ZEN CAN Studio is a very high performance, powerful, dedicated headphone amplifier, for musicians who rely on headphones for mixing, monitoring or mastering and can’t accept compromise.
Housed in a compact enclosure, the ZEN CAN Studio is perfect for studio, live room, stage or home use.
Alternatively, connect it to a pair of active monitors using the 4.4mm balanced output to use as a desktop monitor controller. Combine with the matching ZEN One Studio D/A to create a full interface/controller.
Balanced 4.4mm outputs. Unbalanced 6.3mm output
Balanced 4.4mm, XLR and 6.3mm TRS inputs. Unbalanced 3.5mm input
Mic 5/8” underside mounting socket
15.1v/385mw at 300 Ohms – 7.2v/1,600mw at 32 Ohms
Getting the best out of your headphones just isn’t possible with the output from laptops. The ZEN CAN Studio has 52x more output, giving you everything you’ve been missing and helping you hear your recordings without running out of power.
It’s designed to work with pretty well any headphones, with four steps of +6dB gain adjustment for the perfect match.
The ZEN CAN mono selection feature allows you to switch between L, R or L&R to both headphones.
The ZEN CAN Studio uses a top-quality custom OV Op-amp to deliver extremely low distortion and low noise output from its Class A balanced circuitry, which is trickled down from the iFi Studio flagship headphone amp, the iCAN. Its output is a huge 15.1v at 300 Ohms.
Sealth mode voltage conversion circuits, with heavy LC filtering, separate the audio circuits from the internal power supply. A large capacitance power reservoir provides the drive for short transient music signals.
Both the balanced inputs, from a D/A for example, and unbalanced inputs can be utilised, providing maximum connection flexibility whether working in the studio, live or on the road.
Internal noise is kept to a minimum as the MCU (microcontroller unit) and LEDs are kept in ‘sleep mode’ unless actioned. All internal switching is FET-based to provide full audio transparency, while handling very high peak signals and keeping noise levels and distortion ultra-low (0.0001%).
The ZEN CAN Studio is equally at home on stage, in a live room or in the control room. Use it for musician monitoring in a live room, for example to each member of an orchestra or band, to give far higher quality than is usually offered during recording sessions.
Take it on the road and use it on stage as a monitoring amplifier with your personal IEMs – it’s ideal for use by keyboard players, drummers and static musicians.
Monitor your recordings during mixing and mastering using headphones and the high-quality amplifiers in the ZEN CAN Studio and be confident that what you hear is what you want.
The ZEN CAN Studio forms one half of a powerful duo when partnered with the ZEN One Studio. This extremely high-quality stand-alone D/A converter can be connected using a 4.4mm, XLR or TRS balanced cable to the ZEN CAN Studio to create a fully functioning interface and monitor controller.
Add a pair of active near-field monitors to the balanced output on the ZEN CAN Studio and the volume pot becomes the controller for the monitors. Switch between inputs on the ZEN One Studio and this duo proves itself as an adaptable and expandable interface.
Input 4.4mm
3.5mm
XLR/6.3mm
6.3mm pinout 4.0Vrms (nom.) @ 0dBFS, 24kΩ balanced
1.0Vrms (nom.) @ 0dBFS, 1MΩ UnBAL
4.0Vrms (nom.) @ 0dBFS, 24kΩ balanced
TRS: +, -, Gnd; compatible with TS: +, Gnd Separate left and right connectors
Max. Input 4.4mm
3.5mm
XLR
6.3mm 7.4V RMS
1.92V RMS
7.4V RMS
7.4Vrms balanced/3.8Vrms UnBAL
Max Output Balanced >15.2V/385 mW (@ 600Ω)
>11.0V/1890 mW (@ 64Ω)
UnBAL >7.6V/196 mW (@ 300Ω)
>4.0V/1000 mW (@ 16Ω)
Output Impedance Balanced
UnBAL
Line <2Ω
<1Ω
<200Ω
THD + N Balanced
UnBAL <0.006% (@360 mW/2.4V 16Ω)
<0.005% (@ 100 mW/1.27V 16Ω)
SNR Balanced
UnBAL >122dBA (@7.3V)
>120dBA (@ 1.9V)
Gain OdB, 6dB, 12dB and 18dB
Frequency Response 10Hz-200kHz (±0.03dB)
Power supply requirement DC 5V/2.4A (centre +ve)
Power consumption No Signal ~5W/Max Signal ~13W
Dimensions 158x121 x 35 mm (6.2" x 4.8" x 1.4")
Net weight 530g (1.17 lbs)
