iFi audio ZEN Stream - Streaming elevated to a higher plane

[Sebastien Chiu]

OK, so I've bought and set up the ZS on my 5G network without too much trouble at all including mounting my NAS and doing the scan. So far so good and I'm listening to music. I've even turned it on & off a couple of times and it's connected again without any problems.

A couple of naive questions:

1. I've read about an exclusive app - is this available & if so how do I get it?
2. Which exclusive mode do I use if I am just pulling music from my NAS and using Airplay? DLNA?

Thanks in advance

Hi there!

1. You can find the app under Stream-iFi on both Google Play and DLNA.
2. If you want to use NAS and Airplay, you have to use AIO (all in one!)

I have been having some stability issues with a second ZS, and have reported these to iFi support last Thursday and haven't received a response to my ticket. (My 1st unit has been stable with no similar issues.) My return window closes this week, hence I'm posting here. The issues have to do with sudden loss of network connectivity (red light). Once this happens, I need to restart. The issue then recurs with increasing frequency (several times/day), until the unit fails to connect at all (permanent red light). A factory reset seems to help, but I've now had to do this twice. ZS is wired (wifi off) and I have a 1 GB ethernet connection. I have two raspberry pis running Volumio, and they have been stable throughout my experience with the ZS (i.e. no local network issues with any other devices). I use it primarily to play through Audirvana, Spotify, or local files (via a USB-mounted SSD). No Tidal. I'm using a 12v iPower. It shipped with a generic 12v supply. Thanks for any thoughts.

Thanks - wifi & hotspot have been off since initial set-up. Settings are identical to my other ZS (and to my Rasp. Pis) which never exhibited these issues. (I've since moved that one to a different address,)

Hi there, can you please PM me your ticket #? I will see what I can do to help you.

Have you done a hard reset of the Stream, and tried it over a wired connection if possible?

 

[realmassy]

Where can I find the ”optimised” source code that iFi have developed based on Volumio? I couldn’t find anywhere on the iFi website

iFi software developed with Volumio open-source as the starting point, then coded and optimised by us to achieve the purest streaming software bar none

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Where can I find the ”optimised” source code that iFi have developed based on Volumio? I couldn’t find anywhere on the iFi website

That is not something we share. Thanks for understanding!

 

[realmassy]

That is not something we share. Thanks for understanding!

Thats is something against the GPL license Volumio is offered under

The GPL does not require you to release your modified version. You are free to make modifications and use them privately, without ever releasing them. This applies to organizations (including companies), too; an organization can make a modified version and use it internally without ever releasing it outside the organization.
But if you release the modified version to the public in some way, the GPL requires you to make the modified source code available to the program's users, under the GPL.

Thus, the GPL gives permission to release the modified program in certain ways, and not in other ways; but the decision of whether to release it is up to you.

 

[skrzyp]

Hi there!

1. You can find the app under Stream-iFi on both Google Play and DLNA.
2. If you want to use NAS and Airplay, you have to use AIO (all in one!)






Hi there, can you please PM me your ticket #? I will see what I can do to help you.

Have you done a hard reset of the Stream, and tried it over a wired connection if possible?

Thanks for replying. Ticket: #2687. As I stated, I've been running it exclusively wired (wifi off). I also factory reset it twice and only used the hotspot to get back online. I submitted a previous ticket (#520142) for the same issue just after I received the ZS, but it seemed to resolve after a factory reset, only to return a week or so later.

 

[simon740]

 

[simon740]

Ifi will send me 12V iPower. They recommend 12V if someone using external hdd.
I can recommend Wifimedia from Netherlands. I buy Ifi ZS from them. Very good support. Fast communication.

regards,
Simon

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Thats is something against the GPL license Volumio is offered under

I will double-check on this with the relevant parties.

Thanks for replying. Ticket: #2687. As I stated, I've been running it exclusively wired (wifi off). I also factory reset it twice and only used the hotspot to get back online. I submitted a previous ticket (#520142) for the same issue just after I received the ZS, but it seemed to resolve after a factory reset, only to return a week or so later.

Appreciate it, I'll check in with our support team.

Ifi will send me 12V iPower. They recommend 12V if someone using external hdd.
I can recommend Wifimedia from Netherlands. I buy Ifi ZS from them. Very good support. Fast communication.

regards,
Simon

Excellent! Beautiful set-up.

 

[simon740]

Excellent! Beautiful set-up.

