iFi audio ZEN Phono – Phono Preamp for Turntables / Record Players (UK Pin)
| Dimensions: | 27.6 x 15.7 x 6 cm; 824 Grams |
| Manufacture: | Abbingdon Music Research |
| Origin: | China |
| Reference: | 1 |
| Dimensions: | 27.6 x 15.7 x 6 cm; 824 Grams |
| Manufacture: | Abbingdon Music Research |
| Origin: | China |
| Reference: | 1 |
added to my Arcam set up (a75) and there is a destinct improvement with Vinyl. It takes a few seconds to come on and turn off but thats my only gripe. Its given my arcam amp a new lease of life. Well worth the money
Got this to replace a 200 musical fidelity pre amp and cannot believe how much more clarity it brings to my vinyls. Seems to be less noise than my previous phono amp plus there’s no need to unplug RCA cables when switching from MM to MC cartridges if you’re lucky enough to have both! For 130 it’s an absolute bargain.
Purchased the IFI phono after all the positive reviews. For the money I thought no problem sending it back.
I owned a valve phono amp now priced at 1700. When I compared the two the IFI was clearer and more controlled and for the money it is I believe unbeatable. A big surprise, I have since sold my original phono amp.
I bought this phono stage as an upgrade to my old ProJect Phonobox 2 that was starting to distort.
I read a great review on the Audiophile website where it said that it compared very favourably with models 3 times the price, so I thought that for 149, it was worth a try.
It certainly was, more detail coming through, the adjustments are there to use just about any cartridge on the market and the build standard is good too.
You certainly won’t be disappointed with this and it even comes with a decent phono cable.
This is the best low cost Phonostage I have come across. I have used for both MM and MC cartridges including the Denon 103. The adjustable gain settings seem well judged. It sounds better than equivalent products I used from Rega, Creek and Cambridge.
It has two rather important features which enable SIGNIFICANT upgrades in sound quality. I happened to have a 5V iPowerX and an Elite power supplies (the Elite is normally powering my Chord Qutest DAC). I tried both. The sound quality leaps forward with the iPowerX- becoming more detailed 3D with greater body, more natural and the Elite improves this again. At 300 I can’t imagine many people would chose the Elite, so the best balance of price/performance is probably the iPowerX. At 250 total I don’t think there is anything to match it.
The other upgrade is that it has a special balanced output connector, it’s hard to find aftermarket cables, and the plug itself costs 60 so I decided to buy the iFi balanced cable even though it costs 100 which seems very expensive compared to the phono stage. For me with my Audio Research preamp this was an improvement, if you have a balanced preamp I’d recommend it, but it makes less difference than the power supply. RCA outputs work fine for short length anyway. The next cheapest phono stage with balanced outputs is I think 600!
Overall great value, be careful with upgrades as the price spirals up but that’s your choice of course.
I have a Technics SL1200GR, two alternative Phono stages, running to a Schiit Freya. I loved the sound stage of my much more expensive (but noisy) valve amp, and was underwhelmed with my Graham Slee Era V Gold (nearly 500). Using a 2m Black directly, or a DL103R via a Rothwell mc1, this Ifi box is crackers. I was able to borrow one from a friend for a couple of days before I purchased mine. Before paying out for the “Upgrade power supply”, if you have a Lithium ion power bank, run it from that with the correct USB to Power connection lead. Quieter than any plug. They put out 2.4a, but don’t worry because the upgrade plug delivers 2.5a. The Phono will only draw the current that it needs.Superb dynamics, with a more than reasonable soundstage. Occasionally in Hifi, you find a diamond in the rough. The GS is redundant. One caviat… I wouldn’t use silver plated ICs, as it can be bright with many Rock Albums. Occ ptfe works great. Recommended
RCA cables and wall wart wire length are ridiculously short!
If you use the balanced output and no RCA cables (i.e. it doesnt have a common ground with the amplifier), you will experience noise. To solve this, I plugged in the RCAs to the amp as well as the balanced output. There could be other solutions for common grounding.
Nothing to dislike. Bought to partner Zen ifi headphone amp. and use for turntable pre-amp also.Compares very favourably with my other pre-amps costing 3times the price. Recommend anyone to try out as really good on sound quality.Highly Recommend.Karl O’Neill.
