[dharmasteve]

Plan to get this one, can anybody tell me what advantage it has over the es100? also i'm confused, is the 4.4 balanced out for headphones? many thanks

This is not a headphone amplifier its a Blutooth receiver and its desktop, so for example you can attatch it to your hifi analogue or digitally to speakers. So Phone/Dap to Zen Blue to Amplifier/Speakers. I have the ES100 and although it can be set up to be attatched to a hifi (as can the FiiO BTR3) the Zen Blue is specifically designed to do that. You will know from your ES100 how good LDAC sounds. The iFi Zen Blue sounds great through a good HiFi setup. It has a Sabre/ESS DAC.

 

[shootertwist]

^just bought one, an impulse buy i guess, will try out ldac and use my sony walkman zx500 as source. Will connect it to my marantz stereo receiver and my trusty old wharfedale 9.1 speakers

 

[dharmasteve]

^just bought one, an impulse buy i guess, will try out ldac and use my sony walkman zx500 as source. Will connect it to my marantz stereo receiver and my trusty old wharfedale 9.1 speakers

I do something similar. Samsung S9 plus phone (or a Fiio DAP), to the ifi Zen Blue, to the Amptastic T-Amp, to Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers. I'm a great fan of the 9.1's, they sound really musical. New firmware has just come out for the Zen Blue. You may have to update if your supplier has not done that for you, but if you have to do it, it's not difficult.

 

[iFi audio]

This is not a headphone amplifier its a Blutooth receiver and its desktop, so for example you can attatch it to your hifi analogue or digitally to speakers. So Phone/Dap to Zen Blue to Amplifier/Speakers

Yup, that's it!

 

[daytrader]

I want to bypass the dac and use the Zen Blue just for its Bluetooth function.. Using as a pass through into another dac via either optical or coaxial does it still pass a 24 bit signal with both? In other words, does your Bluetooth 5.0 input support up to PCM24bit / 96 kHz or better?

Also, is there any advantage in using the Zen Blue 4.4mm bal out over the rca outs other than the extra voltage output? I have bal inputs on my Stax headphone amp, and I purchased a 4.4mm to dual xlr male balanced audio headphone adapter cable in 1M length that I want to use from the Blue to the amp. Or am I better off using the supplies rca Zen single ended cables?

 

[iFi audio]

I want to bypass the dac and use the Zen Blue just for its Bluetooth function.. Using as a pass through into another dac via either optical or coaxial does it still pass a 24 bit signal with both? In other words, does your Bluetooth 5.0 input support up to PCM24bit / 96 kHz or better?

Please see this post:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-audio-zen-blue-the-official-thread.915747/page-8#post-15424369

Also, is there any advantage in using the Zen Blue 4.4mm bal out over the rca outs other than the extra voltage output? I have bal inputs on my Stax headphone amp, and I purchased a 4.4mm to dual xlr male balanced audio headphone adapter cable in 1M length that I want to use from the Blue to the amp. Or am I better off using the supplies rca Zen single ended cables?

Well, it depends on your entire setup. If it's balanced, we'd stick to balanced connections. If it's not, please use what works best or/and is more convenient for you!

Also, do you like your ZEN Blue ?

 

[iFi audio]

Also, one very cool material about ZEN Blue was just released:

http://www.hificlube.net/artigos/re...AEss2oPkF3iA4AfziU5pLJRIelNzNqneaJioB_D5TSpRo

Although we don't speak Portugese, Google translation did well in helping us to understand the content in there!

 

[daytrader]

Please see this post:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-audio-zen-blue-the-official-thread.915747/page-8#post-15424369



Well, it depends on your entire setup. If it's balanced, we'd stick to balanced connections. If it's not, please use what works best or/and is more convenient for you!

Also, do you like your ZEN Blue ?

I like it, the dac is pretty good, the BT connection is excellent. I just wanted to add a BT function to my up coming new dac, the Denafrips Ares ll. So I thought I could just plug it into the optical input of the Denafrips and go wireless from from iPhone. Oh well. I guess a longer usb cable is in my future when I get my new dac. Thank you for responding.

 

[shootertwist]

Loving my zen blue, been listening to it non stop, in fact i like it so much i’m wondering if there is a portable version of it, i like its versatility of getting a source via bluetooth and have the option of line out or digital out... now if there is a product like that really would like one

 

[AndyBrechin]

I have one of these to sell, virtually brand new and mint which I would like to sell (£129 new). I bought a Marantz Streamer so I don't need the Bluetooth function in my system anymore as I can now stream hi-res files to my Marantz NA6006 through wifi with no loss in resolution. Any sensible offers, I have all original packaging, etc?

 

[dharmasteve]

Loving my zen blue, been listening to it non stop, in fact i like it so much i’m wondering if there is a portable version of it, i like its versatility of getting a source via bluetooth and have the option of line out or digital out... now if there is a product like that really would like one

Before I got the ZenBlue, which I agree is great, I temporarily used my tiny portable Radsone ES100 using 3.5mm to 2 x RCA..... into my Amplifier. With the Ear Studio Android app you can make some extra volume adjustments. I used my Samsung S9 plus as a source. LDAC sounded really good through my Wharfedale 9.1 speakers. The ES100 of course has many other uses but can be use as a micro portable LDAC receiver.

 

[shootertwist]

Thanks sir though in my case i need a digital out so i can hook it up to a chord mojo... with the zen blue i use its optical out to the mojo... the pairing is great, that’s why i’m trying to replicate something the zen blue can do that’s portable

 

[iFi audio]

You may have to update if your supplier has not done that for you, but if you have to do it, it's not difficult.

The procedure itself isn't complicated and here is a link for your convenience: https://ifi-audio.com/downloads/

 

[iFi audio]

I have one of these to sell, virtually brand new and mint which I would like to sell (£129 new). I bought a Marantz Streamer so I don't need the Bluetooth function in my system anymore as I can now stream hi-res files to my Marantz NA6006 through wifi with no loss in resolution. Any sensible offers, I have all original packaging, etc?

This is a lovely set-up! The ZEN Blue looks very fitting in there. What kind of a turntable do you have?

 

[AndyBrechin]

A very old Project Debut with Phono speed box I think.