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ifi Zen Phono Review (phono stage)

Rate this phono stage:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 14 9.2%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 66 43.4%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 55 36.2%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 17 11.2%

  • Total voters
    152
now we need the brand new V3 measurements :)

Zen-phono-3-fi.jpg

Oh wow. Interesting choices here. Independent impedance and loading is great, but as an AT MM user, the 47k ohm and 110pf of the Zen is where I want it anyway. For MC users being able to fix the somewhat odd default loading values would be nice.

Spec sheet is showing the older Zen (hereby named v2 I guess?) to be better across the board, no? I know to take these numbers with a grain of salt, and they don’t tell the whole story, but it’s interesting from a comparison perspective.



Zen v2
MM SNR — 94dB(A)
MM Distortion — -110dB

Zen v3
MM SNR — 91dB(A)
MM Distortion — -91dB

(Edit! — those two distortion spec are given at different distortion levels. The v2 at .0003 and the v3 at .0027 – I didn’t catch that when I equated them).

Max output voltages are basically the same, with slightest advantage to Zen v2. Same -151dBV noise spec marketing in both.

Really just seems like they’re making it more flexible for MC users and calling it a day.

I will give them credit — they’ve stopped calling their subsonic filter Artificial Intelligence! We’ve all been educated by the designer @Thorsten Loesch in this thread about how he created an AI circuit to automatically detect optimal gain and loading for a given cartridge, but then iFi killed that part of the design and used the AI moniker for the innovative subsonic filter which doesn’t have a speck of AI to it. That always drove me crazy, knowing iFi had just gone and made up something obviously inaccurate for the sake of marketing. Thor’s backstory on this really illuminates what might be happening across companies and their products without us ever knowing.
 
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If your line preamp has a balanced input, you can use the balanced output cable and get an extra 6 db of gain that does not affect overload on the Zen. That’s the way I used it before the Waxwing replaced it. The Zen is my backup phono stage should I need it.
Setting 2 will work for high output moving coils and lower output moving magnets. Some of the Soundsmiths or low output Grado’s for example - think 1 to 2 millivolts.

I do use balance out, and I use a digital preamp, the miniDSP SHD, so once in the digital environment I tailor the gain to match my other inputs (then use one “preset” for digital and one with a bit of gain bump for the turntable — effectively behaving like a clean 40db of gain out of the Zen). Works very well.
 
I do use balance out, and I use a digital preamp, the miniDSP SHD, so once in the digital environment I tailor the gain to match my other inputs (then use one “preset” for digital and one with a bit of gain bump for the turntable — effectively behaving like a clean 40db of gain out of the Zen). Works very well.
So, with setting one and balanced out, you get 42 db overall gain. Setting 2 with balanced gets you 54 db gain. Your ADC in your digital preamp may be getting overdriven - especially with setting 2. On my Waxwing, I can see peak levels at the ADC input and tailer the gain setting prior to the ADC to never clip the input.
 
Oh wow. Interesting choices here. Independent impedance and loading is great, but as an AT MM user, the 47k ohm and 110pf of the Zen is where I want it anyway. For MC users being able to fix the somewhat odd default loading values would be nice.

Spec sheet is showing the older Zen (hereby named v2 I guess?) to be better across the board, no? I know to take these numbers with a grain of salt, and they don’t tell the whole story, but it’s interesting from a comparison perspective.



Zen v2
MM SNR — 94dB(A)
MM Distortion — -110dB

Zen v3
MM SNR — 91dB(A)
MM Distortion — -91dB

Max output voltages are basically the same, with slightest advantage to Zen v2. Same -151dBV noise spec marketing in both.

Really just seems like they’re making it more flexible for MC users and calling it a day.

I will give them credit — they’ve stopped calling their subsonic filter Artificial Intelligence! We’ve all been educated by the designer @Thorsten Loesch in this thread about how he created an AI circuit to automatically detect optimal gain and loading for a given cartridge, but then iFi killed that part of the design and used the AI moniker for the innovative subsonic filter which doesn’t have a speck of AI to it. That always drove me crazy, knowing iFi had just gone and made up something obviously inaccurate for the sake of marketing. Thor’s backstory on this really illuminates what might be happening across companies and their products without us ever knowing.

measurements aren't comparable ... V2 is A-weighted and with unknowm frequency taken ... V3 is unweighted at 80khz
 
measurements aren't comparable ... V2 is A-weighted and with unknowm frequency taken ... V3 is unweighted at 80khz

Don’t think you’re right about that. The SNR spec is in dBA and unweighted at 80khz for both. In basically all cases the numbers are dead on with each other.

On distortion, the spec sheet is starkly in favor of the v2, and I made a typo in my original post which I’ll fix now.

MM distortion:

v2 -110db at .0003%
v3 -91db at .0027% (notice the missing third 0)

MC Low distortion:

v2 -80db at .01%
v3 -70db at .03%

MC V Low distortion

v2 -86db at .005%
V3 -73db at .02%

There is no “MC High” distortion spec listed for the Zen v2 so we can’t compare.

IMG_2265.png


IMG_2264.png
 
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Interesting. I wonder if there are some improvements which come at a price or is the design just different. At worst it may be making it sit in the price point better and for sales of the higher end model. Hopefully not.
 
I'm about to change the phono pre for my Denon DL-304 (fairly low output MC and 40 ohm), and following Amir's chart I've narrowed it down to three candidates: the Schitt Mani 2, the Cambridge Duo and, maybe, the new iFi Zen Phono 3, that looks fantastic on paper. I hope it gets reviewed very soon!
 
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I'm about to change the phono pre for my Denon DL-304 (fairly low output MC and 40 ohm), and following Amir's chart I've narrowed it down to three candidates: the Schitt Mani 2, the Cambridge Duo and, maybe, the new iFi Zen Phono 3, that looks fantastic on paper. I hope it gets reviewed very soon!
You could also check out Michael Fidler's Spartan 20 - especially if you are in the UK. The MC Pro was reviewed here too, but quite a bit more expensive.
 
I have previously talked to Fosi personnel and found out that they also have a new phono preamp that is about to be launched. I don't know how good the performance is, but I hope the RIAA and headroom indicators can be done well.
 
I would like to ask if it is easy for the sliding switch of this gain to jump gears when turned on. I have previously found this problem with something from another brand, often jumping directly from 1st gear to 3rd gear.
 
I would like to ask if it is easy for the sliding switch of this gain to jump gears when turned on. I have previously found this problem with something from another brand, often jumping directly from 1st gear to 3rd gear.
Mechanical switch, so no switching on its own.
 
I just ordered the Zen Phono 3. I'm happy to send it in to get reviewed, so long as the turnaround time is fair.

awesome!!! ... many of us are waiting this review :)
 
Here ya go!
 
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