MM/MC phono preamplifier for rediscovering vinyl
The iFi Audio ZEN Air Phono 2 is an all-analogue phono preamplifier with features rare in its class. It clearly improves listening compared with the phono stages built into turntables and amplifiers, thanks to a very low noise floor, precise RIAA equalisation and a subsonic filter that leaves the bass alone.
The ZEN Air series chassis measures 158 x 117 x 35 mm and weighs 323 g. It is powered with the supplied USB to DC cable.
Compatible with MM and MC cartridges
Moving magnet (MM) and moving coil (MC) cartridges need different amounts of amplification: the gain selector on the back adapts the ZEN Air Phono 2 to either, with 40 dB for MM and 64 dB for MC. Newcomers need not worry about cartridge choice, and those who change cartridge need not change preamplifier.
Maximum output voltage is 6.5 V RMS; in the MM position the stated signal-to-noise ratio is 86 dB (A-weighted).
RIAA within ±0.15 dB and intelligent subsonic filter
Records are cut with an equalisation curve that has to be reversed precisely on playback. The ZEN Air Phono 2 does so within a tolerance of ±0.15 dB between 20 Hz and 20 kHz, to deliver the music as artists and engineers intended.
Warped records generate a very low frequency rumble. Ordinary subsonic filters remove it together with the bass; the one developed by iFi since 2012 tells the vertical information in the groove from the lateral and filters only the warp, without attenuating bass or adding group delay.
-146 dBV noise and symmetrical channel circuit
In many phono stages the noise floor covers the faintest details cut into the record. Here equivalent input noise falls to -146 dBV (A-weighted) in the MC position and -126 dBV in the MM position, letting the nuances come through.
The circuit has a symmetrical layout of the two channels, a rare solution at this level, which brings benefits similar to those of balanced circuits: lower noise, higher output and better channel separation.
