[mab1376]

Has anyone experienced functionality improvements when upgrading from the stock psu? I only use Tidal Connect in Mode 3 these days, and the playback always fails at some point within about an hour of listening. To get things going again, I have to clear the play queue and reconnect to Tidal Connect on my iPhone in the Tidal app. Every once in a while, I have to unplug the USB cable and plug it back in to get the ZS to sync with the DAC (Bifrost 2). A few times I've had to pull the power cord from the ZS to get the connection to the DAC re-established. My question is whether this could all be power supply related, or is it more likely software issues.

I highly doubt that is PSU related.

 

[denovare]

I wonder if there are any new updates on the Chromecast functionality?

 

[mab1376]

I wonder if there are any new updates on the Chromecast functionality?

yeah would be nice to cast youtube music to it, it's not hifi but has its uses.

 

[ES_EF]

update regarding the DDCs

I've tried Denafrips Iris, Singxer SU6, Douk U2 Pro with Crystek 957, Matrix X-spdif, Audio GD DI20 (non HE)

could not get a Sotm TXusb Ultra in time for the comparison, i'll update if it's mind blowing or something life changing

for consistency i only used a Singxer SDA6 Pro Dac (really competent DAC using a well designed input stage and Crystek 957 clock + AKM4499)

tried both

IEM (Singxer SA-1 > UM Mest 2 CIEM / Fiio FH9)

Speakers (Pass Labs INT-30 Integrated > Custom Speaker using Satori Textreme & Bliesma Beryllium Tweeter)

for comparison i had my Sotm SMS-200 Neo + SPS-500 Combo as it's my best other Streamer + PS combo

I also tested several power supplies with the Zen (IFI Elite 12V / Sotm SPS-500 12V Setting / Sbooster BOTW without the little dongle upgrade / Uptone / Ipower / Ipower 2 / Ipower x / + dc purifier in combination with other power supplies

DDC:

to sum it up in a few words, Ifi left very little on the table to "improve" of the various DDC i tried none was just simply "better" for eg cleaner sound, bass etc

DDCs amounted to tonality differences rather than "improved" SQ, if i had to pick one i'd probably say Denafrips IRIS, I'm probably selling a couple of these DDCs and try out a Denafrips Gaia just because i've heard so many good things about it, overall IRIS made the sound a bit softer yet more pleasant on modern pop music)

I'm all about the last 2% but Ifi did put out a device that does not apparently suffer from the same gremlins as other digital products so not much left on the table


PS:

of all the power supplies the Ifi Elite & Sps-500 were my favorite, in the end i picked the Elite 12v for the Zen, btw i love the fact Ifi included a really good dc cable with the Elite, it's OHFC Copper

here the difference i heard was fairly obvious, both improved the bass in extension and impact and overall sound is a bit cleaner (the ac power in my room isnt clean as it shares a circuit breaker with some appliances, so i use a PS Audio PP3 AC Regenerator, for this test though i plugged all devices into a simple Furman unit)

I went with the Ifi Elite simply because it was cheaper and had a better DC cable


Sotm SMS-200 Neo + SPS-500:

comparing the Zen + Elite combo, the sound is different, Zen presentation is very clean / precise and Sotm is "smoother / softer"

ultimately i like the Zen on my Speaker setup and for IEM it's really a toss up, Zen performing better with properly recorded / mastered music and Sotm for lower bitrate stuff

hope this helps and please remember i'm just a random guy on internet saying all these things, please do more research before spending any money

 

[ckhirnigs113]

@ES_EF Glad to hear you like the iFi Elite. It’s cheaper than a lot of the other options I was considering. Was it noticeably better than the iFi iPower X to you?

 

[ES_EF]

@ES_EF Glad to hear you like the iFi Elite. It’s cheaper than a lot of the other options I was considering. Was it noticeably better than the iFi iPower X to you?

Hi There

it was apparent, not a 50/50 call, i think it's worth it

 

[ckhirnigs113]

Hi There

it was apparent, not a 50/50 call, i think it's worth it

Good to know. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[merinowool]

update regarding the DDCs

I've tried Denafrips Iris, Singxer SU6, Douk U2 Pro with Crystek 957, Matrix X-spdif, Audio GD DI20 (non HE)

could not get a Sotm TXusb Ultra in time for the comparison, i'll update if it's mind blowing or something life changing

for consistency i only used a Singxer SDA6 Pro Dac (really competent DAC using a well designed input stage and Crystek 957 clock + AKM4499)

tried both

IEM (Singxer SA-1 > UM Mest 2 CIEM / Fiio FH9)

Speakers (Pass Labs INT-30 Integrated > Custom Speaker using Satori Textreme & Bliesma Beryllium Tweeter)

for comparison i had my Sotm SMS-200 Neo + SPS-500 Combo as it's my best other Streamer + PS combo

I also tested several power supplies with the Zen (IFI Elite 12V / Sotm SPS-500 12V Setting / Sbooster BOTW without the little dongle upgrade / Uptone / Ipower / Ipower 2 / Ipower x / + dc purifier in combination with other power supplies

DDC:

to sum it up in a few words, Ifi left very little on the table to "improve" of the various DDC i tried none was just simply "better" for eg cleaner sound, bass etc

DDCs amounted to tonality differences rather than "improved" SQ, if i had to pick one i'd probably say Denafrips IRIS, I'm probably selling a couple of these DDCs and try out a Denafrips Gaia just because i've heard so many good things about it, overall IRIS made the sound a bit softer yet more pleasant on modern pop music)

