This is a review and detailed measurements of the Fosi Audio ZD3 balanced stereo DAC. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $179.99.
The ZD3 manages at the same time to look elegant/modern and cute! The choice of round display is smart as is displaying the level the largest in the center. Feature set is rich with inclusion of trigger in/out (for powering downstream amp/devices) and HDMI ARC:
It is especially nice to have "discrete" buttons on the remote to select inputs. Again, this lends itself to nice automation in addition to being easier to use than going in menus or sequential selection.
Fosi Audio ZD3 Measurements
Starting with balanced output, we immediately see signs of competent implementation:
It easily achieves transparency even in unbalanced output:
I am now able to measure HDMI ARC which nicely shows same performance as USB on ZD3:
Performance is noise bound. Competitors use 4.2 volt output which uses the best dynamic range of the audio analyzer. If Fosi had done that, it would probably extract another half a dB of SINAD. Here is the dynamic range to indicate that:
Performance naturally improves a bit if we go to max output of nearly 5 volts:
Multitone performance is excellent and approaches state of the art where our hearing is most sensitive:
For compatibility with reviews elsewhere, here is the output with 50 Hz tone driven into unrealistic 600 ohm load:
There is some inconsequential jitter components as indicated by spikes near our 12 kHz tone:
Likewise, linearity is a hair off in one channel:
Only one default filter is provided which is just fine with me:
We see a hint of ESS DAC IMD Hump which is more than acceptable:
Wideband frequency sweep shows excellent response:
Conclusions
The ZD3 nails the look and importantly, feature set of what one wants in a low cost DAC. It provides full transparency with excellent noise and distortion. And makes this reviewer happy with such features as single button input selection and large (relatively speaking) volume level display. Company is clearly in tune with its customer needs. Its entrance is enriched by that knowledge and excellent engineering. Really, the growth of Fosi as a company in this desktop category is just amazing.
It is my pleasure to recommend the Fosi ZD3 balanced stereo DAC.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The ZD3 manages at the same time to look elegant/modern and cute! The choice of round display is smart as is displaying the level the largest in the center. Feature set is rich with inclusion of trigger in/out (for powering downstream amp/devices) and HDMI ARC:
It is especially nice to have "discrete" buttons on the remote to select inputs. Again, this lends itself to nice automation in addition to being easier to use than going in menus or sequential selection.
Fosi Audio ZD3 Measurements
Starting with balanced output, we immediately see signs of competent implementation:
It easily achieves transparency even in unbalanced output:
I am now able to measure HDMI ARC which nicely shows same performance as USB on ZD3:
Performance is noise bound. Competitors use 4.2 volt output which uses the best dynamic range of the audio analyzer. If Fosi had done that, it would probably extract another half a dB of SINAD. Here is the dynamic range to indicate that:
Performance naturally improves a bit if we go to max output of nearly 5 volts:
Multitone performance is excellent and approaches state of the art where our hearing is most sensitive:
For compatibility with reviews elsewhere, here is the output with 50 Hz tone driven into unrealistic 600 ohm load:
There is some inconsequential jitter components as indicated by spikes near our 12 kHz tone:
Likewise, linearity is a hair off in one channel:
Only one default filter is provided which is just fine with me:
We see a hint of ESS DAC IMD Hump which is more than acceptable:
Wideband frequency sweep shows excellent response:
Conclusions
The ZD3 nails the look and importantly, feature set of what one wants in a low cost DAC. It provides full transparency with excellent noise and distortion. And makes this reviewer happy with such features as single button input selection and large (relatively speaking) volume level display. Company is clearly in tune with its customer needs. Its entrance is enriched by that knowledge and excellent engineering. Really, the growth of Fosi as a company in this desktop category is just amazing.
It is my pleasure to recommend the Fosi ZD3 balanced stereo DAC.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
