[jjazzy]

I’m using the Zen Stream feeding my Dave and I’m also very pleased. The convenience and performance of the Zen Stream is surprisingly very good.

For it’s money the zen stream is a bargain, but no match for a lumin, eversolo a8, hifi rose or innuos.

I own the zen stream as well, but even with a upgrade psu, no match for the higher top streamers I use now

 

[rwelles]

I had a Zen Stream driving my HMS/TT2. I found a significant improvement when I replaced it with 2Go/2Yu. I have an Holo Red coming in next month to check out.

 

[zolom]

For me, the iFi Zen Stream, via a good USB cable, playing Tidal hifi, is most satisfactory.

 

[jjazzy]

For me, the iFi Zen Stream, via a good USB cable, playing Tidal hifi, is most satisfactory.

it is not a awfull streamer, just it makes quite the big difference if you use a higher quality streamer (but that does not come cheap, but neither is a tt2 or mscaler

It is more that it is a shame if you don't use something better than a zen stream, when you already in that league of high end hifi like a tt2

 

[Patswalker]

it is not a awfull streamer, just it makes quite the big difference if you use a higher quality streamer (but that does not come cheap, but neither is a tt2 or mscaler

It is more that it is a shame if you don't use something better than a zen stream, when you already in that league of high end hifi like a tt2

This is what I was thunking. I have a wiim pro with a custom made power supply and it’s very good and sounds nice. I have a blue sound node and the same. But high end gear like TT2 is good enough to show the differences so why not save up for a nicer streamer. That’s probly what I’ll do. Denafrips has one that I’ve been looking at and I’ve hear good things about the holo red.

 

[jjazzy]

This is what I was thunking. I have a wiim pro with a custom made power supply and it’s very good and sounds nice. I have a blue sound node and the same. But high end gear like TT2 is good enough to show the differences so why not save up for a nicer streamer. That’s probly what I’ll do. Denafrips has one that I’ve been looking at and I’ve hear good things about the holo red.

If you want a good deal, I audited quite the share of streamers untill I ended at a Eversolo A8 (A6's are okay but not on the same level), that could easily play on level of 3/4000 euro streamers I couldn't be happier. I negotiated and got the A8 for 1600 euro new.

(My opinion, software/app wise the Eversolo's work the nicest, and I tried from Lumin, Innuous to aurrender and hifi rose)

 

[Patswalker]

If you want a good deal, I audited quite the share of streamers untill I ended at a Eversolo A8 (A6's are okay but not on the same level), that could easily play on level of 3/4000 euro streamers I couldn't be happier. I negotiated and got the A8 for 1600 euro new.

(My opinion, software/app wise the Eversolo's work the nicest, and I tried from Lumin, Innuous to aurrender and hifi rose)

Good to know. Thanks for that. I'll keep that in mind. I'm not going to be using the dac section of the streamer or the preamp section of the streamer so paying close to $2000USD I'm paying for a lot of stuff I wouldn't be using. But if in the future I need a combo stereamer, dac, and preamp it'll be high on the list. I have a good friend who has the DMP A8 connected to two monoblock amps and it sounds amazing. It's a great all in one. But there's a lot of stuff in that unit I don't need. I'm much more in the market for just a streamer. I'm happy to save up and spend $2000 on a unit but I want to make sure all the $2000 is going towards only streaming and not other options I won't be using.

I am quite happy with how I have it now so I'm not really trying to solve any things I consider problematic. I'd be happy to keep it as is for years. I just like the idea of taking everything into streaming for my headphones and I have a few dacs and amps I want to connect to the streamers. LIke a wireless streaming hub. Sort of a future fun project.

 

[smutnyjoe]

To be honest, I was comparing Eversolo A6 as a streamer to ifi zen stream, when I was testing eversolo in my system.
If there are any differences between the streamers in terms of sound quality, they were less audible by an order of magnitude than the difference when switching between DACs, two orders of magnitude when switching between amps, and virtually negligible when comparing it to the differences between headphones. My suggestion would be to buy new headphones, amp or maybe dac before throwing thousands of dollars on a new streamer.

