Taz777
1000+ Head-Fier
I found this YouTube playlist that's pretty useful for getting a few things done on the iFi Zen Stream:
Apologies if it's already been posted.
Apologies if it's already been posted.
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If I were you with all the different things you want to do, why not just leave the "pita" switch in the back to position 1? That's the mode that is supposed to do everything, except for last night trying the Roon position, I have not had one issue streaming from any of my Apple devices, give that a shot.Just received mine. Mixed initial impressions as I set it up in my bedroom headphones system:
It's feeding a Topping D90 (non-MQA) DAC which feeds an Arcam rHead headphone amp. Anyway, here's some questions and impressions:
1. TIDAL Connect: works fine with my LG V30+ phone and I can see the first unfold on my D90, as expected. I know it's connected properly as I cannot control the volume with my LD V30+ phone. Audio quality is very high, but that's really down to the D90 DAC and headphone amp. Doesn't work with my iPhone or iPad. When I attempt TIDAL Connect, I just get the option of Bluetooth and Airplay speakers and the iFi Zen Stream appears as an Airplay speaker (I presume). There is no proper TIDAL Connect connection from either of my iOS devices so I need to look into this. I may need to try the selector on the back into the TIDAL position - it's a real pain in the backside having that knob on the back of the unit!
2. DLNA: My setup for this is an iPhone running Neutron Music Player. The Stream device takes ages to be discovered an a DLNA/UPnP renderer. Once it is discovered and selected, the connection was sometimes lost. Changing between tracks takes 15-20 seconds! On the positive side, the original song FLAC sample rate is preserved when it reaches the Stream. Still, it's not a very usable option and quite a disappointment for me.
3. Web interface: This is essentially the Volumio interface. Works okay for my local songs on a micro-SD card inside a USB adapter. However, I now recall the issues I had with Volumio back in 2020 where it doesn't work with M3U playlist files. It uses its own playlist format and you cannot import M3U playlist files. I remember writing Python scripts to take my M3U files and convert them into PLS format (or whatever Volumio used back then) with some success but it was a lot of effort for something that should be standard in Volumio.
4. Local playback: As mentioned in (3) it does work. You plug your external USB drive into the top USB slot and the Stream software (Volumio) reads your library and you can play songs very easily using the Web interface. Just bear in mind the playlists issue mentioned in (3).
5. The USB connection seems to be 'live' all the time, even when music isn't playing. This, in turn, causes my D90 DAC to stay on all the time and not enter sleep mode. I'll need to test this out more. If it stays live all the time then I have to manually switch off the Stream after listening to music.
I was hoping I could use my iPhone to stream TIDAL to the Stream using TIDAL Connect. I don't know why I cannot do this. It may be something that I am doing wrong. My iPhone and iPad don't seem to recognise the Zen Stream as a TIDAL Connect device. I'm running version 2.27.1 of the TIDAL app on my iPhone.
I was also hoping that I could use Neutron Music Player on my iPhone to play music using DLNA to the Zen Stream. This works to some extent but is generally unusable. This may be down to the Neutron Music Player app but I am not sure.
With all of the above in mind, I'm not sure I'll be keeping the it at the moment unless these issues can be fixed. All I want to do is stream my local files (under the Neutron Music Player app) on my iPhone and stream TIDAL to the Zen Stream at the original bit-depth and bit-rate. It doesn't seem to be that easy to do at the moment.
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I've done all the testing with the switch at position 1 for my post. I've literally just now tried position 3 (TIDAL only) and neither of my iOS devices can find the Stream! If yours is working for iOS devices then I need to check my iOS settings to make sure that I've allowed the TIDAL app access to my local network, as it's odd that TIDAL works perfectly on my Android device.If I were you with all the different things you want to do, why not just leave the "pita" switch in the back to position 1? That's the mode that is supposed to do everything, except for last night trying the Roon position, I have not had one issue streaming from any of my Apple devices, give that a shot.
I'm honestly not seeing or hearing any reason to take it out of that position.
Cheers
Yes that is odd, I'm feeling a little blessed here as I have not had any issues with things connecting that the devices was supposed too connect to, I'm in and out today and want to try my only Android tablet when I get home. But it's about 3-4 years old so we will see how that goes, lolI've done all the testing with the switch at position 1 for my post. I've literally just now tried position 3 (TIDAL only) and neither of my iOS devices can find the Stream! If yours is working for iOS devices then I need to check my iOS settings to make sure that I've allowed the TIDAL app access to my local network, as it's odd that TIDAL works perfectly on my Android device.
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Qobuz streams through Chromecast and volumio has integration so I imagine this does tooDon't see any mention of Qobuz integration. Did I miss that?
It has Chromecast, Airplay, Roon and DLNA, doesn't that cover the usual methods of using Qobuz with a streamer. What form of Qobuz integration do you have in mind?Don't see any mention of Qobuz integration. Did I miss that?
I will point out and I'm sure this won't be the first time,say to most people "just build a pi" they have no clue what your talking about! Or for that matter how to start our make it work, we the proud audiophile elite can build pi's in the dark! LmaoThis is more or less a volumio pi in a ifi case so I can see if you want your stuff to all look the same this may be appealing. If not just build a pi load it with volumio/squeeze box+lms/moode and save a few hundo
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Lol started writing up about adding a dac hat and nas but saw this and stoppedI will point out and I'm sure this won't be the first time, "just build a pi" they have no clue what your talking about! Or for that matter how to start our make it work, we the proud audiophile elite can build pi's in the dark! Lmao
Cheers
Just build a pi.....With your savings get a hifiberry or allo Dachat and replace the ifi dac then
Lol started writing up about adding a dac hat and nas but saw this and stopped
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