[Mr BubbaHyde]

I thought for a long time that the iDSD was just way too expensive, and it probably made no difference.
I've had the iCAN for a long time and have operated it with all sorts of DACs.
I was then very lucky that someone offered me a new iDSD for 2k €, so I accessed it.

The iDSD and the iCAN have something magical about them - today i rolled tubes, for the last time i think, and its breathtaking, how those devices benefit from better tubes.
iDSD got some Bendix, and the iCAN some WE396 from 1958

Oh yeah on the Western Electric that right there is gold to me, although I must admit I run the JAN 5670w and liked them very very much, in my Dun Mei Tube Buffer, which I takes in and out of my chain depending on my mood lol...

Last night it was the Zen to Diablo they the Tube to my KEF q150 Heavenly!!

 

[antastik]

Hey guys, so sorry for the long absence but there's this little thing called life that gets in the way sometimes.

In my time gone, I have checked 2 other BF2's from friends of mine and for the life of me I cannot reproduce that buzz, again I'll say that it's definitely software based, just at what point I'm unsure.

Just wanted to let you all know I didn't forget about the issue. I also see the posts where Coaxial did the trick, that's awesome.

For the new review and observations on the Zen Stream I'll comment this having done the same tests.

@antastik Please recheck your findings in regards to the Zen Stream vs. Digione. I to have done the same and concluded that the Zen was a much better meatier presentation. Please Use Coaxial , and Coaxial and repeat your listening.

I have stated from pages and pages back that the Zen Stream and Digi sound is very close, however please don't use the BNC against the Coax. Do the test with Coax vs. Coax, trust me there is a difference, Cheers, and welcome!

I may...(May) have some more info by the end of today, but I am finding interesting bugs in Tidal Connect? lol

Cheers!!

I've completed my homework, in comparing SPDIF to USB output. Both feed into a Chord Qutest. Initially, like I mentioned, SPDIF sounded unconvincing but, thanks to your advice, I went back and tried to figure out why. Since I only had a BNC-BNC cable, I had to deploy an RCA adapter; suddenly my attention was captured by the fact that such adapter had dielectric inside.....it means that it was 50 Ohm and not 75 Ohm....this is what I hate of these things. Long story short, I had to purchase a 75-Ohm BNC-RCA cable...selected one with the right properties and not one from the stupid producers....connected it and......yes it was better. No longer affected by impedance mismatch, the SPDIF output proved a bit better than USB. My criterion is to look for when the sound has definite spatial soundstage, with as little as possible distortion.
To understand the reason why USB is still missing something, it would be necessary to measure electrical noise up to the GHz region, knowing that a non-linear system can generate output harmonics that are a linear combination of the input harmonics, impacting by intermodulation also the audible frequencies. This is the trouble about noise: even though it is high frequency, it can generate components in the audible range by intermodulation.

One request for Ifi. SPDIF output suffers from buffering and consistently misses the first seconds of a track, whereas USB doesn't. It would be nice to minimize this.

Another request for Ifi: would it be possible to know measured noise of both output SPDIF and USB ports? It would help people choosing the best one.

In the end, Zen Stream took over the place of Allo Digione in my system.

Hope it helps, thank you

 

[windplr]

Just got an iPower 12V, will try to make a quick measurement comparison over the weekend on how Zen Stream behaves between the stock (non-iPower) 12V adapter, iPower 12V and iPower 15V.

My ZS came with iPower 9V, which I've never used as I ended up with an extra 15v iPower X when I received a replacement iPhono 3 from iFi. I must say that ZS with the iPower X sounds superb, and have never had any issues.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

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.

Thank you so much! Makes me want to try out an Ares for the heck of all the excellent synergy feedback we have had here, same with the BiFrost 2!

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.

Appreciate your tips and feedback, it is indeed excellent with a 15v.

I will check on your bubble question and get back to you early next week.

Worked it out!!!! Right now streaming via Tidal connect to the ZS through USB to the RME.

