Ifi Zen BLUE 3 Review – Blue Teeth Gnashing

The Ifi Zen BLUE 3 is a great way for adding lossless Bluetooth audio to most audio systems.

Introduction

What the hell is the Ifi Zen BLUE 3? I’d say the most apt description would be that it’s a Bluetooth audio interface. It can take all of the common Bluetooth codecs out there and transform them into digital or analog audio output. Handy if you want to make your stupid old hi-fi system play whatever your buddies or kids put on from their smartphones. But that’s not all! The Ifi Zen BLUE 3 can also transmit! That’s right – it will happily take digital or analog (!) audio and transmit it to wireless headphones or any other receiver. Bet you didn’t expect that! It can also work as a regular USB or SPDIF DAC, should it be needed.

So wait until I hook up a bunch of cables and charge up my wireless headphones so we can see where the Ifi Zen BLUE 3 fits in the modern hi-fi landscape!

Specifications

Physical Things and Usability

Build quality

This is my third Zen 3-series Ifi review, and I can just echo what I said in the last two—a combination of distinct design language and good build quality sets the Zen BLUE 3 apart from most of the products in the same price bracket. While the non-euclidian shape of the enclosure would imply that it’s hard to stack Zen devices, the opposite is true—there’s enough surface for most combinations with similar-sized equipment.

Both buttons and connections feel solid and are a joy to use. What I did find a bit awkward is the positively huge white antenna. The upside is that it works really well, and I could get good reception throughout my apartment. We also get a set of decent RCA cables and an adaptor from regular TOSLINK to 3.5mm. A 3.5mm to BNC or RCA adaptor would also be nice for coax SPDIF connections.

In use

First, you’d need to figure out what you want to do with the Ifi Zen BLUE 3. Despite having a USB port, it can work fully stand-alone as a Bluetooth receiver or transmitter. The USB connection is used as an audio input which then is either sent over Bluetooth or decoded to analog via the built-in DAC. In my opinion the most interesting use case for the Zen BLUE 3 is giving just about any audio system lossless Bluetooth capability. Connect it to your DAC via SPDIF or Toslink and switch it on to pair with your smartphone (which more than likely won’t have lossless Bluetooth yet).

Once the phone has made a connection, everything is straightforward. An interesting feature is the Zen BLUE 3’s ability to transmit Bluetooth audio. Be it, USB, Toslink, SPDIF, or even analog, it can pair with wireless headphones and other devices and send your tunes there. There’s even a special switch for low latency mode if you need sound for movies or gaming. The built-in DAC can also be used as a regular USB or SPDIF/Toslink decoder but I’m not convinced that many will buy the Ifi Zen Blue 3 solely for that.

Under the hood

The heart of the Ifi Zen BLUE 3 is the Qualcomm QCC5181 Bluetooth chip. It’s the go-to for providing Bluetooth 5.4 comms with the latest AptX Lossless support which promises sending and receiving 16bit 44.1kHz audio losslessly up to CD quality. If you look at the datasheet for the part, you’ll see that it’s stuffed with a plethora of features like inputs for advanced ANC microphones and other things. Here it’s just doing Bluetooth and ADC, if analog inputs are used on the Zen BLUE 3.

The ES9023 chip handles the conversion to analog and line drive is performed by the MAX97220 chip. Neither are top-shelf parts but I’ve heard some very proficient implementations of this ESS chip. While the Zen BLUE 3 can do analog output, there’s a decent chance that you’ll be using it as a digital transport to receive Bluetooth. There’s even a 4.4mm balanced output but like with other Zen units, you’ll probably have to shop around for the right cable.

To power the whole thing we get the usual 5VDC brick power supply. It’s a good thing that the Zen BLUE 3 doesn’t rely on USB power (even if it easily could) because it allows for easy operation with dedicated hi-fi systems where USB connections aren’t available. The separate 5VDC power supply also is there so you can buy a fancy Ifi PSU to remedy power cleanliness nervosa. During my testing, the default one yielded zero noise in my applications.

Sound quality and signature

Test setup: A Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra was used to test drive the AptX Lossless connection. To test the digital transport abilities a Topping D50 III and A50 III stack was used with ZMF Auteur Classic headphones.

As always I’ll start off with the practicalities. Let’s get out of the way one of my biggest gripes with the Zen BLUE 3 is that it has two color indicators. The Ifi logo indicates the currently active Bluetooth codec while the nearby LED indicates the current sample rate. The codec indicator has eight colors you have to memorize to decipher what’s going on. Luckily the sample rate LED only has two status colors – green for pedestrian rez (44.1 and 48kHz) and white for everything above. It also indicates the volume level if you’re using the Zen BLUE 3 as a Bluetooth transmitter.

In terms of sound, the Ifi Zen BLUE 3 is about what you expect – as long as you’re on AptX Lossless, the Bluetooth connection is no worse than most Redbook CD transports or streamers. The problem is that many smartphones out there still don’t support lossless Bluetooth, so more than likely you’ll be stuck with one of the lesser codecs. LDAC and AptX HD don’t really sound bad on their own but once you AB test them to lossless, the difference is quite apparent. When hooking up my DAC to the Zen BLUE 3 I had to either find a 3.5mm to coax adaptor or use the included 3.5mm to Toslink optical adaptor.

During my testing, I also had the Ifi Zen DAC 3 here but alas, it’s only capable of receiving digital audio via USB so no luck in building an Ifi triple stack. Despite the odd shape of the Zen BLUE 3 enclosure, it was a breeze to stack on my Topping mid-range DAC and amplifier. Of course, when your hi-fi equipment starts approaching rack unit sizes, the Zen BLUE 3 starts to appear a tad diminutive.

I also tested the DAC stage of the Ifi Zen BLUE 3 and it left me a bit lukewarm. Tonally it’s pretty neutral but there’s a distinct lack of dynamics. The technicalities are okay and mostly in line with DACs around the 100$ mark. If you’re looking for a DAC with Bluetooth capabilities, this isn’t it. Use the Ifi Zen BLUE 3 purely as a Bluetooth transport and you’ll be more than fine.

Select comparisons

It’s quite hard to find a direct competitor to the Ifi Zen BLUE 3. All of my DACs that can do Bluetooth are better DACs but can’t receive AptX lossless thus making Bluetooth a second-rate connection compared to others. The Zen BLUE 3 is a great addition to all of them save for the Zen DAC 3 as it cannot take any other digital signal but USB.

Pairing notes

If you need lossless Bluetooth, just get the Ifi Zen BLUE 3 and use it as a digital transport. If you need a DAC, get something else!

Concluding Remarks

I think the Ifi Zen BLUE 3 will serve many as long as they use it as a digital transport for lossless Bluetooth. It can also be a pretty mediocre DAC and send out Bluetooth audio to your wireless headphones. There are small dongles that can do it as well for cheaper. If your hi-fi needs a new superpower, get the Zen BLUE 3. I applaud Ifi for not requiring a dedicated app to configure the Zen BLUE 3 as it makes the unit more future-proof. At least until someone sees that there are too many Bluetooth codecs around and releases their own one codec to rule them all.

My verdict – 4/5