My project phono stage developed a fault so started looking around to replace it, I saw this advertised and proceeded to read the reviews on the Internet, most of them were good and I liked the styling of the product, so having purchased this and set it up to my system I was quite suprized when it sounded as good if not better as my project that was twice the price when purchased, I can honestly recommend this phono stage to anyone that’s after a decent one at a reasonable price
The sound of this as opposed to the phono stage in my amp was just an eye opener. I have an exceedingly good amp with a very good phono stage but this little Ifi Zen phono was an upgrade to be reckoned with. I bought this with the idea that if it did nothing for the sound I would send it back. However this preamp is going nowhere it’s soundstage and space is wonderful I have also heard instruments that have been hard to hear before. So I highly recommend this product most whole heartedly.
I had read various positive reviews about this iFi phono stage but I really wanted to hear it for myself. It was purchased with the idea of installing it into my daughters music system. It immediately impressed with its crisp presentation and its near silent operation. I decided to try it in my own system and it was then that I realised how good it really was. I could quite happily use it in my system, despite the fact that it is a fraction of the cost of my phono stage! For the price it ticks a lot of the boxes, it could hold its own against similar products costing many times its bargain price.
What an awesome pre amp. Don’t just consider. Dive in and make that purchase. Well built solid performer. I have this attached to my fully specced planar 3 with Elys cartridge which was running though a 1000 arcam amp with a decent phono stage and it sounded pretty good but the ifi has taken it to another level. Bags more detail tighter bass more refined mids and a decent crsip top end. Retaining the full warmth of vinyl. An absolute top notch performer with decent kit. Fantastic work ifi
There’s no question this little box gives a good account of itself sonically, and it’s specs stack up really well, but it really does need a top notch system to be able to appreciate its finer qualities.
Particularly its noise floor, that is it doesn’t add any additional buzz or hiss to the equation, so playing music through it is going to deliver the goods pretty much straight as they come out of the groove, via the stylus/ cartridge and along the passive wires of your pick up circuit.
And there’s the rub. You need a good deck and cartridge to be able to appreciate what it’s doing. And a decent amplifier to take all that sonic loveliness and push it out through equally decent speakers.
There’s no question that it’s better in principle than the included phono stage on my CA AXR100, it’s probably better than the much cheaper Fosi Valve Phono Amp I tried as well (although to be fair that developed a fault), and definitely better than the cheap and cheerful Behringer stage I have patched into my AV receiver, but to be fair that was only 12……
So it’s better than all those, looks great, is well made and has a balanced output, and a low frequency rumble filter, nice touch that…..
BUT….. Can I really hear a difference…? (I’m running a Project Debut III with an Ortofon Blue cartridge by the way, AXR 100 amp, Elac UB5 speakers)
Honestly, not as much as I’d like… I mean it’s good, maybe I could even convince myself it’s a bit better than anything else I’ve tried, but I’m left with the sneaking suspicion that it’s probably not until you get into 1000 amp territory, and 300 and upwards moving coil cartridges, that you’re really going to notice the difference.
Remember, even with all such expensive magic components working in perfect harmony, crackly records will still be crackly by the way.
So, all that said, obviously I’m keeping it. Go figure.
What more can I say? Honestly, in context of my system it’s just good (ish), a nice to have if you will.
I will persevere. Hopefully one day in upgrade land I’ll get to say ‘ Oh yeah, I get it now…!’ In the meantime, I daresay I may occasionally muse whether I could’ve spent 145 better…. hmmmm?
The unit worked fine for about a month, then developed a loud hum after runnung for about 40mins. Sounds maybe like a cap breaking down. Contacted Amazon who said they could not send a replacemenr as over a month old! Amazon contacted seller (even though its amazon who hold the stock) who asked Amazon to replace…they would not! Seller will replace this item and arrange pick up (thankfully). Helpful seller….but beware, when you buy stuff direct from Amazon they will try to wiggle out of it, even though they don’t tell you its a third party seller fufilled by them. I think I need to reconsider prime membership ans start shopping elsewhere!
This flexible little phono amp looks and sounds great and provides flexibility rarely seen at, or near, this price point. Build quality is solid and the fact that it can work with moving coil cartridges is a bonus. A solid recommendation for those moving up from integral phono stages in amps or turntables. It’s no more than a guess but I suspect you might need to spend at least double to better it.
