In a world where modern technology is constantly evolving, simplicity and connection are what we crave most. Nothing demonstrates this better than the familiar act of choosing your favourite LP, listening to the gentle crackle before it starts and sharing a story or two with friends as you listen together.
If this is the kind of connection you desire, then a well-designed phono stage is fundamental to your vinyl setup. It takes the subtle whispers of your capsule and amplifies them hundreds of times, making the magic of your vinyl compatible with headphones, amps, receivers and speakers. The ZEN Phono 3 opens the door to that analogue world with style and substance. With an intelligent warp filter and versatile loading options, you can listen to your beloved LPs as good as new and experiment fully with your system setup.
Equipped with trickle-down technology from our prestigious history with sister company AMR, the ZEN Phono 3 is a noiseless upgrade that will allow you to seamlessly return to the wonderful world of vinyl.
Very clever. Super subsonic.
Standard subsonic filters are not smart and are generally hated by audiophiles. They filter out not only the bass noise of warped records but also the bass of the song. Our intelligent subsonic filter knows the difference between the two and only filters out the warp, leaving the song completely intact, and without adding group delay.
Your pod. Your rules.
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 load settings independently with the new load button, ensuring optimum compatibility with a wide range of cartridges and allowing you to get the "perfect" sound. With MM/MC, high/bass and very low, the ZEN Phono is capable of handling almost any cartridge. So as your vinyl system grows over time, the ZEN Phono will always be up to the task.
Accurate and demanding.
At the vinyl mastering stage, records are pressed with a reverse RIAA equalisation curve applied. This must be undone during playback on the phono stage to reveal the magic of the music. The RIAA EQ circuit of the ZEN Phono 3 uses multiple TDK C0G capacitors in parallel. This is to achieve the best stability and lowest distortion.
This allows the ZEN Phono 3's RIAA playback EQ curve to be within a tolerance of +/- 0.15 dB from 20 to 20 kHz, allowing you to listen to your records more accurately than ever before. Its RIAA accuracy is on par with more expensive phono stages that use hand-selected capacitors.
Surprisingly quiet.
ZEN Phono 3 has a clean, high-tech power supply built right in, isolated on its own "island" and away from the rest of the board. The isolation of the power supply mitigates noise pollution from the analogue stage, ensuring that only audio is amplified and allowing background noise to remain quiet.
The equivalent input noise of the ZEN Phono 3 measures -151 dBV, which is 20 dBV quieter than some Class A+ stereo phonostages. * For optimum noise performance, be sure to provide the cleanest power to your Phono 3.
The iFi iPower2 is an ultra-quiet, ultra-clean audiophile-grade power supply, featuring Active Noise Cancellation II technology to cancel all incoming EMI and RFI noise. Never again will you feel powerless in the face of noise and grain.
Smart Subsonic Filter
Since the launch of the first iPhone in 2012, we've used our own internal subsonic filter. As there is only minimal vertical modulation left at very low frequencies with a real cut-off LP that can be reproduced, we know that the "vertical modulation" at low frequencies must be warped. By fully understanding how LPs are cut and reproduced, it is possible to strongly filter out the distortion of the record without at the same time attenuating the bass or adding group delay.
Op Amp
As with many other iFi products, it incorporates a custom OV series operational amplifier. This premium component contributes to the extremely low noise, low distortion (0.0001%) and wide bandwidth.
MuRata capacitors
High Q, low ESR, muRata control type multi-layer capacitors. The 'ESR control' aspect of the MuRata is something special. Their noise suppression capabilities are impressive.
TDK Capacitors
TDK C0G (Class 1 ceramic) capacitors offer high stability and low losses for resonant circuit applications. Closer and closer to the theoretical ideal of pure constant frequency capacitance, these capacitors reduce capacitor-induced distortion to extremely low levels: They are expensive but are a perfect complement to our products.
Balanced Circuitry
Balanced circuit design. Simply unseen at this price, it is a superior method to the traditional single-ended circuit approach. Balanced circuitry reduces noise and crosstalk. Less crosstalk: clearer sound.
Texas Instruments Integrated Circuits
Texas Instruments low noise integrated circuits offer high unity gain bandwidth, very low noise and distortion, high output unity capability, power supply and common mode rejection ratios of over 100 dB, wide maximum output swing bandwidths, and high response rates.
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