Let the sounds from your favorite vinyl LP shine through with the iFi Audio ZEN Phono 3, a standalone preamp that works with MM and MC phono cartridges. The ZEN Air Phono provides gain from 36 to 72 dB with a super-quiet noise floor (-151 dB). The precision RIAA EQ ensures quality performance comparable to more expensive phono stages. The integrated sub-sonic filter addresses warp without eliminating bass or causing phase issues.
At a Glance
- Supports four MC/MM gain selections from 36 to 72 dB and four input impedance settings, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of cartridges
- Features intelligent subsonic filter to intelligently remove only the ultralow frequencies caused by warps, not by the music, unlike typical bass-reducing filters
- With an EIN (Equivalent Input Noise) of -151 dBV, this phono stage surpasses some Class A+ models by 20 dBV, ensuring a super-silent noise floor
- Precise RIAA with balanced output, performance matches that of a $1000 phono stage
- Internal high-tech 1.2 MHz clean power supply, rivalling classic tube amplifiers' LC filtering circuits
Super Smart & Super Subsonic
Standard subsonic filters aren't intelligent and are typically loathed by audiophiles. They filter not only the bass rumble from warped records, but also the bass of the song. iFi Audio's intelligent subsonic filter knows the difference between the two and only filters the warp, leaving the song completely intact, and without adding group delay.
MC & MM
- The ZEN Phono 3 supports four MM/MC gain selections from 36 to 72 dB and four input impedance settings
- Mix and match gain and loading settings independently of each other with the all-new loading button, ensuring optimum compatibility with a wide range of cartridges and allowing you to get the sound " just right"
Exacting Equalization
- At the vinyl mastering stage, records are pressed with an inverse RIAA equalization curve applied. This needs to be undone on playback by the phono stage to reveal the magic of the music.
- ZEN Phono 3's RIAA EQ circuitry uses multiple TDK C0G capacitors in parallel. This is for best stability and the least distortion. This allows for ZEN Phono 3's RIAA playback equalization curve to be within ± 0.15 dB tolerance from 20 - 20 kHz, allowing you to hear your records more accurately than ever before
- Its RIAA accuracy is on-par with more costly phono stages that use hand-selected capacitors.
Shockingly Silent
- ZEN Phono 3 has a high-tech clean power supply built directly into it, isolated on its own island and away from the rest of the board
- The power supply's isolation mitigates noise pollution of the analog stage, ensuring that only the audio is amplified and allowing for the noise-floor to remain whisper quiet
- ZEN Phono 3's Equivalent Input Noise measures at -151 dBV, which is 20 dBV quieter than some Stereophile Class A+ phonos
- For optimal noise performance, ensure that you are providing the cleanest power to your Phono 3
- The iFi iPower2 is an ultraquiet, ultraclean audiophile-grade power supply, featuring Active Noise Cancellation II technology to cancel out all incoming EMI and RFI noise. You'll never feel powerless against noise and graininess again.
Audiophile Components
Intelligent subsonic filter
- Since the very first iPhono launched in 2012, iFi Audio has used their own in-house Subsonic Filter. As there is only minimal vertical modulation remaining at very-low frequencies with an actual cut LP that is playable, we know that vertical modulation at low frequencies must be warp
- By understanding fully how LP's are cut and replayed, it is possible to filter record warp strongly without at the same time attenuating low bass or adding group delay
Custom OV series opamp
- As with many other iFi audio products, they incorporated a custom OV Series operational-amplifier. This top-notch component contributes to the extremely low noise, low distortion (0.0001%) and wide bandwidth
TDK capacitors
- TDK C0G (Class-1 ceramic) capacitors offer high stability and low losses for resonant circuit applications
- Getting ever closer to the theoretical ideal of pure, frequency-constant capacitance, these capacitors reduce capacitor-induced distortion to vanishingly low levels
Texas Instruments ICs
- Texas Instruments low-noise ICs offer great unity-gain bandwidth, very-low noise and distortion, high output drive capability, common-mode and power supply rejection ratios of over 100 dB, wide maximum-output-swing bandwidths and high slew rates
Balanced circuit design
- Just not seen at this price point, it's a superior method to the traditional single-ended circuit approach. Balanced circuits reduce noise and crosstalk. Less Interference clearer sound
muRata capacitors
- muRata control-type, low-ESR high-Q multi-layer capacitors. The ˜ ESR control' aspect of the Murata is something special. Their noise suppression abilities are impressive.
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