Zishan Z3 Music Player Review

The video is in Arabic.

Hey everyone,

The ZISHAN Z3 is one of the smallest music players I’ve used. Thanks to my brother Sultan Al-Harbi, who owns it. My unit uses an ES9038Q2M chip (there are versions with other chips), the outputs are 3.5 and line out, and it has an SD card slot and Micro USB. No Bluetooth and no MQA. It launched at around $70 to $80, and at the time of the review it had gone up to $180.

Who is it for?

• Anyone who wants a small player with a neutral sound, but only at the old price.

Strengths

• Neutral: it gives you your headphone’s real sound with no change.
• Layering, imaging and separation are excellent.
• It drove the Sennheiser HD650 really well.
• It’s made of metal, and it’s better than the newer ZISHAN Z4 (which sounds bright).
• A screen that shows the frequencies while you listen: a rare feature.

Weaknesses

• The bass rolls off and fades faster than natural (the Brick Wall filter helps a bit).
• 3.5 output only, no balanced.
• Sometimes strong interference that goes away when you unplug the headphone and plug it back in.
• It gets hot and drains the battery fast with hard to drive headphones.
• The HIFIMAN HE400i started to distort above 90% volume.

Verdict

At the old price I’d have said buy it without thinking. At $180 it’s your call: there are options with more features and software and better designs, but I can’t judge their sound before I try them.

Note: this review is from 2024, so the price may have changed.

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