I'm all about the last 2% but Ifi did put out a device that does not apparently suffer from the same gremlins as other digital products so not much left on the table


PS:

of all the power supplies the Ifi Elite & Sps-500 were my favorite, in the end i picked the Elite 12v for the Zen, btw i love the fact Ifi included a really good dc cable with the Elite, it's OHFC Copper

here the difference i heard was fairly obvious, both improved the bass in extension and impact and overall sound is a bit cleaner (the ac power in my room isnt clean as it shares a circuit breaker with some appliances, so i use a PS Audio PP3 AC Regenerator, for this test though i plugged all devices into a simple Furman unit)

I went with the Ifi Elite simply because it was cheaper and had a better DC cable


Sotm SMS-200 Neo + SPS-500:

comparing the Zen + Elite combo, the sound is different, Zen presentation is very clean / precise and Sotm is "smoother / softer"

ultimately i like the Zen on my Speaker setup and for IEM it's really a toss up, Zen performing better with properly recorded / mastered music and Sotm for lower bitrate stuff

hope this helps and please remember i'm just a random guy on internet saying all these things, please do more research before spending any money

Wow, thank you so much for this invaluable info, highly appreciated.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

@ES_EF Do you find it necessary to use a nice audiophile quality power cable with the iFi Elite? That can be quite a bit of money on top of the price of the power supply. The simplicity and price of the iPower X are very tempting at the moment.

 

[ES_EF]

@ES_EF Do you find it necessary to use a nice audiophile quality power cable with the iFi Elite? That can be quite a bit of money on top of the price of the power supply. The simplicity and price of the iPower X are very tempting at the moment.

The Ifi elite already comes with a high end dc cable permanently attached to the power supply as shown in this pic

The ac power cables are some basic gotham 85025 with a sleeve and some basic plugs, pretty basic stuff

I like them just for the custom length

 

[ali4ek]

it was apparent, not a 50/50 call, i think it's worth it

The only point to raise is that using ZS with Elite virtually doubles its price, so now ZS' value needs to be measured against other units in $1K range, not $500 range.
And that's not mentioning the possible AC power cable upgrade.
Yes, obvious, I know.

 

[ES_EF]

The only point to raise is that using ZS with Elite virtually doubles its price, so now ZS' value needs to be measured against other units in $1K range, not $500 range.
And that's not mentioning the possible AC power cable upgrade.
Yes, obvious, I know.

Yes definitely, it brings the price up to $700 for the zen / elite combo and it performed as good as my other sms-200 Neo + Sps 500 $950 combo

Having said that, the stock (non ipower) power supply isn't bad by any means, so the zen / stock psu at $400 remains the best bang for the buck reccomended streamer in my system

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

The only point to raise is that using ZS with Elite virtually doubles its price, so now ZS' value needs to be measured against other units in $1K range, not $500 range.
And that's not mentioning the possible AC power cable upgrade.
Yes, obvious, I know.

Well, in the 700 dollar range anyway

On the subject of “Units Around That price” I recently sold my Cambridge Audio CXN V2! I honestly never thought I would. But the amount of time I used that unit after getting the ZS was almost nothing so…

The Cambridge to me did not compare in sound quality to the ZS into most of my dac’s.

So In all I could pair the ZS with not only what I have, but also the next advancement in the tech, So I know have two!! Lol

@ES_EF
Thank you so much for the rundown of DDC units! Very well done!

On that subject I seem to have settled myself on the Singxer SU 2, it makes for a fairly meatier sound from the ZS to me on some of my Dac's. The benefit being I can now feed several sources going from ZS USB to the SU 2. I also have The Douk and 2 versions of it, I would tell everyone to try that art it's price first, if that reveals something to you, it may be worth looking into higher end units.

I'm still in the Ifi 15v X category, that's three one for me... Those week anyway

Cheers!!

 

[ES_EF]

Well, in the 700 dollar range anyway

On the subject of “Units Around That price” I recently sold my Cambridge Audio CXN V2! I honestly never thought I would. But the amount of time I used that unit after getting the ZS was almost nothing so…

The Cambridge to me did not compare in sound quality to the ZS into most of my dac’s.

So In all I could pair the ZS with not only what I have, but also the next advancement in the tech, So I know have two!! Lol

@ES_EF
Thank you so much for the rundown of DDC units! Very well done!

On that subject I seem to have settled myself on the Singxer SU 2, it makes for a fairly meatier sound from the ZS to me on some of my Dac's. The benefit being I can now feed several sources going from ZS USB to the SU 2. I also have The Douk and 2 versions of it, I would tell everyone to try that art it's price first, if that reveals something to you, it may be worth looking into higher end units.

I'm still in the Ifi 15v X category, that's three one for me... Those week anyway

Cheers!!

Yes I must also mention the Douk as a really good ddc especially at its price

On that point hey Ifi, how about couple of nice shiny new DDCs for 2022?

Also the sheer amount of options, tidal / naa etc. on it also make zen easy to reccomend

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Yes I must also mention the Douk as a really good ddc especially at its price

On that point hey Ifi, how about couple of nice shiny new DDCs for 2022?

Also the sheer amount of options, tidal / naa etc. on it also make zen easy to reccomend

I like that at it's priced it brings an improvement, and having I2S at around 60 bucks helps overall!

When you have a chance give this one a look, art it's price I also find I like the TCXO crystals out off the many choices, no I2S but sounds great!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/XMOS-XU208...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

And having Ifi get into this end off it would certainly saved me some waiting fort product!!

Cheers!!