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Pip Greville
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 11, 2025
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!
Simone Moore
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2025
Just got this last week. It was easier to install than I expected. It works great with my Denon receiver and speakers and my Apple IPhone /Apple music app. The price seemed reasonable and the sound quality is better than my Google home speakers. Really glad I bought this!
francesc
Reviewed in Spain on July 8, 2024
Ofrece una calidad genial. Diseño muy bonito pero con carcasa de plástico....
R. Cox
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2024
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
Giuseppe Gabelli
Reviewed in Italy on April 14, 2024
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.
GoManVanGogh
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2023
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.
Jason A. Seckel
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2023
I was very excited to get this product as it would be an easy way to stream music from my phone into my older stereo receiver. When I opened the box, I first noticed the "instruction manual" was for another Ifi product, and when I plugged the unit in (with the USB cord inserted in to a spare cellphone charger adapter and into a wall socket) it wouldn't power up. I tried everything: long pressed the pairing button, short pressed the pairing button, but to no avail. This thing never powered up to put out a Bluetooth signal my phone could connect to (no lights, no nothing) . it was basically a nonworking expensive piece of plastic to sit on top of my stereo receiver so I returned it. I scoured the internet to see if others have had the same problem with this product not powering on but found nothing. And further frustration the instruction manual said that if the unit had no power to "plug the USB into an adapter and power source 5 times" what the heck do they mean by 5 times? makes no sense. Something got lost in translation in this instruction. Anyways, if I could give it zero stars I would. Just hope this unit I returned doesn't get resold to someone else.
PQuincy
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2022
I wanted to replace a cheap bluetooth audio adapter I was using to connect my iPhone to a 1990s high-quality stereo. The cheap one worked, but the sound was muddy and didn't really have any high-end detail. I thought it might be my ears, but I saw a recommendation for this unit. The sound is immediately different... both more high frequency detail as well as overall better clarity -- the cheap one, which used default Bluetooth/mp3, was definitely muddy in comparison.The only thing to note is that there is no power supply provided (a small USB charger of the kind most of us have sitting around works fine), and the provided power cable (USB to power adapter for this unit) has a _very_ short cord.
STARKWARS
Reviewed in Mexico on June 28, 2022
Estoy gratamente sorprendido por la calidad de audio que ofrece este receptor de Bluetooth, lo comparé con el Zen DAC de la misma marca y se llevan a penas muy poca diferencia de calidad, es importante utilizarlo con un equipo que soporte LDAC para ofrecer la máxima calidad de audio, tengo un Samsun Galaxy S21 Ultra y maneja muy bien este formato, desafortunadamente IOS, no tiene soporte para este formato, pero puedes utilizar un transmisor de alta calidad como un Fiio u otra marca de alta resolución, cómpralo no te vas a arrepentir.
Terrien E.
Reviewed in France on December 26, 2022
De la vieille école des "idiophiles" 😂 je me suis tout de même mis, comme tout le monde à utiliser le Web pour passer de la musique.... Pouvoir enfin cumuler la praticité des tablettes et autres smartphones avec le son d'une bonne chaîne hifi est une révélation ! Car au niveau son, rien à voir avec un simple branchement sur la chaîne (avec le son compressé des fichiers audio informatiques). Il y a un réel "+" dans cette petite interface, les circuits et puces spécifiques ne sont pas un gadget. Je conseille à 150 %.
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