[Rowan94]

For those of you that have stuck around the iFi threads enough, you’ve probably seen our tours before. It’s been a while since we have done one of these, so we are kickstarting them again, starting with our ZEN Air range!

Am I eligible for the tour?

We’d love to share the iFi love around as much as we can, and we’ll thus be trying our best to accommodate as many people as we can. So, we encourage you to sign up if you have an interest in our ZEN Air range, regardless of where you are in your HiFi journey.

We’ll eventually be dividing up the tour groups into geographical regions as we see fit. Unfortunately, if a particular region has a low interest in touring the unit, we may not be able to accommodate those that are interested there. So, be sure to tell your friends to sign up too!

How do you sign up?!

To sign up for the tour, fill out the sign-up sheet and you’re golden!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ZEN AIR TOUR!

Please note that the deadline for the sign-up process is the 13th October 2022 and the individuals selected will be announced and contacted thereafter.

Rules for this Tour:

1. Each Head-Fier will be given 2 weeks’ time to spend with the units.
2. After the given amount of time has passed, each Head-Fier is responsible for safely packing the unit, shipping the unit to the next Head-Fier, and covering the shipping costs.
3. Each Head-Fier will be required to post a review of the ZEN Air range within 2 weeks of shipping the unit off to the next Head-Fier on the ZEN Air product pages.

Product Pages:
ZEN Air DAC
ZEN Air Blue
ZEN Air CAN
ZEN Air Phono

Otherwise, the most important thing is to kick back, have fun, and enjoy some of your favourite tunes through our ZEN Air range! We hope you love them just as much as we do!

Prizes:

Just like in the past, we’ll be giving away the tour ZEN Air units to one lucky winner from each leg of the tour.

Your ticket to win is simply a link to your review and proof that you’ve put effort and real thought into it. Don’t worry, we’re not expecting an essay as if you were in school, we are all past that now! But a few simple sentences that doesn’t express your thoughts on the product won’t cut it either.

To keep things fair for everyone, the drawing for the winners is completely random. That means we’re not playing favourites here to prevent reviewers from being biased in hopes of winning the review. Again though, a poor review (in terms of quality) will disqualify the individual from winning the prize.

Good luck!

Thank You!

We’d like to take this moment, again, to give a big thank you to everyone out there that has supported us and helped us through our journey. To those that have yet to try their hands (or ears!) at an iFi Audio product, we hope to welcome you to the iFi family soon!

We hope to hear from you all soon!

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,

oh this is a great thing and have signed up.
I think it's really good because you can test it yourself at home in peace.
Do you get all 4 devices at the same time for testing or only the one you signed up for?

Will there also be a kind of tour with the neo Stream or not?

 

[Rowan94]

Hello,

oh this is a great thing and have signed up.
I think it's really good because you can test it yourself at home in peace.
Do you get all 4 devices at the same time for testing or only the one you signed up for?

Hey! Thanks for signing up! If you have a TurnTable you will be receiving all 4 units

Will there also be a kind of tour with the neo Stream or not?

We don't have one planned as of yet.

 

[Evshrug]

I enjoyed the Neo tour… cool that iFi has a Phono product in this new line! How is the Air line positioned vs the other ZEN products? Is it kind of like a more affordable option to the ZEN signature series?

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,

Is there any news regarding the Zen Tour or are you waiting a little longer for members to sign up?

 

[Rowan94]

Hello,

Is there any news regarding the Zen Tour or are you waiting a little longer for members to sign up?

Hello! Just going through the applications and you will be notified very shortly!

 

[Rowan94]

Thank you to those who have been in touch and I am excited to announce who will be joining us on our Tour! @tombrisbane, @yomper88, @Evshrug, @Niyologist, @buffalomatt, @Deleeh, @vmiguel, @Mike Foley, @dilbertprogrammer, @gus387 !!
If you don't see your name, please check your emails and let me know if you are still wanting to be a part of the tour.
Just an update, I will be away this week at the AV Show in Poland (I will post some interesting pictures on our show thread!). I will be sending out the first units next week and I will be in touch with you all privately then too! Thank you for your patience!

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,

It has become very quiet in this thread.
I received my 4 units this week.
I had a quick listen to the Dac and have just set up the phono stage.
I am very excited about how the phono stage is doing.
Have fun to all who have registered.

 

[Rowan94]

Hello,

It has become very quiet in this thread.
I received my 4 units this week.
I had a quick listen to the Dac and have just set up the phono stage.
I am very excited about how the phono stage is doing.
Have fun to all who have registered.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the units!

 

[vmiguel]

So, this happened 2 days ago. But life got in the way, and I'm only now able to start playing with these nice boxes.

This first post is just to give some context on how and with what I'll be earing the ZEN Air range (no, it's not a "review" or a "test", just my impressions on these devices).

About me: 50+ years young, with just a little bit of tinnitus. Been enjoying hi-fi since I was a teen. By choice, I don´t buy hi-end gear, or even upper-mid-end. I find more fun in trying to take a mid system or device to it's full potential, by tweaks, mix-and-match, and accessories (think iDefender, iPower, etc).

My "method": listen to music as I allways do. No chaging cables back and forth in under a second to compare "that" note with different amp or phones, no repeating 20 times the same 10 seconds of a track, no precisely matching volumes. So, basically, no science! Not that I don't believe in science, but don't have the time, the will or the resources to do a "proper" scientific comparison. And this is the method I've been using for years to buy my gear, so...

