Hi folks, I've recently moved my Zen Stream to the office. I'm using it with a Dragonfly Red that I used to connect to the notebook. Headphones are Sennheiser HD600. The SQ is very good. Would a Zen Dac V2, paired with the ZS, be a real upgrade, compared to the Dragonfly Red? I would appreciate if someone with smiliar gear would give me an honest opinion. Thank you.
The 10 minute issue dovetails oddly and nicely with the “lock time” for the screen. I know seems odd. While the computer does not really go to sleep I found that if I change the “lock time” for the screen from 10 minutes to 30 minutes-it does not shut down for a 30 minutes. Change to 1 hour-plays for an hour.
I need to correct this. Roon Mode seems to be working on the latest beta firmware but only with USB. SPDIF vanishes when I switch from AIO to Roon mode. I maybe be doing something wrong, but will stick to AIO for the sake of convenience. The SQ is still awesome.
Ifi power x is good and definitely better than the stock one but in my use cases it can't match decent LPS power supply either for zen stream or my DAC.
On the fallowing note I think something was done on Volumio as I do not experience any hung issues with Zen anymore which required manual intervention to reboot it's services.
Ifi power x is good and definitely better than the stock one but in my use cases it can't match decent LPS power supply either for zen stream or my DAC.
On the fallowing note I think something was done on Volumio as I do not experience any hung issues with Zen anymore which required manual intervention to reboot it's services.
External linear power supplies have been more miss than hit in my system. Frankly I’ve come to view them with scepticism and more as an up sell path for manufacturers rather than an improvement path for us consumers.
As it now stands I don’t see which improvements a linear power supply would bring to my system. Differences sure, improvements no.
PS. Just to be clear, this is not a dig at iFi. To me it’s perfectly reasonable to include at basic power supply with the Zen Stream and then point to the iPower X as a high value, low cost upgrade.
External linear power supplies have been more miss than hit in my system. Frankly I’ve come to view them with scepticism and more as an up sell path for manufacturers rather than an improvement path for us consumers.
As it now stands I don’t see which improvements a linear power supply would bring to my system. Differences sure, improvements no.
PS. Just to be clear, this is not a dig at iFi. To me it’s perfectly reasonable to include at basic power supply with the Zen Stream and then point to the iPower X as a high value, low cost upgrade.
I would like to know what became better in your opinion? I know the supplied psu is really low budget (my honest opinion a insult, selling it with not at least something better than what’s initial included
I would like to know what became better in your opinion? I know the supplied psu is really low budget (my honest opinion a insult, selling it with not at least something better than what’s initial included
I would like to know what became better in your opinion? I know the supplied psu is really low budget (my honest opinion a insult, selling it with not at least something better than what’s initial included
The goal with upgrading to the iPower X was to decrease the conducted electrical noise coming from the power supply. As far as I can tell it’s exactly what is happening in my system.
I think of electrical noise as something that comes from either components in the system (RF) or from outside the system (EMI). But I’m not sure that it’s theoretically correct.
Anyway, the technical term “lower noise floor” is something I never really was able to understand. What I perceive as noise is instead what people sometimes refer to as a “veil”. It’s like trying to talk to your friends at a restaurant when there’s a constant murmur from other guests, clashing of glass etc that drowns out all nuances of the conversation.
The effect of lowering noise in the system is all about hearing nuances like:
Larger, more dimensional soundstage
Clearer decay and space around instruments
Treble is less 'splashy'
Better bass and definition
That is exactly what I’m hearing with the iPower X when listening to my usual set of test tracks.
The best I can tell you in my experience with the Zen was that the iPower X was the one I gravitated to. To me it was a darker background and better bass, clarity also improved.
I have used linear and the iPower Elite with the Zen and I would tell just about anyone from my stance the X was the winner. Now I also found improvement in the Zen by adding the LAN iSilencer, this gave me a sound closer to the NEO Stream and the Optibox.
As always buy from somewhere with a good return policy just in case any of these "upgrades" don't pan out for your ears.
Hi folks, I've recently moved my Zen Stream to the office. I'm using it with a Dragonfly Red that I used to connect to the notebook. Headphones are Sennheiser HD600. The SQ is very good. Would a Zen Dac V2, paired with the ZS, be a real upgrade, compared to the Dragonfly Red? I would appreciate if someone with smiliar gear would give me an honest opinion. Thank you.
I’ve a Dragonfly Red, and a ZEN Dac V2, and to my ears the ZEN is the superior amp for driving full size headphones, HiFiman Sundara in my case. I’ve tried both units with an ancient pair of HD-580, and they are much more listenable with the ZEN.
The best I can tell you in my experience with the Zen was that the iPower X was the one I gravitated to. To me it was a darker background and better bass, clarity also improved.
I have used linear and the iPower Elite with the Zen and I would tell just about anyone from my stance the X was the winner. Now I also found improvement in the Zen by adding the LAN iSilencer, this gave me a sound closer to the NEO Stream and the Optibox.
As always buy from somewhere with a good return policy just in case any of these "upgrades" don't pan out for your ears.
iPower Elite has the huge advantage that it can be greatly improved by using a high quality power cable. I'm using Cardas Clear.
Still no new firmware, so I can't listen to DSD files since Zen Stream at the moment can't be used in DSD direct mode, but only in DoP which sounds HORRIBLE.
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