iFi audio ZEN Air CAN Headphone Amplifier

The ZEN Air CAN utilizes premium components throughout to ensure high quality sound. The unit offers three gain settings, allowing you to drive most headphones and in-ear monitors. Connections include a 3.5mm line input, two stereo RCA inputs, a 1/4 single-ended headphone output, and a 4.4mm S-Balanced headphone output. The ZEN Air CAN includes XBass, an analog bass boost and XSpace, an analog headphone spatializer.

Gain Controls

• The ZEN Air CAN comes with three gain settings so that it works well with every pair of headphones or in-ear monitors (also known as IEMs).
• Gain refers to an amplifier s ability to increase the amplitude (size) of the signal from the source (input) to the headphones or speakers (output). More gain equals a stronger signal.
• You will need to adjust the gain depending on the sensitivity of the headphones or IEMs you are using. For example, highly sensitive headphones need lower gain.

• The ZEN Air CAN has two different headphone sockets 1/4 single-ended and 4.4mm S-Balanced.
• There are basically two types of headphones single-ended and balanced. In a nutshell, single-ended is the most common but the balanced option is often considered better as it offers more power and control of the headphones.
• iFi realizes that not everyone has balanced headphones, so they created the S-Balanced technology, which gives you all the benefits of a balanced connection lower noise, less crosstalk but without the need for balanced headphones.

• XBass is analog bass boost. In other words, it extends the bass response to suit different headphones.
• XSpace is an analog headphone spatializer. This opens your music to give you the spaciousness of a live-concert atmosphere.

• Op-AMP: iFi has incorporated a custom OV Series operational-amplifier. This top-notch component contributes to the extremely low noise, low distortion (0.0001%), and wide bandwidth.
• Integrated Chips: 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.
• Capacitors: TDK C0G (Class 1 ceramic) capacitors offer high stability and low losses for resonant circuit applications.