[rlw6534]

the Zen Stream just quit while streaming Tidal through Roon. re-booted and playing again. still kind of annoying, but an improvement via Roon. just went dead, both lights out.

Glad to hear that you seem to be having less issues after all of the problems...

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

I have found a major shortcoming of the Zen Stream: can't use thick, real audiophile power cables like this one. Sort it out iFi, because other than that, at this price, the Streamer is unbelievable.

Noted! Thank you for your feedback.

Not on topic, but what is this iFi and how do I get one right now?
https://ifi-audio.com/products/go-blu/

PS: Preordered! Any ideas when it arrives down under?

It should be within the next month.

Main thread here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-audio-go-blu-super-small-super-light-super-sound.959616/

 

[Mike Foley]

I’ve just seen this review. He likes the ZS.

https://hifitrends.com/2021/09/08/i...-audiophile-music-streamer-to-beat-under-500/

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

I’ve just seen this review. He likes the ZS.

https://hifitrends.com/2021/09/08/i...-audiophile-music-streamer-to-beat-under-500/

Thanks for sharing that! Great review very accurate!

 

[Maxpain]

I am a bit confused about zs and mqa and tidal. May I ask...if I have the zen stream connected via usb to the zen dac signature and streaming with tidal connect. Do I get the full mqa (24/192).

If not..am I doing something wrong? Or I would need something like the neo to get the full mqa?

 

[myshark]

I am a bit confused about zs and mqa and tidal. May I ask...if I have the zen stream connected via usb to the zen dac signature and streaming with tidal connect. Do I get the full mqa (24/192).

If not..am I doing something wrong? Or I would need something like the neo to get the full mqa?

Yes, you get all.

 

[revand]

Now you can read my Hungarian iFi ZEN STREAM + ZEN CAN + ZEN DAC ("V1") review here.
Just use a Chrome browser and English Translate and the content is more or less what I wanted to tell.
As a conclusion I can say that in my office I enjoyed over the past year my ZEN DAC using it with my Android phone (and a Wireworld Ultraviolet USB cable and iFi's own iPower PS - not included in the box), but adding the ZEN CAN considerably lifted the sound quality to a much higher level (I specially enjoyed the excellent 3D mode on the ZEN CAN). Adding the ZEN STREAM was a great joy to listen. Incredible low noise floor, high dynamics, plenty of details, holographic soundstage and beautiful human voices. On classical music recordings I felt to be in a concert hall.
However there were some minuses as well:
- The WIFI setup with iFi's web based solution was working one day and it was not working the other day. A mobile app solution is definitely needed,
- Using the ZEN STREAM with my Meze 99 Classics (through ZEN DAC and ZEN CAN connected with an analog 4.4 mm to 4.4 mm cable) the bass and the sub bass was quite nice, however connecting the ZEN STREAM + ZEN DAC pair to my home audio system the sub bass was very shy. See more details in my review.

All in all using ZEN STREAM with a CAT7 or CAT8 quality Ethernet cable this is the best price - performance ratio device on the market. Just amazing!

 

[argust]

Also Tidal Connect related. When a DAC is connected by USB, we have the option of "Passthrough MQA". I can not find this option for the Zen, since it is connected by Wifi. Is this option needed or do the Zen do the full unfold anyway?
Also Tidal master should go to 192 which should give a yellow light on the Zen. I do only see the green light, which could be 96 or even 44 (annoying that 96 does not have a different colour than 44). Can anybody get a yellow light when playing Tidal? Or is there another way I can check if I get the full quality?

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

I’ve just seen this review. He likes the ZS.

https://hifitrends.com/2021/09/08/i...-audiophile-music-streamer-to-beat-under-500/

Thanks for sharing that! Great review very accurate!

Thanks for sharing! Great review indeed.

I am a bit confused about zs and mqa and tidal. May I ask...if I have the zen stream connected via usb to the zen dac signature and streaming with tidal connect. Do I get the full mqa (24/192).

If not..am I doing something wrong? Or I would need something like the neo to get the full mqa?

Yes, you get all.

Yes, you do - keep in mind the Zen Stream will unpack MQA 24/192 as "OFS" but that is not to be worried about.

OptimFROG Dualstream is how MQA is unpacked over Wi-Fi.

Now you can read my Hungarian iFi ZEN STREAM + ZEN CAN + ZEN DAC ("V1") review here.
Just use a Chrome browser and English Translate and the content is more or less what I wanted to tell.
As a conclusion I can say that in my office I enjoyed over the past year my ZEN DAC using it with my Android phone (and a Wireworld Ultraviolet USB cable and iFi's own iPower PS - not included in the box), but adding the ZEN CAN considerably lifted the sound quality to a much higher level (I specially enjoyed the excellent 3D mode on the ZEN CAN). Adding the ZEN STREAM was a great joy to listen. Incredible low noise floor, high dynamics, plenty of details, holographic soundstage and beautiful human voices. On classical music recordings I felt to be in a concert hall.
However there were some minuses as well:
- The WIFI setup with iFi's web based solution was working one day and it was not working the other day. A mobile app solution is definitely needed,
- Using the ZEN STREAM with my Meze 99 Classics (through ZEN DAC and ZEN CAN connected with an analog 4.4 mm to 4.4 mm cable) the bass and the sub bass was quite nice, however connecting the ZEN STREAM + ZEN DAC pair to my home audio system the sub bass was very shy. See more details in my review.

All in all using ZEN STREAM with a CAT7 or CAT8 quality Ethernet cable this is the best price - performance ratio device on the market. Just amazing!

Thank you for the review and your feedback, it is noted!

Also Tidal Connect related. When a DAC is connected by USB, we have the option of "Passthrough MQA". I can not find this option for the Zen, since it is connected by Wifi. Is this option needed or do the Zen do the full unfold anyway?

The two steps of the unfold should be done by your DAC, off the top of my head.

 

[jacofman]

I'm interested in the Zen Stream, but I have a technical question. You can definitely attach one hard drive via USB, but my question is:
Can you attach 2 or more hard drives at the same time?
If you can, would daisy-chaining them together be the best method, or would using a USB hub be the better way to connect multiple drives to the Zen Stream?

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

I'm interested in the Zen Stream, but I have a technical question. You can definitely attach one hard drive via USB, but my question is:
Can you attach 2 or more hard drives at the same time?
If you can, would daisy-chaining them together be the best method, or would using a USB hub be the better way to connect multiple drives to the Zen Stream?

That's a good question? If you can hold on until tomorrow I could test it, unless someone who already has chimes in!

 

[jacofman]

That's a good question? If you can hold on until tomorrow I could test it, unless someone who already has chimes in!

I'd love to hear about your results.

 

[sabloke]

The USB hub will have to be a powered one as I can't see how the Tream could power several disks at once.

 

[jacofman]

The USB hub will have to be a powered one as I can't see how the Tream could power several disks at once.

That makes perfect sense.

 

[sabloke]

I'm using a 1TB T5 SSD that I hope is using a lot of less power than a mechanical one. It is also dead quiet, important as the stream is very close to me on the desk. If capacity is a concern, you'd be much better served by a NAS that can be accessed by your Stream over the network.