Had to disconnect the network cable and reconnect. I assume it assigned a different IP address and forgot the previous settings. ifi/local could see the RME straight away.

Happy, happy, happy. Let the music begin.

I will report back on SQ once i've spent time with it but first impressions are good.

Glad you got your issue sorted. Always here if this anything else I and the community can do to help.

I thought for a long time that the iDSD was just way too expensive, and it probably made no difference.
I've had the iCAN for a long time and have operated it with all sorts of DACs.
I was then very lucky that someone offered me a new iDSD for 2k €, so I accessed it.

The iDSD and the iCAN have something magical about them - today i rolled tubes, for the last time i think, and its breathtaking, how those devices benefit from better tubes.
iDSD got some Bendix, and the iCAN some WE396 from 1958

Let me know what one you end up like best.

I will be rolling tubes on my personal Pro iCAN eventually and will have a ton of fun experimenting for science.

(also, if this is a new unit rolling tubes voids your warranty - if it's used go crazy!)

One request for Ifi. SPDIF output suffers from buffering and consistently misses the first seconds of a track, whereas USB doesn't. It would be nice to minimize this.

Another request for Ifi: would it be possible to know measured noise of both output SPDIF and USB ports? It would help people choosing the best one.

I will check on both of these, and have responses for you next week!

My ZS came with iPower 9V, which I've never used as I ended up with an extra 15v iPower X when I received a replacement iPhono 3 from iFi. I must say that ZS with the iPower X sounds superb, and have never had any issues.

Thank you so much!

 

[801evan]

I've completed my homework, in comparing SPDIF to USB output. Both feed into a Chord Qutest. Initially, like I mentioned, SPDIF sounded unconvincing but, thanks to your advice, I went back and tried to figure out why. Since I only had a BNC-BNC cable, I had to deploy an RCA adapter; suddenly my attention was captured by the fact that such adapter had dielectric inside.....it means that it was 50 Ohm and not 75 Ohm....this is what I hate of these things. Long story short, I had to purchase a 75-Ohm BNC-RCA cable...selected one with the right properties and not one from the stupid producers....connected it and......yes it was better. No longer affected by impedance mismatch, the SPDIF output proved a bit better than USB. My criterion is to look for when the sound has definite spatial soundstage, with as little as possible distortion.
To understand the reason why USB is still missing something, it would be necessary to measure electrical noise up to the GHz region, knowing that a non-linear system can generate output harmonics that are a linear combination of the input harmonics, impacting by intermodulation also the audible frequencies. This is the trouble about noise: even though it is high frequency, it can generate components in the audible range by intermodulation.

One request for Ifi. SPDIF output suffers from buffering and consistently misses the first seconds of a track, whereas USB doesn't. It would be nice to minimize this.

Another request for Ifi: would it be possible to know measured noise of both output SPDIF and USB ports? It would help people choosing the best one.

In the end, Zen Stream took over the place of Allo Digione in my system.

Hope it helps, thank you

I don't have issues with missing the first seconds of a track. I added a spdif purifier 2 in the chain powered by 20x lt3045 + ipower x modded with silver and it scaled the music even more. Better blacks, more realistic pianos and much smoother.

 

[antastik]

Thank you so much! Makes me want to try out an Ares for the heck of all the excellent synergy feedback we have had here, same with the BiFrost 2!




Appreciate your tips and feedback, it is indeed excellent with a 15v.

I will check on your bubble question and get back to you early next week.



Glad you got your issue sorted. Always here if this anything else I and the community can do to help.




Let me know what one you end up like best.

I will be rolling tubes on my personal Pro iCAN eventually and will have a ton of fun experimenting for science.

(also, if this is a new unit rolling tubes voids your warranty - if it's used go crazy!)



I will check on both of these, and have responses for you next week!



Thank you so much!

Very kind of you. I tried playing a DSD64 file but got the message that SPDIF doesn't support the format; it worked instead in USB. So DSD can be played only through USB? I don't think I read anything about this in the product description/instructions.

