Zen Air Blue - High Resolution Bluetooth Streamer - Update Your System with high res Audio Streaming

First off this is not a streamer as so many reviewers claim. It’s sort of frustrating to read reviews about how happy they are with this streamer. Not a streamer. A true streamer (WiiM, Bluesound, Sonos etc) will connect directly to your wifi or through a Ethernet cable and without Bluetooth. In the case of a true streamer you might only use your phones Bluetooth as a remote control to control what your listening to but that’s it’s only function since you will be pulling down the highest quality sound directly from the internet and accessing directly Spotify or tidal etc. from the internet and not from a more inferior Bluetooth compression sent from your phone. From the streamer next you would then amplify the signal and lastly to the speakers. I have this same set up with WiiM mini pro to Yamaha amp and it’s phenomenal. Truly is. Now what this iFi ZenBlue is and how well it works. This device is a Bluetooth receiver. No amp, no direct pulling down data from tidal etc. on the net. you must send it a Bluetooth signal, most commonly I would think and in my case as well from your phone. Or iPad, computer etc. After your Bluetooth signal has been received by the zen blue it must be amplified. Here is my set up in room 2 and it’s very very affordable. Before I had the iFi Zen I only used the very good Fosi BT20 pro, it serves both as a blue tooth receiver and an amp and fed my speakers from there with really great results. Simple as pie and I did not this iFi Zen at all. The Fosi by itself serves 3 functions. Receives Bluetooth, has a DAC and an amp on board. Small convenient and powerful. I paired it with a set of mid range bookshelf speakers (soon to be replaced) with high end bookshelfs and the sound was awesome. Zero regrets. Again this was just from my phone via Bluetooth to the Fosi receiver/amp But….Bluetooth compression does leave a lot to be desired and the DAC in the Fosi bt20 Pro is just ok. Good, passable but I wanted to try to tweak some more out of it. On to where it’s at now. I simply added the iFi Zen Blue receiver (it’s not a streamer) to the chain before the Fosi. The zen blue has a much much better Bluetooth chipset that supports Bluetooth 5.0 and better codecs like apt, aptx hd, and LDAC The codecs transmit much higher Quality audio. Resulting in clearer sound, wider soundstage and less compression artifacts. Plus the DAC in the zen blue is much higher quality and you can bypass the DAC in the fossi by using rca cables. From the zen output using rca cables I plug directly into the Fosi bt20 pro eliminating its need for the Bluetooth since the iFi zen blue has that part covered and improved as well as is it’s DAC since the iFi Zen is superior in that regard too and I just use the Fosi now as an amp which it is phenomenal at. Note: use any amplifier you choose. The Fosi BT20 Pro was the one I already had and was happy with it as a standalone. Make sure to turn off the Bluetooth receiver on the Fosi though if you go this route Simply hold volume button in 2 seconds. You won’t be using its Bluetooth anymore only the amp portion and also without its DAC either. Hook up speakers and bam your set. I couldn't wait to see if the hype was true on the iFi Zen Blue and I can report it is. It’s an amazing difference although you will most likely need a good mid to high range speaker to truly appreciate it otherwise like in this case the Fosi would get the job done. I only mention the Fosi BT20 Pro since I have one and it Performs very well given it size and price. I think k this whole setup without speakers was under $250!

This is exactly what I was looking for. I am able to stream from my phone and hi-res portable audio player to my main audio system using LDAC. FLAC files and 320kbps internet radio sounds excellent. Pairing is easy, and I have experienced no drop-outs. The upstairs area of our house where this is located is <1000 sq ft., and I have had no issues maintaining connection anywhere on the floor. At first I was worried that the Bluetooth pairing light would keep blinking nonstop after I disconnected, but the unit goes to sleep and the blinking stops after 5 minutes. The lack of a power block and adequate connections is annoying, as almost everyone has noted. Fortunately I had spare RCA cables laying around, as well as an old 5V block from a previous cell phone. The USB power cord is ridiculously short. For the record and since I don’t think I’ve seen it mentioned anywhere, the supplied power cord is 65.5 cm., or a little under 26 in. I used it for a temporary connection while I waited for Amazon to deliver an inexpensive 4-ft. cord that allowed for more flexible placement. Highly recommended product. I do see that Amazon seems to be selling all of these from third-party Amazon Marketplace vendors. That may or may not affect your service. I ordered a unit from one vendor and it never arrived. Second time around with a different vendor, it arrived in 2 days. Track your shipping.

