A cinch to set up, I'm used to Volumio from when I had the Allo Digione & Zen Stream
I'm powering the Neo using my Uptone JS-2 LPS
I'm using the fibre optic thingy from ethernet powered from a Teddy Pardo LPS to connect to my LAN
Scanned all my music from my NAS without a hiccup (or so I thought)
Downloaded the latest firmware without a hitch
Connected to my Holo Audio DAC via AES > MiniDSP > AES for room corrected speaker playback - works fine
Connected to the the same via USB for NAA function from HQ Player on MacBook to headphone amp - works fine
I tested Airplay using Apple Music - works fine
I switched off the screen during playback after taking a photo - not needed as I can't see that far
I love that the dedicated modes can be selected via the menu function and it even shows my HQPlayer software logo when selecting NAA:
Now the bad impressions so far:
Just the Volumio software. After coming from Lightning DS it's like I'm slumming it
Also, Volumio will always have a bug somewhere just to annoy you. As usual it missed a couple of albums in the scan and no doubt will drive me nuts later when I try to rectify it.
So how does it sound? Brilliant of course because it's brand new and I spent nearly AUD 2k on it - I think that's about 10 US dollars these days
A lot more playing around to go but I'll probably just listen to music until the weekend.
And before anyone asks - I don't use Roon, Tidal or Spotify so I can't help on those subjects.
The specs for the Neo Stream state up to 768kHz PCM and using it as a NAA for HQPlayer I was surprised when it actually accepted and started playing 1411/1536....but unfortunately playback started to stutter after 5 to 10 seconds, so no bonus there
At native rates the NS correctly shows as PCM input, but on playback of upsampled 768kHz PCM material it incorrectly shows as DXD:
At first I thought this might be a bug with all upsampled material but I did a test by upsampling 44.1 to just 96kHz and it correctly showed as PCM. So I'm not sure at what point in the upsampling multiples the bug kicks in and to be honest I can't be bothered finding out. It's not a big deal and hopefully iFi can address it in a firmware update.
I like the fact that you can turn the screen off for playback but I wish you could do the same for the lights. I really don't need to constantly know the sample rate or the strength of my LAN connection. They aren't overly bright but maybe this too could be an option in future firmware updates?
I bought the Neo Stream primarily as a streamer/network bridge for my living room speaker setup but also as an NAA that could accept higher than 384kHz for headphone listening in the same setup and so far so good!
The specs for the Neo Stream state up to 768kHz PCM and using it as a NAA for HQPlayer I was surprised when it actually accepted and started playing 1411/1536....but unfortunately playback started to stutter after 5 to 10 seconds, so no bonus there
At native rates the NS correctly shows as PCM input, but on playback of upsampled 768kHz PCM material it incorrectly shows as DXD:
At first I thought this might be a bug with all upsampled material but I did a test by upsampling 44.1 to just 96kHz and it correctly showed as PCM. So I'm not sure at what point in the upsampling multiples the bug kicks in and to be honest I can't be bothered finding out. It's not a big deal and hopefully iFi can address it in a firmware update.
I like the fact that you can turn the screen off for playback but I wish you could do the same for the lights. I really don't need to constantly know the sample rate or the strength of my LAN connection. They aren't overly bright but maybe this too could be an option in future firmware updates?
I bought the Neo Stream primarily as a streamer/network bridge for my living room speaker setup but also as an NAA that could accept higher than 384kHz for headphone listening in the same setup and so far so good!
OK, I caved in and decided to try wifi this morning.
First of all - switching from ethernet to wifi was a bit of a nightmare. I enabled wifi in the settings, selected my 5G network and saved. I went to my router settings and confirmed that it was connected and made a note of the IP address. I then unplugged the ethernet/optical cable and the unit had a hissy fit. Whilst it was showing the wifi connection, it kept looking for the previous ethernet connection - constantly scrolling to one, then the other then showing both connections even though the ethernet was unplugged. All the time showing red as no LAN connection. I restarted the unit and plugged and unplugged the ethernet several times only to have the same thing happen.
As I had set up the ethernet connection with a static IP address, I changed it to dynamic and then went through the same procedure, only for it to happen another couple of times......then magically it worked. Very very flaky.
So I then tried upsampling to 768kHz from HQ Player - works fine, no dropouts over 2 or 3 tracks:
Then DSD 256 & 512:
At first I got no sound from the NS so I unchecked the 48k DSD box in HQ Player and it worked fine:
This made no sense so I tried again with the 48k DSD box checked again and it worked, but now there is a different issue - the music is playing fine with no dropouts and my DAC confirms the sample rate but the screen on the NS isn't showing it?:
I'm running out of time this morning so I need to check tonight if this same behaviour occurs when hardwired, I must say that I didn't notice before but I did have the screen off.