I have had this for a month or so. I’m gobsmacked over how good this unit is. To put into context I have sold my trusty trichord Dino. This unit is so quiet! One of the best buys in hifi
Best bang for the buck you can find. Connected with my Project Carbon turntable, Arcam amp and Monitor Audio floorstanders, it delivers a full sound with base and treble in abundance. Also caters for MM and MC cartridges.
I like the quality of sound it produces. So clean and clear with a good frequency range. Most of my records go back to the 1960s and even these have been given a new lease of life. I now have two of them as I use two or more turntables and they have put new life in them. My Modified Hedlund horns are fitted with Lowther EX4 drive units and give all the attack you could ever wish for along with the cleanest sound possible.
Just set this up in my old HiFi system using an upgraded Rega P1 with Epos speakers and a Linn Intek amp. Was hoping it would be a worthwhile upgrade at a reasonable price. Over the speakers is was immediately noticeable but using the Headphones it was amazing. Well done iFi. May well look at there other products later down the line.
The phono stage was very well packed and very well made. I had some slight difficulties connecting to my Exposure 2020 Amp until I experimented connected it to the Tuner input and then it worked perfectly. I would recommend anyone to buy this device.
I recently bought the Zen Phono and I must say that I am very impressed with the sound improvement that I have over my previous phono stage Namely the Schiit Mani there is more definition in the sound of the Zen Phono it sounds like some of the musicians were hiding in the background and they have all been brought forward with the Zen Phono. It is also an attractive unit it matches the other units in the Zen range as can be seen in my Photo. I would highly recommend this unit.
Well made but needs very carful system matching, on the bright side, the capacitance is not listed but I guess at 240pf plus so no good for Audio Technica Cartridges at all. On mine the channel balance was out.
I do not know why it has taken me all these years before I got myself a dedicated phono stage, however, it was probably laziness as all my AVRs have had phono stages.
Having upgraded my turntable I happened upon this product. It has tremendous professional reviews and I can now see why. I really can hear the difference between my AVRs built in phono stage and this external one.
So simple to use and a thing of beauty to looks at and hold, I would think that this is going to provide many years of pleasure.
Bought the ifi zen and was not really sure what to expect. But it has really improved the sound quality over the built in phono stage. The subsonic filter works well on older records. Cuts down on background noise. Would defo recommend
This Phono pre is about twice the price of the one that I’ve upgraded from, it creates a much lower noise floor and greater clarity during playback, I’ve got to wonder what the ifi Phono 3 can do.
I bought a Den9n DP47F Turntable from Japan, and it comes with a MC cartridge and on my Marantz 7012 avr it just wasn’t cutting it , so I posed this dilemma to the AV Forums uk podcast and Steve recommended the IFI Zen Phono, his praise for the item sold it to me , and it is a great piece of kit love it .
Really good sonic upgrade. I have project debut with goldring e3 cartridge and harman kardon sound sticks. I was running a berhinger phono stage (cheap) but I’ve previously used a cyrus 1 amp and messed with a cheap valve unit. If you currently have a cheap preamp but a mid range turntable and some good amplification you will certainly hear the quality of this product. Absolutely worth the the price in my opinion. Nothing will come close at this price.
Ordered this on a whim to see if it could actually improve upon the decent phono stage in my NAD amp attached to project rpm3 carbon..to say it does is an understatement…the level of detail my turntable now picks out is incredible..bass is thick and clarity exceptional. You can experiment with the gain, I use the lowest MC gain even though have an ortofon MM cartridge as this seems to give the most punch… It takes a bit of getting used to as can seem a little harsh as it’s so accurate…it makes my CDs seem like muddy reproductions sung through a facemask. Be warned however…vinyl is more expensive than cd so getting this will not help you pocket!
Bought this to upgrade from the phono input on marantz sr6013 av receiver. I did a back and forth comparison and found the ifi to be much more balanced, less harsh and rough sounding than the marantz. Great resolution and clarity and overall more realistic and natural sound from my vinyl (played via a project debut carbon). The sr6013 seemed to give a wider sound stage but this appears artificial and the soundstage placement is much better with the ifi.
Overall I would recommend the ifi over built in phono stages in my av receiver.
I am using the iFi Zen pre-amp with Pro-ject RPM5 turntable with a Hana EH MC cartridge. This is a very versatile pre-amp with 4 pre-selects for different cartridge types – one for MM and three for MC. It provides good detail within a wide soundstage and minimises any disk surface sound via a sub-sonic filter. It is well built and I expect to use it for many years.
