Ifi Zen Blue 3 Bluetooth transmit/Receiver DAC Review

The Ifi Zen Blue 3 Bluetooth transmit/Receiver is iFi’s first wireless DAC with aptX Lossless, and even offers Bluetooth transmission.!

Bluetooth has been something of a love/hate situation for me over the years. I still remember when Bluetooth first came out. It promised the ability to connect two devices and was primarily used for accessories, computer peripherals, and headsets for taking smartphone calls. And that was the source of some of my issues with it. Bluetooth was initially conceived as a way to connect two devices and transmit and receive data, no more, no less.

Using this technology for audio was never in the original design perimeters beyond a voice phone call. I still remember going into my local Verizon store because I was getting a new phone and  I do remember the hideous sound these produced! I think I had them on for less than 5 minutes before deciding it wasn’t for me.  Limited bandwidth with the first few versions of Bluetooth meant that quality audio took a back seat to convenience. MP-3 level quality is all one could hope for in those early days of Bluetooth. Since then, companies like Qualcomm have worked hard to improve Bluetooth’s data rate and quality.

In 2025, we are on the cusp of  Bluetooth closing most of the gap between wired and wireless audio quality. With Sony’s LDAC and Qualcomm’s aptX Lossless here, we can safely say that we are very close to producing CD-quality wirelessly, and I see that gap closing even more in the next couple of versions of  Bluetooth.

Now for a dose of reality: like all audio transmissions, a wired connection will always be the go-to if top quality is the concern, with wireless being a more convenient option IF wired is unavailable. I will still stand by this and don’t see this changing for some time. But for anyone who has tried to walk through an airport with their favorite wired headphones, a DAC AMP, and a phone, you know that it is a pain in the ass! With these new Bluetooth technologies, we now have an option for users who want top-quality(close to wired), but the situation makes wired impossible.

There are limited options for home users who want the convenience of wireless but with close to the quality of a wired connection.  Ifi, is a company that specializes in headphone DACs. Amps and dongles see this as an opportunity to bring something to the market that allows the best Bluetooth available while combining quality components and technologies, allowing the highest quality transmission and sound quality Bluetooth has yet to offer.

The Ifi Zen Blue 3 is the 3^rd generation of the Blue series of Bluetooth transceivers and is the best one yet. Ifi home-audio has created a Bluetooth Swiss army knife that can do much more than its small stature and weight would tell you. In this review, I will go through all of its features and technologies and tell you all the cool things you can do with this device, and I will let you know if its sound quality measures up to be better than most other wireless options available today.

What separates the Zen Blue 3 from the rest of the pack is its full suite of options and the quality of the components. Starting with the Bluetooth chip, The Qualcomm QCC518x chipset is a top-of-the-range chip. It allows SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, and aptX adaptive, including Lossless and Sony’s LDAC. That means that all of the major Bluetooth codecs are supported and will adapt automatically to the best playback that your device supports. You can also manually change the codec using the front panel controls.

I don’t understand why you would choose a lower-quality codec by choice unless you will save battery life on your device. This chip can transmit and receive all of these codecs as well. So you can use the Zen Blue 3 with your main system to send high-quality audio to a pair of headphones and work as a receiver to receive audio from a phone or other Bluetooth audio device to play on your main system.

Ifi’s Bluetooth engine takes care of all of the Bluetooth codec support and can also update over-the-air so future codecs can be added later as they come out. This is excellent as many of the Bluetooth products on the market have a compatibility shelf life and will be out of date sometimes before the product wears out. It wouldn’t be worth putting this great chip with a subpar DAC section, so Ifi decided to install an ESS Sabre ES9023 DAC chip into the ZEN. All of these chips allow you to connect analog connections going in and out of the Zen Blue 3 to either send music to a system via Bluetooth or transmit music from a system to a Bluetooth device at a quality of up to 96kHz/24Bit.

You can also use the Zen Blue 3 as a standalone DAC, allowing 96kHz/24Bit (USB) and 192kHz/24Bit (Optical/Coaxial). The optical and coaxial are 4.4 mm plugs so special cables will be needed but are available from Ifi and other retailers. Also, besides the RCA jacks is a 4.4 balanced output so users wanting a balanced output need the 4.4 balanced to XLR cable.

For People using Bluetooth devices who love to send music to their stereo or play their stereo through their wireless headphones with a DAC option, you are in paradise! We know this is a lot of capability to spring on you, and I get it. But we assure you if you need to send or receive Bluetooth audio and want the best quality transmission available today, The Zen Blue 3 is the best option.

Ifi isn’t one to rely on cheap parts and hopes to get them through. They use their OV series op amps and GMT femto-precision clock system to ensure both great-quality analog transmission and lower jitter on the digital end. Ifi always uses better-than-needed parts in their designs. Any part in the signal path or has an opportunity to change or alter the sound is always of great quality to ensure it doesn’t.