Thanks

 

[ClieOS]

Very kind of you. I tried playing a DSD64 file by got the message that SPDIF doesn't support the format; it worked instead in USB. So DSD can played only through DSD? I don't think I read anything about this in the product description/instructions.

Thanks

DSD over SPDIF required special implementation on both the source as well as the DAC to work. Any device that supports such a special implement will definitely point it out upfront. If it doesn't, you can always assume it doesn't support such function.

 

[363267]

I agree with the SPDIF vs. USB. I am using a Blackcat Silver Star MK1 with Blackcat 75 ohm RCA adapters. I have never enjoyed the USB sound from all my different sources and DACs.

I had a crazy situation last night with my ZS. The Wifi went rogue on me even though I am now ethernet connected (via wireless extender) which means no more drops for me as previously reported. But the wireless would randomly come on, kick in the hotspot mode and stopped my music. I tried to disable the Wifi in the admin portal but eventually it reactivated without me doing anything. The hotspot activation was evidenced by the flashing white LED which stopped my streaming. Reboots did nothing so I had to do a factory reset, hook up to Wifi, do the firmware update, then switch to ethernet and disabled Wifi. All good so far!

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

I agree with the SPDIF vs. USB. I am using a Blackcat Silver Star MK1 with Blackcat 75 ohm RCA adapters. I have never enjoyed the USB sound from all my different sources and DACs.

I had a crazy situation last night with my ZS. The Wifi went rogue on me even though I am now ethernet connected (via wireless extender) which means no more drops for me as previously reported. But the wireless would randomly come on, kick in the hotspot mode and stopped my music. I tried to disable the Wifi in the admin portal but eventually it reactivated without me doing anything. The hotspot activation was evidenced by the flashing white LED which stopped my streaming. Reboots did nothing so I had to do a factory reset, hook up to Wifi, do the firmware update, then switch to ethernet and disabled Wifi. All good so far!

Did this in any way correlate to the iFI App?

I ask because I think what was happening is that the iFI app thinks your doing a new setup even though you are already up and running.

 

[jasonmeister]

Not much discussion about the app in this thread. I suppose most people are using an intermediary interface like roon etc? Or does the silent reception itself speak volumes?

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Not much discussion about the app in this thread. I suppose most people are using an intermediary interface like roon etc? Or does the silent reception itself speak volumes?

For me I don't have much use for the app, although the web radio is nice touch! If your a Roon person like me the app although good for what it is has no purpose for us!

Cheers!!

 

[myshark]

Not much discussion about the app in this thread. I suppose most people are using an intermediary interface like roon etc? Or does the silent reception itself speak volumes?

Most probably due to the app similarity to the volumio app, as per my in case. Used it for a long time.

 

[antastik]

Not much discussion about the app in this thread. I suppose most people are using an intermediary interface like roon etc? Or does the silent reception itself speak volumes?

I use a normal browser to access the IP address

 

[jasonmeister]

For me I don't have much use for the app, although the web radio is nice touch! If your a Roon person like me the app although good for what it is has no purpose for us!

Cheers!!

Yeah, definitely makes sense. Unfortunately, I’ve not had an opportunity to play with the ZS app yet but, as mentioned above, it seems to be quite similar to the browser interface. I happen to enjoy the web radio so I’m looking forward to checking out that function in the app. With hope, I’ll also be doing less complaining about Tidal (dis)connect

 

[DACer]

I'm getting close to buy ZS , I would connect it to my Audio Alchemy DDP1 (DAC/PRE AMP) with external Power supply , should I use COAX or USB to connect it ?
Did IFI confirm when Chromecast will be enabled on ZS, also if Amazon HD Ultra (192/24) is in plans of support the way other services already are ... this would be my main reason to buy it as I use Amazon Music HD Ultra and like their music selection.
I like to stream lossless or 24/96 , no MP3 quality .
As far as sound quality , music selection, price , app accessibility what are your favorite streaming services ?