But if you have all the headphones and amps you ever wanted and still 3000$ in your pocket then why not buy yourself a nice streamer Because there really are differences: I was significantly more satisfied with the big display with cover art and convenient controls when using eversolo compared to ifi zen stream. It was just not enough for me to justify buying a new big expensive device to put on my desk, so I stayed with zen steam.

 

[Patswalker]

To be honest, I was comparing Eversolo A6 as a streamer to ifi zen stream, when I was testing eversolo in my system.
If there are any differences they were less audible by an order of magnitude from when switching between DACs, two orders of magnitude when switching between amps, and negligible when comparing it to the differences between headphones. My suggestion would be to buy new headphones, amp or maybe dac before throwing thousands of dollars on a new streamer

But if you have all the headphones and amps you ever wanted and still 3000$ in your pocket then why not buy yourself a nice streamer

What I'm doing now is using my iPad mini or macbook air and feeding USB into a matrix SPDIF3 then optical from the SPDIF3 into the TT2 and I love it. I could be way happy with that for a long long long time. Like you said, my focus has been on the actual headphone and I've got my ideal collection with those so I'm good. That's where most of my money has gone. I have the TT2 and one other, soon to be two, separate dacs connected to amps that I have also connected to the Matrix SPDIF 3 so it's doing great work as a little hub. The only reason I'm looking for a streamer is far less of me trying to solve anything that is wrong within my system because I love it as is and far more of me liking the idea of me coming in and not needing to plug anything in. Pure ease and comfort. The only one thing I would need need in a streamer that could be a bit of an upgrade would be the ability to play my flac files that I have been collecting but even with that I could just get an external SSD, connect it to my macbook air, connect my macbook air to my network via ethernet, and use that with Audirvana because Audirvana has the cool option of shutting down a lot of the usleless nouse inducing computer operations while it plays the music. It's really me just poking at the all to common and all to fun audiphile "what will happen if I change this"

 

[jjazzy]

Good to know. Thanks for that. I'll keep that in mind. I'm not going to be using the dac section of the streamer or the preamp section of the streamer so paying close to $2000USD I'm paying for a lot of stuff I wouldn't be using. But if in the future I need a combo stereamer, dac, and preamp it'll be high on the list. I have a good friend who has the DMP A8 connected to two monoblock amps and it sounds amazing. It's a great all in one. But there's a lot of stuff in that unit I don't need. I'm much more in the market for just a streamer. I'm happy to save up and spend $2000 on a unit but I want to make sure all the $2000 is going towards only streaming and not other options I won't be using.

I am quite happy with how I have it now so I'm not really trying to solve any things I consider problematic. I'd be happy to keep it as is for years. I just like the idea of taking everything into streaming for my headphones and I have a few dacs and amps I want to connect to the streamers. LIke a wireless streaming hub. Sort of a future fun project.

You’re missing the point, I compared the A8 with the Lumin U2 (not the mini, but it’s bigger brother) and the Innuos MK3, and they were near sounding the same. The extra’s in the A8 I just see as a nice bonus.
The only one that sounded digital just a little better was the hifi rose rs150 ( which we all know is also in the 5000 euro range)

I myself only use the A8 as a streamer, hell no that I am paying 5000 for a streamer when the A8 comes that extremely close for 1600 euro. (That’s what I payed new)

I all compared many streamers, was at the shop for 5/6 hours with breaks between them

For me not changing the streamer would have resulted returning the chord tt2+mscaler, it was that bad I thought the zen stream sounded in my full martin logan ESL hifi set, compared to a high end streamer (could be that on more resolving systems the difference between streamers get more noticable?)

