Mr BubbaHyde
Sponsor: iFi audio
Ahh ok, just ordered one and I thought you said you were using one, my bad, lol
iFi audio ZEN Stream - Streaming elevated to a higher plane
- Thread starter iFi audio
- Start date
You will absolutely love it. The guy I sold it to used it to replace an integrated DAC and was absolutely smitten! He could not believe how the low end came alive and how holographic and how wide the sound stage has become with the Ares in his system.
simon740
500+ Head-Fier
Yes, Ares is very good dac and probably I will buy ZS for it.
Ares with Zen Stream plus a quality ultra short USB cable is a match made in audiophile best bang for buck heaven. Add a nice preamp / headphone amp like my Burson Soloist 3XP, a pair fine of active speakers and the headphones of your choice and you're got audio nirvana for not that much coin, really.
simon740
500+ Head-Fier
Hmm.. I must sell my Node 2021 before buy ZS. Although I'm happy with Node. Above all, smooth operation, the app itself. But it seems to me that the Ares II sounded better on the usb input than on the coax. And Node doesn't have a usb output yet.
Node and Stream, no contest, really. The Zen is cheaper, smaller, sounds better and has USB output. I won't deny the Node software is slick but the Zen is quite good already and hopefully Chromecast ability isn't that far off. With the Node you pay for a DAC and preamp bits that you will most probably never use.
801evan
Headphoneus Supremus
Wanna share some tips from my experience getting the best sound out of the Zen Stream
1. 15v is the best sound I'm getting from the Elite over 12v. I got to try it with the Hypsos and compared between both settings. At 12v, it's performance is marginal vs a phone or other streamers, but at 15v, it's ace.
2. When I thought my wifi was dedicated I forget to turn off my tablet, and the stream wasn't that great and breaking up. So a less busy network will give you a better streaming experience. The best one so far is making my phone a hotspot and using bubbleupnp. But...
Hi Sebastien, the best setup I got going is having my phone as a hotspot and having the ZS connect to it. Bubbleupnp is fine but tidal connect doesn't work this way. Tidal connect works fine if I have the ZS connect to the wifi modem. Hopefully it's a quick bug to fix.
1. 15v is the best sound I'm getting from the Elite over 12v. I got to try it with the Hypsos and compared between both settings. At 12v, it's performance is marginal vs a phone or other streamers, but at 15v, it's ace.
2. When I thought my wifi was dedicated I forget to turn off my tablet, and the stream wasn't that great and breaking up. So a less busy network will give you a better streaming experience. The best one so far is making my phone a hotspot and using bubbleupnp. But...
Hi Sebastien, the best setup I got going is having my phone as a hotspot and having the ZS connect to it. Bubbleupnp is fine but tidal connect doesn't work this way. Tidal connect works fine if I have the ZS connect to the wifi modem. Hopefully it's a quick bug to fix.
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Will this Android app work with iDSD Pro streamer and read attached USB stick or microSD card?
Well my ZS turned up today and I have spent this morning setting it up. Set up via wired network and everything went well and updates went smoothly.
The only, somewhat annoying problem I'm having is that in ifi.local it doesn't give me the option to select USB in Playback Options > Output Device. The only option is SPDIF (no drop down USB option)
I had it connected it up to my RME ADI-2 Dac via USB but obviously didn't work. Swapped out the USB cable to SPDIF cable and it now talks to the DAC.
Has anyone had a similar problem? I'm wondering if its a compatibility issue with the DAC so curious if anyone else has got it working with a RME via USB.
I'm holding out judgement on SQ just now as I can't use my Audioquest Carbon USB cable and having to use a £10 audio cable instead. Out of interest is there a SQ preference between USB & SPDIF?
Any help or advice would be really appreciated.
The only, somewhat annoying problem I'm having is that in ifi.local it doesn't give me the option to select USB in Playback Options > Output Device. The only option is SPDIF (no drop down USB option)
I had it connected it up to my RME ADI-2 Dac via USB but obviously didn't work. Swapped out the USB cable to SPDIF cable and it now talks to the DAC.
Has anyone had a similar problem? I'm wondering if its a compatibility issue with the DAC so curious if anyone else has got it working with a RME via USB.
I'm holding out judgement on SQ just now as I can't use my Audioquest Carbon USB cable and having to use a £10 audio cable instead. Out of interest is there a SQ preference between USB & SPDIF?
Any help or advice would be really appreciated.
Mr BubbaHyde
Sponsor: iFi audio
Hello @ainzz and Welcome!
I can hopefully answer some of your questions, I'm sure more will chime in.
Make sure when using USB you are using the Bottom USB port, The top one is for connecting a hard drive or other file source. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't recognize your RME, if anything I would do a reset with the RME connected to the proper port from within the ifi app or ifi.local, when you do this make sure nothing is connected to the Spdif.
If I remember correctly the way the ZS is setup is that only one of the outputs can be used, and one disables the other. (trying to answer your concerns, would have to look it up to be crystal)
In terms of sound quality I think you are going to be very pleased, "Carbon" or no "Carbon at the moment, as the Zen has bested just about everything we have tried in this thread.
Both outputs of the ZS are very good, and it will be down to what the DAC prefers in my opinion as to which sounds better. Just as an example My Schiit Bifrost 2 prefers the USB of the ZEN, Spdif sounds very good but the nature of the DAC is that USB Sounds better, follow the thinking??
My Gustard X16 sounds better using the Spdif from the Zen vs the USB like the BF2 so experiment around and see what you and your DAC prefer.
Hope that helps sort things out for you, and feel free to ask anything, and also please give your opinion when you've settled in on everything.
Cheers!!
Thanks BubbaHyde
I un-attached the Spdif and re-attached the USB cable in the bottom port, did a factory reset but still the same. No option to select USB. Tried a different USB cable but again nothing. Frustrating.
Mr BubbaHyde
Sponsor: iFi audio
Hmm, that is very odd. Even though you don't have the option to select the USB from the drop down you have tried playing audio thru the Zen to the RME correct? I say that because although I do not use the ifi app, I am a roon user, I seem to recall once that there was no option to do that even though I was connected and good.
Sorry for being so basic but I'm one of those that starts at the beginning for troubleshooting.
What do you use for your music source...Files/Tidal/ Qobuz, you know what I mean, lol!
Edit: Would you believe 3 days ago I was going to order the RME!! I ended up ordering a Denafrips, but I would have had the RME by now...
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Don't regret not getting the RME. I had that too and changed it for the Ares II. It is indeed a wonderful German sound machine, however the Denafrips is charming, digital vinyl DAC if there ever was one.
801evan
Headphoneus Supremus
Hand shaking to dac should be straightforward (automatic as default) so that is bizarre.
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