanitfy "quality loss".
I just ended up not using the Zen Air Blue when it sat on my table. But moved it around with the Zen Air Can as and when I needed it. It's charm is in it's portability and how it tears me away from the PC.
I haven't sat down to just listen to music in a long while, and with the Zen Air Blue freeing me from using my PC as a source, I found myself using it often while I did chores or read.
It's not always about measurements, or the highest end DAC chips or tech specs. The Zen Air Blue just makes music more assessible to me. Headphones? No problem. Speaker while I exercise? No problem. Ambient sleeping music? Sure.
Anyhoo, let's dive into some use case comparisons:
"Why not BTR3 and IEMs?"
The BTR3 is somewhat underpowered, and while it is fine with the Moondrop Kato I have on hand. I prefer the Kato with the Zen Air Can for xBass. I don't really like using the Kato when I am not sitting down anyways. Even if I am not using a speaker or HD600, I will use the Kato with this Zen Air Blue and Zen Air Can pairing.
"Why not VE Megatron or just use a USB C adapter and connect the Zen Dac v1?"
Megatron is one of the dongles I have used that doesn't come loose if you shake the phone or lose connection. However, it just flat out doesn't play nice with IEMs. If I'm sitting down, the cable to connect the Zen Dac can come loose if you are touching the phone. Zen Air Blue is just more convenient and with the gain, xBass and audio out features on the Can, I have more use cases covered for speakers if I want.
"Does it hum when you slot the Schitt Lokius in between the Zen Air Blue and Zen Air Can?"
I placed Schitt Lokius in between a wood shelve to isolate hum or other intereference. I don't hear noise through headphones with this chain. But of course, isolating Lokius or having longer cables to move the Lokius further away is always better.
Let's Conclude!
I like the Zen Air Blue. I certainly don't love or appreciate what it comes with, or rather without, in the box. But once you get setup and have bought your spare cables? The Zen Air Blue is easy to pull out and plug in with whichever speakers you have in the house. I actually got mine at a huge discount, about 50% off, and foresaw myself keeping it in storage or returning it.
Yet, I found myself integrating it with other older gear I don't use as often, and embracing the PC/laptop free life. It makes me think back on days when I would use an iPod and FM tuner to tinker with whatever speaker I had in the house.
I find myself just reaching for music more with speakers that can fill the house or room I'm working in, not listening objectively and really, just enjoying full on albums and unwinding time. When was the last time gear made you do that?
Anyhoo. Completely arbitrary rating of 3.5 stars, which translates to about 70%. B+? I'm not in the habit of giving a 5 star review just because something works and works well, as in the world of audio, great products are a dime a dozen and truly excellent ones practically barely exist.
I long for the day I can give a full 5 stars to any truly musical product. But till then...
Easy recommendation. Buy some cables. Grab a coffee. Happy listening.
I just didn't end up using this much. If I'm on the PC, I might as well just use the USB DAC. On bluetooth, I'm normally playing music through a phone or watching a show through the tablet. If I'm already sitting up on the desk, just turn on the PC.
The use case I ended up with. A redneck like setup to push music through the entire house. I can see it being a great setup for a cafe speaker system.