[555748]

There isn’t much discussion regarding Apple Music. Do people dislike it and don’t use it, or does it work ok and so doesn’t draw much discussion?

 

[pulsedriver]

Hi there,

Did you try the most recent beta? Did that not work for you, by chance?

It depends witch version of the beta you have in mind? I have uploaded v2.30.7 but did not test it closely. Will try tonight v2.31.1 and report back!

There isn’t much discussion regarding Apple Music. Do people dislike it and don’t use it, or does it work ok and so doesn’t draw much discussion?

I did try it before i got ZS and Spotify is working better, is more organized and flexible for me. Also Apple Music do not have connect feature.
As of sound ... I did not noticed a difference. Maybe i liked Spotify more. While Tidal Master is a step above Spotify and has connect with native sample rates.

 

[FooFighter]

just got an IFI Zen Stream the 3rd time in my audio-life for experimenting now with my new setup with Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE and Roon/HQ-Player backend.
I have just recently got a dedicated ATOM-mini-PC running HQPlayer-NAA bootimage powered by an IFI Ipower Elite PSU working as a streamer.
With that setup I am limited to playing through HQPlayer only as the bootimage is accepting only NAA-protocol.

I have been experimenting before with different suggested upsampling scenarios for my Spring in HQPlayer like going up to 1,5 Mhz and specific filters, alternatively DSD 256 upsampling.

After recognising differences regarding slam/bass rendering and upper mids playing out of Roon-direct / Roon-HQPlayer or HQPlayer (direct Roon and direct HQPlayer had the edge there) I wanted to try different setups and now came again to the Zen Stream - though I know its limited to DSD256, PCM 368.

First impression playing PCM out of Roon or Roon/HQPlayer with my test tracks are very positive - I am getting the slam, spatial presentation I am looking for!
I then switched to DSD upsampling and while it is working flawlessly up to DSD 128 out of Roon and/or HQPlayer it is not able to process upsampled DSD 256.

As Ive read also about issues in this thread with DSD256, is anyone else here running upsampling to DSD256 with Roon or HQPlayer into Zen Stream and can support?

Edit : I managed to find out: I needed to set native DSD playback in Roon and not DOP.
Now trying to setup HQPLAYER accordingly

Edit2: HQPlayer native DSD upsamping also working up to DSD 256 which is the limit of what my MAC Mini M1 is able to upsample anyway without stuttering.

I will do some A-B vs my old setup but have the feeling that this is a keeper and gonna return my Atom mini-PC and fancy Ipower Elite 5V

 

[FooFighter]

Speaking of PSU, what's the agreed PSU bringing a discernible upgrade vs the stock one <500 bucks, I won't buy another Ferrum Hypsos for now
- IPower Elite 12V
- SBOOSTER
- ...?
IPower Elite seems to be a sweet spot price-wise but no clue about SQ

 

[antastik]

Speaking of PSU, what's the agreed PSU bringing a discernible upgrade vs the stock one <500 bucks, I won't buy another Ferrum Hypsos for now
- IPower Elite 12V
- SBOOSTER
- ...?
IPower Elite seems to be a sweet spot price-wise but no clue about SQ

I could compare ipower 15v with ipowerX 15v. Very little difference and not worth the upgrade in my opinion

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Speaking of PSU, what's the agreed PSU bringing a discernible upgrade vs the stock one <500 bucks, I won't buy another Ferrum Hypsos for now
- IPower Elite 12V
- SBOOSTER
- ...?
IPower Elite seems to be a sweet spot price-wise but no clue about SQ

I don't know about agreed upon but there have been many suggestions and opinions posted here.

Personally I have linear/iPower units and I have settled on the 15v iPower X as my favor power for the ZS. Just some long off magic for me I guess

I have also used the topping P50 as well which was also good on the 15v and have you an extra 2 5v ports as well.

Good luck!!

 

[FooFighter]

I don't know about agreed upon but there have been many suggestions and opinions posted here.

Personally I have linear/iPower units and I have settled on the 15v iPower X as my favor power for the ZS. Just some long off magic for me I guess

I have also used the topping P50 as well which was also good on the 15v and have you an extra 2 5v ports as well.

Good luck!!

that's the one?
https://shop.wodaudio.com/produkt/ifi-ipower-x-ultra-low-noise-stecker-netzgeraet-b-ware/

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

that's the one?
https://shop.wodaudio.com/produkt/ifi-ipower-x-ultra-low-noise-stecker-netzgeraet-b-ware/

Yes sir, that's it.

If you search my posts I believe I posted some sound files you can listen to from the different supplies too see if you can detect anything!

Cheers!!

 

[Mr G]

I'm using the TeraDak 12 V \ 4A LPS. I purchased it from this site.

https://kamaudio.com/TeraDak-Power-source-LPS-Linear-power-supply

I prefer it slightly over ipower 12V. To my ears, the TeraDak LPS sounds a bit more natural, with better bass and slightly longer decay. YMMV.

 

[ali4ek]

I prefer it slightly over ipower 12V

Over iPower Elite 12V? Or some other iPower?

 

[skrzyp]

My ZS is still on OS version 2.29.9, and the update button informs me that "You're already on the latest version". Is there any sense of when a non-beta update will be coming? My unit seems solid (playing Spotify, Audirvana and local files via USB to a Schitt Bifrost), but I still get occasional network drops.

On a side note, I updated one of my Raspberry Pis to Volumio 3, and have seen no stability issues. Given that the previous Volumio (on which the ZS is based) is running on Debian Jessie, which was declared "end of life" in 2018 (https://blog.piwheels.org/debian-jessie-eol/), I'm still curious what iFi has planned for the future of their OS since they have no plans to support Volumio 3. This is important for network security, among other things.

 

[daytrader]

Question on these software updates. Are the updates changing the ZS interally or updating just the software side on the computer side? Meaning if I’m running music off my iphone, do these sw updates help me or do they just benefit computers?

 

[ali4ek]

Question on these software updates. Are the updates changing the ZS interally or updating just the software side on the computer side? Meaning if I’m running music off my iphone, do these sw updates help me or do they just benefit computers?

That's deep

To try and answer - the majority uses ZS _instead_ of a computer, so what do you mean by "computers"?

The path starts with ZS, then DAC. No computers.

I would guess the right answer is "Changing the ZS internally (the firmware), hence helping everyone using ZS".

 

[DBB1]

Is it possible to stream Qobuz directly to the Zen Stream from my Android phone? If so how. Thanks in advance.

 

[daytrader]

That's deep

Thank you for your guess. .

You are likely correct. But I have had some tell me they prefer not to update sw to older firmware if their players have no issues. Sometimes updates can cause others issues to pop up , that the older firmware units can’t assimilate correctly like newer units can.

So my question kinda goes to if it doesn’t benefit my player, that I’m not experiencing or has no problems then why bother?