iFi ZEN One DAC: Zen Blue V2 Bluetooth and MQA 384kHz

The British company iFi Audio released ZEN One Signature DAC. Remarkably, it has no headphone amplifier, no volume control – the novelty only converts the digital signal into analog.

In fact, the iFi ZEN One Signature is an upgraded Zen DAC V2 with S/PDIF (optical and coaxial) inputs, a USB port, and Zen Blue V2 Bluetooth technology. The balanced circuitry is capable of decoding 32-bit/384 kHz PCM via USB or 192 kHz via S/PDIF and one- and two-speed DXD and DSD up to DSD256. It also supports MQA with full decoding up to 384kHz resolutions.

Burr-Brown True Native chipset

Using the capabilities of the Burr-Brown True Native chipset, the PCM and DSD signals follow different paths in the circuitry – and according to the Signature concept, these paths have been shortened and optimized. The XMOS chip that processes the audio data is a 16-core microcontroller programmed with proprietary iFi algorithms. All this is complemented by the latest generation iFi GMT (Global Master Timing) femtocurrent timer and an intelligent memory buffer.

The components on the board are placed using surface mount technology. At the same time, as stated, the manufacturer used high-quality components: Panasonic OS-CON and Elna Silmic II capacitors. At the output, the signal can be received through analog RCA outputs or through a balanced 4.4mm jack.

Price and availability

In the UK, the iFi ZEN One Signature DAC already available at a price of £349.

iFi ZEN One Signature Specifications

• Power DC 5V (centre pin +ve)
• Digital inputs – USB3.0 Type B (USB2.0 compatible) S/PDIF (coaxial, TOSLINK optical) Bluetooth 5.1 (aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX LL, LDAC, LHDC/HWA, AAC and SBC codec)
• Formats:
  PCM 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192kHz
  DSD 2.8/3.1/5.6/6.1/11.3/12.3MHz
  DXD 352.8/384kHz
  MQA Decoder
  Bluetooth 96kHz
• Chipset:
  Bit-Perfect DSD & DXD DAC by Burr Brown
  Qualcomm QCC 5100 Series
• Analogue outputs Coaxial, Audio RCA L/R 4.4 Balanced Lineout
• Frequency Response 5Hz – 80kHz ±3dB
• Outputs 4V / 2V max. (BAL/UnBAL)
• Output Impedance ≤72Ω/36Ω (BAL/UnBAL)
• SNR -105dB(A) @ 0dBFS (BAL/UnBAL)
• THD + N <0.002% @ 0dBFS (BAL/UnBAL)
• Power consumption No Signal ~0.7W/Max Signal ~1W
• Dimensions 158 x 100 x 35 mm 6.2″ x 3.9″ x 1.4″
• Net weight 485g/1.1 lbs