Thank you.

regards,
Simon

 

[simon740]

Hello,

what do you guys prefer - usb out or spdif out? I dont have any "good" coax cable (only one from Aliexpre... for 9€) so I cant compare this two outputs from ZS.
For now I have this combination : Zen Stream - Oyaide Neo d +usb class A cable - Ares II.

regards,
Simon

 

[qsk78]

Hello,

what do you guys prefer - usb out or spdif out? I dont have any "good" coax cable (only one from Aliexpre... for 9€) so I cant compare this two outputs from ZS.
For now I have this combination : Zen Stream - Oyaide Neo d +usb class A cable - Ares II.

regards,
Simon

I'm waiting for a good coax cable (Oyaide DST-75R V2) in the beginning of next week.
Let you know.
Actually I don't have many DSDs and I use mainly Qobuz for streaming purposes, so 192 KHz max is absolutely fine for me.

 

[simon740]

I'm waiting for a good coax cable (Oyaide DST-75R V2) in the beginning of next week.
Let you know.
Actually I don't have many DSDs and I use mainly Qobuz for streaming purposes, so 192 KHz max is absolutely fine for me.

I don’t have a lot of DSD albums either. These days I’m a lot on Tidal. Tidal connect works great.

regards,
Simon

 

[ctrlm]

My impressions with the ZS so far after a few days:

Pros
A cinch to set up
Sounds great
I like the fact that I can control from basically all my devices including my MAC & there is a dedicated app
Faultless wifi connection - I've never had trouble with this, my LAN is rock solid

Cons
Switching from SPDIF to USB output can be flaky
The big bright lights (see below)

How I use it:
ZS > MiniDSP DDRC22D > Holo Audio Spring 3: MF M6 500i > B&W 803D2 for speaker listening
ZS > Holo Audio Spring 3 > Violectric V281 for headphone listening

I use the coax out to the MiniDSP and USB out direct to the Spring when using headphones and I'm powering the ZS with my Uptone JS-2 LPS.
I mostly use the ZS for playing tracks from my NAS and Apple Music via Airplay. I don't use Tidal or Qobuz.

I have two other network bridges/streamers - a now 7 year old Auralic Aries Femto and an Allo Digione Signature. So do 1s & 0s sound different? Illogically yes they do - albeit subtly, but in my experience the power supply can have a bit to do with it. Unsurprisingly the ZS sounds similar to the Digione and to my ear has a bit more air than the Aries.

I have no issue with the UI as I'm used to Volumio with the Digione but the iFi version is slicker and where I had issues with tracks sometimes not playing properly with bit rate changes using the Digione, there are no such problems with the ZS.

I think this is a great little plug & play package.

Here's my ZS with it's newly acquired black eyes:

 

[simon740]

My impressions with the ZS so far after a few days:

Pros
A cinch to set up
Sounds great
I like the fact that I can control from basically all my devices including my MAC & there is a dedicated app
Faultless wifi connection - I've never had trouble with this, my LAN is rock solid

Cons
Switching from SPDIF to USB output can be flaky
The big bright lights (see below)

How I use it:
ZS > MiniDSP DDRC22D > Holo Audio Spring 3: MF M6 500i > B&W 803D2 for speaker listening
ZS > Holo Audio Spring 3 > Violectric V281 for headphone listening

I use the coax out to the MiniDSP and USB out direct to the Spring when using headphones and I'm powering the ZS with my Uptone JS-2 LPS.
I mostly use the ZS for playing tracks from my NAS and Apple Music via Airplay. I don't use Tidal or Quobuz.

I have two other network bridges/streamers - a now 7 year old Auralic Aries Femto and an Allo Digione Signature. So do 1s & 0s sound different? Illogically yes they do - albeit subtly, but in my experience the power supply can have a bit to do with it. Unsurprisingly the ZS sounds similar to the Digione and to my ear has a bit more air than the Aries.

I have no issue with the UI as I'm used to Volumio with the Digione but the iFi version is slicker and where I had issues with tracks sometimes not playing properly with bit rate changes using the Digione, there are no such problems with the ZS.

I think this is a great little plug & play package.

Here's my ZS with it's newly acquired black eyes:

Thank you for this info.

regards,
Simon

 

[knudsen]

Ok, so to summarize, when comparing directly usb and spdif, I confirm spdif is a bit better.
No stupid cables, just serious inexpensive ones.
By the way, I grounded the zen stream and this makes usb a tiny bit better, still not better than spdif though.
I still can't play dsd directly from spdif, only dsd dop (my dac supports dsd direct over spdif).
Sébastien promised to ask IFI for noise levels of usb and spdif..... Any news?
Cheers

Can I ask how you grounded it?