I shouldn't have had to buy this product. I owned it's big brother, the iFi Zen Blue V2, which is a couple of years older and also supports balanced output. But then I was an idiot when re-installing an integrated amp, and plugged the wrong power supply in the the V2, causing smoke signals and eau du plastique. Since I wasn't using balanced in this application, I was pleased to see this new Zen Air Blue at half the price. While waiting for delivery, I brought in a FIIO K9 PRO ESS I had because well, it can also Bluetooth. Hey, I guess I should explain that in my office (a real professional office, not at home) I decided I wanted sound, and I stream high-resolution from an iPad to an amplifier to speakers. Not cheap stuff, but good enough for critical listening. The weakest link in the system is the Bluetooth link over BT 5.1 for about 8 feet. Both the older V2 and the FIIO use external BT antennae and the Zen Air Blue does not. Everything is internal. Nevertheless, I'm getting BETTER connectivity with the new Zen Air Blue. This is exceptional. The Zen Air Blue is a very light box, and comes with a short USB-A adapter cable for power. I guess they expect you to use a spare 5V power supply. I had the 5V from the older unit so I just used that. Build quality of the unit is well - light plastic, but it doesn't need anything more than that. Two RCA outlets on the back, they work fine. Easy to hook up. Pairing was quick and easy. I can stream high res Qobuz or Apple music with no issues. The sound has no artifacts, and is very neutral. It seems to be every bit as good as the older by almost 2 years V2 if you are in single-ended use. I thought the FIIO was a bit warmer and smoother, but then the FIIO is an $800 buck desktop DAC/AMP which also happens to be able to stream Bluetooth. I use the FIIO to power headphones, not generally as a line-out unit dedicated to streaming. Yes, the Zen Air Blue provides streaming and LINE OUT, designed for volume control by other devices or applications. I run it into an AUX line in on my integrated amp. It does not need or want a volume control. In my use case, I set a volume I do not wish to exceed on the amp, but use the iPad to control volume all of the time. If this is the item you need, then it serves it's purpose very well. If you aren't sure you need to spend more money, then you don't need to.

Realmente exelente, la configuración es muy rápida e intuitiva, calidad de sonido ,sin ruidos 100% hi fi

Permette di usare cuffie cablate con bassa sensibilità collegandole allo smartphone. La qualità e il volume del suono migliorano notevolmente. Si possono collegare anche le cuffie planari, spesso molto dure da pilotare. Le connessioni sono di facile utilizzo, manca però una uscita ottica.

Works perfect, good sound

Perfect

I have a hifi system I bought nearly 30 years ago. At the time I treated myself to the individual pieces as I could afford them and have swapped a couple of the units over time. For the last 20 years or so it has consisted of an amp, a cassette tape player, a 5 CD disc changer and some awesome speakers. But for at least the last 5 or 10 years, I really only listen to music on streaming services, in the car or though headphones/earbuds. I decided to look for a unit to add to my hifi that can stream music and play it through my amp and speakers. And this ifi unit does the job perfectly, and for a pretty reasonable price. Looking around, many of the items offered cost hundreds of pounds but at just £99, this seemed very affordable. The unit itself is pretty compact and looks sleek and attractive in the white finish with black panel. It isn’t the size of a standard hifi unit, so I don’t have to remove one of my existing units to fit it into the cabinet I have; it just sits on top of one of the other pieces. Okay, it doesn’t have the symmetry of being big and rectangular and black, like all the other units, but that doesn’t really bother me and I think it looks fine there. Set up was really quick, simple and straightforward. Take it out the box, plug the power cable into the unit, then into a mains adapter. The power cable ends in a USB plug so you’ll need to have a spare USB adapter plug to hand. It doesn’t come with its own RCA cables so you’ll have to have some of those spare too. But you just put the R and L cables into the sockets in the back of the unit and then connect to your amp. Bluetooth connection to your phone takes seconds; turn the unit on and off begins searching. Go to Bluetooth settings in your phone and tap the new device there called ‘ifi Hi-Res Audio’ and it instantly connects and you are good to go. The sound is clean and clear and just great! I’m really happy with this purchase. It does exactly what I want and brings my hifi up to date. Which is nice for me but I’m also considering my son. He’s at university now but in a few years, when first gets his own place, I’m thinking of passing on the hifi for him to use there - a sort of heirloom, I guess. But now it is something he’ll be able to use everyday, rather than a dinosaur that requires a room full of old CDs and tapes!