 

[Patswalker]

You’re missing the point, I compared the A8 with the Lumin U2 (not the mini, but it’s bigger brother) and the Innuos MK3, and they were near sounding the same. The extra’s in the A8 I just see as a nice bonus.
The only one that sounded digital just a little better was the hifi rose rs150 ( which we all know is also in the 5000 euro range)

I myself only use the A8 as a streamer, hell no that I am paying 5000 for a streamer when the A8 comes that extremely close for 1600 euro. (That’s what I payed new)

I all compared many streamers, was at the shop for 5/6 hours with breaks between them

For me not changing the streamer would have resulted returning the chord tt2+mscaler, it was that bad I thought the zen stream sounded in my full martin logan ESL hifi set, compared to a high end streamer (could be that on more resolving systems the difference between streamers get more noticable?)

I’m not missing the point. I totally understand. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

[avnidvyi]

hi guys, my setup: matrix element s - mscaler - hugo tt2 - HD800
i was looking at hifi rose 130, but ended up with element s. i got it for around 750 USD and the price for hifi rose 130 is around 5500 USD
so far so good, yes element s only supports apple music via airplay or USB (no built-in app), but what can I say?

I'm here for a suggestion for another headphone.
HD800 is good, I mean I didn't find any other headphones that can do better on instruments.
but when it comes to the human voice, especially for pop, EDM genres.
i need something less harsh on that, listening to pop on hd800 always makes me feel like there are 3 or 4 instruments with the singer playing in the center of 1000 square meter stage.
something warmer, more emotional, more surrounding feeling with good vocal sound is needed.

any suggestion would be appreacitaed
Im thinking about susvara but there are too many people who said that tt2 cant drive sus properly, even with xlr output, I'm just confused,

 

[jjazzy]

hi guys, my setup: matrix element s - mscaler - hugo tt2 - HD800
i was looking at hifi rose 130, but ended up with element s. i got it for around 750 USD and the price for hifi rose 130 is around 5500 USD
so far so good, yes element s only supports apple music via airplay or USB (no built-in app), but what can I say?

I'm here for a suggestion for another headphone.
HD800 is good, I mean I didn't find any other headphones that can do better on instruments.
but when it comes to the human voice, especially for pop, EDM genres.
i need something less harsh on that, listening to pop on hd800 always makes me feel like there are 3 or 4 instruments with the singer playing in the center of 1000 square meter stage.
something warmer, more emotional, more surrounding feeling with good vocal sound is needed.

any suggestion would be appreacitaed
Im thinking about susvara but there are too many people who said that tt2 cant drive sus properly, even with xlr output, I'm just confused,

Even the shop where I buy my stuff said the same thing, susvara not the best match with the tt2, a burson soloist gt is already better sounding. Susvara is kind of power hungry it seems.

A hifiman 1000 is a better option

 

[AussieMick]

hi guys, my setup: matrix element s - mscaler - hugo tt2 - HD800
i was looking at hifi rose 130, but ended up with element s. i got it for around 750 USD and the price for hifi rose 130 is around 5500 USD
so far so good, yes element s only supports apple music via airplay or USB (no built-in app), but what can I say?

I'm here for a suggestion for another headphone.
HD800 is good, I mean I didn't find any other headphones that can do better on instruments.
but when it comes to the human voice, especially for pop, EDM genres.
i need something less harsh on that, listening to pop on hd800 always makes me feel like there are 3 or 4 instruments with the singer playing in the center of 1000 square meter stage.
something warmer, more emotional, more surrounding feeling with good vocal sound is needed.

any suggestion would be appreacitaed
Im thinking about susvara but there are too many people who said that tt2 cant drive sus properly, even with xlr output, I'm just confused,

Extra warmth and intimacy that HD800? Sounds like the Utopia 2022 to me. It is excellent from the TT2.
I can back up the feelings about Susvara, too, that the TT2 isn’t enough. For me, Utopia 2022 from my TT2, Pass Labs XA25 for Susvara.

 

[Whazzzup]

really good music server into phoenix usb into TT then into a top tube amp and HD800S will sing in any genre. course you might be broke but.... then your ready for any HP or none. The dac and HP scale, That's what's important I found in treating separates, separate but IMO