Fosi Audio ZP3 Preamplifier Review

[HJCarballosa]

The ZP3 arrived today. Quite a bit lighter in weight than I thought it would be. Build quality is typical of recent Fosi gear, good.
So I set it up, popped in the XLR’s, rigging my iFi Zne One Studio which is being fed, hardwired with the new Fiio Link Cable, my iPad A16.

First impressions in all honesty, a little on the drier side of sound. Not quite as resolute as the P4 from Fosi. That said, utterly usable and good to have as a preamp for my rig.

So here goes my warranty possibly but an hour after arrival I decided to pop the hood in the ZP3 and replace the NE5532 op amps.
Getting those glossy sheet plastic panels is easily enough with a good heat gun and flat spud/small spatula and a bit of patience. I unscrewed all the external screws apart for the 4 tiny star nuts holing the small PCB board next to the power supply. Those screws just would not budge! I let them be and worked around it.
It meant I could not remove the board from inside the unit. Instead after removing the side panels used a long pick to prize out the two op amps, it was tricky but they popped out eventually.
I replaced them both with a pair of custom made opa828 dual op amps and reassembled the unit.

After putting the unit back into the rack and hooking everything back up the moment of truth was upon me. I nervously turned the power on making sure everything was turned down first. Power on was fine, relay switch kicked in, fine. I then began to increase the volume and……yes, better!

A huge increase in ‘air’, vocals, organically speaking, sprang to as close to life as I could understand without a physical invitation to the singer himself. Bass, clean and tight life just poured into the soundstage and the center image became rock solid. This was and is a huge improvement and it was worth the effort.

So even with the lack of info on volume which in truth I use my ears for and have good practice of turning thing down before on and the apparent distortion of the tone controls which I never used on the P4 much either and so the machine remains in bypass I have to say this is very much not a weak link in my chain and has brought a great deal of soul to the sound which is not a bad thing at all.

View attachment 537066View attachment 537067View attachment 537068

Break-in. Is break-in not a consideration for you? All those very complex petroleum products need to cycle a bit, right? Thanks.

 

[HJCarballosa]

Well, this is a little disappointing to be fair. My ZP3 seems to have an issue that others have experienced with their units.

When using RCA in and converting to balanced out, which this unit is reputed to be able to do, the units relay system kicks in and cuts the signal off. The unit remains on but no music!

Shutting the unit down completely and rebooting brings back the signal. For how long I don’t know as as soon as this happened I boxed it for a return. I have enough dirty t-shirts in this area to know this is on it’s way black to the retailer.

Others online including Fosi’s own forum have reported this issue and have replacement units with some even doing the same thing after receiving the new unit.

Other users have not had the same issue and have called it ‘bad luck’.

So while the volume indication, or lack of it, was not a deal breaker for me personally, the unit falling to convert and single signal to balanced successfully is.

I have reverted to using my Douk Audio P7 which is specifically built for this purpose and has never failed me yet….and I forgot how much I like the valve sound when putting this one back in the chain.

I won’t cancel Fosi products from my shortlist as the ZP3 is the first run and with a little time and the gathering of knowledge the current issues of the ZP3 should with good reason, be ironed out with a second iteration of the product. Their P4 is an excellent little unit but obviously unusable for case scenario with being only a single input, nevertheless I never had any issues with that unit although the remote control volume was a little jumpy but that is it nothing else at all was problematic with the P4.

Grounding issue?

 

[TonyJZX]

wouldnt the volume level problem be fixed by them having the unit start up and always settle at say -45db? ie. a very high level of attentuation? sure it means you probably need to increase vol. everytime you start but that's better than the alternative... which is the situation you have now

 

[Mirus100]

I originally wanted to buy this preamp with two separate amplifiers Fosi Audio V3 Mono . But after reading this thread I probably won't buy it. But I have a question.
Does anyone have information whether there will be a successor to the ZP3?
If so - will it have a headphone output? Will it be balanced or unbalanced.
And finally, the most important thing - will the volume control be better and more logically implemented?

 

[Wooferhead]

I originally wanted to buy this preamp with two separate amplifiers Fosi Audio V3 Mono . But after reading this thread I probably won't buy it. But I have a question.
Does anyone have information whether there will be a successor to the ZP3?
If so - will it have a headphone output? Will it be balanced or unbalanced.
And finally, the most important thing - will the volume control be better and more logically implemented?

I was in the exact same position. Now, I won't be going with any of three components from Fosi.

I've just learnt from other members that V3 Mono is also problematic. I am quite disapponted.

I will either go with Aiyima A20 Mono amps or wait for Fosi to come up with new and improved mono amps.

 

[Wooferhead]

Can anyone recommend a preamp in similar price range that will work well with Aiyima A20 Mono amps?

 

[Kazdrm]

I've bought fosi zp3 for a small system but I thought to try it on my main system as well. It's a pleasant surprise. The sound is detailed but not analytical (that is, not like gustard P26 which I had in the past), the bass is tight, the sound character is full. I use the balance input and output. My main system consists of Harbeth shl5 plus speakers, Gamut C100 power amplifier, Gustard x26pro dac and Holo audio red streamer. I have also tried the fosi p4 preamp on the main system but didn't like it at all. Although the sound was detailed, it was also small, meaning small stage and depth. That is not the case with fosi zp3. On the whole, I'm really satisfied and, for the time being, I have have no problem with the volume control.

 

[geol]

No headphone jack, but useless tone controls.
Even worse, no proper XLR inputs (that saves a few cents). Instead, there's a duplicate XLR output (this time with actual jacks!) + RCA connectors (that nobody will ever use).
Even worse, a faulty volume control with a very ugly orange knob.
That's a lot of flaws. Are they trying to win a competition or something?

 

[Joe Smith]

Can anyone recommend a preamp in similar price range that will work well with Aiyima A20 Mono amps?

Schiit Saga 2