So plenty of bugs for iFi to sort out, but to answer your query @ra990 - I had no actual playback issues using upsampled files over wifi.
In AI0 mode, you should be able to see the Volumio interface generated by the Neo, go to main settings, then System, then you should see a section called System Updates half way down that page. Then press the Check Updates button and the Neo should then check to see if a newer version is available. If so then it offers you a button to do the update. It may take a few minutes and usually the unit will power down and than back up to complete the installation of the updated software. Oh incidentally if you cannot find this Check Updates button anywhere, you may need to put the Volumio into Full Settings mode rather than simplified, see a few lines up on the System page called Show Advanced Settings. If you change any option, remember to press Save button in that section to make the change happen. Hope this helps
Nice all these technical issues, but I am So curieus how does it sound in a “standard” environment just between router and amp in rca mode (thus DAc in use)?
Nice all these technical issues, but I am So curieus how does it sound in a “standard” environment just between router and amp in rca mode (thus DAc in use)?
Well not quite according to the criteria you asked for....but I've been using the DAC for the last hour or so. HQ Player to Neo > balanced out to Violectric HPA V550:
I'm a big fan of the old Burr Brown DACs that iFi use, especially the latest implementations that I think have maintained a slightly relaxed sound but have improved clarity & dynamics over older Burr Brown DACs. I already use a ZEN DAC Signature V2 in my desktop headphone setup that replaced an RME ADI-2 and Topping E50 before it - I much prefer the iFi sound.
The Neo Stream DAC to me sounds pretty much identical to the ZEN DAC Signature, so if you want impressions of how this DAC sounds it's probably best to look for impressions on the ZEN DAC Signature or the ZEN ONE Signature or the NEO iDSD as there will be more opinions around.
I'm trying not to perform the new toy gush but just to add to the above - it sounds wonderful. I'm already looking at how I rearrange my gear to get the NS and Violectric closer together. I'm also going to have to buy another 4.4 to XLR balanced cable
Next time I need to switch between wifi and ethernet I'll try using this "from scratch" method and see if it works any better or replicates the issues I had yesterday with just shutting wifi off or on via the computer UI.
It really was a nightmare with it taking half an hour and constant re-starts to switch from ethernet to wifi and switching back later that day was even worse. I have the sound notification on for when the unit starts and it was hilarious and frustrating to watch and hear the Neo Stream constantly re-starting over and over again by itself - I should have taken a video. Many many manual restarts later including leaving a few minutes gap in between and just waiting for long periods to see if it fixed itself, I finally managed to shut off wifi and got ethernet working again. To me it seemed like the unit was always looking for the last LAN setting and wasn't happy with changing?
Interestingly, through all of this my router home page was showing the connections were OK despite the NS indicating red.
Hopefully this will be fixed at some stage as using the computer UI to switch should be easy. I never had (much) of a problem with this using Volumio in the past with a Raspberry Pi based streamer.
Next time I need to switch between wifi and ethernet I'll try using this "from scratch" method and see if it works any better or replicates the issues I had yesterday with just shutting wifi off or on via the computer UI.
It really was a nightmare with it taking half an hour and constant re-starts to switch from ethernet to wifi and switching back later that day was even worse. I have the sound notification on for when the unit starts and it was hilarious and frustrating to watch and hear the Neo Stream constantly re-starting over and over again by itself - I should have taken a video. Many many manual restarts later including leaving a few minutes gap in between and just waiting for long periods to see if it fixed itself, I finally managed to shut off wifi and got ethernet working again. To me it seemed like the unit was always looking for the last LAN setting and wasn't happy with changing?
Interestingly, through all of this my router home page was showing the connections were OK despite the NS indicating red.
Hopefully this will be fixed at some stage as using the computer UI to switch should be easy. I never had (much) of a problem with this using Volumio in the past with a Raspberry Pi based streamer.
That bit about the start sound notification and hearing it repeatedly as the unit restarts again and again, well that is just like the reboot problem that has made me have to return my unit for a checkup. Now I have always left mine on wired and never went through the horrors of the WiFi setup you describe, but the unit just warbling away for no apparent reason again and again when just playing local files finally made me crack. So although the precise reason the unit enters this continual reboot may differ, it is like it is a way to purge itself of some incorrect state it has entered into ? I sent mine back to iFi Audio yesterday, no word from them as yet, will keep the thread updated.
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