Fosi ZH3 Balanced Headphone Amp & DAC Review

[TonyM68]

Adjusting the volume with the remote doesn’t work properly.

Whenever I press once the +- button, the volume just keep increasing or decreasing.

Any fix for that?

 

[BlueGuerrilla]

My ZH3 cuts off the first second of music using my Mac. Any thoughts?

Please update it by emailing FOSI for firmware 1.1.5. Currently, the shipping products are version 1.1.4 and the first second is lagging.
The manufacturer is rumored to have tried to get rid of pop noise.

 

[Whatsthephuss]

… while I have done a classic [op amp] swap before, I’m curious to really compare how they are different thanks to the affordable and high quality Fosi ZH3.

Used the second ZH3 to compare Burson V7V vs V7C op amps. There is a difference although it isn’t massive like they say. No, I won’t go into my subjective experience on this forum.

What I will say is that I’m pretty disappointed in the “results” that the objective measurement community (ASR) presents regarding op amps. If I (and many others) can hear a difference between different op amps, clearly there should be a measurable metric. Why would Burson release two different V7 op amps if they sounded exactly the same? News flash, they don’t.

In pro audio where I align subwoofers and different sound system elements, I routinely use measurements to help figure out what I can already hear, but here we have people using measurements to tell others we’re not hearing something that’s audible. Lame use of science imo.

None of the op amp measurements I’ve seen here have any info on impulse response. Just frequency response and THD/IMD, which tell us nothing about timing differences afaik. It is helpful to know what I’m hearing is not a difference in THD or frequency response, but it makes me all the more curious how something audible to me could elude measurements

 

[Mutex]

I just pulled the trigger on a ZH3 + DT 990 Pro X.

I'm coming from a DT 880 Pro (250Ω) with an audio interface that has 47Ω output impedance. Because the DT 990 Pro X is only 48Ω, I thought I needed a dedicated headphone amp with low output impedance and went for the ZH3 (what is the output impedance of the ZH3 by the way?).

I intend to use the RCA-out from my audio interface to RCA-in of the ZH3. I hope it was a good decision.

 

[Lux Maldini]

View attachment 491983

https://support.fosiaudio.com/products/zh3

I followed the guide and installed the new firmware from the link above, but for some reason the firmware won’t update. The DFU tool clearly shows “success”, but when I reopen the DFU tool to check, the version is still the previous 1.14. I’ve tried using a USB 2.0 port and different cables, but it didn’t help at all. Reinstalling drivers or running the program as an administrator also made no difference.

Is there anyone who has experienced the same issue or knows how to fix it? As far as I know, most DACs have a firmware update mode, so I’m not sure whether this issue is related to the device settings or the firmware itself.

Just need to show that the update was successful.

 

[bravomail]

Fosi ZH3 is at 159 usd today at amazon

 

[Bernard23]

Mine arrived today, connected to a Wiim Pro. All working and sounding as expected.

 

[Mike_Trueman]

Mine arrived today, connected to a Wiim Pro. All working and sounding as expected.

Does it work great with your headphone?

 

[Bernard23]

Well, there's a bit of a story. Set up the profile for first pair in the Wiim, sounded fine. Saved as a new 2nd profile for the second pair of phones, entered the new numbers and it sounded terrible. Realised I'd not changed the high shelf filter to a pk when I copied it over. Yes both pairs sound awesome, I'm using the balanced out with edition XS, medium gain and bypass enabled. There is no difference at normal listening levels between the Fosi and my Element 2

 

[Mutex]

Please update it by emailing FOSI for firmware 1.1.5. Currently, the shipping products are version 1.1.4 and the first second is lagging.

Actually you can go to the support page and flip open the corresponding FAQ entry where a link to the fix is provided.

 

[danoond]

View attachment 491983

https://support.fosiaudio.com/products/zh3

I followed the guide and installed the new firmware from the link above, but for some reason the firmware won’t update. The DFU tool clearly shows “success”, but when I reopen the DFU tool to check, the version is still the previous 1.14. I’ve tried using a USB 2.0 port and different cables, but it didn’t help at all. Reinstalling drivers or running the program as an administrator also made no difference.

Is there anyone who has experienced the same issue or knows how to fix it? As far as I know, most DACs have a firmware update mode, so I’m not sure whether this issue is related to the device settings or the firmware itself.

I've had the same issue when I tried to apply the fix, followed all the instructions precisely

The problem was solved when I created a "temp" folder in the root of my С drive (my Windows partition) and unpacked the entire archive into it. So I think that the DFU tool is sensitive to file paths, so that the path to the firmware file should only contain Latin (ASCII) characters. In your screenshot I see that the path to the .bin file contains strange "w" characters instead of the expected backslashes, I assume that you are using some kind of cloud sync software (like OneDrive), which in this case is breaking the firmware file path. I think you should try creating a temporary folder in the root of one of your drives (partitions) and unzip the archive there, then try to repeat all the steps of the instructions from that folder

 

[Neftun]

Does anyone know if zh3 can run headphones while sending signal out (either xlr or rca) simultaneously?

I wanna run two or three headphones at the same time with other amps.

 

[Whatsthephuss]

Does anyone know if zh3 can run headphones while sending signal out (either xlr or rca) simultaneously?

It cannot - I only use PO to enable tone controls, 4.4mm to headphones and 6.35mm out to other headphone amps. Medium gain is 2V from the unbalanced headphone out

 

[Neftun]

It cannot - I only use PO to enable tone controls, 4.4mm to headphones and 6.35mm out to other headphone amps. Medium gain is 2V from the unbalanced headphone out

Thanks for your reply.

I suppose my use case is one where seperate, dedicated units is the only option?

 

[Whatsthephuss]

Thanks for your reply.

I suppose my use case is one where seperate, dedicated units is the only option?

DX5II will do both with eq, but RME ADI2/4 will allow you to eq both separately

 

[Henrik]

macOS users: If you experience the first bit of audio (200 mS) being cut after a short pause, the fix is to update the firmware on the ZH3 using a Windows machine. I just did it. ZH3 Software Upgrade Guide

 

[Conehead]

Does anyone know if zh3 can run headphones while sending signal out (either xlr or rca) simultaneously?

I wanna run two or three headphones at the same time with other amps.

The zh3 does not support that but they do sell a solidly reviewed, inexpensive headphone hub,

Fosi Audio PH05​

I should add amirm did not recommend but others have been happy with it.

 

[HLTT]

Can I output XLR to ZA3(or Audio v3 mono) and RCA out to active Sub at the same time? Thanks in advance

 

[Thearkymen]

I'm unsure whether to buy this one or the Fosi Audio K7. It's mainly to connect it to the PC and hook up my Sundara headphones and some active speakers via RCA. I like both because they have bass and treble control, but I really don't know which one to buy.

 

[Conehead]

The difference is in the details further than what you're mentioning for your use. For me I'm purely looking for music integration and it's been wonderful. But there are a few things the K7 supports for gamers that the ZH3 does not. K7 has a different chipset (shares a few though), a mic input, top down ergonomics, moment's notice fingertip controls... K7 controls are tactile and immediate. ZH3 is more set it and forget it. With the ease of Amazon returns, get both to test and send one back!