[Bill Allen 2]

Just woke up Kona time, you still up for a chat?

 

[dsnyder]

Sure. Now is fine. Just listing to some music on a lazy Sunday morning.

 

[windplr]

But don't you also have to subscribe and pay a monthly fee to MyVolumio in order to use Qobuz (or Tidal) with Volumio?

Yes, It think it is around $45/yr. One of the reasons I'm going to give Roon a try is that I'm disappointed in some of the Volumio implementation and feature set. Even though Roon is significantly more money ($120/yr).

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Yes, It think it is around $45/yr. One of the reasons I'm going to give Roon a try is that I'm disappointed in some of the Volumio implementation and feature set. Even though Roon is significantly more money ($120/yr).

I honestly never thought I'd would see the day, but after frustrations with all of the different things like volumio, and so forth.

Roon is worth every penny, I realized after 2-3 months that I could never go back, I have discovered so much new and great older music, simply because of Roon Radio, (it's a feature that continues songs after your Que). But it is great at keeping in the same vein of what you were listening too.

Give it a good chance.

Cheers!!

 

[windplr]

I honestly never thought I'd would see the day, but after frustrations with all of the different things like volumio, and so forth.

Roon is worth every penny, I realized after 2-3 months that I could never go back, I have discovered so much new and great older music, simply because of Roon Radio, (it's a feature that continues songs after your Que). But it is great at keeping in the same vein of what you were listening too.

Give it a good chance.

Cheers!!

I think what Volumio is trying to do is admirable. And it does work well for me, most of the time. But support is iffy, and as I said before it lacks some features that Roon has, music discovery being high on my list. An interesting enhancement/alternative for the Zen Stream would be a native Volumio port of the full version. We know the ZS can run Volumio since it comes with a dumbed down version.

 

[stu667]

This thread has turned out to be all about roon and tidal problems...

Getting a bit tired to be honest.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

I'll catch up on this when we're back "in the office" tomorrow and go over everything to make sure if there is anything I can help out and answer, but yes, let's return the discussion back to the Stream as a primary focus.

Thanks!

 

[363267]

Congrats. I'd say that really depends on the DAC(s) you plan to pair with it. USB generally supports a broader range of sampling rates and formats, but there are still plenty of DACs out there that sound better over COAX S/PDIF when driven from a good transport.

I just swapped from USB to the SPDIF into my Benchmark DAC3. I also have the upgraded iFi Power X supply for the ZS. I think I will stay with the SPDIF for a while as I have never liked any of my USB connections as they always lacked something, sounded flat, I don't know as I am not a techie type of listener. I am using a Black Cat Silverstar RCA. My USB was a Wireworld (red one).

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

This thread has turned out to be all about roon and tidal problems...

Getting a bit tired to be honest.

Simply congratulating someone on deciding to get a ZS !

You've made 6 posts, please feel free to post your impressions off the ZS and how you like it or what can be improved, unless of course returning to micro discussions off jitter and bitrates is somehow better!

I don't see anything issue with Discussing The iFI Zen Stream and the platforms it works with, perhaps a paragraph or 17 on how well Spotify connect works will offset your feelings of tiredness about how week it works with Roon.

Cheers

 

[Bill Allen 2]

Agreed!

Agreed!

Agreed! Here is where the sonic differences arise.

I already conceded that Tidal Connect currently has issues and yes your measurements back it up. You do make a strong case for the Roon Nucleus, but even if it could be proven to sound better I would have to overcome my serious aversion to the Roon software. However I still say I'm right, so there. LOL

Now this would be fun, proper test equipment and relaxed neutral environment to conduct a proper double blind over a weeks time.
No doubt we would walk away with more questions than answers.

After a long techie phone conversation with dsnyder (D) this morning I'm able to think more clearly about 'what's going on' all around with the Zen Stream.

Technically there's a lot going in inside the ZS, limiting the working processes does indeed make a lot of sense.
For example currently the Volumio core is set up as the MQA decoder when using Tidal Connect, best to spread those duties out as much as possible as D suggests.
iFi must find a way for users to toggle MQA passthrough, MQA off, when using Tidal Connect.

D was able to help me setup my trial Roon Core correctly, I've been listening all morning and DNLA pales in comparison, Roon is clearly the best sounding.
Not by a little bit either ... substantially better!
There is a sense of fatness & PRaT that frankly I have never experienced before with steaming audio, it's like all the tech & gear just get out of the way.

What's left is just you and music ... very cool!

You win D, I concede, I'm getting a Roon Nucleus.

 

[dsnyder]

After a long techie phone conversation with dsnyder (D) this morning I'm able to think more clearly about 'what's going on' all around with the Zen Stream.

Technically there's a lot going in inside the ZS, limiting the working processes does indeed make a lot of sense.
For example currently the Volumio core is set up as the MQA decoder when using Tidal Connect, best to spread those duties out as much as possible as D suggests.
iFi must find a way for users to toggle MQA passthrough, MQA off, when using Tidal Connect.

D was able to help me setup my trial Roon Core correctly, I've been listening all morning and DNLA pales in comparison, Roon is clearly the best sounding.
Not by a little bit either ... substantially better!
There is a sense of fatness & PRaT that frankly I have never experienced before with steaming audio, it's like all the tech & gear just get out of the way.

What's left is just you and music ... very cool!

You win D, I concede, I'm getting a Roon Nucleus.

Great chat. What's amazing is how well the ZEN Stream completes the Roon ecosystem. I'd love to see a partnership with iFi Audio and Roon Labs so that Roon could bundle a ZEN Stream or two with their Nucleus (at added cost, of course). Until the arrival of the ZEN Stream, there has not been an affordable endpoint device that, similar to Nucleus, looks and sounds amazing…and just works™.

 

[windplr]

This thread has turned out to be all about roon and tidal problems...

Getting a bit tired to be honest.

Aww, I was just going to start ranting about MQA.

 

[kaushama]

Is it only me that thinks iFi would have designed it with a knob on the front plate for switching exclusive modes? Perhaps to take off those letter "stream" and put the knob on the middle of the front plate. If it does software process switching I guess we could switch them on the fly while the device is switched on.

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Is it only me that thinks iFi would have designed it with a knob on the front plate for switching exclusive modes? Perhaps to take off those letter "stream" and put the knob on the middle of the front plate. If it does software process switching I guess we could switch them on the fly while the device is switched on.

Aren't you realistically only gonna switch between 1 or 2 modes at best? While I agree the spot for the switch isn't the best, perhaps someone from Schiit came up with the idea!!

 

[kaushama]

Even switching between AIO and Roon is done I have to reach the back of the device. It is not very convenient when this is used in a speaker setup. I have to reach the back of the device in the rack often.