P.S. It also looks gorgeous!
Superb construction quality. It comes with a good (if short) phono cables that appears to be gold plated. Sonically, it is excellent i.e. transparent with good timbre and high dynamic range for many different types of music. The rumble filter is very clever and useful.
Test albums
My pristine German pressing of Simply Red’s 1985 debut album Picture Book was ‘simply superb’. It has never come over so clean and dynamically brilliant.
Supertramp’s first edition of Even in the Quietest Moments was also spot on.
The Jacqueline Du Pre/LSO/ Barbirolli 1965 recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto is like being there in the studio with the odd crackle from a record I bought in 1974 and has been much played/loved. What a performance…this pressing benefitted from the Zen’s clever rumble filter.
Von Karajan’s 1965 recording of Symphonie Fantastique with the BPO is ‘mind blowing’.
Technical addendum – The AR deck has no inherent audible rumble – see You Tube on why.
Cons
None at all. Don’t follow the herd follow your ears.
VFM
Expensive but great value for money.
It will, hopefully, live in and grow with my system for years to come.
Summary
A credit to British audio engineering at its best.
It’s also very cute.
System tested on
Newly refurbished AR XB1 turntable restored to its original US NAB broadcast specification.
AT VM540ML – newly (and accurately) installed and run in for about 20 hrs so far. It will ultimately bed in after about 50.
Cambridge Audio Azur 540 AV amp but just using analogue (clean) stereo pass through – 100w per channel into 8 ohms
Monitor Audio Radius 90s on their bespoke stands. These are ‘tuned’ to a 30 sq m room using a REL T Zero subwoofer (100w) and its specialist high level cabling and crossover circuits. Hell of a combo if you’re short of space or your partner doesn’t want your large monitors clogging up the view from the sofa….
Got to be the best bargain phono preamp on the market today. Beats my Rega Fono hands down. Much quieter and so much better in the midrange and top end. Will take any cartridge you throw at it. MM or MC. Also has an intelligent subsonic filter. Unheard of at this price point. Was losing faith in Vinyl until I hooked this jewel up. I think Ifi are crazy selling this at 150. I would have been happy paying twice as much.
This is my third Preamp and by far the best sounding, really pulls detail I hadn’t heard from my vinyl and the stereo image is wider. Love it!
I’ve used odd bits of iFi kit for years, mainly purifiers and DC power supplies and have always been please with the results.
This is the first piece of their HiFi kit I’ve tried and I’ve got to say I am impressed.
I’ve just tested this back to back against a phono amp which costs over ten times as much and it held it’s own very well.
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is a fairly challenging piece of Vinyl. There are very subtle backing vocals, incredibly delicate percussion and beautiful guitar fills which can easily be missed with a less capable amp. The Zen Phono handles them all in its stride. The sound is very clean, very analytical, it presents a very open and clearly defined soundstage.
Unlike many phono amps the Zen Phono is very simple to configure, with options for MM and MC cartridges including ultra low output MC.
Inputs and Outputs are standard RCA with the option of 4.4mm balanced output. A short RCA cable is included along with a power adapter.
For the money I don’t believe there is anything out there that comes close to competing with the Zen Phono, in-fact it could probably shame most of the devices costing twice as much or more.
Buy one.
My system is a bit unusual as I use a PA system and speakers! to play my music on I have a Linn Azak cartridge (retipped by VDH) on a Pro-ject classic turntable. I have tried various phono preamp they worked but the 6k of amplification showed up noise and hum. The iFi sorted this out full stop even at high volume no hum or buzz just loud (110db) music. The bass is awesome through my twin 18″ SUBS and the crack of the snare drums on the new Neil Young album made me jump.
But even when playing the system quietly all the usual hifi attributes shone through, imaging, dynamics detail all present and correct. Any questions please ask I am off for another listen and a glass of wine.
iFi normally produce hi end products, well out of my price range, but have recently introduced a number of products under the ZEN moniker and the general consensus is they are top performers. On that basis I took the plunge with the phono amp and it’s exceptional bringing the best out of my record deck. Nothing complicated in setting up either. Highly recommended and I might try some of the other ZEN products.
Excellent product was using art DJ pre2 but wanted something with more quality. I wasnt disappointed very impressed