This has been a standard theme for Ifi, which has garnered the reputation of being a sound-over-measurements type of company. And I would say that this is wrong. They are a company that uses measurements when needed to ensure a quality design but also spends a lot of time listening to their products to ensure the sound is right. Some websites like to do what I call DAC drag races. They will measure DACs and see what the SINAD is and who has the best wins. They don’t listen to them or anything. They don’t realize that a microphone preamp in a studio, a stereo preamplifier, a power amplifier, and speakers will all inherently have more distortion than any of the DACs on the market today.

I would personally rather see designs that are tested using actual music listening and measurements to ensure that both metrics are satisfied. And it seems I am on to something about the sound over the SINAD debate as many of the same brands that used to do DAC drag races are now designing R2R DACS and using linear power supplies to make their products sound better.

Performance:

I tried the Ifi Zen Blue 3 with my main reference system as a send-and-receive Bluetooth hub. It allowed me to send music to my main system from any Bluetooth device and music from my main system to my Bluetooth headphones. Both sounded great and discarded any limitations that Bluetooth put on the audio. I would say that for anyone wanting the closest to a wired connection in a situation where only wireless will work, the Zen Blue is about the best option.

Ultra Wide Band is great when they get the bugs worked out of it and more devices onboard to support it, but for now, Bluetooth is the standard. SBC, aptX adaptive and lossless, and LDAC all worked without a hitch on every device I tried. My Cambridge Audio Melomania M100 has aptX Lossless, and it worked and gave me the best sound I have heard with these IEMs, hands down.

The bass was tighter, the soundstage and imaging were better, and the detail was much better. This is unsurprising as my phone only allows aptX since Samsung thinks they are more intelligent than everyone else and limits things! However, my old trusty Audio Technica ATH-M50 BT2 in my collection uses LDAC for its high-quality transmission. And with the added ESS DAC in the Zen Blue, detail, imaging, and soundstage were better(at least as much as the soundstage-limited M50 would show me). This proves that Zen Blue can improve the audio performance of any device connected to it.

When the pairing device uses a Qualcomm Bluetooth chip, the pairing is even faster, it seems (not surprising). My time with the Zen Blue 3 taught me that Bluetooth has fully matured and is a much better option for music transmission. I enjoyed the Zen Blue 3 and think anyone like me who has several wireless audio devices like headphones, smartphones, etc, will benefit from having the Zen Blue 3 in their arsenal of connectivity options.

Not only will this make life much easier, but most likely, it will sound better, too. I have always liked Ifi products’ design, features, build quality, and adherence to a sound-first approach that uses great parts for better sound and not worrying about DAC competition and such childish affairs. I highly recommend the Ifi Zen Blue 3 to anyone looking to include high-quality Bluetooth into their system.

IFI Audio Zen Blue 3

Review System: Speakers: Highly Modified Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S open baffle With custom Horns/ REL T9x subwoofer/ Digital: Denafrips Venus II, / PS Audio Airlens Network Streamer Analog: Pro Ject X2 B Turntable, Darlington labs MP-7, and SU-7 phono preamp, Audio Technica AT33 PTG/ii cartridge Amplification: Hegel P20 preamp. Pass Labs X150.5 power amp. Conditioner: PS Audio Quintet. Headphone Gear: IFI HIP DAC, rotating headphone  Cables: Iconoclast Series 2 SPTPC speaker cables, IconoclastGeneration 2 ETPC XLR cables and Gotham 4/1 RCA interconnects, Iconoclast BAV REL subwoofer cable

https://ifi-audio.com

US (East Coast)

105 Professional Pkwy
Suite 1503
Yorktown
VA 23693

+1 (800) 799-IFIA (4342)

Price: $299.00 as of this writing

Specifications

• Chipsets
  • Bluetooth: Qualcomm QCC518x Series
  • DSP: CT5302
  • DAC: ESS Sabre ES9023
  • Amp: MAX97220
  • Inputs
    • RX Mode: Bluetooth 5.4 (aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, aptX, LDAC, LHDC/HWA, AAC, SBC)
    • TX & DAC Mode: USB, Optical, Coaxial, RCA L/R (Analog)
  • Outputs
    • TX Mode: Bluetooth 5.4 (aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, aptX, LDAC, LHDC/HWA, AAC, SBC)
    • RX & DAC Mode: Optical, Coaxial, RCA L/R, 4.4mm Balanced
  • Max Sample Rate: 96kHz/24Bit (RX + TX + DAC USB Mode) | 192kHz/24Bit (Optical/Coaxial)
  • Output Voltage: 4.1Vrms (0dBFS@1kHz), BAL 4.4mm | 2.05Vrms (0dBFS@1kHz), RCA
  • Output Impedance: ≤102Ω, BAL 4.4mm | ≤51Ω, RCA
  • SNR: 109dB
  • DNR: 109dB (0dBFS @ 1kHz) +A
  • THD+N: < 0.005% (10K Load) @ (20-20kHz)
  • Power Supply: USB-C, DC 5V/≥0.5A (centre +ve)
  • Power Consumption: <1W
  • Dimensions: 6.2″ x 4.5″ x 1.4″
  • Net Weight: 1 lb