iFi ZEN CAN – very powerful headphone amplifier

The British company iFi Audio considers the ZEN CAN model “the battleship among headphone amplifiers”, and there is every reason for this. The discrete balance circuitry inherited from the flagship Pro Ican provides a record power level of 1,600 mW when operating on a load with a nominal resistance of 32 Ohms. John Curl, a well-known engineer in the audio environment, took part in the creation of ZEN CAN.

The amplifier uses a low-impedance feedback circuit that sends a signal to the OV2637A operational amplifier. For better matching with headphones of different impedance, the amplifier is equipped with a four-position Gain switch that regulates the gain in increments of 6 dB.

To emulate a real sound scene located in front of the listener, two-channel analog 3D Holographic matrices are used, and An xbass equalizer is provided to compensate for the decline in the low-frequency spectrum.

The iFi ZEN CAN design uses the highest-class components. Among them are MELF resistors, Panasonic ECPU, muRata and ceramic TDK C0G (Class 1) capacitors, as well as low-noise chips from Texas Instruments. As a volume control, the multi-channel potentiometer Tokyo Cosmos Electric Co. (TOCOS) works, which is able to observe accurate channel matching even at low volume levels.

The switching capabilities of the new product are also very advanced. For connecting headphones, there is not only a normal 6.3 mm Jack, but also a balanced Pentaconn 4.4 mm. On the back wall of the case, there is also an unbalanced analog input on a pair of RCA connectors, a 3.5 mm minijack connector for connecting mobile gadgets, as well as a balanced input on the Pentaconn 4.4 mm connector. iFi ZEN CAN also act as a pre — amplifier-for connecting to active acoustics or a power amplifier, there is a balanced output on the same Pentaconn 4.4 mm.

In the UK, the IFI ZEN CAN headphone amplifier can already be purchased, with components from the first batch of 1,000 units to be completed with an external iPower power supply, which separately costs 50£. This set is offered for 170£. Separately, iFi ZEN CAN can be purchased for 150£.

Source: iFi Audio.

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