[AussieMick]

Ok phew, that's good to know/a relief Mick, as I didn't audition both, just the discounted but still double-the-price Sopras and clearly didn't do my research particularly thoroughly as hadn't realised the Kanta had a slightly later gen tweeter till you mentioned it. FYI I got familiar with the Sopras through Alpha Audio using them as their speaker reference for reviews (including any number of speaker comparatives) for years until last year when they upgraded to the TAD Evolution 2. I find Alpha Audio's high quality recordings of component and speaker comparatives to be a great resource, probably the best I've heard short of listening in person, listening via HQ headphones even over compressed YT let alone to their uncompressed FLAC files.

Oh, if I could get the Sopra 2 into my home to replace the Kanta 2…I only need one kidney, right? I think the Kanta range is wonderful, and I also think there are very good reasons for the Sopra commanding a price premium above. But it m a Focal lover 100%, since I first heard the 1008Be.

 

[runningwitit]

 

[markush8]

As mentioned in the video - is there really a burn in happening?! I guess iFi said there is no one, so just curious.

 

[runningwitit]

I thought he said there was one...He then plugged the second one in and the remaining noise disappeared

 

[Pashmeister]

I got one for my Gustard R26 and I'm keeping it.

 

[DudeMusic]

I just got one and there is a slight improvement. Keeping it

 

[Sound Eq]

greetings is there any benefit using with an ether net cable and into my wifi router, and connecting daps are laptop to wifi

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Thanks again for all the comments, so glad to hear that even small improvements are being heard, I continue to enjoy mine connected to my Zen stream, for me it is a definite improvement.

In terms of burn-in, even after all these years, I am still on the fence about it, admittedly I can attest to hearing differences after periods of time, but sadly "exactly" why that is has escaped me!

Cheers!!

 

[SoftwireEngineer]

After a quite a bit A/B listening, I have decided to keep the iSilencer. Seems to reduce the harshness sometimes that I hear with upsampling to 352Khz. And I dont see any other impact to bass/treble/soundstage. Thx for all your inputs folks.

 

[MSXX]

I also want to chime in. I like the lan silencer a lot so I ended up buying another one. Best placement for me is at the router. The second one I placed at my 8swicth in the other end. Which only gave a little - reducing a very small degree of noise. I have a fairly so-called high end setup and are also at the moment using the zen stream. I trying plugging the lan silencer into the zen stream instead of the switch but it was not good. It gave some clarity and better ‘focus’ but the sound lost its ‘flair’ feeling a bit lifeless and the soundstage was reduced quite dramatically in both hight and width - not some much in depth.

I also used the lan silencer in conjunction with j-plays lan conditioning which gives a more relaxed and ease full sound. I use it because I have it and its effects are not so noticeable.

I am bit ambivalent about ifi’s clean up products as they always tends to do a little too much. Taking some of the sparkle or life out of the sound. That goes especially for their different purifyer products and my experience has been as I move towards greater gear that I have to remove the IfI stuff from my chain. But I very like what the lan silencer does at the moment and I think the zen stream is one hell of a streamer at its price. I by the way found that a quality LPS for both zen stream and 8switch does wonders. As does; mechanical grounding both units with ansuz darkz and using a ifi groundhog plugged into the usb of the zen stream to ground condition the last noise away to be quite effective too.

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

I also want to chime in. I like the lan silencer a lot so I ended up buying another one. Best placement for me is at the router. The second one I placed at my 8swicth in the other end. Which only gave a little - reducing a very small degree of noise. I have a fairly so-called high end setup and are also at the moment using the zen stream. I trying plugging the lan silencer into the zen stream instead of the switch but it was not good. It gave some clarity and better ‘focus’ but the sound lost its ‘flair’ feeling a bit lifeless and the soundstage was reduced quite dramatically in both hight and width - not some much in depth.

I also used the lan silencer in conjunction with j-plays lan conditioning which gives a more relaxed and ease full sound. I use it because I have it and its effects are not so noticeable.

I am bit ambivalent about ifi’s clean up products as they always tends to do a little too much. Taking some of the sparkle or life out of the sound. That goes especially for their different purifyer products and my experience has been as I move towards greater gear that I have to remove the IfI stuff from my chain. But I very like what the lan silencer does at the moment and I think the zen stream is one hell of a streamer at its price. I by the way found that a quality LPS for both zen stream and 8switch does wonders. As does; mechanical grounding both units with ansuz darkz and using a ifi groundhog plugged into the usb of the zen stream to ground condition the last noise away to be quite effective too.

Thank you for your thoughts!

It is always good to read about the different placements and how that changes impressions of the unit, good or bad, and how!

