iFi's Zen Air hi-fi range brings its successful Zen series to a lower price

[What Hi-Fi?]

Based on the British company's award-winning Zen series, iFi’s four-strong Zen Air range promises to make high-performance audio more affordable than ever before.

iFi's Zen Air hi-fi range brings its successful Zen series to a lower price : Read more

 

[djh1697]

iFi's address on google maps is a large house in Southport, they have no factories in the UK. It is sourced from China. Hopefully this year will see growth, a newish company that I would not like to see disappear.

 

[LukeO]

At what point is it worth investing in a DAC Vs just upgrading your headphones? I'm looking at getting a headphone based set up for home but if I go from thinking about spending £30 on some AKG K72s to £100 more to add an iFi Air am I just much better spending £130 on headphones instead?

 

[Gray]

a newish company that I would not like to see disappear.

Too right.
Can't fault them for value when all around are increasing prices.

 

[Gray]

I'm looking at getting a headphone based set up for home

Well in that case Luke it is best to up your budget on the headphones, especially if your listening will be exclusively via headphones.
Personally, I wasn't impressed with the K92 model (despite its best-buy WHF review).
Ideally you'd get to try some options before settling because the differences in sound (and comfort) can be vast.
Don't read this as me saying that more expensive will always be better....though I would imagine the HE1 from Sennheiser isn't too shabby - £51,000 - but you do get an amp with it.
(I paid 335 times less for my HD-560S from Sennheiser Direct, £152 with a 10% first-order discount).

Start with some decent (low to medium impedance) headphones and see how you go.
You can always think about DAC / amps later.