This is a review and detailed measurements of the ifi Zen Air Phono stage with moving coil and moving magnet support. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $99.
This is the first ifi product I have seen in this casing which is made out of plastic. It is textured and actually feels more luxurious and modern than the metal version. Due to black color, the white labels are easier to read as well. Cheaper, nicer and better, what could be better?
Power is provided from USB to barrel connector. There is a power supply but I don't knew if it is the original or not:
ifi Zen Air Phono Measurements
Let's start with our dashboard in moving magnet gain setting:
Nice and clean frequency spectrum. Noise is rather high though resulting in slightly below average ranking:
Dropping input to 0.5mv and switching to Moving Coil, I was surprised to see more distortion:
I could not reduce power supply noise either.
Back to MM setting, noise is not great as stated:
As with its more expensive sibling (ifi zen phono), RIAA equalization is implemented perfectly:
Measuring for headroom, we see less of it than its more limited than Zen Phono:
But therein is the higher distortion again on MC gain setting. Above is at 1 kHz; let's sweep at other frequencies:
We see disappointing drop in headroom and higher distortion yet again.
Finally, here is the distortion (no noise) sweep for both modes:
Conclusions
I like the packaging of this ifi phono stage. Distortion and noise is OK but could be better given dirt cheap phono stages out there. RIAA Equalization though is implemented perfectly and for that, the ifi zen air phono joins my recommended list.
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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/
This is the first ifi product I have seen in this casing which is made out of plastic. It is textured and actually feels more luxurious and modern than the metal version. Due to black color, the white labels are easier to read as well. Cheaper, nicer and better, what could be better?
Power is provided from USB to barrel connector. There is a power supply but I don't knew if it is the original or not:
ifi Zen Air Phono Measurements
Let's start with our dashboard in moving magnet gain setting:
Nice and clean frequency spectrum. Noise is rather high though resulting in slightly below average ranking:
Dropping input to 0.5mv and switching to Moving Coil, I was surprised to see more distortion:
I could not reduce power supply noise either.
Back to MM setting, noise is not great as stated:
As with its more expensive sibling (ifi zen phono), RIAA equalization is implemented perfectly:
Measuring for headroom, we see less of it than its more limited than Zen Phono:
But therein is the higher distortion again on MC gain setting. Above is at 1 kHz; let's sweep at other frequencies:
We see disappointing drop in headroom and higher distortion yet again.
Finally, here is the distortion (no noise) sweep for both modes:
Conclusions
I like the packaging of this ifi phono stage. Distortion and noise is OK but could be better given dirt cheap phono stages out there. RIAA Equalization though is implemented perfectly and for that, the ifi zen air phono joins my recommended list.
-----------
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/