Cheers!!

 

[SoftwireEngineer]

After a quite a bit A/B listening, I have decided to keep the iSilencer. Seems to reduce the harshness sometimes that I hear with upsampling to 352Khz. And I dont see any other impact to bass/treble/soundstage. Thx for all your inputs folks.

Initially, I also felt the iSilencer plugged into my Zen Stream, slowed and/or muted the music. But after some changes in the system, like removing the last iPowerX in favor of a LPS things seemed to have changed. Or may be the iSilencer got "broken in". Re: Ifi - I think this company has lots of integrity and technological zeal (like proactively providing the GTO filter) . I especially like and still use the iUSB reclocker . But the devices perform probably at the limitations of the cost & technology. A Topping LPS into Zen Stream clearly made a difference vs an iPowerX. But the iPowerX was definitely better than stock or iPower 2 power supplies .

 

[shogo33]

It is always good to read about the different placements and how that changes impressions of the unit, good or bad, and how!

IMO, after playing around with just one, you need to test it out at different ports on your network chain. I've tested it out at several ports, and at my WAN port (in) to my Asus router, and it sounded best there. I 've just added a second one, and the effect does compound, but i've kept it at the input to my FMC after the output of my Asus router. IMO system of course.

I also want to chime in. I like the lan silencer a lot so I ended up buying another one. Best placement for me is at the router. The second one I placed at my 8swicth in the other end. Which only gave a little - reducing a very small degree of noise. I have a fairly so-called high end setup and are also at the moment using the zen stream. I trying plugging the lan silencer into the zen stream instead of the switch but it was not good. It gave some clarity and better ‘focus’ but the sound lost its ‘flair’ feeling a bit lifeless and the soundstage was reduced quite dramatically in both hight and width - not some much in depth.

I also used the lan silencer in conjunction with j-plays lan conditioning which gives a more relaxed and ease full sound. I use it because I have it and its effects are not so noticeable.

I tried it out at the Eth input of the ZenStream and i concur my findings to what's reported by others above.

I am bit ambivalent about ifi’s clean up products as they always tends to do a little too much. Taking some of the sparkle or life out of the sound. That goes especially for their different purifyer products and my experience has been as I move towards greater gear that I have to remove the IfI stuff from my chain. But I very like what the lan silencer does at the moment and I think the zen stream is one hell of a streamer at its price. I by the way found that a quality LPS for both zen stream and 8switch does wonders. As does; mechanical grounding both units with ansuz darkz and using a ifi groundhog plugged into the usb of the zen stream to ground condition the last noise away to be quite effective too.

I too ground my ZenStream and EtherRegen and noticed the same as you. Me too, I do find iFi's clean up products effect does compound, but placements and careful listening will be beneficial to hear where it really needs to be. Because of my network setup and my OCD to clean and isolate the signal chain within the network, i now have 9 ifi Ipower X's and 2 Lan iSilencers in the chain. I am a firm believer that network optimization and isolation are critical and a must. Once you hear this difference, there's no going back. Youd be pleasantly surprise how well your current source (in my case - ZenStream), can perform.

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

IMO, after playing around with just one, you need to test it out at different ports on your network chain. I've tested it out at several ports, and at my WAN port (in) to my Asus router, and it sounded best there. I 've just added a second one, and the effect does compound, but i've kept it at the input to my FMC after the output of my Asus router. IMO system of course.


I tried it out at the Eth input of the ZenStream and i concur my findings to what's reported by others above.


I too ground my ZenStream and EtherRegen and noticed the same as you. Me too, I do find iFi's clean up products effect does compound, but placements and careful listening will be beneficial to hear where it really needs to be. Because of my network setup and my OCD to clean and isolate the signal chain within the network, i now have 9 ifi Ipower X's and 2 Lan iSilencers in the chain. I am a firm believer that network optimization and isolation are critical and a must. Once you hear this difference, there's no going back. Youd be pleasantly surprise how well your current source (in my case - ZenStream), can perform.

Hopefully, I can get to a more serious placement and listening situation next week to determine differences in my particular network.

And WOW you do have alot invested in cleaning/Isolation, I know it's a small thing but "Thank You" from iFi, we appreciate you! That's a ton of investment, at least to me anyway!

Cheers!!

 

[shogo33]

Hopefully, I can get to a more serious placement and listening situation next week to determine differences in my particular network.

And WOW you do have alot invested in cleaning/Isolation, I know it's a small thing but "Thank You" from iFi, we appreciate you! That's a ton of investment, at least to me anyway!

Cheers!!

You're most welcomed @Mr BubbaHyde and iFi for bringing out affordable products that work!