My gear: you can check my signature to see what gear I'll be using the ZEN Air range with. I'm particulary curious how the Sundara and HD6XX will perform from the DAC and how better (if at all) will they sound from the CAN. Also, how the DAC will compare with the ones I have, namely the Cambridge (wich costs 5 or 6 times more), and the Topping on the same price range.

I don't use BT much at home (prefer a 3 meter Grado cable extension as I only use the phones in my home-office). Maybe I'll be surprised!

But the ZEN Air Blue and DAC will be put against a Fiio BTR5, that I quite enjoy when out and about.

My music: a little bit of everything, from classic to world, electronica, jazz, some rock, pop, etc...

Will be streaming from Qobuz hi-res, personal files are mainly flac, but also some DSD, and while working I usualy go for Radio Paradise as background music (with great quality). All via Volumio on several Raspberry Pi4. Also TuneBrowser from a Windows PC or a Android phone.

First impressions will appear in a day or two.

Now, be quiet and go play outside, daddy needs a moment!

 

[vmiguel]

So far, the ZEN Air DAC out of a powerbank powered Raspberry Pi5 with Volumio, playing Radio Paradise or flac 192 files from my NAS, into Sundara. I'm liking it!

A bit relaxed, namely on the low end, but in a good way. XBass it's a little too much for my taste, in this setup.

The CAN is warming up for tonight.

And I have some iPower and iPowerX to throw in the mix and see how the ZEN Air range react.

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,

Unfortunately I am already in the second week and have not had much time to test because of private things, which really annoys me.
I hope I will get it done in time.
The weekend before last I was able to listen to 2-3 records with the phono stage and one thing I can already say is that it is really great.
It really meets my taste.

I was only able to listen to the Dac briefly, so I'll abstain for now.

Today I connected the Ifi Bluetooth Station to my stereo system in the media room and let it play a few songs, I have to say that it also has me completely in its grip.
Totally plug & play, connected, supplied with power, set up the Bluetooth connection with the iPad, started Tidal, running.
The first impression is that the sound is really good.
In addition to the phono stage and the Bluetooth station, I would like to test it on my better vintage hi-fi system.
I hope I'll get around to it, at the latest this weekend I could test it there and see if it has any added value, and even compete against the Matrix Audio Ipro Mini 2S via Bluetooth.

The test would be worth it, as these 2 devices are definitely interesting for those who also have a vintage system and are unsure what to buy. Or maybe you just want to keep it plug & play.
Just for this community of people I would like to say a few words about it when I have listened to it and read the test report.

 

[vmiguel]

Great pairing with PSB M4U 1 (my first good headphones, still get some head time).

With DAC + CAN they sound energetic and natural.

Next days I'll use Beyerdynammic DT 250 (150ohms) and lastly, HD6XX.

Edit: I think it's the most "out of the head" pairing that I have ever heard the PSB).

 

[Rowan94]

As reviews are starting to appear, don't forget to put them up in these product pages
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/ifi-audio-zen-air-dac.26079/
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/ifi-audio-zen-air-blue.26080/
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/ifi-audio-zen-air-can.26078/
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/ifi-audio-zen-air-phono.26081/

And I have some iPower and iPowerX to throw in the mix and see how the ZEN Air range react.

This is great! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this!

 

[Evshrug]

So, this happened 2 days ago. But life got in the way, and I'm only now able to start playing with these nice boxes.

This first post is just to give some context on how and with what I'll be earing the ZEN Air range (no, it's not a "review" or a "test", just my impressions on these devices).

About me: 50+ years young, with just a little bit of tinnitus. Been enjoying hi-fi since I was a teen. By choice, I don´t buy hi-end gear, or even upper-mid-end. I find more fun in trying to take a mid system or device to it's full potential, by tweaks, mix-and-match, and accessories (think iDefender, iPower, etc).

My "method": listen to music as I allways do. No chaging cables back and forth in under a second to compare "that" note with different amp or phones, no repeating 20 times the same 10 seconds of a track, no precisely matching volumes. So, basically, no science! Not that I don't believe in science, but don't have the time, the will or the resources to do a "proper" scientific comparison. And this is the method I've been using for years to buy my gear, so...

My gear: you can check my signature to see what gear I'll be using the ZEN Air range with. I'm particulary curious how the Sundara and HD6XX will perform from the DAC and how better (if at all) will they sound from the CAN. Also, how the DAC will compare with the ones I have, namely the Cambridge (wich costs 5 or 6 times more), and the Topping on the same price range.



I don't use BT much at home (prefer a 3 meter Grado cable extension as I only use the phones in my home-office). Maybe I'll be surprised!

But the ZEN Air Blue and DAC will be put against a Fiio BTR5, that I quite enjoy when out and about.

My music: a little bit of everything, from classic to world, electronica, jazz, some rock, pop, etc...

Will be streaming from Qobuz hi-res, personal files are mainly flac, but also some DSD, and while working I usualy go for Radio Paradise as background music (with great quality). All via Volumio on several Raspberry Pi4. Also TuneBrowser from a Windows PC or a Android phone.

First impressions will appear in a day or two.

Now, be quiet and go play outside, daddy needs a moment!

Thanks for photos!
While the contrast between products can appear more stark with rapid A/B tests, I also feel there is some things that take time to pick up on. I can listen for something specific with an A/B test, and that is useful, but I don’t feel like I have a deep, full understanding (grok?) of a product until I also have put in hours listening to regular music (both familiar and fresh) because it takes me time to notice things that I wasn’t specifically looking for… and sometimes I need to listen to a couple tracks to break erroneous first impressions, like thinking a product is shouty but then a few hours later I realize the vocals on that first recording were just hot mic’d, and it just took awhile to realize a product was just good enough to reveal that.